Old-Age vs Modern-Age Cricket

Posted by : Anand on 10:19 AM

There has already been enough talk about the comparison between the old-age cricket and modern era cricket. That too the ideology of cricket purists about the third and newly invented format and much hyped and much enjoyed T20 format is often under fire when it comes to the dwindling fan following for test cricket. Purists feel that the quality of the game is spoilt as the skills of the players are not fully tested in this shortest form of the game. I reckon the same kind of speculations may have clouded over the cricketing scenario when the 50-50 format was first implemented at the international level.

Cricket enthusiasts feel that yesteryear cricket and the players were much ahead in terms of skill and attitude towards the game and modern era cricket is much of a one side affair where only bowlers are clobbered around small parks which cannot even be called as playgrounds(take for instance Christchurch in NewZealand). This is quite visible from the fact that in early days, a score of around a 220 or 230 was a formidable total and was very much defendable but these days a 350, 380 or even a 434 is not a limit. This should be attributed to the quality of bats that are prepared these days and small boundary lines. In a comical sense, we can say that they both are inversely proportional to each other.


Though all such speculations exist about the modern era cricket, it cannot be denied that it has brought to the game a very big fan following off-late. The highlight is that people of all ages throng the stadium along with their families to watch the game which is a good sign for the development of the game. Though with the invent of the T20 format , test cricket is given its full due and importance and played with more intensity. It would be apt if we say that T20 format has brought in some aggression in the game that we find that almost all test matches played these days end as result producing ones unlike earlier days where we had many drawn test matches.


‘Change is permanent in everything and cricket is no exception’

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The Run Machine Bevan

Posted by : Anand on 10:17 AM

He is none other than the best lower-middle order batsmen Australia ever had. Michael Gwyl Bevan was born on 8th May 1970 in Belconnen Australia. He was part of the World Cup winning teams of 1999 and 2003.He was a left-handed batsmen and bowled left-handed chinaman. He made his one-day debut against Sri Lanka in the year 1994 and his last appearance for Australia was with Sri Lanka again ten years hence.
He was described as one of the finest one day player to have played the game ever for the way he used to finish the game for his country. He was amongst the very few players to have played more than 30 games and have an average of above 50.But critics feel that that was mainly because of the reason he played down the order and the price he threw upon his own wicket. Bevan was rightly called the ‘run machine’ as he kept the scoreboard ticking whenever he was at the crease.


He had scored over a 6000 runs in the one-day arena compare to a meager 785 runs in the lengthy format of the game. His failure in test cricket was mainly attribute to his shortcoming in playing the short-pitched delivery. However Bevan continuously ruled the one-day format of the game.


The best innings of Bevan that would come to everyone’s mind is the one that he played against the West Indies on the New Years Day in 1996 at the SCG by wrapping up the match with a stunning boundary off the last delivery. Bevan scored an unbeaten 150-minute 78 to guide his team to nail biting victory. The same sort of an inning was played by him against New Zealand in the VB series in the year 2002.But this time he scored an unbeaten century and guided Australia to a terrific win chasing a score of around 241. Australia were once reeling at 63 for 7 in that match.


The best thing about Bevan was, by the time he would come out to bat all the top order batsmen would have gone out and he would have to mostly bat with bowlers or partial all-rounders. The surprising fact is that he has won many matches for Australia batting along with them.

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Mohammad Azharuddin

Posted by : Anand on 10:16 AM

Mohammad Azharuddin was born on 8th February 1963, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, is a former captain of the Indian cricket team. He was an elegant right-handed batsman and usually batted at five in Test cricket. He was allegedly involved in a match-fixing scandal but was not proven guilty in court of law.

In his prime, he had a graceful, fluid batting style, comparable to that of his English contemporary, David Gower. The wrist flick was his most characteristic shot and he fared best against spinners. Those who saw this supreme batting artist at his peak will never forget his wrists transforming a slender piece of willow into a magician's wand!!

Azhar scored a total of 22 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 45, and 7 in ODIs at an average of 37. He scored a century in each of his first three Tests which is a record. An excellent fielder, he took a world record 156 catches in ODI cricket.His highest test score is 199 against Sri lanka and that of ODI is 153.In 1991 he was named as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year and was for many years an inspirational figure in the Indian team with his athletic fielding and leadership.
Towards the end of his career Azharuddin was accused of match-fixing. The then South African captain Hansie Cronje in his confession for match-fixing had indicated that Azharuddin was the one to introduce him to the bookies which caused him a life time ban to play cricket. The ban cost him a chance of joining the 100 Test club, in the end finishing stranded on 99 Test matches.
Azharuddin formally joined the Indian National Congress party on February 19, 2009.He will contest from Moradabad in western Uttar Pradesh in the forthcoming 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

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The Junior Waugh

Posted by : Anand on 5:13 AM

Mark Edward Waugh born on June 2nd 1965 in Canterbury,Australia was one of the best and classy openers Australia has ever had. He was well-known for his stylish display of shots through the off-side field. But his graceful play also made him to be called as a ‘lazy’ batsmen.


He came into the Australian team as an all-rounder but later mainly concentrated on his batting skills and progressed as an opener. Early in his career he used to open with the experienced Mark Taylor and Waugh just played his aggressive game but in his later part of the career he opened with the naturally aggressive Gilchrist, so he focused on anchoring the innings.
He contributed heavily for Australia up the order with over 8000 runs in both forms of the game. He had scored 20 tons in test cricket and 18 tons in one-day internationals. He also holds the record for the most number of catches taken in test match cricket which is to be broken by Rahul Dravid of India who is also on 181 catches right now. But to comment about his catching ability, he was very agile on the field and would cling on to anything that flew past him. Cricketing greats like Ian Chappel have described Mark Waugh as a fielder who caught many stunning and astonishing catches which were almost impossible compared to that of Dravid who mostly held onto safe ones.

 Waugh’s career was always haunted by bribe scandals and other unwanted stuff which led to a bit of slump in his career. His enlightening career came to an awful end during the VB series including New Zealand and South Africa where he and Gilchrist performed really badly and the slow starts they gave made it difficult for the Aussies to make it to the finals of the tournament for the first time in five years.


The stylish right hand bat now works as a sports journalist for the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’.

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Lance Klusener

Posted by : Anand on 10:11 AM

Lance Klusener was born on 4th September 1971 in Durban, South Africa. He is known for his aggressive left hand batting and his right arm fast-medium swing bowling. He is nicknamed "Zulu" because of his fluency in that language. Following his exploits at the 1999 World Cup, he topped the ICC ODI Batting rankings. His peak rating put him 28th on the ICC all-time ODI Batting rankings. His career average of 41.1 in ODI cricket, combined with his strike rate of 89.9 make him one of the the most dangerous batsmen to ever play the game. A childhood spent among Zulu children on a sugar-cane farm and three years in the army contributed to a straightforward approach to bowling: hit the batsman's head if you can't hit his stump.

Klusener made his Test match debut for South Africa against India in Calcutta during the second Test in 1996/97 series. Klusener, at the time playing primarily as a bowler, took some fearful hammering at the hands of Mohammad Azharuddin, who at one point hit him for five consecutive fours, in his first innings of his debut but returned career best figures of eight for 64 in the second. His best test score is 174
Klusener will be remembered mainly for his contributions to South Africa,in One Day Internationals, in which he became feared as a “BRUTAL” hitter of the cricket ball and was voted as Man of the Tournament during the 1999 World Cup. Who can forget that final moments of 1999 world cup semi finals against AUSTRALIA.Allan Donald’s mess up with Klusener .He was also voted as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2000.

His international career has tapered off since then, mainly due to persistent ankle injuries, also due to a public dispute with the current South African captain Graeme Smith, who described zulu as as a "disruptive force" to the younger players.
Klusener plays for Kwazulu-Natal (Nashua Dolphins) in the domestic level in South Africa. In late 2007, he started playing in the Indian Cricket League Twenty20 tournament in India for the Kolkata Tigers team.

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The Flying Bird JONTY

Posted by : Anand on 10:09 AM

Jonathan Neil Jonty Rhodes was born on 27th July 1969 is a former South African cricketer who played between 1992 and 2003. Rhodes was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. As a right-handed batsmen he was noted for his quick running, however he was especially noted for his fielding, particularly ground fielding and throwing from his most common position of backward point.

IS IT A BIRD?? IS IT A PLANE ?? NO IT IS JONTY who can forget Jonty Rhodes the greatest fielder of our era. The brilliant run outs and the amazing catches he had taken showed us that a game of cricket could be won by fielding. Who can forget the run out of Inzamam in 1992 World Cup the way he flew at the stumps to bid the Pakistanis goodbye to their hopes .

I still remember the first ball of cricket I saw which drew me inside, it was a test match between England and South Africa . The batsman was a left hander and he hit the ball towards Jonty and he hit the stumps when batsman scampered for a quick single even though he was safe tat was brilliant and the commentator said “quick single good running and what a piece of fielding he (Jonty) always makes us comment about him and does not want us to stop”. I remember another brilliant piece of fielding he did once he was standing at silly point the batsman mistimed the ball through covers and the ball was in the air and bravo Jonty ran all the distance to deep extra cover and made it look as if he had taken a regulation catch. Also the controversial catch of Sachin which was really unbelievable as no batsmen would ever imagine a fielder to get near the ball flying sky high diving to his left and taking it too that too with very less time to react fielding at backward point . He came to define fielding and show how it was important. Now presently this man is still there in South Africa as a fielding coach and this shows his passion to the department of fielding. Also he is fighting cancer which was a shocking truth that many people didn’t know. This truly shows his tough attitude. Without being stranded hopelessly in a corner he went on to become a cricketer for his country and adding to this he earned the name of the best fieldsman in the world so far. Hats offffff to you Jonty!!!!!!

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