Month: July 2014

The big news from outside the System this past week was Afghanistan’s defeat of Zimbabwe by 100 runs, which leveled their four ODI series at two-a-piece. The series was Afghanistan’s first bi-lateral ODI series against a Full Member, and they ended it all square. A great accomplishment from one of cricket’s best stories. With the World Cup coming up around the corner, look for this team to make a little noise in that ODI showpiece. Cricinfo has the scorecard.

I missed this last week, but congrats to the upstart American Cricket Federation on securing another top class honorary board member: “The American Cricket Federation is very happy to announce that the captain of the 1996 World Cup-winning Sri Lanka squad, Arjuna Ranatunga, will be joining its Honorary Advisory Board. Ranatunga joins existing HAB members Ian Chappell, Clive Lloyd, Shaun Pollock, Michael Holding, Stuart MacGill, Damien Martyn, Nathan Bracken, Alvin Kallicharran, Niall O’Brien, Vince Adams and Stephen Rooke.”

Cricket will return to the 2014 Asian Games in South Korea this fall, with both Associates and Full Members participating. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Maldives, Nepal and South Korea will compete for the men, and China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, South Korea, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for the women. According to Cricket Country, “South Korea has been trying to convert their baseball players into cricketers and currently are in Fiji for the preparation. … The Yeonhui Cricket Ground has been constructed in Incheon , and will have 7 turf wickets and seating for over 2,000 spectators. The exact format of the tournaments is yet to be confirmed. The last Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, saw cricket being played for the first time. Bangladesh won the gold medal in men’s and Pakistan won the gold in women’s tournament respectively.” Converting baseball players into cricketers, eh? It’s like the bizzarro version of that baseball movie from Don Draper.

In a related story, the ICC has rejected offers to have cricket appear in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Story via LiveMint.com.

Khumbutse Khukuri Club have won the first Himalayan Cup Cricket Tournament last week in Houston, Texas. From Sportskeeda: “The four-day event was organized by Nepalese Association of Houston (NAH) and coordinated by Rupak Rauniar and Binay Gupta. The tournament featured seven Nepali cricket clubs based in the greater Houston of Texas, USA. Each team consisted of eight players and the qualifying rounds were played in eight overs. The semifinals and finals were played in 12 overs.”

Insular American alert! Insular American alert! Ralph Gardner Jr of the Wall Street Journal attended a charity cricket match on Long Island, where he promptly embarrassed us all: “Cricket bears a passing resemblance to baseball but, to an outsider, appears to lack the machismo. In baseball, the pitcher bends his arm at the elbow, whipping the ball at maximum velocity. In cricket, the ball is thrown with the arm straight, which looks vaguely girlish. Also in cricket, as I understand it, points are scored and accolades earned just as easily by hitting the ball along the ground. In baseball, poetry is made when the projectile takes flight and travels as far as possible.” A sexist and an ignorant American, you must be a devil with the ladies, Mr. Gardner.

The Hindu has a short article on one of my favorite cricketers, Isa Guha: “She balanced cricket with academics, a trait Guha continues even now while pursuing a doctorate in neuroscience. ‘My parents were proud of the fact that I was playing cricket, they used to ferry me around during the weekends to play the game. I did well in studies too (bio-chemistry) and I had the best of both worlds,’ said Guha, who rated the 2009 World Cup victory as special.”

The Lincolnshire Echo has a story about the growth of the game in the Arctic Circle: “Norway has 54 domestic teams playing across five divisions. At international level, it is enjoying success after being promoted to Division One of the ICC Europe League after seeing off the likes Germany, Austria and Belgium (yes, they have national teams too).
The Norwegian Cricket Federation (NCF) also has a growing youth-set-up and last week their under-19 team enjoyed a tour of Lincolnshire, playing games at Nettleham, Owmby, Sleaford and just over the Nottinghamshire border in Collingham.”

This article in The News on Sunday about empowering women through cricket in Pakistan takes on a whole new meaning after Halima Rafiq’s suicide: “In Pakistan, due to cultural reservations, female sportspersons have limited exposure. The government needs to promote female participation in sport and physical activities. Empowerment of women through participation in sports and physical activity is at the heart of UNDP’s 2014-2017 Gender Equality Strategy.”

More from Pakistan in The Nation: “Newly-elected chairman of International Cricket Council for Physically Challenged (ICCPC) Raja Imran Hussain has said Pakistan will host the four-nation handicapped cricket championship in December to mark the World Disabled Day.”

Chinese women’s cricketers were impressive in Asian Games warm-ups. From ITV: “The Chinese women’s cricket team are in Jersey as part of their preparation tour ahead of the Asian Games. The strong squad were invited to play at the Lord’s cricket ground in London and then onwards to play in the island…Jersey is grateful for the competition saying it is the best side they have ever played.”

In Sunderland, a 15 year old girl broke the record for cricket’s best score from a female bowler. SWNS: “A teenage cricketer has smashed the record for the best performance by a female bowler in the history of the game – aged just 15. Talented Amy Hearn destroyed the opposition – taking seven wickets for just five runs in 3.4 overs. The previous record was by Anya Shrubsole for England Women against South African Women – who took five wickets for 17 runs in 10 overs in 2013.”

And, finally, Scotland will be touring Australia and New Zealand this fall in a World Cup 2015 warm-up. Included will be two ODIs in Hobart, my personal favorite cricket ground. Boxscore.com has it.

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Send news tips to limitedovers at gmail dot com. 

Editor’s note: I will now be including a weekly column on news and notes from around the non-Test playing cricket world – mostly women and Associate stuff, plus some affiliates and USA cricket when I have time. This should publish every Wednesday. Tips and story ideas can be sent to limitedovers (at) gmail (dot) com – with full credit given, of course.

From Box Scored News, women cricketers are standing up for all women: “England women’s cricketers Heather Knight, Lydia Greenway and Tammy Beaumont met two female Bangladeshi cricketers and International Development Minister, Desmond Swayne at Lord’s today (Monday July 21) to discuss issues around sport, women’s empowerment and early forced marriage, ahead of the Prime Minister’s Girl Summit 2014. …The Summit aims to bring about action to end the practices of child, early & forced marriage (CEFM) and female genital mutilation (FGM) within a generation.“

New Zealand women cricketers are finally getting a bit of financial stability, with the NZC now offering contracts to the top female players. In the New Zealand Herald, Player Services Manager Henry Moore is quoted as saying that “a leading White Fern on a retainer contract would now, depending on selection, have the ability to earn approximately $25,000 per year while still having the opportunity to complete other work or study. The new White Ferns contracts will be structured along similar lines to the men, with the top 10 players paid an annual retainer depending on a ranking process involving both T20 and ODI cricket.”

Further indication that the women’s game is in growing leaps and bounds, as the ECB women have secured their first sponsor that wasn’t tied to the men’s squad. Doing the reporting is the site Women’s Views on News: “On 14 July the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that Kia Motors had signed a two-year sponsorship deal to be the official car of the England women’s cricket team. Kia will be the named sponsor of England’s home test matches over the next two years; versus India at Wormsley in August and the Ashes test against Australia next summer, and England women’s contracted players will all be provided with new Kia cars for the duration of the deal.” I hear Kias are actually quite nice these days.

From the “I’ll believe it when I see it” department, Cricket Country quotes ICC President N Srinivasan as saying, “‘I think with this structure will benefit associate nations. They will get a substantially greater revenue now. All the cause related money will be go to them. The top associate will gain a lot. We also have Test fund kept separately so that Test cricket is not ignored here. In the new structure we want everyone to get equal share of revenue. It will be distributed equally among associate and affiliate nations.‘” That sound you heard was me rolling my eyes.

The news for women cricketers in New Zealand and the UK was good, but not so much in Pakistan. As reported in The Daily Times: “…the suicide of 17-year-old Pakistani cricketer Halima Rafiq has gone virtually uncommented or protested about by civil society, human rights organisations, or the government. For those unfamiliar with the case, Halima Rafiq was a member of the Pakistan Women’s Cricket team who on Wednesday allegedly committed suicide by drinking a bottle of bathroom cleaner in her home in Multan. The story begins some months before but it speaks to years of accumulated abuse and harassment that finally ended with this young woman taking her own life. Halima’s story began after she and four other women cricketers appeared on a television show last year saying they had been asked to provide sexual favours for the chairman of the Multan Cricket Council (MCC) Maulvi Sultan Alam and the chief selector Mohammad Javed in return for placement on the team.” Very sad and important story. Please read.

Afghanistan are currently playing their first ever bilateral one-day international series against a Test nation (Zimbabwe) (and yes they count as a Test Nation), and they are holding their own, too. Cricinfo has it: “Afghanistan kept the four-match series alive with a win in the tightly-contested third ODI in Bulawayo. None of their bowlers took more than two wickets and only one of their batsmen got to a fifty – Javed Ahmadi with 56 – but they still overpowered Zimbabwe by two wickets, in a chase of 262, with two balls to spare. That brought the series scoreline to 2-1, in favour of the hosts, with one to play.” Someone, somewhere, please explain to me the virtue of a four match series.

Yours truly has a report on the first tie in the inaugural season of the American Cricket Federation’s Champions League. “In one of the wildest days ever in the short history of the American Cricket Champions League, the Pittsburgh Cricket Association (PCA) played the Midwest Cricket Tournament (MCT) to a tie on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.

The day started with rain and clouds and a soaked outfield at PCA’s home ground in the Steel City, and with the threat of the match being canceled, the players decided to pick up their gear and drive the nearly 200 miles to Columbus, Ohio, where they would play a rain-shortened 20 over a side match.” It really was a cracking game.

And, finally, from India and Cricket Country: “The Indian women‘s cricket team will be playing a four-day ‘Test’ match after a gap of eight long years as they gear up for a short two and half week tour of England starting August 7. India will be playing a ‘Test’ and three ODIs during the 19 day trip after from two practice games. The Test match will be played at the Wormsley Cricket Ground from August 13-16. The Mithali Raj led side will also get a chance to play at the prestigious Lord’s ground where the third and final ODI will be played. Incidentally the last time that Indian women were seen in whites was back in August 2006, when they beat England in a memorable Test match at Taunton.” Did they really need to put Test in quotes?

July 17, 2014

At 11 o’clock in the morning on July 17th, in the steamy cauldron of Lord’s Cricket ground in the heart of St. John’s Wood, London, a coin was flipped, and 22 players in white – 11 from England and 11 from India – strode out to play cricket for five days. 

In Amsterdam, Malaysian Airlines flight number 17 was idling at gate CO3.

It would depart 14 minutes later.

In the Gaza strip, all was quiet, as both sides held fast to a United Nations proposed humanitarian cease fire.

It would end abruptly two hours later.

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England won the toss and elected to field. Play started slowly that morning. An hour in at drinks India were 25-1 under a scorching sun on a green pitch that was swinging both ways. At lunch India were 73-2 as Anderson steamed in over and over again and Indian batsmen blocked and blocked again. By tea wickets had started to fall as India’s luck was appearing to run out on the Lord’s green, and they returned to the clubhouse at 140 for 6. But India were far from done. Ajinkya Rahane was only on 26 at the break, but would end the day on 103, as he broke England’s backs with a relentless run-a-ball second 50 through the final session of the day before finally falling.

90 overs and one day in, the Test was well poised with India at 290-9.

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In the Ukraine, just as Rahane was starting to find his stroke against the English seamers, at about 15:15 London time, Ukrainian air traffic control lost contact with MH17. A few minutes beforehand, the Boeing 777 was hit by a Russian made surface to air missle and crashed near the Ukrainian village of Hrabove killing all 283 souls aboard.

A few minutes after that, with the temporary ceasefire no longer in effect, a Gaza resident posted this message to Facebook:

“I’ll tell you what is harder than dying in Gaza by an Israeli missile deluxe. What is harder is that you get a phone call from the Israeli army telling you to evacuate your home because it will be bombed in ten minutes. Imagine; ten minutes; and your whole short history on the surface of Earth will be erased.
Gifts you received, photos of your siblings and your children (dead or alive), things that you love, your favorite chair, your books, that last poetry collection your read, a letter from your expatriate sister, reminders of the ones you loved, the smell of your bed, the jasmine tree that hangs off your western window, your daughter’s hair clip, your old clothes, your prayer rug, your wife’s gold, your savings; imagine; all this passes in front of your eyes in ten minutes, all that pain passes while you are struck by surprise.
Then you take your identification papers (passport, birth certificate, etc.) which you have ready in an old metallic candy box, and you leave your home to die a thousand times, or refuse to leave and die once.” -Mahmoud Jouda, Gaza

As the sun set on the Holy Land, Hamas lobbed missles into Israel, and the Israeli Defense Fund thumped northern Gaza with hundreds of shells, killing civilians who would not or could not leave. A hospital was hit by tank fire. And Netanyahu ordered a ground invasion. Operation Protective Edge was in full force.

July 18, 2014

The next morning, Palestinian officials announced their latest casualty numbers: 248 killed and nearly 2,000 wounded since the conflict began.

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2,200 miles to the east, day two of play opened, Mohammed Shami was caught by Alistair Cook, India were all out for 295, and it was England’s turn on the tricky pitch.

English opener Cook scored 10 off of 29 in 40 minutes before Bhuvneshwar Kumar took his wicket. Sam Robson scored 17 off of 42 in 62 minutes before Bhuvneshwar Kumar took his wicket. Ian Bell scored 16 off of 56 in 72 minutes before Bhuvneshwar Kumar took his wicket. While Gary Ballance scored 110 off of 203 in…297 minutes – a hair shy of five hours – before Bhuvneshwar Kumar took his wicket. Just as with Rahane, the majority of Ballance’s runs came in the final session. And just as with Rahane, Ballance fell before the day was out, leaving England tottering but ahead at 219-6 when day two saw its final delivery.

It was a Friday. And was the hottest day of year so far in London, topping out at a whopping 30 degrees C.

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In the Ukraine, the airplane’s black boxes were looted by separatists. And the finger pointing from all sides began. As did the denouncements. And the world mourned the tragic deaths of HIV/AIDS researchers aboard the plane, who were heading to a conference in Melbourne.

In Gaza, more death from above as missiles rained down on both sides of the Gaza-Israel barrier, but the world, all of sudden, wasn’t watching anymore. The world’s eyes were on the Ukraine.

July 19, 2014

On day three in St. John’s Wood, the English tail collapsed in short order, and despite the heroics from Liam Plunkett and his brave half century, the Indian attack had the home side all out for 319 before lunch.

Murali Vijay walked to the crease just before one o’clock, and that’s where he would stay for the next six hours – seeing 247 deliveries, scoring 95 runs and frustrating the English bowlers to their breaking point.

Four and three quarters of those hours would take place on day three of the Test, a Saturday, as would 50 of the runs. Indian wickets would fall around him, but Vijay’s patience paid dividends and India were safely to 169-4 after three days play and 145 runs ahead with two days remaining. It was becoming more and more clear than India were going to do something that they very, very rarely do: not lose at Lord’s.

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As play was closing in London, a Hamas missile hit a Bedouin tent, killing a father and critically injuring a four month old child. The eyes of the world returned to the far eastern shore of the Mediterranean sea. The Palestinian death toll stood at 348. On July 19 alone, Hamas fired 94 rockets at Israel while the IDF hit 140 sites in Gaza.

That same day, a Ukrainian official told a press conference that they “have compelling evidence that this terrorist act was committed with the help of the Russian Federation. We know clearly that the crew of this system were Russian citizens.” And insurgents began removing bodies from the flight wreckage.

July 20, 2014

Hours before day four of the cricket, Israel and Gaza lit up the sky. An IDF armored personnel carrier was hit by a rocket, killing seven soldiers. 120 Palestinians were killed in the ensuing conflict, many of them women and children.

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In London, play resumed. And India continued to score. 203-6 at drinks. 267-7 at lunch. A 50 for Jajeda. 334-8 at afternoon drinks. A 50 for Kumar. And – finally – 342 all out at tea.

England were chasing 318, and the light was fading. And the pitch was seaming. And Dhoni unleashed new bowler after new bowler. Cook, Robson, Ballance and Bell all fell before stumps, leaving England reeling and India ascending.

July 21, 2014

Despite a glimmer of hope as England lost only one wicket before lunch on day Five, the Test belonged to India. The tail collapsed with only Prior scoring double digits, and for the first time in three years and 15 overseas Test, India won a Test outside of India. And they had done it at Lord’s against England. And it wasn’t just a win, it was a shellacking complete with fallout. Prior: gone. Cook on the verge. The ECB in shambles. And their best player, Jimmy Anderson, on trial for a charge that could see him miss the last two Tests of the series.

In the Ukraine, order was slowly being restored at the crash site. Observers were allowed in. The black boxes were in the hands of the proper authorities. Dutch and Malaysian emissaries had reached agreements to have their citizens’ remains returned.

But with Russia blaming the Ukraine and the Ukraine blaming Russia, the incident still brought to mind words like “Lusitania” and “Ferdinand.” The world is waiting with bated breath, hoping that cooler heads – and diplomacy prevail.

While in Gaza, war wages. 83,000 Palestinian refugees. 2,000 rockets fired at Israel. 2,800 targets struck by the IDF. 600 Palestinians killed – 400 alone during the five days of cricket. 30 IDF solders killed.

And those are just the raw numbers. The scale of human suffering continuing to happen in Gaza is beyond comprehension. And there is no end in site. In five days – just five days – the region has descended from the brink of peace into the depths of hell.

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As the coin was being flipped in London, MH17 was still safely at the gate in Holland and a cease-fire was tentatively being honored in Gaza and in Israel. But since the first ball was delivered, hospitals in Gaza have been shelled, hundreds of innocents have been killed, and Russia let slip the dogs of war – all while an entire nation of Israelis lived in terror of the next rocket, and prayed for the safe return of their sons and daughters in the IDF.

It was a Test match. The world didn’t stop to watch. History marched on beside it. People died – sometimes once, sometimes a thousand times – wars began, lives were ripped apart, history was set in motion toward a dark and unforeseen end.

Only so much can happen during a 90 minute football match, but in five days, the whole world can change. And for many, during those five days in July, it did. Before for many more – in Israel, in Gaza, in a nameless field in the Ukraine – it ended. Over and over again. And will continue to end for days and weeks and months and years to come.

Let us all pray for peace.

After the Matt Prior story broke this afternoon, it got me to thinking about all the cricketers I have watched retire from the international game over the last few years. Looking back at the squad lists from the 2007 World Cup – the tournament where I started following the game – and seeing the names of all the greats that are no longer with us, for lack of a better phrase, I was overwhelmed with memories of days gone by.

Ponting, Gilchrist, Hussey, McGrath, Smith, Boucher, Kallis, Pollock, Dravid, Ganguly,Tendulkar, Flintoff, Pietersen, Strauss…and the list just goes on and on. It is a veritable who’s who of the best world cricketers to ever walk out onto a pitch, and it is also a list of the players who taught me what this great game is all about.

Cricket, like all sports, reinvents itself every 10-15 years or so. Superstars retire and new blood takes their place. Tendulkar stepped down, and in stepped Kohli.

But just as Virat will never fill Sachin’s shoes in the eyes of Indian fans, no other players will take the place of the ones I “grew up” with, that taught me the game of cricket, that showed me its magic and its passion – and those players include Matt Prior.

Those were my guys, my teachers, and now that entire generation is slipping away, seeping back into the periphery from which they came. And no matter how much I love to watch this new crop of superstars swagger up and down the pitch at Lord’s, or the MCG, or the Wankhede, they will never replace the players I saw in the Caribbean seven years ago, the players I saw in the England-India series the following summer, or the players that lit up the whole of England in the 2009 Ashes.

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When Tendulkar retired, I mourned his loss like the rest of the cricket world, but I also cried at the stories of how his career summed up people’s entire childhoods – and that with him gone, so was their youth. And while I have always bemoaned the fact that cricket does not benchmark my life, I can suffer the same slings and arrows as my fellow cricket followers when the cricketers of my “youth” retire. I was not a young man when I started watching Matt Prior, but I was young to the game, and with him gone, so is just a bit more that drew me cricket all those years ago.

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Nowadays teams at the club level turnover their squads with ruthless efficiency. You can watch your team win a championship only to turn around two or three years later and realize that there isn’t a single player left from that group of athletes that thrilled you so.

This is less the case in international sport, of course, where we are able to develop relationships with athletes that last a decade or more, but it is even less the case in cricket than other international sports, because of the high importance of international competition in cricket overall. And because of this, the relationships we have with cricketers are deeper, longer and more meaningful then they are with athletes from any other sport. It’s just one more thing that makes this game so special. And it’s why when players step aside, struggle at the crease, or pass away, we mourn so fiercely. Like we all did today – English, Indian or otherwise – when that grizzled old keeper was force to tell the world that he’d had enough. An old friend, a fixture on the English XI that beat the world, fading off into the sunset.

Watching proud men and women age is difficult. Sport forces us to do it every day. And in cricket, it’s woven into the fabric of the game.

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Note: I know that Prior is only taking a break. But let’s be honest, he has played his last game for England.

Everyone knows that cricket’s World Cup is long. But just how long when compared to the two other major global team tournaments?

Taking a look:

2015 Rugby World Cup:

Number of teams: 20
Length of tournament: 43 days

2014 Football World Cup:

Number of teams: 32
Length of tournament: 31 days

2015 Cricket World Cup:

Number of teams: 14
Length of tournament: 43

Now, I love the cricket World Cup. I think it is an entertaining and competitive tournament that despite its flaws, usually puts on a pretty good show. And I think next year’s version in Australia will be no different – and that the 2019 Cup in England will be a true show piece.

But when compared to other global sports, it really is too long. It’s simply not marketable to a global audience as it currently stands.

Dropping teams is not the answer (not that that stopped the ICC’s Big Three), as it currently has six fewer teams than Rugby’s and 18 fewer teams than football’s – but still is tied with Rugby for the longest. The answer might be in the format. The Champions Trophy – especially last year’s iteration – is one example of a lightning quick, well fought, competitive ODI format. Unfortunately, that tournament leaves out the Associates and the bottom two full members. That right there takes the “World” right out of “World Cup”. But considering the drop off between the 8th ranked ODI team (West Indies) and the 9th ranked ODI team (Bangladesh), one could argue that leaving out weaker teams – while possibly making the tournament less global in nature – makes for a more entertaining – and shorter – tournament.

So the answer then becomes qualification. Start with all ICC member nations – seeded, of course, and grouped by region – and over the course of 18 months whittle them down to eight teams. Then it’s two groups of four, a semi-final and a final. 14 total matches. The whole thing is done in three weeks if not less.

As long as the Associates have the opportunity to qualify, then the tournament is fair and fun and balanced.

Except it’s not.

Because it’s cricket. And cricket is different than rugby. Different than football. Because unlike the “every given Sunday” nature of those sports (and most American sports), cricket, to quote Gideon Haigh, is “relentlessly” fair. 99 times out of a 100, the better team wins. And so in football while the occasional side – like, say, Honduras – will qualify out of a weak conference and make the “show” – that just wouldn’t happen in cricket. The game is too fair.

And it’s not global enough. South Korea and Cameroon are horrible football teams, but they qualified for the biggest sporting event on earth simply because they play in the right conference.

And so the Associates in cricket would still be frozen out of a World Cup even if they got to chance to play the big boys – which of course would never happen because of the balance of power in the game, but for the sake of argument – they would still be frozen out because they would always lose. And because the game is not global enough, and so a weak team would never get a shot at the spotlight just because they happen to reside in a weak conference.

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So what’s the answer?

How to make the ODI World Cup competitive, inclusive and marketable?

I, of course, do not have the answer, as there is no silver bullet in this situation. But, that said, if football can do it – when you consider they are governed by one of the most corrupt organizations on earth – then cricket can do it too.

The first step? Wipe the slate clean. Keep the 2019 tournament in England but start RIGHT NOW in planning something different that makes the World Cup an event that everyone – cricket fan or not – tunes into the final of. Maybe even a couple of Americans.