Testing times.

Topsy turvy.

The scorecard is HERE.

Starry starry nights

Star trek

Absent sir!

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Oooh baby, baby, it's a wild world...

Soiled Whites

I was speaking to a young batsman yesterday, as I was keen to find out how he’d fared at the crease in his weekend TNCA league game. He’d got to 30 odd, but was then instructed to not get much more. So a few uncharacteristic wild swipes later, he was back in the pavilion. And the team had scored something close to a hundred and fifty lasting approximately half the allotted 50 overs. The opponents happily hammered the bowling, aided as they were by fielders helpfully placed well within the circle, and got to their target quite easily.

I enquired further only to face some very disturbing revelations. Apparently both teams were owned by the same individual. One team had won all its games thus far, and would be promoted if they won the last as well. The other had won enough not to be relegated, and the result would not affect its standing for the next season.

So instructions were passed around and a charade was played out. One team knew they had to lose, and the other knew they were going to win. The game was over in half a day and the boys were back home for lunch. Dissent meant you’d probably never again get a chance to play.

I was curious to find out if this was just a one off occurrence, and so I called a couple of senior cricketers who have played at the first class level and still ply their skills in the state league. They were quick to tell me that this was common practice. Nothing unusual about it.

Next, I crossed the border for a chat with an ex-player from the KSCA league. Same story, just a different language.

Now seeing that international players are being sent to jail and banned from the game for years for unethical behaviour on the cricket field, I found this a most intriguing education being handed out to young, impressionable players of the league.

At a very young age, they are being taught to systematically cheat. They are also being taught that deceit is permissible. And guess what, these are youngsters who aspire to play for the state, and then for the country.

Nobody dare speak out. The fear of retribution hangs over your head. These are influential people running the system, and no player has the courage to mess with them. They might just reduce your cricketing dreams to nought.

What about the umpires? What role do they play in this game? I honestly don’t know, and can only guess. In all probability, there’s some sword hanging over their heads as well.  

Sure, we could console ourselves by arguing that this is an insignificant level of fixing. After all, nobody is making money. Really? I can confirm that teams placed in higher divisions command a higher price tag when compared to those below them.

It's bad enough to see this happen even once. It's absolutely pathetic to see it flourish in broad daylight. The players don't have a choice. It's the men who call the shots who are calling the results as well. The boys only want to play and don't want that taken away from them at any cost. I wonder what chance young Mohammed Aamer had. He was only 18.

Santa Claus is coming to town

First England. Then Pakistan. And finally, Australia.

Brother Dhoni must be full of and overflowing with the Christmas spirit, what with 3 back to back home series lined up. Heck, how often do you get such an opportunity to apply the ol' spit and polish to your captaincy record. 

The first of Santa's sacks arrives tomorrow.

The Pigeon comes to Chennai

That bird who used to play a lead role in the nightmares of Indian batsmen, has come to roost in Chennai. Glenn McGrath, today took over from Dennis Lillee as Director of the MRF Pace Foundation.

Left to Right – Mr. Rahul Mammen – Whole-time Director, MRF Limited, Mr. K M Mammen – Chairman and Managing Director, MRF Limited Mr. Dennis Lillee outgoing Director, Mr. Glenn McGrath, Director, MRF Pace Foundation, Mr. Arun Mammen, Managing Director, MRF Limited  

Krish

'Krish', an article I wrote for the CSK site.
http://www.chennaisuperkings.com/news/news.aspx

In A League Of Their Own – Part 1

Talent, I’ve heard many a wizard of the 22 yard game say, must be nurtured from an early age. So when I received an invitation to play in the 6^th ‘A’ division of the TNCA league, I was tickled. Surely at 37, they weren’t expecting me to grow through the ranks and represent the state.

Delighted? Oh yes.

Playing cricket has always been for me, a source of incomparable entertainment. From the time I picked up my first bat, at least a kilogram too heavy for my 6-year-old hands, and started waving it approximately in the direction of a rubber ball thrown at me, I was hooked. So when, 3 decades later, I was offered a chance to play, I did not shoulder arms.

Rechristened TNCA M0608, I was then formally inducted as a registered member of the faith.

Now I wasn’t exactly not playing cricket before that. Sunday cricket is very popular among amateur teams in Chennai, and was therefore equally popular with me. A game and a net session every week kept me in touch, but I was looking for more. League cricket I believed would be the answer. Regular morning practice sessions, coaches, better bowlers and more matches… ah, my new life was around the corner.

I waited. Then waited some more. There was no sign of the corner.

Then one day I received an SMS. Not a number on my phone book. The sender announced himself as the captain of the team, informed me of a match in two days, and asked me to be at the venue an hour ahead of start time. Hope blossomed once again.

Now a Sunday afternoon in Chennai is a lovely time to drive, and a terrible time to play cricket. The roads are low on traffic and the sun is at its summit, which makes getting to the field of play far easier than getting on it. At the prescribed time however, I was at the venue looking around for the faces I’d seen at the signing. Thirty minutes later, things still looked bleak. I checked with a scorer who sat at a table under a tree, and he confirmed that my team was indeed slated to play the afternoon game.

With about twenty minutes to go, a car and a couple of two-wheelers pulled up with the rest of my team. A few others wandering around the lines, gathered around on seeing the group. The captain announced himself and then the eleven. In quick time the toss was taken and so was the decision to field.

It was a 30 over a side game, and rather unfortunately but not entirely unexpectedly we didn’t have much say in the proceedings thereafter. A flogging followed. The manager berated the team’s efforts, and then disappeared not to be seen until the next match. With not so much as even a team meeting in between, the result of game 2 also went along expected lines. And so it continued till the end of the season when we were left holding a balance sheet with no returns.

0-6 was the final season score. Fortunately there wasn’t much lower to go from the 6^th division, and so there this team stayed, which led me to wonder about a few things.

Who runs league teams?

What do they benefit from running these teams?

How do they pick players for these teams?

Does winning or losing make a difference?

How can a team play an entire season without a single practice session? (At the time of writing this piece, a second season had passed without a measly hour at the nets. A paucity of funds was apparently the reason. I also discovered that this practice, or the lack of it, was prevalent up to the 4^th division. Perhaps even higher.)

How was this happening in a system apparently designed to nurture talent?

Was the TNCA aware of these glaring inadequacies?

Why was there no age limit for players in the league? (We had a player who looked close to 50 and went for more, but had to be given his full quota of overs as he was a senior officer in the company that owned the team.)

I skipped every match in season 2, as this wasn’t a team as much as it was a gathering of eleven people. (Some had skill. Others were the manager’s friends. One kid’s dad was in the team, and so got a place in the XI.) My weekend cricket team was a complete contrast. The commitment and skill levels were far higher. The desire to improve, greater. We practised every Saturday, and played a game every Sunday. We invited players better than us, to our nets to help youngsters with their game. We even faced the bowling machine every now and then.

Why then were we not trying to get into in the TNCA league I wondered? And importantly how could we make it there?

(To be continued.)

www.writertotherescue.com

IPL 5, Second Qualifier, DD vs CSK.

The scores are here.

Read 'The madness of benching Morne Morkel' by George Binoy here.

The bigger prize.

Irrespective of what they refuse to give him today, they simply cannot take this moment away from him. Ever.

The unpredictable game

Deccan Chargers beat Royal Challengers Bangalore. Chennai Super Kings win.

Did you bet on that happening?