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A Cool Coincidence

Two summers ago my family and i traveled through London, England for a few days. I was at that time finding my love for cricket and begged my father to take me on a trip to Lords Cricket grounds. Lords is one of the most famous cricket grounds in the world. It dates back to 1805! and i was lucky enough to be there during a very controversial time. I’m starting to wonder how such a calm quite game is becoming like Paris Hilton’s life!

The controversy was was that the Pakistanis had been accused of tampering with the ball during Pakistan’s tour of England. Guess what i was there during the middle of it, a reporters dream. The England team claimed the Pakistan captain Inzamam-il-Haq had tampered with the ball by putting his nail into the ball making a certain change in the surface of the ball. Giving an advantage to the bowling team being Pakistan. The 2 field referees declared it illegal and announced 5 runs to England and also asking for a new ball. The Pakistan protested the decision by not coming out after tea time and once they finally agreed to exit they entered the field to see nothing but grass, no England team or Referees. The game was deemed un-continuable by the Cricket commissioner and referees. This was the first match a captain has conceded in cricket history!

So back to the story.Near the end of the Lords tour we were walking by the practice field and who else was their, The Pakistan Cricket team. They were preparing for their next match at Lords. As we are standing, looking at the team practice Inzamam-il-Haq walks by and is signing autographs i was lucky enough to get one.

The photo below is of the autograph, ticket, ball and picture of Inzamam-il-Haq

Aussie’s Will Be Aussie’s

        Now im not giving MY home country any stereotypes but Australians are well known for their non feared, outgoing and a bit arrogant. The tensions between India and Australia have always been high but i think this whole thing is going way to far. On Sunday at the SCG during a Commonwealth Bank Series Match the young 19 year old clean bowled Andrew Symonds out. The celebration by Ishant Sharma was in my opinion outrageous and unsportsmanlike. In the video below you are able to see that the Indian bowler clearly points to the pavilion and taunts the Australian batsmen. All the umpires heard from the incident was Symonds complementing the young man and then Ishant Sharma trash talking him in return. Yesterday Ishant Sharma was fined for his outright rude celebration

This wasnt the only thing that happened on this historical day, after Adam Gilchrist was removed by a “beautiful” diving catch by the Indian captain. The former Australian wicket keeper, and now telecaster/announcer  made a point that the webbing on the gloves was to large. The umpires were informed of this and confiscated one glove for further investigation. After the match the umpires deemed the gloves to be illegal with extra webbing. The Indian team doged a fine by them saying they had used them before but if they used them again they would be fined.

Wondering why it was historical?  It was because the great performance by  Ricky Ponting  and his 124. This was his  best score at the SCG.

 ITS VOCAB TIME!

SCG- Sydney Cricket Grounds

Clean Bowled- When the ball goes cleanly through the wickets without making contact with anything except the ground therefore making the player out

Pavilion- The area in a stadium where the players locker rooms are located

Removed- To be out

Wicket Keeper - The position played behind the wickets being bowled at. This is the only position gloves are allowed to be used in.

The video of the bowl out and celebration:

The First Word

After the news of the Pakistan elections Australia and Pakistan were ready to discuss an agreement. The tour has been re scheduled to a month later now taking place from March 29 and April 27 which is 18 days less then the previously scheduled one(48 days down to 30). It will include three Tests, five one-day internationals and a possible Twenty20 match. This is still not the final word but it is most likely the situation. Australia will still be sending security advisor’s to review the safety stand points of the venues and area. If at least the tour could be moved to Sri Lanka or India. If you do not already know the PPP(Pakistan Peoples Party) won the election. The PPP was Benazir Bhutto’s party who is now lead by her widowed husband who incredibly is the new leader of Pakistan. This is great news for Pakistan and the rest of the world.

The Controversy Continues

The March/April Australia tour of Pakistan is looking doubtful at this point due to safety issues. As you probably already know the security and state of government in Pakistan is in a troubled situation. Terrorist attacks are becoming common and with the Government elections tomorrow it could get worse. The Australian Cricket Association has sent safety professionals to review the conditions. There are a few points of view in this situation firstly Pakistan’s. Pakistan believes that if they keep on canceling tours and sporting events that it would mean the terrorists have won but the only way to stop them is show that it doesn’t effect us by going on with the events yet keeping it safe. Australia believes that if there were to be an incident that could risk lives then it could scare the world of cricket forever. There will be a full assessment of the safety a week today. If Australia does not play this series Pakistan is threating not to play the series in Australia in 2009.

The information that i learned was provided by Cricinfo

Crickets Future On Display

As the Australian team has some down time, the future Australians are battling against the other worlds U-19’s. The two power houses Australia and West Indies are off to a good start in the warm up rounds and look to be battling each other in the finals. The defending Champions Pakistan were disappointed by loosing a warm up match to England but its a bit to early to make predictions. I will keep you updated throughout the week.

Technology Assists But Does Not Prevail

I apologize for the delay on this news but i have had some trouble with my posting ability’s with my Blog. Last week the trial for Harbhajan Singh occurred . There were four Australian team members attending the trial at the Adelaide court room. Simons, Hayden, Ponting and Clarke all went on stand against Harbhajan Singh about his racial remarks. The one piece of evidence that gave Australia the edge was the audio provided by the built in microphone and camera in the stumps. A video of the news report including the trial is linked here courtesy of 9 News Network. The video below is of the the audio picked but the stump cam.

The Indian team stayed until the judgment was made. At the end of the 5 hour closed trial the Adelaide judge charged Harbhajan Singh with a 3,000 Aussie dollar fine and charged him NOT guilty with racial vilification but obscene language. That brings the law case to a draw but after this whole month of tension between Australia and India, this case will never rest on the field.

Oh The Irony

The WACA is renowned for its lighting quick stumps and as you should already know Harbhajan Singh is not playing. Harbhajan Singh is one of the worlds best speed bowlers. The irony has not shown itself yet but if Australia has an amazing 2nd innings the conversation might come out.

Frighting Friday

After a tough first day yesterday, Australia is looking to turn things around on day 2 in Perth. India elected to bat first at the WACA which looks like a good one. After pounding out 331 runs, in front of the Australian dominated crowd, put Australia in one of the first real early troubled situations. Australia’s batting struggled against some strong Indian bowling only compiling 212 runs. Australia’s best batsmen scored only 66 runs which was Andrew Symonds. Before the day ended India was able to begin their 2nd innings and got straight to work and are currently 52/1 as they await the commencement of day 2. The current time is 10:00 AM in Perth so we are an hour an a half away from India’s triumphant battle.

23°C

Cloudy
Wind: NW at 21 km/h
Humidity: 73%

Fri

29°C | 17°C

Sat

30°C | 17°C

Sun

34°C | 20°C

Mon

33°C | 23°C

 

Its looking at weather reports like these while staring out at the rain and wondering why your parents dragged you off to Vancouver. I will report back later.

Talk later wicketers!

Sunny Silence

With only a few hours left until the coin flip at the WACA the weather is looking beautiful.

18°C

Clear
Wind: E at 26 km/h
Humidity: 59%

Wed

34°C | 20°C

Thu

34°C | 19°C

Fri

30°C | 16°C

Sat

31°C | 19°C

Perfect for Cricket. This weather report was taken at 6:35 am Perth time. But as the good weather keeps the fans happy their is sure to be some more tension on the oval. My question is will this effect the quality of the cricket because Harbhajan Singh the Indian player who made the racial slur on Andrew Simons is one of India’s best players but if you look at my last blog has been suspended until 3 of India’s test have been played. He also will have a hearing with the ICC before the Melbourne Test.