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Gilly’s broken thumb

One of the thing I didn’t mention in last night’s post was that it appeared that Adam Gilchrist broke his thumb. Ouch! As of this afternoon, however, the Australian camp was staying mum about the injury. The consensus seems to be that, even if it is broken, Gilly will simply soldier through the rest of the series and have a fitting farewell from ODI competition. We’ll see what happens.

Australia trounces India… again

In just over 41 overs, Australia rolled India in tonight’s ODI by 50 runs. And I guess it’s fair to say that if you were an Indian cricketer, you’d probably be asking yourself what it takes to beat the Australian team. Despite some poor batting performances recently, Australia’s bowling has been sublime, consistently winning it matches around the country to the delight of crowds.

While Australia’s batsmen will undoubtedly be spending even more practice time in the nets before the next match, I think the team can be confident that only some kind of disaster is going to stop it taking out the series, based on current form and room for improvement. The most interesting question, at this point in time, is whether Sri Lanka or India will make the final. I’d suggest India.

Savaging cricket greats

The SMH has printed quite a negative piece on the forthcoming IPL, with writer Andrew Stevenson all but savaging some of the game’s greats.

… in what looms as a tragic case of sport imitating art, McGrath seems set to follow the sad spectacle of the Rolling Stones and continue wandering the globe like some lost troubadour singing his song wherever rich men will throw coin in his cap.

Of Warne, we can expect little else, both spruiking himself and the IPL: his cap has been out for years, but Gilchrist revolutionised cricket with his play, and invigorated the game with his character. Now, too, his cap is out, catching coins tossed idly by the game’s new sahibs.

Frankly, Stevenson’s piece is grossly exaggerated. You’d think these guys had been retired for 15 years, or something, and were trying to make some sort of hopeless comeback on creaky old legs. I mean, let’s look at some facts:

• Warne and McGrath are barely retired and both of them retired, arguably, too soon - maybe even two or three years too soon in Warne’s case.
• Although retiring, Gilchrist is still playing. He scored 118 just last night.
• The IPL is only Twenty20, anyway. It’s not like they’re signing up for a massively long series of Test matches that are taxing on older players.

I venture that Stevenson wanted to write something controversial and, in that respect, it’s fair to say that he succeeded. But in the pursuit of making much sense as an analytical sports writer, I think he’s failed pretty badly.

Sri Lanka toppled quite easily

Not even the guys on ABC Radio could stop the Aussies cleaning-up Sri Lanka this evening at the WACA. While I normally enjoy the ABC broadcasts - except for Jim Maxwell who largely comes across as a cranky old man at the best of times - tonight it seemed that Australia could do nothing right in the commentator’s eyes and the glee in their voices as Australia failed to bat its 50 overs, followed by Sri Lanka coming out all guns blazing in its early overs, was palpable. Are these commentators Australian, or Sri Lankan’s in disguise?

Fortunately, the good ship Australia corrected its course and, within short order, had won the match by 63 runs. This total included an unbeaten 118 by Adam Gilchrist in his last ODI appearance for Australia on his “home ground”. And, yes, I still use the quotation marks because, ultimately, Gilchrist is a New South Welshman. I’m from New South Wales myself and I think that I could live in England for a decade… or Peru… wherever… and it wouldn’t change the fact I was a New South Welshman, so I include Gilly in that same camp, too!

Pakistan tour is all but over

Well, despite the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) digging its heels in and threatening everything within its power, the Australian tour of Pakistan is looking unlikely, bar some final diplomatic shuffling around.

“We are very sympathetic to the PCB’s concerns and frustrations and passion to see this tour go ahead, but our pragmatic view is that the decision will be based on the safety and security advice we are given. We haven’t reached that point yet,” a CA spokesman said.

Which, essentially, is doublespeak for, “there’s no way in hell we’re going”.

Pakistan as safe as Australia?

The Pakistan Cricket Board is threatening severe consequences if Australia refuses to tour for security reasons, including some mafia-style blackmail in the form of a possible boycott in 2009, which is when Pakistan are scheduled to next visit Australia, following comments from chairman Nasim Ashraf.

“It would be very damaging to Pakistan cricket and it is not just Pakistan-specific, because no country in the world is safe from terrorist acts,” Ashraf said. “If we start letting this dictate our sports events, then I am afraid the whole world of cricket could be turned upside down and it could have serious repercussions financially and [for] the very existence of the Future Tours Program.”

What a load of crap. While, technically, the comment is true, I think teams feel far safer when touring countries like Australia - which is yet to have a political leader assassinated, I’d just like to point out - rather than countries which are all too regularly front-page news for violence, such as Pakistan. And, sure, it’s a great shame because Pakistani cricket fans would probably love to see some great cricket but, come on, let’s get real here. Comparing the risk of violence in Pakistan to the risk of violence in a country such as Australia is pretty laughable.

Boos pump Harbhajan up

Is the Indian cricket team having some sort of bizarre competition to see who can be the biggest arse in the media at the moment? First it was Virender Sehwag calling the Australian team “scared” of India. Now our next contestant, Harbhajan Singh reckons he loves the boos coming from Australian crowds:

“To be very frank I don’t really mind when people boo me,” Harbhajan said. “It gives me a lot of pleasure that everybody knows me in the ground and they are just going for me. That inspires me to do well. The more they do it, I am going to play more hard.”

Well, I guess something needs to inspire Harbhajan, given that he’s had a pretty ordinary tour, and his biggest press clippings have come from sledging Andrew Symonds, rather than doing something worthwhile on the playing field.

Peace talks work, surprisingly

Remember my scathing post from four days ago, relating to Cricket Australia gumming up the upcoming Indian Premier League? Well, I’m happy to say that sanity is prevailing and ongoing talks actually appear to be succeeding.

India win, but Australia shows grit

First up, kudos to the Indian team for its win over Australia this evening. To roll Australia in just over 43 overs showed some genuine bowling talent.

What was equally clear to me, however, was Australia’s never-say-die attitude in defending its meagre total of 159 runs. It certainly made a joke of Sehwag’s comments, yesterday, that Australia was scared of losing. You might disagree, but I don’t think that a team that was scared of losing wouldn’t have gone out and played such attacking cricket, while defending such a small total.

Indeed, with India at 5/102 at one stage and the run rate slowing dramatically, another wicket or two could have still swung the match to an unlikely Australian win. All up, good stuff, there’s some life back in the ODI competition.