The Pain of England Cricket Team

Final Moment: And here is R. Ashwin to James Tredwell, England need 6 runs to win the first major ICC trophy in 50 over format in almost 4 decades. Here he goes. James Tredwell Swings and misses and This champions trophy, 13 maybe the last ever,  belongs to this young Indian Team.

That look on Cook's face, I almost snapped inside my mind forever. The bloody pain of defeat. He looked for reasons of defeat. He really needed some consolation.With 20 needed off 16 deliveries, and having morgan and Bopara as set batsmen on crease, the game was of England to lose and indeed they did that in remarkable fashion. The downfall was started with slower ball of Ishant, who was having his worst game of this tournament. Did Morgan really needed to play that suicidal shot? Next ball, Ravi holed it to midwicket. He stood at the wicket complaining about the height of the ball for a second or two. Buttler got the first ball in his zone, went for the slog and missed it by a fair distance. Bresnan slipped in the middle after surviving from an LBW call, only to watch himself getting helplessly runout. Broad was now in. He played first ball to covers. There was no run there even in the cricket of disabled. He ran anyway. He dived only to see that Sir Jadeja had not taken off the bails. Now was the turn of Tredwell. He will be the least favourite man in whole England to bat in this situation. Yet, He was on strike. He almost got himself run out attempting each run he added.

Last over needed 15. Not Undoable. but against the bowler whose figures till that over was 3-1-6-2, it was really some superhuman effort needed by those two. And, not to forget, there was stuart Broad on the crease: He was born for such wonders. Broad swang his hands as hard as he could but could n't connect. Third Umpire again used a random number generator this time to save him unlike Poor Bell. Next ball, He swept it for four only to remind me: This is not yet over. Next ball, He took a goddamn single and now the load was on the weak shoulders of Tredwell to see England Home. I got to feel for him. Against Ashwin 10 off 3 on that turner was one of the unlikeliest thing imaginable . Yet, He gave his best shot, took two 2's to bring it to last ball. Poor Tredwell needed a 6 off the bowler having figures 3.5-1-15-2. He gave his all to avoid the embarrassment England was lurking at for the last 15 minutes. Winning their first major trophy in 50 over format. Loss in ICC finals: Not the fifth time. The odds of success were negligible: and that's what exactly happened and finally I learnt why they kept Probability in curriculum.

Was it destined to end like this? There were million other ways in which the game could have proceeded. They were supposed to chase 130 on any day. England may do the whatifs enumerable number of times from here. But, There is no U-turn here. That's the way life is. That's how the world works.

All this was only to prolong the wait of the England.

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Beauty Of Watchinig Pace Bowling

Sometimes I am forced to rethink why do I  watch cricket so closely. Forget everything. Just watch. Fast bowlers can make you cling to the chair. They are really intimidating, aren't they? I am providing you all with a number of reasons.

Let us start with the bowling run-up. It is a unique thing in cricket, which separates it from other games like baseball. In athletics, there are triple jump, hurdle race, long jump etc. but nothing matches the run-up of fast bowlers in cricket. Specially, pace bowlers have such a eye-catching run-up. For a bowler, nothing is more valuable than the final leap which he takes while delivering the ball. The batsman seems to be a slave. The bowler seems to be on the top of the universe. With different pace bowlers, the run up leaves different impressions. There are various categories of bowling run-ups too. Take wasim akram, waqar younis, shoaib akhtar: the three legends of pakistan era, all having different actions and run-ups used to vary. I used to get a high urge to bowl watching them doing the same.

Whoever says he is not frightened by enormous pace probably lies. Imagine yourself getting to play 95mph balls. Perhaps given a chance to walk into fire or playing them, you  will take a long time to decide. It's just so dreadful. If there is something more beautiful and elegant than watching the stumps knocked away by pace power, I honestly don't want to know about it. They can ruffle anyone, even the best batsmen of the generation. Can Something really match watching the fear in the eyes of the batsmen? There is no alternative to the beauty to speed.

There are no truer hard workers than fast bowlers in any format of cricket. They are expected to be 100 percent fit. The captain expects initial breakthroughs from them. They are made to bowl in the powerplays and yet expected to have low economy rate then the slower bowlers. Also, the changes in the rules of cricket in recent years have also caused a lot of disadvantages to them. The pitches all across the world are being made lifeless and flat. Everyone thinks about the batsmen. The crowd loves fours-sixes. Hardly anyone wants fast bowlers to succeed.

I, personally have always felt then Cricket is a game of reaction time. And there is no better evidence than watching pace bowlers taking the wickets. They go inside the reaction time, and earn those wickets. No other thing can come even miles closer to that.They challenge the decision taking abilities of the batsmen and often succeed too.

And, lastly I would like to tell I am big fan of the best pacers of my era: Del Steyn, James Anderson,Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar, Mitchell Johnson, Shane Bond, Umar Gul, Zaheer Khan, Lasith Malinga and many more.

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Stuart Broad : An introduction

Who is Stuart Broad? Any guesses? Probably you know him for many reasons. Me too.

But, Stuart Broad bombarded some deliveries in the Lord's test to the New Zealand, which they will remember for a long long time. It sort of appeared as if some ameteurs have come to face a demon. Broad comes closer to Sachin, Afridi in terms of tweets mentioning him. Anyone would like to meet such character. In this blog, I would like to bring forward whether He is a good or bad cricketer.

He wins test, ODI, T20 games for England unlike most cricketers and humans. He is a game changer. He just does not do it well, he just does it extraordinarily well. That is the thing which puts him differently from other cricketers. But, Wait one sec. His bowling average and batting average does not reflect it. His bowling average in tests in 31 which does not look extraordinary. He just looks an average bowler by stats, doesn't he? He averages 25 with bat after more than 50 tests. Isn't it ordinary for a batsman playing at places like 7 or 8. He has scored hundred too. And that was against one of the best attacks : likes of Pakistani pace attack and that too when the team was in crisis.

But, what completely is beyond my understanding how He either delivers it completely or nothing at all. He can't finish a game against Netherlands in T20 world cup.He is hit for six sixes in an over. He is wicketless in first two tests against India. He fails against South Africa badly.

And then He takes hattrick to give England No. 1 test spot. He destroys South Africa next time they meet.He takes 7 for 44 against New Zealand in a chase of 239 which was actually gettable.

It is just a short description of Stuart Broad's career.He either destroys the opponent or gets destroyed by them. There is hardly any time spent by him in middle.He gets more abuse than his other team mates. and yet they love him for the magical moments he gives to them. His blondle hair irritates sometimes and sometimes it suddenly becomes attractive. ( By the way I have always like Blonde cheerleaders )

I am often got envious of numerous  girlfriends he has got despite this. They are often crazy for him.

I would like to ask Stuart, why he does not do it consistently. I know it's kinda difficult as very few humans from 1877 have been able to do it.  He is just 26 now and a lot of cricket is left in him. He is currently England's T20 Captain. But, I just want him to narrow down the gap between the best and the worst. He should try to bring his averages closer to better. I just want him to be MVP of England's National team not the one who is criticised.

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