What Losing the urn means

England lost the urn, period. The urn returns to Australia after an interval of almost 4 and half years. You could see the tearful eyes of Mitchell Johnson, the joy of Michael Clarke and the whole Aussie team and it will not take an Einstein to infer what winning or losing the Ashes means for both these teams.

At WACA, Both Cook and Clarke were playing their 100th test matches for their respective teams. While Cook is patient, calm and believes in grinding the opposition down, Clarke has different methods. He believes in aggression, creating pressure , reading their opposition. England chose this surface for their final punch, still unbelievable to me. England were completely outplayed here too like the other two. Similar stuff, Australia winning the toss and batting. England got rid of top order and once again lower middle order stretched Australia to something to bowl at. England first innings collapse  has become as common in this series. Once again, they conceded a big first innings lead. Finally, in third innings, it was warner and watson show. Both made hundreds. Bailey too joined the party hitting 28 in jimmy over adding woes to England wounds. After that, it was just a matter of time when the moustache man Johnson and co. took over them.
Ben Stokes  showed how to bat on this pitch with giant cracks. It was probably as good innings as an England no. 6 for a long time. They kept fighting in the second innings. They toughed, ducked and made Australians earn the wickets. Balls barely missed the outside edges. Catches almost carried. Mis-hits dangled in the air. Late swings generated noise from the fielders. The men who beat India in india, a feat difficult to achieve even for the angels, were struggling. The players, who could change a test match in a session were fighting to avoid a series loss. The best men, trying their hardest, fought as hard as they could. England still lost. I could not have been sadder.

Now coming to the main thing: Losing the urn. I don't imagine a happier moment in test cricket than being an English or Australian and winning the urn. It means the world to me. Winning it is like protecting the best goddamn thing you loved whole life while losing it is exactly the opposite. You just let it slip away from your hands and gave it to someone else who currently deserves it more than you do. It is like your loved one just betrayed you just because you aren't fit enough.

When Ashes started in earlier century, it symbolized the heritage and competition between these two great nations, who gave cricket to the world. The bails were burnt and the ash was put, hence the name Ashes. Since then, it has been wandering from one of them to other. Bringing it back leads to honor, adds flavor to your resume while losing it stains it.  It will haunt you during sleeps. You will keep on looking on the score board and the whole scene will move around your eyes in a flash how you just let it slip away. Winning it leads to getting congratulations from the prime minister, queen in case of England, cricket geeks, legends while losing it will just make you restless and wonder If only we could reverse it.

Me, being an England fan knows its value. Looking at the sad faces of Cook, Kevin, Jimmy, Stuart tell everything. How much painful it was for the cook to face the presentation party, I do understand that. There was a crying voice. He demanded more from his team, plain and simple, that's all. Now, England must live without the urn until the next ashes. With England not having too old players, it is likely that the core of the team will remain the same for the next few years. They must remember this and come back harder and stronger next time. At least, this is what I am praying.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all of you. 

Explaining James Anderson

Trent Bridge hero of last Ashes test, 2012: James Anderson. Since then He has been bowling, bowling and bowling. He has given his all to this English team. For the last 3 years, He has been playing non-stop cricket. Always willing to give his 100 percent in the field, What has happened to this man now?

Last Ashes in Trent Bridge, In second innings for some seconds, I was haunted by the idea that Brad Haddin will win Australia this game on his own. Suddenly, Cook brings his best man in when Australia were 15 short of the target and He does incredibly well by taking the wicket of Haddin and won the game. It was his tenth wicket of the match. He beat Australia on his own. Since then, He has undergone a slide of form. He averages 47 since then.

Last night, I kept thinking about the possible reasons How on a sudden, Australia learnt to play him so well. He is a supreme mover of the cricket ball. His seam position, wrist movement are just too good. Sometimes, He can bowl as good as it is possible in cricket. He can bowl where he wants to bowl. He can make the batsman dance to his tune on his best. He has outsmarted the god of cricket 9 times in the test cricket. He is just a clinic of swing bowling.

Physically, He has not got any advantage over any fast bowler. He has not got a height of some 80 inches which helps him to get some extra bounce. He has not got a huge shoulder or big body. His action is not some slinging arm. He has to fight his way back, do a lot of hard work to get batsmen out. But, Despite all odds, he did learn some of the best fast bowling tricks the world will ever witness. He has outswingers of world class to take him to the top. He does have some pace, But class batsmen will always find a way against you if you just have some raw pace. Pace is devastating only when you scare all with that. Unfortunately, Anderson does not have even this. He has just worked harder and harder to reach there.

Facing him in England is like a nightmare for most of the human beings of this planet. England climate certainly helps swing bowlers and Anderson rightly takes advantage of that. Also he has got some apt partners to bowl with like Stuart broad, Steven Finn, Chris Tremlett, Tim Bresnan etc. He proved himself in the subcontinent wickets too where the ball doesn't swing much Just on the basis of pure skill. He believes in learning as much as he can. That's why he is so successful. He helped England win in India after trailing by 0-1. I still remember the ball on which he got Sehwag on first ball duck in Nagpur. He helped England gaining the top spot in test rankings.

When Anderson bowls with perfect seam position, I can't imagine any better sight than that in cricket. It is so natural and text book style that you will want to watch it so many times. He is perfect for flat pitches and against boring batsmen. He learnt the art of reverse swing to get edges with old balls. He knows what the batsman might be thinking. He does have a lot of variations in his bowling. He certainly is no more just a swinging new ball bowler like the other young guns.

Some months ago, I read from somewhere that Anderson has been rated as the most skillful bowler on earth. Even I think the same. But what intrigues me at present that why on earth his current form against Australia is wobbling. Is it too much cricket, Is he tired or Have Aussies found a way against him? He used to win England test matches with just one spell. But what has happened now. He still averages approximately 30 in test cricket, which is too much considering the high standards of him. He is second highest wicket taker for England in test cricket just behind Sir Ian Botham. Given his current age is just 31, He probably will end up with a bag of 500 test wickets. His determination, discipline has brought him so far.

He has been one of my personal favourite bowlers. There is something special about him, isn't it?