The "silly points"

Released on behalf of the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes by Two Up Front.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hong Kong: 15 May 2008

MARTYN AND FLEMING CONFIRMED FOR HONG KONG

Australian master batsman Damien Martyn and inspirational New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming will be parading their world-class talents at this year’s Hong Kong Cricket Sixes. The illustrious duo are the first star players to sign up for the annual showpiece - which is fully sanctioned by the International Cricket Council - at Kowloon Cricket Club from November 8-9.

Martyn, a key member of Australia’s all-conquering team for more than a decade, and Fleming, the most successful captain in New Zealand’s history, will appear for the All-Stars in the 10-team tournament.

“I’m thrilled to be taking part in the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes,” said Martyn. “Hong Kong is a wonderful city to visit and the Kowloon Cricket Club is a fantastic venue for such an exciting tournament. “I’m looking forward to teaming up with Stephen and the other members of the All-Stars for what promises to be two days of fast and furious action. “The Hong Kong event is, without doubt, the best-run and most high-profile sixes tournament in the world and, hopefully, we can put on a great show for the fans.”

Martyn, 36, played 67 tests between 1992 and 2006, scoring 13 centuries, and also appeared in 208 one-day internationals (ODIs). He was a member of the Australian team that finished runners-up to England in the 1994 Hong Kong Cricket Sixes.

Fleming, 35, retired from international cricket just two months ago after a stellar 14-year career in which he played 111 tests. He was captain for 80 of those matches - second on the all-time list behind Allan Border, who led Australia 93 times. Fleming’s nine test centuries included scoring 274 not out against Sri Lanka in 2003 and 262 against South Africa in 2006. He also holds the world record for the most ODI appearances as captain, having led the Kiwis 218 times in his total of 280 games.

“I’m delighted to be returning to Hong Kong to take part in the Cricket Sixes,” said Fleming, who played in the 1996 tournament. “It has a great reputation for being fun and entertaining while at the same time offering two days of hard, competitive cricket. “I know the All-Stars team finished as runners-up in 2007 and so we’ll be aiming to go one better this year. “It will be tough, because the organisers are putting together a top-class field of international teams, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

The All-Stars will join nine representative international teams in the tournament - Australia, New Zealand, England, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh and hosts Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Cricket Sixes tournament director Mark Burns said the signings of Martyn and Fleming pointed to another hugely successful event. “It is fantastic news that Damien Martyn and Stephen Fleming have confirmed their participation in this year’s Hong Kong Cricket Sixes,” said Burns. “All the greats of the modern game have appeared at the tournament since it was first held in 1992 and these two players certainly come into that category after long and highly successful international careers.

“We’re sure Hong Kong fans are looking forward to seeing them in action and the All-Stars will certainly benefit from their expertise, professionalism and leadership qualities. “Damien and Stephen are just the first of many world-class players we expect to see at the Sixes this year and we will be making further announcements in the weeks to come. The 2008 Sixes promises to be the best yet.”

The Hong Kong Cricket Sixes is the sport’s longest-running, best-established and most high-profile sixes tournament. Players who have taken part in the event over the past 16 years include Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Steve and Mark Waugh, Viv Richards, Andrew Flintoff, Adam Gilchrist, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Wasim Akram.

Profits from the tournament are ploughed directly back into cricket development in Hong Kong through the Hong Kong Cricket Association.

About the Hong Kong Cricket Association:

The Hong Kong Cricket Association (HKCA) is responsible for professionally administering cricket at all levels in Hong Kong.
It aims to promote, expand and develop the sport, improve standards in all areas of the game and increase the number of participants from all sectors of the local community. It organises competitions throughout the year for all age groups, from primary school children to senior players.
The HKCA’s wholly owned subsidiary, China Cricket International Limited, is responsible for the organisation and management of the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes.

ENDS

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… continued from: beyond the circus glitz -1

A blog by donthaveaclue:

This is the second of a 3-part post
on the potential impact of the Indian Premier League on the game of cricket as we know it.

Impact on future cricketers

School kid ||| Pre-IPL:
Wakes up, dons whites, shrugs on his kit bag, warms up, visualizes his hero (one of top 10 list of run-scorers/wicket-takers on test matches over the last 5 - 10 years), practises hard, dreams of donning the test cap…

Just over three decades ago, life in India was simplicity itself.
Dyanora and Crown were the only widely available brands of television sets, the portly Ambassador or the angular Premier Padmini were the only two passenger cars available. Pele, Cryuff and Beckenbauer were the soccer-loving public’s icons and Sunil Gavaskar was the cricket-loving public’s homegrown ideal.
For every kid who fantasized about the epitome of sporting achievement, it was simple; a match-winning performance (a hundred for 97% of the population, a ten-for for the remaining 3%) to win India a test match.

Today,
electronics ‘uber’stores showcase 23 brands of plasma televisions and 27 brands of the LCD variety, there are roughly fourteen different models of sedans, each with not less than 3 variants, Raikonnen jostles for poster space alongside Rooney and Lebron, and Yuvraj, Dhoni and Harbhajan are the cricketing superstars.

While the fame is based on the on-field spats, chest-thumping sound bytes interspersed with the odd performance of cricketing relevance, it was still relatively easy to separate the wheat from the chaff. Obvious deficiencies in technique leading to failure to make it to the test team (which still counts for something) or to be sorted out by well-prepared batsmen meant that kids were clear about the difference between a Rahul Dravid or a VVS Laxman versus a Yuvraj Singh or a Mahendra Dhoni.

The ubiquitous ‘fan’ might already be swooning at the sight of a ‘Dhoni special’ as he bludgeons the ball with the end of the bat describing a full circle as his feet leave the ground but the kid in the nets will still dream of standing tall on the backfoot and punching through the covers like he’s seen Tendulkar do because he knows the supreme balance and coordination needed.

But what of it, you say?
Three, maybe four years from now the IPL may not hold consistent sway.

But by then, the TRP race will have elevated the bits and pieces cricketers to demi-god status, when those with the ’swishiest’ blades (made that word up, but i think it conveys the meaning) will endorse their team owners’ products?

With test cricket relegated to those times of the year when the IPL can’t be played (like monsoon season on the subcontinent), practising the long hit will make much more economic sense than getting in line and playing on length.

Those knocking on the doors of the U-19 teams of their respective states will prefer adding part-time slow-medium bowler to their resume in addition to big-hitter than refine that non-essential skill of a backfoot defensive. The simple reason being the prospect of a bidding war that will pit his wares against his peers and that additional skill might tilt the balance.

Sure, fielding skills will be significantly elevated in the manner of a season or two (amazing how much less grass burns hurt when they fetch you the additional $200K), but the younger generation of batsmen will look like mass-produced assembly line products, (cricket)ugly ones, that move their front foot towards mid-on and rapidly bring their shoulders around to take almightly heaves at the ball, irrespective of line or length.

The shortened boundaries and the ever-improving bats will ensure that any contact upwards of feathered edges will send the ball ballooning over the ropes and the crowds rapturous. Combine a continuously declining standard of bowling for no reason other than neglect and you only accelerate the decline in the standard of the game.

School kid ||| Post-IPL:
Wakes up late (coz of the IPL game the night before),
dons his multi-coloureds, snaps on the franchise headband of the Ahmedabad Kiteflyers, remembers the roar of the crowds as he attempts to launch each delivery out of the ground while complaining about the tinge of grass left behind by the groundsman, dreams of franchise cap/ helmet/ paraphernalia…

This doomsday scenario about the cricket has been overdone to highlight one thing, the (hopefully) short-term impact of the IPL will be to narrow the gap between the great and merely competent, between the sublime and the almost ridiculous.
But the impact on the next generation of cricketers might be enormous
and far-reaching.

Everyone has to have heroes, important that they be the right kind.

Author’s own blog: Outside Edge

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A blog by donthaveaclue:

This is the first of a 3-part post
on the potential impact of the Indian Premier League on the game of cricket as we know it.

I think of the three key components that will undergo change;
current cricketers (international and domestic),
future cricketers (little kids donning the whites) and
the game of cricket as it might exist 5-7 years down the line.

Impact on current cricketers

There exists the potential for several tags to attach to any current cricketer;
state/club,
country/international,
test-class,
the one-day specialists
and now, IPL player.
Given that the tags are not mutually exclusive, it is fair to think of the impact of the last tag on the others.

Scanning the team rosters of the expansive yet unimaginatively named teams, there are 3 kinds of players that currently form some kind of royalty (Super Kings, XI Kings, Royals, Royal Challengers), job descriptions (Chargers, Daredevils), comic heroes (Knight Riders) or just plain passport holders (Indians);
Type 1 (Test and ODI regulars),
Type 2 (Uni-dimensional Type 1 wannabes) and
Type III (Greenhorn potential).

Type 1 - Test & ODI Regulars:

Think Adam Gilchrist, Graeme Smith, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, Brett Lee.

These guys have been around for a while and are no-brainers when their respective country’s team sheets are drawn up. Not getting into the debate over contentious names like Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly et al, we still have enough to make a sizable set. Their motivations to suit up in the shiny colours is partly curiosity about the new franchised format and partly a need to prove to themselves in the slam-kaboom variety of the game.

T1 Batsmen:
Having the technique and the temperament, they are likely to feel themselves through their first few innings and then make the necessary adjustments to open up angles with conventional cricket shots (yes, Gilchrist plays conventional shots, he just picks the length earlier than most others). As pitches are flattened to ensure high-scoring games, these guys will fill take on individual challenges against top class bowlers while mauling the mediocre ones.

T1 Bowlers:
The truly hamstrung lot, top quality bowlers will look at varying their lengths and pace to outfox batsmen. Expect some innovative field placings and lengths to put batsmen off.

Type 2 - Unidimensional Type 1 wannabes:

Think Yuvraj Singh, Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan.

These are those that have been knocking on the doors to be Type 1 for a while.
They’ve all had their moments but never consistently enough to be considered shoo-ins. In the regular world, these would be the most driven type of player, having tasted some success in their national colours, to relentlessly work to improve their techniques that would make all the difference.

In the IPL world however, these blokes stand to lose the most. Why bust your derriere improving against the short fast delivery aimed at the throat when you can make a packet swatting medium-paced dollops in franchise colours? Worst-hit (or rewarded depending on your point of view) will be the Indian (the country not the franchise) Type 2s who strut around with collars raised, preening for the camera as they manufacture dives to play to the gallery.

T2 Batsmen:
The format is tailor-made for those who are already on the front foot before the ball has been bowled.
Given that bowling is not considered a requisite skill in the newest form, there are enough slightly built slow-medium slingers pretending to be bowlers for this type to flay their bats at and do reasonably well. For the likes of Robin Uthappa, the strategy would be simple, scamper the single off the good bowlers, swing/scoop/bludgeon the others hard, give interviews

T2 Bowlers:
Penetration and wicket-taking having been relegated to secondary activities, these bowlers will look at specializing in hitting just the right length with just enough wobble to make stroke-making irritating. Only problem is, all such bowlers will be a blur with their ‘acceptable’ returns of 1 for 42 off 4 overs

Type 3 - Greenhorn potential:

Think Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Virat Kohli.

These are the ‘young turks’,
mostly of Indian cricket, with wins at the U-19 levels
and dreams of the land of milk and honey of international cricket in their eyes.

Which way they go will depend purely on what they are made of. Some will improve from their encounters with top class players. Some will reduce their games to similar to the T2s. Of little current significance, but the future of this lot will have tremendous bearing on that of the game itself

T3 Batsmen:
Will have to resist the urge to shut their eyes and mow across the line of every delivery (given even that has its success rates). Instead, to learn more about their game and gain the experience of playing in front of packed houses alongside some of the legends. The choice of international player they model themselves on will make all the difference.

T3 Bowlers:
The odd spinner might gain operating under pressure, but the format closes the door on young fast-bowlers looking to hone their art, even the good ones will be easy meat for the T1 and T2 batsmen.

Too much of Type 2 and the IPL might just have a truncated shelf-life.
But at the end of the day, quality cricket should not be too difficult to spot.

Author’s own blog: Outside Edge

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A blog by ©hinaman:

so you reckon you know your cricket?
you can pickup the flippers from the dippers and the swingers from the sliders
differentiate the chinaman from a Yorker?

Then I have found a website hosting a cricket quiz with a difference.
It is called Think Googly.

Test yourself,
see if you can pick up the wrong’uns
prove to yourself how much of a pundit you really are
and not get out caught!

Think Googly

Its a cricket quiz with you at the crease.
It is your cricketing knowledge, your reflexes and quick thinking.

No asking the cheerleaders er, the audience,
no 50/50 (or is that now 20/20)
no phone a friend, no supersubs are allowed.

The questions will come as,

Fast: to tests general knowledge of cricket -
Medium paced: to test you with some obscure cricketing questions -
Spin: to test your ability to answer cricket by solving cryptic clues -

or get easily deceived. You have to think googly!

The rules are simple.
The quicker you answer, the more runs you score.
Get an answer wrong, you’ll lose a wicket.
Lose 10 … and they’ll know its all over.

There’ are no margins of error, and no third umpires to refer it to.

You can play in a Twenty20 or an ODI game.
Play against the target scores set by other players
to decide whether you win or lose each game.

Think Googly rankings: will show you where you really stand.
Win - The percentage of games that you win
SA - The average runs you score per game (scoring average), and
BA - The average runs you score per wicket lost (batting average)

And its free.
Want to give it a try,
there’s even the ‘nets’ where you can have a go before you register.

That is fair. It has to be … after all it’s about cricket.

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