Legendary Cricketers

This was a great week for the legend of Andrew Flintoff. He was already the biggest thing to hit England cricket since Ian Botham, but this week he did, under extraordinary circumstances, something Botham never did: captain England to a test match win. I received this week the April issue of the Wisden Cricketer, and it shows the record of all England's major post-war captains, and Botham won 0 out of 12 (with 4 draws - a record of 0-4-8). Flintoff, as emergency captain, is already 1-1-1.

And this was not just any win. It was England's first test win in India in 21 years, and with nearly half of the starting XI back home in England with injuries and other crises. And it was not even close, though it might have been closer if India's captain, Rahul Dravid, had not made the very questionable choice of putting England in to bat first on a pitch that was expected to deteriorate. Flintoff accomplished this feat with the help of debutant batsman Owais Shah, who found out he would be playing on the bus to the match, and Johnny Cash, whose song "The Ring of Fire" inspired England's bowlers to come out of the dressing room after lunch on day 5 and destroy the Indian batting order, who lost their last 7 wickets for 25 runs. I should add that it wasn't their 7 last batsmen, either, as 2 of the 3 wickets already taken by lunch were night watchmen.

So if Freddie is a bigger deal than Botham, is there anyone in England cricket history who was a bigger deal? Only two names come to mind: Len Hutton and W.G. Grace. And there's a case to be made that Flintoff, the great all-rounder, is a better player than those two legendary batsmen.

Speaking of legendary cricketers, it was fitting that Sachin Tendulkar finished what was a dismal series with the top score in India's disastrous second innings. He scored 34 of the team's 100 runs, and no one else offered much resistance. In the first innings he was out quickly and was booed by the crowd. Now he's having shoulder surgery and will miss the one-day series. He must have been playing in a lot of pain, and it's a tribute to his greatness that he was the on Indian batsman who came to play on day 5. I'm not sure how many test runs Sachin has left to score, but he's been one of the biggest legends in world cricket.

Catch of the Century

I already had a blog entry or two about Shane Warne's "Ball of the Century". Now I've got a real treat for you: Nathan Astle's "Catch of the Century".

There's a good description here, by a New Zealand reporter. But here's my own description:

Dwayne Smith of the West Indies hit a towering six which would have landed at least 3 feet beyond the boundary had not Nathan Astle 1) run to the boundary (not sure where he was when he started) 2) stopped inside the boundary without losing sight of the ball 3) turned sideways 4) leaped straight up, vey high 5) caught the ball one-handed with his arm outstretched 6) using his other arm and leg for balance, landed on one foot, in bounds 7) brought the other foot down in bounds.

Wow!

Bush League

While Indian cricket fans suffered through a day where everything seemed to go England's way (though tomorrow there's a decent chance that India can fight for a draw), their South Asian neighbors Pakistan had to endure an even sadder cricket spectacle: George W. Bush playing cricket. I must admit to having mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, as an American I encourage all my fellow citizens to learn about and enjoy the sport of cricket. On the other hand, this particular fellow American is a bit of an embarrassment to me.

The big cricket news in Pakistan, though, may have been the house arrest of Imran Khan. This is not a political blog, so I won't rant, but it's disturbing to hear that even a former cricket star is denied the right to express his views, even if he doesn't support that same right for Danish cartoonists.

Thrilla in Nagpur

I haven't been able to watch anything but brief highlights on TV, but at work I've been keeping a browser tab on the England-India match at Nagpur. The drama began even before the first ball was even bowled, as Enlgand was reeling from the loss of 2 key bowlers and 2 key batsmen, including the captain and vice-captain, who both went home.

The match itself has been unexpectedly exciting. It seems to swing back and forth regularly. On day one England had a promising start with a debut 50 from the young last-minute replacement Alastair Cook (not to be confused with this guy). Then Sreesanth (another promising debutant) and Pathan cut apart the English batters and things looked grim at the end. But on the morning of day 2 it was England again, with a great rearguard century from substitute Paul Collingwood - with unexpectedly strong support from Monty Panesar - another emergency debutant/replacement, and known as a poor batsman. And as a bonus, Matthew Hoggard took an early wicket against India.

But then things swung back to India with Jaffer and Dravid putting on 129 for the second wicket. It looked like England was in deep trouble.

But then today Hoggard went hog-wild with reverse swing and took some quick wickets. And Panesar had a debutant bowler's dream come true when he got the legendary Sachin Tendulkar as his first test scalp. What a moment for him!

So with India reeling at 190 for 7 what happens? Another momentum change as a couple dropped chances allowed Kaif and Kumble to put on 128 for the 8th wicket. So India's in control, right?

Uh, no. In the late overs Harmison broke the partnership by getting Kumble and 4 runs later Panesar took Kaif out 9 short of a century.

So what's going to happen in days 4 and 5? I have no idea, but that's a sure sign of a great match. It's VERY unlikely that Sreesanth and Singh could give India a first-innings lead, but they could make things difficult for England's batsmen tomorrow. England will have to build a defensible lead, but it's really hard to say how much of a lead they will need. Jonathan Agnew seems to think England needs to bat all day on day 4 to secure a win, but the way this test has swung around I'm not so sure.