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Clashes for the Ashes
Patchy show in Rotterdam Hawa Hawaii
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Clashes for the Ashes English cricket was “reborn” the next year, when their team triumphed Down Under and were presented an urn containing the ashes of a bail. Since then, there has been a succession of “deaths and rebirths”. Another resurrection is long overdue, as England have not won a series against their traditional rivals since 1987. This is their best chance to stop the Aussie juggernaut. Not once during the past 18 years or so have England looked so confident of winning the Ashes, or at least drawing level. And not once during this period have Australia looked so fallible. Since early 2004, England have been on a roll. They have won Test series against the West Indies, New Zealand, South Africa and Bangladesh. Those who have played key roles in this success story are batsman Andrew Strauss, all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, and bowlers Steve Harmison and Ashley Giles. No doubt they would be expected to deliver the goods again. Michael Vaughan’s captaincy, more than his batting, has inspired England to one victory after the other. With Marcus Trescothick at the top of the order, and veteran Graham Thorpe vying for a place with talented newcomer Kevin Pietersen, England’s batting looks solid. Their bowling attack is pace-oriented, but there is crafty off-spinner Giles, whose job would be not only to break partnerships but also to bowl for long spells. The Australian batting line-up boasts of big names like Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn and captain Ricky Ponting, who are all by and large in good nick. In the bowling department, Glenn McGrath and Michael Kasprowicz have found their rhythm, while Jason Gillespie is struggling. The latter’s Test place is under threat from Brett Lee, who did quite well in the one-dayers against England. Spin wizard Shane Warne would have to put his broken marriage behind him as he prepares to torment English batsmen one last time. Australia may have conquered the “final frontier” last year by beating India on their home turf, but they would be keen to maintain their stranglehold over England. Their morale is high after the 2-1 win in the one-day series, but Test cricket is an altogether different ball game. On the whole, it promises to be a close series. There will be drama galore, but don’t expect the frenzy of India-Pakistan encounters. Cricket, not politics, will be the driving force. May the better team win!
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Patchy
show in Rotterdam The Indian team went to Rotterdam with the aim of retaining the Junior World Cup hockey title they had won at Hobart four years ago. But the defending champions returned home empty-handed as their uneven performance got them only the fourth place. Coach Rajinder Singh was riding the high horse when the juniors struck the pot of gold at Hobart. But Harender Singh and Clarence Lobo failed to repeat that feat as they could not effectively implement the team strategy. Inconsistency of form and the forwards’ failure to score when it counted most contributed to India’s exit from the medal bracket. The total dependence on Sandeep Singh for drag-flick goals from penalty corners brought the team only limited success. The inability to protect early leads was the prime reason for India’s defeat against Australia and Spain. Sandeep undid his success with drag-flicks in the defence as his poor recovery left enough room for the rivals to rush in and score. William Xalco and custodian Adrian D’Souza, too, could not plug the breach in the defence. Adrian had the added pressure of captaining the team from the rear, which affected his goalkeeping. India had it too good in the beginning as after winning the four-nation tournament at Bilbao (Spain) in the run-up to the World Cup, they posted wins against Egypt and Poland in contrasting styles at Rotterdam, before recording their crushing victory over Holland, with Tushar Khandekar and Sandeep striking a brace each. Spain burst the Indian bubble with a resounding 4-0 victory. India’s game plans wobbled, and the team strategy went haywire, as they lost to Australia in the semifinal after leading by 2-0 at half time, and to Spain in the clash for the bronze. India led Spain by an eighth-minute goal, but allowed the opponents to get even, and then triumph in the tie-breaker. Biased umpiring was given as an excuse for India’s defeat, but it carried little conviction with the experts. The attack, comprising experienced Tushar Khandekar, Adam Sinclair, Hari Prasad, V Raja and Ajitesh Roy lacked sharpness and punch. They failed to deliver when India needed goals other than from Sandeep’s drag-flicks. Though V.S.Vinay, Vivek Gupta and Nitin Kumar kept the midfield well-oiled, the attackers messed up the openings with their flicks and slashes. In the end, individual brilliance did not pay off much dividend as the big prize slipped out of India’s grasp. The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) should draw up immediate plans to iron out the flaws noticed at Rotterdam. Quite a few players, no doubt, utilised the event to show-case their talent, and cement their places in the team, including Sandeep Singh. But he has to get his act together in the defence, which is his prime job. There is no point if he lets in more goals after scoring a few. The IHF, no doubt, picked the best available juniors for the World Cup. But the federation did bungle in the planning. It has been exposing the senior and junior teams to foreign competitions at regular intervals to sharpen their skills, develop the big-match temperament, and get them attuned to varying climatic conditions. But the team strategy of the juniors went off-target at critical junctures in Rotterdam, and this is an area in which the IHF will have to improve things. Former Indian captain and national coach M.P. Ganesh aptly put things in perspective when he observed that “we never learn from our past experiences. Bad planning in the defence led to our defeats”. “We have lost from winning positions. We should never fight with umpires. We should give confidence to the umpires with our on-field behaviour. Umpires are human, too. The players should not get temperamental with the umpires”, Ganesh emphasised. The former Olympian said it was also a mistake to participate in the four-nation tournament prior to the World Cup. “Though we won the title, the other teams succeeded in decoding our strategy which they used to their advantage in the World Cup”, Ganesh said. “It would have been prudent for India to field the junior team in the Azlan Shah tournament instead of playing in the warm-up tournament in Bilbao”, Ganesh pointed out. “The team should have returned to India and continued with their preparations in familiar and friendly conditions instead of being cooped up in dingy rooms in Europe”, remarked the veteran player, who is now the Executive Director of the Sports Authority of India. But he praised the IHF for selecting a balanced team and entrusting the job of coaching the team to a competent duo. But as far as the shaping up of the junior talent is concerned, the IHF can take little or no credit. Around 60 per cent of the boys are products of Sports Authority of India’s talent search schemes while the rest are products of various private and public hockey academies. The IHF provides them foreign exposure, top-class training facilities, and of course a chance to represent the country. It’s then up to the players to make good or mar their chances. |
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Hawa Hawaii
Michelle Wie, the 15-year-old golf sensation from Hawaii, missed the cut but hogged the limelight at the John Deere Classic in Illinois recently. The US PGA Tour event had one British Open spot up for grabs for the leading player not already qualified, and as Wie was in the field on a sponsor’s invite, she became the first woman to have the chance to qualify for the oldest, most prestigious golf major. But the firsts ended there when Wie failed by two shots to become the first woman to make the cut on the Tour since Babe Zaharias in 1945. Not that this was any lame surrender on Wie’s part as she went to the turn in 33 to move up from 70th overnight to 40th. But then reality bit. A double-bogey at the 15th hole was compounded by a bogey on the next and the chance was gone. She still finished at one under, but joint 88th was not what this golfing suffragette had in mind. “Even though I finished under par, it feels like crap,” she said. JL Lewis, who went on to win the tournament, was full of praise for Wie. “It’s pretty phenomenal,” he said. “Has there ever been anybody that age, man or woman, that could play in a our event at the age of 15?” — Agencies
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Gem of a final It was a treat to watch the Wimbledon women’s singles final between top seed Lindsay Davenport and 14th seed Venus Williams. Although Venus went down rather tamely in the first set, she fought with grit and determination in the remaining two sets to win 4-6,7-6, 9-7. The three-set match extended to about two hours and 45 minutes — a record. Both women played superbly in the last two sets, which were marked by many long rallies and accurate cross-court placings, drop shots, lobs etc. The shots and serves were power-packed. Both contenders moved quickly back and forth and from side to side. These sets were very close and could have gone either way, but ultimately Venus prevailed over Davenport. Congratulations to Venus for her brilliant comeback. She had virtually been written off after her constant poor show since her victory at Wimbledon in 2001. In contrast, the men’s final was a tame affair. The top seed and defending champion Roger Federer easily beat second seed Andy Roddick in three straight sets to complete a hat-trick of titles. The match ended in just 100 minutes. D.K. Aggarwal,
II Kudos to Venus Williams for winning the Wimbledon title for the third time. Venus defeated top seed Lindsay Davenport, the 1999 Wimbledon champion, in the longest women’s final. Venus had beaten defending champion Maria Sharapova in the semifinal. She had earlier won the title in 2000 and 2001. H.S. Dimple,
Well done, Mahesh Mahesh Bhupathi did the nation proud by winning his first Grand Slam title in about three years. Bhupathi and Mary Pierce of France, coming together for the first time, won the Wimbledon mixed doubles crown by beating Paul Hanley and Tatiana Perebiynis in the final. Subhash C. Taneja,
Good changes One-day cricket is likely to become more exciting with the introduction of football-style substitutions and new field restrictions. It will also help in sustaining the interest of spectators. Teams with greater bench strength are bound to benefit more from these rule changes. Prixit Shakya,
Anand at his best Congratulations to Viswanathan Anand for winning the 18th Magistral Ciudad De Leon Chess Tournament. In the final, he defeated FIDE world champion Rustam Kazimdzhanov 2.5-1.5 to win the title. Training 0-1 after losing the first game, Anand staged a remarkable comeback to pin down his opponent in the second and fourth games. Tarsem S. Bumrah,
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The Ashes owe their birth to the “death” of English cricket. When Australia won their first Test in England, London’s The Sporting Times carried a brief obituary: “In affectionate remembrance of English cricket, which died at The Oval on 29th August, 1882. Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances... The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.” 
