Category: Test Cricket

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Cricket for Americans, Jan. 5 2019: Neither here nor there

Day three of the South Africa v Pakistan Test in Cape Town is on in the background. It’s 4:23 in the afternoon there, and a balmy 74 degrees Fahrenheit. Pakistan is batting in their second innings there at the bottom of the world. I am sitting at my kitchen table in St. Paul, Minn. It’s 30 degrees Fahrenheit here at 8:23 in the morning.

Cape Town is 8,808 miles away. But the signal from Willow.TV is clear and clean and perfect.

It’s a big old world, but it’s also a magical one.

Sure, we were promised flying cars and jet packs and day trips to the moon, but this is pretty good too. I get to sit in my apartment in Minnesota and watch a Test match on the other side of the world, live and in color, with only probably a 30 second delay. If that’s not the future delivering on a promise, then I don’t know what is.

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Pakistan are 214 for five. That is to say, they have scored 214 runs and lost five wickets. If they lose five more, they are dismissed. They only scored 177 runs in their first innings, while South Africa scored 431, so they have to score at least 36 runs to make South Africa bat again, and a whole lot more than that if they want to win the match or force a draw. In other words, it’s South Africa’s Test to win, but Pakistan is putting up a good fight here this afternoon, which is lovely to see. Pakistan has always been a favorite of mine. A friend once told me that while they won’t always win, they will always entertain, and I have always found that to be true. They are a real joy to watch, they play fun, swashbuckling cricket with a swagger and a smile. And their fight this afternoon is a great advertisement for Test cricket

If you are looking for a team to support this summer at the World Cup, may I suggest Pakistan. Their first match of the tournament is at 4:30am Central US Time on May the 31st.

Personally, I don’t have a team. I never really have. I have tried. But nothing has stuck. Pakistan, England, New Zealand, IPL squads, County Cricket teams, like water through my hands. But that’s never really taken away from my enjoyment of the game, in fact I think it only adds to it. I am a true neutral, and therefore while I never enjoy the highest of the highs, I also am never forced into the lowest of the lows. All I care about is if the cricket is enjoyable or not.

The game also just has so many wonderful personalities, and each match it seems a new cast rises to the top for us all to savor. And, in that way, it’s similar to golf or tennis — almost an individual sport in the guise of a team one. You can have your favorites and it doesn’t matter which uniform they are wearing. And while I am a neutral, this is true for most fans of the game. If a player scores a beautiful ton or double ton away from home, the opposing home crowd will applaud the effort, express the appreciation for his wonderful batting. It’s one of those little cricket intricacies that I love.

In Cape Town, Pakistan are collapsing to 221 for 7. They have three wickets left and 33 runs to get. The match is slipping away from them and there’s nothing they can do. South Africa is running downhill now. But I am neither overjoyed nor am I miserable. I am simply enjoying the cricket, the shadows long in the late afternoon at the bottom of the world. The crowd murmuring, bits of song, voices rising with each potential wicket. Players in white against the green of the Newlands’ turf. The sound of bat defending ball, of bowlers racing in, of batsmen tapping their bats against the hardness of pitch. The commentators droning on, their voices like music. Pakistan fighting on despite the odds.

Saturday afternoon in Cape Town.

8,000 miles away.

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Cricket for Americans, Jan. 4 2019: The Spirit of Cricket

India’s Virat Kohli is just about the best batsman in world cricket. A couple other guys come close, but he’s probably the best. He’s the Captain of his country, he’s been successful in all formats, and he’s simply a joy to watch. In short: he’s a great cricketer.

Which is most likely why he was booed by Australian crowds during India’s current tour down under (he was also treated to a rousing chorus of “Kohli is a wanker” chants in Melbourne).

No biggie, right? That’s sports. People get booed. It’s how it works. Heroes get booed. Goats get booed. Villains get booed. It’s part of the fun, right?

Wrong. Not in cricket.

The Australian crowds’ behavior was slammed not by Indian officials, but by former Australian Captain, Ricky Ponting, as well as current Australian commentators and officials.

Reactions to the booing can be summed up using this quote from commentator Tim Lane: “I must say I thought the reception he was given as he came out was poor and it was graceless in that he is the captain of a visiting team.“

That, right there, is the spirt of cricket in a nutshell.

And that’s how cricket is different from every other sport, yet again. There are a series of rules — some written, some unwritten — that everyone involved in the sport must follow, otherwise there is pearl clutching from some and sanctions for others. One great example of this is what’s known as Mankading. In a nutshell, using the definition from Cricket Australia’s website, Mankading a batter is, “when a bowler runs out a batsman who has left their ground at the non-striker’s end during the bowler’s delivery stride.” Basically, the bowler pretends he is going to bowl, so the batter leaves his crease, only the bowler doesn’t bowl and instead knocks the bails off the wicket, so the batsman is out. It’s named after Indian bowler Vinoo Mankad, who deployed the method several times during India’s 1947 tour of Australia.

It is a perfectly legal way to record a wicket. Down to the letter of the law laid out in the Rules of Cricket, there’s nothing wrong with it in the slightest. Even the Spirit of Cricket laws don’t specifically mention anything about it.

Yet, if a bowler — gasp — happens to use the method to record an out, it is met with great consternation from the world of cricket the likes of which you have never seen. You would think the bowler had killed someone.

Another famous incident is when an Australian bowler bowled underarm to a New Zealand batsman, thereby making it impossible for the batsman to score the six runs needed to force a tie. There’s a great YouTube video of that.

Underarm bowling is now illegal, but at the time, in that competition, it wasn’t. But still: great consternation. (Watch the video all the way to the end.)

Cheating, and unsportsmanlike behavior, are of course frowned on in other sports. But for the most part, it’s against the rules and punished accordingly. But in cricket, there are unwritten rules that all must follow. It gives the game this secret lexicon, this secret code, that makes it feel like you are in a special club of people. It lends tradition and a polite pastoral feel to the game. It can be frustrating at times, but for the most part, I think it is one more bit of cricket that elevates it over other sports. What’s wrong with a wee bit of politeness and grace in this mad, mad, mad world?

And speaking of Indian batsmen: Pujara and Pant have pummeled the Australian bowlers and it looks like they will be going home with a series win — the first time that’s ever happened. Australia — who’ve won three out of the last four World Cups, appear to be in shambles. Sure, this is their Test side versus their One Day side, but losing like this on home soil is no way to kickoff a World Cup year. We shall see what happens in the rest of the tour.

Until tomorrow.

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Cricket for Americans, Jan. 3 2019: from Neesham to Pujara

A busy day in cricket yesterday. New Zealand beat Pakistan by 45 runs in a One Day International that saw the return of James Neesham: who crushed 47 runs off of just 13 deliveries — including five sixes in one over — and would have cruised to the fastest ODI half century ever had New Zealand not simply run out of overs. Then the all-rounder came back and took three Pakistani wickets to seal the game.

And he wasn’t even Man of the Match! Those plaudits fell to veteran opener Martin Guptill who’s run-a-ball 138 to kickoff New Zealand’s innings were enough to put them into a good position and keep them there all day. With the World Cup around the corner, you have to give some thought to the idea that this might finally be New Zealand’s time. They currently rank third in the ICC’s ODI rankings behind England and India. And while you have to make England the favorite this summer on their home turf, New Zealand are really making a case for themselves. Either way, things are setting up for what should be a tight, highly competitive tournament this summer in England and Wales.

Meanwhile, up the road a bit in Sydney, India won the toss and chose to bat on the first day of the fourth and final Test against Australia, with a chance to take the series 3-1 before they move into the ODI stage of the tour. And boy oh boy bat they did, highlighted by Cheteshwar Pujara who continued his run of good form, scoring a slow-burn 130 not-out to lead Australia to 303 for four wickets at the close of play.

It really was a tale of two batsmen then. First you have Neesham, who scored 47 off of 13 in probably like 15 minutes — while Pujara has defended his way to three centuries already this tour and has spent over 30 hours at the wicket since the Indian plane landed in Melbourne. Many people have said that batsmen like Neesham who revel in the shorter forms of the game will end up ruining Test cricket’s methodical pacing, and so they will be warmed to hear of Pujara’s success down-under these past few weeks.

I believe, personally, that there is room for all styles of batsmen in cricket, no matter the format. And new styles will only serve to provide more color to older formats. It’s a big old world, and there’s plenty of cricket, let’s mix it up now and again. It gives the game a variety that other sports simply don’t have. Neesham and Pujara are barely even playing the same sport, and yet somehow they are.

And people have been saying that this or that is going to finally be the nail in Test cricket’s coffin, and it never is, because there will always be people like Cheteshwar Pujara who simply like to bat, and score runs, and want to do it all day, no matter the format or the venue.

It takes all kinds. And yesterday we saw two of them. Cricket is infinitely interesting. And the above is just one example of its near constant state of curiosity. It’s an old bat and ball sport played with 22 people on empty fields of green yet somehow every day it throws up something different for us all to enjoy. You tune in one day and watch a muscle-bound hulk score 50 runs in 20 minutes, and you tune in the next and watch a skinny kid bat all damn day. It’s almost a miracle.

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Cricket for Americans, 1 Jan. 2019: The show that never ends

Welcome to the show that never ends.

And by the show, I mean cricket.

I have followed the game since April of 2007, and I still have not gotten use to the game’s relentless pace of matches. There is always something happening, and always something on the horizon. Right now, for instance, India is touring Australia, Pakistan is touring South Africa and Sri Lanka is touring New Zealand. Plus there is the Big Bash League, the Women’s Big Bash League, the Bangladeshi Premier League and on and on. Down the road, just this year, there is the Indian Premier League, the Ashes and a World Cup. What does that all mean? We will get to that later.

It’s going to be a great year. And I hope to be your guide going forward.

As I said, I have followed the game since 2007, and I have written about the sport since 2011. I am by no means an expert. But from the perspective of my friends who know nothing about cricket, I sort of am. And so that’s what I decided to write about going forward: daily posts about the happenings in the sport for anyone who wants to learn more. But it’s not going to be a daily vocabulary lesson, it’s going to be: here’s what is happening, and here’s why I think it’s cool, and here’s why I think you will like it. In that respect, it will be just as much for the lifelong cricket fan as it will be for the cricket newbie.

Because, the thing is, there is always something to learn about the game. Always a new opinion to take in, swallow, and accept or spit out.  And that’s why the sport is infinitely interesting and infinitely entertaining. The game itself is not a straightforward lay up or home run, it’s this opera of plot twists and tunnels and open roads. It’s like baseball only the team in the field is on offense (wrap your head around that). There are heroes and villains and cheating and glory. And it isn’t just one format, or one league, it’s this unending cycle of tournaments and tours and cups and trophies.

There is always something happening, and it’s always worth knowing about.

Matches happening today include a handful of Big Bash League games and a full suite of Ranji Trophy ties. The Big Bash League is a domestic league in Australia that attracts international players from all over the world. The league uses the T20 format which is only a couple years older than Twitter. We will get to that later. Plus the Ireland A squad is in Sri Lanka. Ireland just recently was promoted to Test status, which means they hang with the big boys now. England, Australia, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, the West Indies (not a country, more of an area), Pakistan, the aforementioned Ireland, and Afghanistan — also a recent joiner of this elite club. These are the heavy hitters, the show. They each have their own domestic leagues — some more popular and/or historic than others — and they also tour each other’s nations now and again for international play. The Ashes, for instance, is a trophy given to the winner of the Test series between England and Australia. These series that happen every couple of years or so. Sometimes every year. Sometimes in the same year.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

The next matches of note include the first day of a Test Match between Australia and India in Sydney at 17:30 central time tomorrow, the first day of a Test Match between South Africa and Pakistan in Cape Town, and a One Day International (ODI) that sees New Zealand playing Sri Lanka in Mount Maunganui. The Test Matches are the five day matches with the sweaters and the white uniforms that you probably picture when someone says “cricket.” The ODI is a shorter form of the game that takes place, funnily enough, on a single day. It’s like the cricketing equivalent of a short story, and is a new format but not as new as the T20, which is about the length of an American baseball game. All three formats have their plusses and their minuses. Well, except Test cricket, which has zero minuses.

And that’s just tomorrow.

It’s the show that never ends. And it’s one helluva ride. And you picked a great time to hop on.

For viewing in America: ESPN has some matches, but you need a subscription to ESPN3 or whatever they call it now, and I am not entirely sure how one goes about getting that (does anyone really know? or is it one of those human mysteries like Stonehenge that we will never solve?), and Willow.TV. The latter is a funky little homegrown streaming service that seems really shady but is apparently perfectly legit and priced right and brings you a ton of cricket. I’d recommend it.

Honestly, though, the game is just as entertaining in a text based environment. For that, I’d recommend ESPN Cricinfo. They do ball by ball coverage of every match on the planet. Bookmark it. It’s a great way to get to the game and its vast lexicon.

And then there are the blogs. But that’s a wormhole for another day.

This is going to be fun.

Until tomorrow.

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Australia v India at Sydney, 1st T20I

(This is part five of the 199s – parts one, two, three, and four are here, here, here, and here.)

In the last week of March, 1999, all eyes were on the Balkans, as US led NATO forces had just started a bombing campaign in order to quell the Kosovo War and the tragic and enormous loss of civilian life happening through Serbia, Albania, and Yugoslavia.

The Kosovo War had been raging for a year, this after the Yugoslav War earlier in the decade.

It is a sad and complicated chapter in Europe’s history, and I do not claim to be an expert on the conflict, but reading the casualty reports is a shocking endeavor: 800,000 displaced citizens, 12,000 civilian deaths (including 10,000 deaths at the ends of the Yugoslav military), and two mass graves in Belgrade that contained almost 1,500 bodies.

1,500 people – killed, and dumped into an unmarked mass grave.

In Europe.

In 1999.

Shocking.

Your geography lesson:

Meanwhile, at the same time, five thousand miles away, at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados: Steve Waugh scored 199 runs in a cricket match for Australia against the West Indies.

For five days, as the war raged in Yugoslavia, two countries played out a cricket match – and what a cricket match it was.

Australia won the toss and had a bat, scoring 490 all out – thanks to Waugh’s 199 and 104 from Ricky Ponting (13 years later he is still scoring important centuries for Australia…he deserves the legacy of a cricketing hero.)

The West Indies responded with 329, and then scuttled Australia for 146 in the visitor’s second innings thanks to a five-for from Jamaican Courtney Walsh – who according to Cricinfo: “bowled faster for longer than any man in history.” 132 Tests, 30,019 deliveries, 519 wickets…

But this is not his story.

In the fourth and final innings, the West Indies scored 311 runs and won the match by one wicket…

West Indies last innings featured a 54 run ninth wicket stand from the incomparable Brian Lara and the incomparable Curtly Ambrose.

Lara finished the innings 153 not out – and the Wisden Almanak described his knock thusly:

“Irrefutably, his undefeated 153 was the hand of a genius. Exhibiting the new awareness and maturity he discovered in Jamaica, he brilliantly orchestrated the conclusion to an unforgettable match. He guided his men to victory as though leading the infirm through a maze.”

But this is not Lara’s story either.

The four match series ended in a draw. Australia won the first test at Port of Spain by 312 runs; the West Indies won the next two, at Kingston by one wicket and Bridgetown by ten; and Australia won the final match by 176 runs at St. John’s.

A thriller of a match, a thriller of a series.

All while 100,000 Serbians fled their homes from the Kosovo Liberation Army, and NATO bombers scorched Albanian hillsides.

Steve Waugh, he of the 199 knock, is one of the most beloved cricketers to ever don the baggy greens for Australia.

He played in 168 Tests for his country, scoring 10,927 runs.

His 199 in Bridgetown was the second highest Test score of his career – had scored 200 four years earlier in Kingston, also against the West Indies.

He captained Australia in both Tests and in ODIs – and led them to a World Cup victory in 1999.

Considering his captain’s temperant, I am sure he was upset at getting out because it let his team down, and not because he was on the verge of a personal milestone.

And just like in the previous 199, Waugh’s wicket was taken LBW by a little known and little used bowler: Nehemiah Perry.

He only played in four tests for the West Indies, and took 10 wickets for them in all.  In 2004 he was forced to retire due to back problems, and is now on the West Indies national selection panel.

But, again, I bet ending Waugh’s innings stands out more for the bowler, than for the batter.

An interesting theme in these posts, for sure.

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On the pitch? Nothing.

The first T20I between Australia and India is today at the SCG.

Like I said: nothing.

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East Zone v West Zone at Valsad, Duleep Trophy (#3)

(Part four of 199s is below. Parts one, two, and three are here, here, and here.)

The fourth score of 199 in Test cricket happened on August the 9th, 1997.

The batter? Sanath Jayasuriya, for Sri Lanka.

It happened in the third innings of the second of two tests in Sri Lanka versus India. Both matches ended in draws.

In the first Test, Jayasuriya scored a massive triple ton, 340 to be exact, giving him 571 runs for the series: a record for a two match Test series, besting W. Hammond’s record of 563 runs set way back in the 1930s.

In the match, Tendulkar hit a ton in his first innings (of course) for India, as did Ganguly, as did Mohammed Azharuddin – who of course is also a member of the 199 Club.

Jarasuriya is best known for lighting up the stage during his One Day International career, but he was equally prolific as a Test batsman, playing in 110 Tests and hitting 6.973 runs – including 14 100s, two double hundreds, and the triple hundred discussed above.

Also, of course, he is a politician, and was brought out of retirement in a rather farcical manner to play in the one-dayers last summer in England.

In ODIs, he really is king: 445 matches and 13,430 runs (only Sachin has more), including 28 hundreds and the fifth highest ODI score ever: 189 v India at Sharjah in 2000.

He also scored the fastest 50 in ODI history: off of only seventeen deliveries.

Seventeen!

SEVENTEEN!

His 199 took place at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, in Colombo.

The ground in 2001, Sri Lanka v England:

And your geography lesson:

The ground has hosted Tests since 1984, and according to its Wiki Page, it is known as the Lord’s of Sri Lanka – the spiritual home of Sri Lankan cricket.

As of late, however, the preeminent ground in Colombo has been the Premadasa Stadium. In fact, the SCC did not host a single match during the 2011 World Cup, while the Premadasa Stadium hosted five group matches, a quarter-final, and a semi-final.

Unlike other members of the dubious 199 Club, Jarasuriya had a long and propserous career.

His 199 was a a blip, all but forgotten I am sure, especially since he knocked a double Test century just a little over a year later, versus England at the Oval.

One last note: Jarasuriya’s wicket was taken by the fast bowler, Abey Kuruvilla – probably the tallest player to bowl for India at six feet, six inches.

He only played in 10 tests, and only took 25 wickets. He did play First Class cricket in India for ten years, taking 290 wickets, but his international career never really took off.

So I bet Jarasuriya’s wicket, though maybe long forgotten by the batsman, is remember fondly by the bowler.

Back on the pitch:

Not a great deal happening. I summed up the #testcricketweek that was in my post last night.

The cricket world is busy less with cricket and more with figuring out what exactly went wrong for India in Australia, and England in the UAE; something best left to the experts.

Until next time (which is what the NPCs in Skyrim say when conversations end, so I am going to stop ending my posts with it.)

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East Zone v West Zone at Valsad, Duleep Trophy

(Note: this is the third post in a series entitled “The 199s.” Part one is here, part two is here.)

200s in Test cricket are not unheard of. In fact one could say they are even a little bit common. There have been 313 of them in the 2,000 plus Tests since 1877.

But that does not mean that they are easy; getting to 200 requires hours of concentration, it requires mental fortitude, luck, and batting skills of the highest order.

And while it is really an arbitrary number, getting to 200 I am sure is a bit of a relief for a player, as it releases the pressure; and just the same, I am sure falling at 199 is far more painful than falling at 176 or 184, especially when the player might never get to such great heights again…

In July, 2010, Armando Galarraga had a chance to pitch a perfect game, a true rarity in sport, a wonderful accomplishment; only the umpire, one Jim Joyce, blew the call on the final out and wrecked it for the young man.

The most heartbreaking part of it all was that everyone knew that Galarraga, an average pitcher at best, would never in a million years get another chance to complete a perfect game.

Which brings us to today’s entry in the 199 club…

Now Matthew Elliot was not the victim of a bad umpiring decision when he got out for 199 at Headingley during the Ashes series on 24 July, 1997, but it was the only time throughout his career that he would come anywhere near a double century.

In fact, in his 36 Test innings, he only scored two regular centuries, and only scored a total of 1,172 runs.

That 199 in 1997 accounted for nearly 17% of Elliot’s career Test runs.

Matthew’s knock came in Australia’s first (and only) innings after his countrymen had bowled out England for 172 (this was the 1990s, remember.)  He batted for nearly seven and a half hours, seeing 351 balls…and he was dropped three times by England fielders (this was the 1990s, remember.) (Armando Galarraga could have used a bit of Elliot’s luck, surely.)  …26 fours, 3 sixes, and a strike rate of 56.69…

The match was the third in the Ashes Series. England had won the first Test at The Oval, but Australia went on to win at Nottingham, at Leeds, and at Old Trafford to retain the Ashes.  The dead rubber at Lord’s was a draw.

As mentioned, the ground that hosted Elliot’s 199 was Headingley, in Leeds, a last minute ground change which Australia unsuccessfully protested.

It seats 17,000 and has hosted Tests since 1899 – most recently Australia v Pakistan in July of 2010 (Pakistan won by three wickets.)

It is a beautiful and famous old ground, and is home to Yorkshire, by far County Cricket’s most successful domestic side.

Your geography lesson:

(I was hoping that I would discover something cool when looking into the 199s, like that they all happened in the Subcontinent. But Elliot’s knock came in Northern England, which is just about as far from the Subcontinent as you can possibly get without going to the moon.)

Despite Elliot’s lack of long term success at the International level (he as only played in one ODI for his country, and no T20s) he did have a long and somewhat successful career in Australian domestic cricket – though it was also riddled with injuries.

He retired from professional cricket in 2008, but surfaced again a year later to play in the Indian Cricket League for the Chandigarh Lions.

Elliot’s career was marred by bad luck and a bit of tragedy (he blew out his knee in only his second test match, for instance), this despite his immense talent at the crease.

He scored two centuries during his first Ashes series, was named one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year in 1999, but his form dipped and he was dropped from the national side that same year.

I can’t help but think that maybe things would have been different for him if he had gotten just one more run on that July day in northern England…

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On the pitch: GAH! Too much to even go into…Napier, Abu Dhabi, Adelaide – I suggest Cricinfo.

I will say this about the Australia-India test at Adelaide: it is just about the most melancholy sporting event I have ever experienced. @mannerofspeakin tweeted that “an entire generation of Indian cricket fans are watching their heroes fade into the sunset.”

It is very sad to watch our heroes age, grow old, fade away. And we are watching that with VVS, Sachin, Dravid.

After 816 Test innings and 37,422 runs, their Test careers are over.

It is so terribly sad – and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

God speed, fellas. You deserved better.

Until next time.

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Free State v Boland at Bloemfontein, CSA Provincial Three-Day Challenge

On December 17th, 1986, in Huntingdon, England, a 35 year old woman received the first triple organ transplant: new heart, new liver, new lungs.

On the same day, on the other side of the world, in Kanpur, India, Mohammed Azharuddin got to 199 in a cricket match against Sri Lanka before being called out LBW.

The former is probably a more fascinating topic for exploration, but today I will concentrate on the latter, as Limited Overs continues its series on the 199s in Test Cricket.  (Part 1 here.)

Azharuddin’s knock came in India’s first innings, on the 2nd day of the match;  he batted for 555 minutes, and the match eventually ended in a draw.

It was the first match of a three match series, a series that India eventually won 2-0, winning the next two matches by an innings and 106 runs and an innings and 67 runs. (Note that Sri Lanka had only been playing tests for four years at the time.)

Also putting up big scores for India in that match were Sunil Gavaskar (176) and Kapil Dev (163.)

Azharuddin had long partnerships with both men during his knock: 163 with Gavaskar and 272 with Kapil Dev. (There was also a 19 run partnership with none other than Ravi Shastri.)

The match took place at Green Park in the densely populated and smog ridden city of Kanpur, India.

The ground:

The geography lesson:

The ground seats 45,000, was established in 1945, and has hosted 22 tests: the first in 1952 versus England (England won by 8 wickets) and the most recent was in 2009 versus Sri Lanka (India won by an innings and 144 runs.)

Up until recently, it was known to produce rather dour draws, but the pitch has been relaid and is a bit of a batsmen’s paradise, and no longer does the lifeless pitch produce lifeless draws: Of the 14 tests held there between 1960 and 1986, only two produced a winner; while of the five tests held there between 1996 and 2009, four produced a winner.

Mohammed Azharuddin himself, was quite the batsmen. Cricinfo described him as: “a Michelangelo in the midst of housepainters.”

The 199 was his highest test score, and he also played in 99 tests. A frustrating end to his knock at Kanpur, and a frustrating end to his test career (I won’t go into too much detail, but it seems as though there was a wee bit of match fixing going on near the end there.)

Over those 99 tests, he scored 6,215 runs, including 22 tons, with an average of 45.03. He also took 105 catches.

He was captain of India for most of the 1990s, winning 14 test matches (a record at the time) and 103 ODIs (still a record.)

In 1991 he was named Wisden’s Cricketer of the year, and after his forced retirement he entered politics and is currently representing Uttar Pradesh for the Indian National Congress party.

The highlight of his test career came in his debut series against England in 1984-1985, where he had hundreds in three consecutive test matches: 110 in the first innings at Kolkata, 105 in the second innings at Chennai, and 122 in the first innings at…Kanpur.

Tomorrow, another segment of The 199 Club.

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Back on the pitch:

Yesterday I watched so much Test cricket…it was a cricketing paradise. I watched New Zealand v Zimbabwe, Australia v India, AND Pakistan v England.

That last match was unexpected, as Willow only has the rights, supposedly, to show the match in Canada, but when I flipped over to Willow.tv at 11:45 CST last night, there was the match preview, live and in color. And at promptly midnight out walked Misbah and Co., and I was able to watch Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad bowl out Pakistan’s tail before wising up and heading to bed.

Meanwhile, in Adelaide, India continue to capitulate, despite a lovely ton for Kohli, who looks to be the real deal; while in Napier it was New Zealand’s day, ending at 331/5.

All three tests were a joy to watch, but I really need to start getting more sleep.

Until next time.

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Australia v India at Adelaide, 4th Test

Big news in test cricket today, of course, as Ireland announced its plans to achieve full Test status no later than 2020 (a delightfully ironic year to choose as a goal, for sure.)  The plans include growing the popularity overall as well as the establishment of a first class domestic league.

And I must admit that I am excited, I think Ireland will make a wonderful addition to the Test cricket family.  I even voiced a bit of excitement over on Twitter – unfortunately, as you can see, the party was properly spoilt by @grangergabblog.

Of course, she was not completely serious, as even if Test cricket was finally and properly dying, I do think it is going to hang around in one form or another for at least another eight years, but her point about India is a valid one: will Test cricket die if India, or any other Test playing nation for that matter, loses interest in Tests, and if so should we ALL be worried about India’s current Test form?

The answer to the first question is a resounding yes – save for one qualifier: if Bangladesh or Zimbabwe started focusing on their one day game, and the fans become disinterested in Tests, then while I think cricket as a sport would suffer overall, but I think Test cricket would be just fine.

The answer to the second question is no, of course not. India has been playing Test cricket for 80 years, and the long format has a wonderful tradition in that country.  Sure their form has been awful, but one 12 month blip is not going to erase eight decades worth of achievement; and sure there is the IPL, and sure their most recent success has come in the 50-over format, but just reading the Indian blogs shows me that Indian fans are still fanatical for Test cricket, and while the players might look disinterested, the passion from the terraces will surely continue to keep Test cricket alive and well in India for generations to come.

But to insure the above: make the Test Cricket Playoff a reality and let Mumbai host it in 2017.

In fact, doing that strengthens the format all over, and would serve to keep all countries interested and competitive – and competitive Test squads from all 10 nations is imperative to the growth of the game.

And that is why I am really excited about the prospect of seeing Ireland play Test series around the globe throughout the next decade.  Good for Ireland, good for Tests, good for Cricket.  Surely.

And it’s a big few days for Test cricket: Australia is putting the hammer down on India at the dead rubber in Adelaide (just a real shame how this series is ending – it started with so much promise.)

Meanwhile, in Abu Dhabi, the second test between Pakistan and England is due to start in about four and a half hours: a must win for England? Not necessarily – but at the very least they are going to need a draw to avoid a serious media inquest.

Finally, the first and only Test between New Zealand and Zimbabwe starts tomorrow afternoon, Minneapolis time.  I will probably choose to watch that over day three of India bending over for Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting.

And, yes, that ugly metaphor is accurate: they have scored 1,038 runs between the two of them in this series. And while their remorseless accumulations have been impressive, surely, even the most diehard of India supporters would tell you that a lot of those runs were given away rather cheaply – easy runs, for the most part, in other words.

As we speak, Clark is at 206no and Ponting 193no – and India just seems to have no interest whatsoever in getting them out…

Isn’t it, like, a million degrees in Adelaide this morning? Don’t they want to get off the field?

And thus this series will wilt to a close. So very disappointing…Dhoni and Co. should reimburse the travel expenses of the traveling fans. It’s been that bad.

And that’s it for tonight. Look tomorrow for the start of a new feature here at Limited Overs!

Until next time.

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Kurunegala Youth Cricket Club v Sri Lanka Army at Kurunegala, Premier League Tournament Tier B

Sure, it’s only one test, but’s it worthy of a preview, as I have mentioned about 17 different times on the blog already, the match is going to be live on Willow TV at a very reasonable hour: first ball at 15:30.

This will be the eighth test match series between the hosts, New Zealand, and the minnows, Zimbabwe. New Zealand have won five of those series, the other three have been drawn.  In fact, New Zealand has never lost a test match to Zimbabwe; over their 14 head to head meetings, the Kiwis have won eight and drawn six – most recently beating them by 34 runs this past November at the Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Nine of the matches have been played in Zimbabwe, only five in New Zealand, none at a neutral ground (it won’t be long until every head to head history will have to include a “neutral ground” category, so I am getting on board early: the U.A.E. will host an England v Australia ODI series within 10 years, you heard it hear first.)

The Ground

The one test of this series will take place at the…

Okay, please do allow me to editorialize just for a second here: one test? ONE!?

I realize it is an abbreviated series overall (three ODIs, two T20s), but they couldn’t find room for one more test in the schedule?  Don’t the ICC and the cricket boards of New Zealand and Zimbabwe want their countries to improve at test cricket?

Maybe not, maybe the money is in the one-dayers, and maybe their cricket boards feel that either way, their domestic leagues do enough to develop cricketers who excel in the long form of the game, but I just don’t know…

One test feels wasteful; and a strong Zimbabwe is terribly important to test cricket, as is a strong New Zealand.

And I realize I am preaching to the converted here, mostly, and I freely admit that I don’t get all the ins and outs of cricket scheduling, and I am sure there are a myriad of other considerations that I am not touching on, but one single test during a month long tour is just simply short sighted.

And, shoot, tests rarely last the full five days anymore anyway, so it’s not like a second test would add that many days to the tour.  I digress…

The one test of this series will take place from 26 January through 30 January at the McClean Park Ground in Napier, New Zealand.

The ground has four stands and large grass bank.  I love a ground with a grass bank.

And from what I can tell via Google Maps, the ground is actually set right into the heart of an urban area, unusual in world cricket:

And here is your geography lesson:

The ground has hosted nine tests. The first in 1979 featured the hosts against Pakistan, and ended in a draw. The most recent was in 2009, also against Pakistan, and it also ended in a draw.

In fact, of the nine tests played at the ground, only two have produced a result, and both were New Zealand losses: to Sri Lanka in 1995, and to England in 2008.

The ground is known for its batter friendly pitch, which would explain all of the draws.

The Squads

New Zealand finished 2011 with that dramatic victory over Australia at Hobart, of course, but otherwise had a quiet and unsuccessful year, test wise. They only played five total tests, winning two (Australia and Zimbabwe), losing two (Australia and Pakistan), and drawing one (Pakistan.)

Zimbabwe took a forced leave of absence from tests in 2005, and played its first test since the layoff just this past summer, beating Bangladesh at Harare.  And they only played two other tests in 2011, losing both (Pakistan and New Zealand.)

New Zealand has announced its test squad for the match, and back is the young quick Doug Bracewell who took six wickets in the Kiwis’ win at Hobart – and it looks as though the talisman Vettori is back in the squad, as well, after being out injured in Tasmania.

I will admit I know very little about Zimbabwean cricket, but here is their squad list.

They are captained by Brendan Taylor, who has played in 16 tests – a lot considering Zimbabwe’s layoff for most of the last seven years. Taylor has been in the international squad since he was 18, and has played in 129 ODIs for his country, despite being only 25.

He also plays domestic cricket in New Zealand, so he should be well suited to the conditions.

And the conditions should be good, weather wise: mid 70s and cloudy, which should keep the pitch from being too batter friendly.

Prediction?  A draw. But it will go the full five days, something really unheard of in test cricket lately.

Back on the pitch:

South Africa and Sri Lanka are playing in their final ODI today in Kimberley.  South Africa has already won the series, so its a bit of dead rubber, but it would be nice for Sri Lanka if they could win at least one of these games.

The hosts are 291/7 with one over left. That’s a lot for Sri Lanka to chase, and I just don’t see it happening for them.

Also, in Chennai, Rajasthan just keeps…on…batting…. They are 404/2 after two full days.  And considering the match can be decided on first innings runs, I suppose we can’t really expect to see a sporting declaration any time soon.

Vineet Saxena, one the openers, has 207 runs off of 555 balls, his strike rate a miniscule 37.29.  He is 31 years old, has never played for his country, and probably never will. He made his debut for Rajasthan in 1998 and they have been his only team…77 first class matches, 4,500 runs, and nine 100s…

I think is a great story, a double ton to bring his only club their second Championship in as many years, so I will forgive his rather unexciting approach to batting.

Enjoy your time out in the sun, Vineet.

Until next time.