Australia

ICC World Cup 2015: Quarters to semis

The quarters are over and the winners gave no quarter. Well, almost.

The results followed the dictates of the form book.

South Africa defied the odds and tore up the ‘chokers‘ tag. Perhaps, this is the Cup that will cheer the Proteas .

India made the semis but not before having to overcome some tight bowling in the first 35 overs. They were also the beneficiaries of three decidedly dubious decisions from the umpires. The result could have been much closer than the scoreline suggests.

Pakistan’s batting failed again but Wahab Riaz took the fight to the Australians in an inspired spell of fast bowling that had Shane Watson hopping, skipping and jumping like a cat on a hot tin roof.

New Zealand had it pretty much wrapped up when they scored close to 400 runs with Martin Guptill registering the second double-century of the tournament. The primary prima donna record holder Chris Gayle flattered to deceive in a brief stay at the wicket. The West Indies captain Jason Holder impressed one and all with his composure under pressure.

Semi-final line-up:

• Tue Mar 24 (50 ovs)14:00 local (01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST)
  1st Semi-Final – New Zealand v South Africa
  Eden Park, Auckland
• Thu Mar 26 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)
  2nd Semi-Final – Australia v India
  Sydney Cricket Ground

Kapil Dev: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Kapil Dev eggs on the Indian cricket team to greater heights.

What he said:

“Well I have never understood this team hug inside the ground at start of the match. What were you guys doing in dressing room. Only eating eggs!”

Former India player and World Cup winning skipper Kapil Dev is realistic about Team India’s chances at the World Cup Down Under this year.

The all-time great was addressing a ‘Cricket Conclave‘ organized by News24.

He said:

“If Virat Kohli scores a century and then blows a flying kiss towards his girlfriend, I have no problems. Rather I have problem if a player scores zero and is blowing a flying kiss. We played cricket in a different era and now its a different era. We have to accept that.We can’t just sit back and think that cricket is no longer a gentleman’s game. Times have changed. The generation I played was different. We grew up with Test cricket. But now you have sledging, abuses and T20 is an accepted format.”

English: virat kohli (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Kapil added:

“India I believe will reach semifinals and all four semi finalists will have 25 percent chance. You can’t predict from there on. I believe start is very important. I think the first 15 overs will decide how India will perform. I would take 40/0 in first 15 overs which can give us 270 plus total. It’s a must. But if India lose 2-3 wickets in 15 overs it will be difficult.”

What he really meant:

“The huddle is a muddle. Strategy is planned in the dressing room. The huddle’s merely an excuse for a no show!”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Sunday ho ya Monday, roj khana unday!”

Anil Kumble: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Anil Kumble theorises.

What he said:

“We have gone into this theory of three seamers and one spinner the moment we sit on an aircraft which travels more than seven hours.”

Anil Kumble is convinced that not much thought goes into the selection of the bowlers in overseas Tests outside the subcontinent.

He said:

“We have the quality of bowlers, it’s just trying to see who can adjust to the Test format and then choosing your best four bowlers who you think can pick up 20 wickets, that’s also been an issue.

We have gone into this theory of three seamers and one spinner the moment we sit on an aircraft which travels more than seven hours – that’s the mindset… If your 20 wickets are going to come with two spinners and two fast bowlers, so be it. If it comes with three spinners and one fast bowler so be it.”

The former India skipper believes that  “Horses for courses” is not the right policy when it comes to selecting teams for the longer format.

What he really meant:

“It’s a long flight and snooze mode is what the Indian think-tank hits on its ‘Think-Pad’.” 

What he definitely didn’t:

 “The Indian team especially it’s bowlers should just ‘wing it’.”

Tony Abbott: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Tony Abbott says cricket is about ‘drinks’.
Embed from Getty Images

What he said:

“The safest place to put your beer when I was playing was behind the stumps, particularly when I was bowling.”

Australian premier Tony Abbott confesses that the only reason he took up cricket at Oxford was for the availability of drinks at odd times.

He said:

“The only way to get a drink in England in those days during the middle of the day was to be playing sport because the pavilion bars could be open when the pubs had to shut. So the truth, Jim, is I was probably a drinker first and a cricketer second. The safest place to put your beer when I was playing was behind the stumps, particularly when I was bowling.”

Referring to former Prime Minister John Howard’s disastrous bowling sting during an official visit to Pakistan in 2005, Abbot said:

“It wasn’t the most elegant delivery, but nevertheless it was poetry in motion compared to my bowling.”

What he really meant:

“John Howard, you are in good company—beer company.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“I’m Australian and I’m for beer.”

Tony Abbott: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Tony Abbott is not a member of the anti-sledging camp.

English: Tony Abbott in 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What he said:

“I couldn’t bat, I couldn’t bowl, I couldn’t field, but I could sledge, and I think I held my place in the team on this basis, and I promise there’ll be none of that today.”

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott jests that he was a sledger-par-excellence during his Oxford University days.

The premier was addressing the Indian cricket team at tea hosted at at Kirribilli House in Sydney on Thursday.

Abbott is a former captain of Oxford’s Middle Common Room team of the Queen’s College at Oxford.

Revealing his thoughts on Steve Smith’s delayed declaration during the Melbourne Test, the university cricketer said:

“When I told people last night that I was lucky enough to be hosting the Australian and the Indian cricket teams here today, the only question that they assailed me with was `What did you think of the declaration?’.

My initial thought was it was none of my business. My further thought was that Steven Smith did absolutely his duty, because it is his duty to put Australia in the strongest possible position because, as India’s batsmen have repeatedly demonstrated this summer, you can never take India for granted.”

What he really meant:

 “The English are not the only traditionalists. Australians too have one—sledging—and I carried it all the way to Oxford.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Unparliamentary language, chaps, unparliamentary language. Just not done, Steve and company.”

MS Dhoni: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Mahendra Singh Dhoni couldn’t be spicier with his final words as Test captain.

What he said:

“Now, even PETA has said that you can’t cosmetically remove the tail.”

Responding to a scribe’s question, “Their (Australia’s) tail is like Hanuman’s. Yours is like a Doberman’s. That must be hurting your side,” India’s outgoing skipper replied:

“Now, even PETA has said that you can’t cosmetically remove the tail. It has been a big problem for us that we don’t have a genuine allrounder. We have tried to play six batsmen and five bowlers before, but then the tail becomes as long as a cow’s … Hopefully, if we can find an allrounder, the tail problem will be resolved. But the tail problem is really a big problem.”

The man who brought back the World Cup to India remarked thus when asked to compare the two whitewashes of 2011 and 2011-12:

“You die, you die; you don’t see which is a better way to die. You end your Test career, you end your Test career. You don’t see which is a better way to end your Test career.”

What he really meant:

“There’s nothing pleasing about the way the Indian tail disintegrates in the face of aggression. Nothing cosmetic about it for sure.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“The Indian tail proudly announces the formation of a new body, PETT—People for the Ethical Treatment of Tail-enders.”

MS Dhoni: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

MS Dhoni is all about setting an example for the children.

What he said:

“A lot of time we are asked what spirit of cricket is. What I feel is it is something you don’t want your kids to do when they are playing.”

Mahendra Singh Dhoni re-defines the spirit of cricket. The Indian skipper does not need the ICC definition that states that “cricket is always played in a truly sportsmanlike manner.”

Dhoni said:

“Till they are not abusing each other, and don’t cross the line, it(aggression) is fine. A lot of kids and elderly people also watch the game. A lot of time we are asked what spirit of cricket is. What I feel is it is something you don’t want your kids to do when they are playing.

If anything that is within the boundaries, within the guidelines of the game, I am happy with it. You also want a bit of aggression in the game because it provides entertainment to the spectators.”

What he really meant:

“You wouldn’t want your kids sledging you when you’re playing backyard or courtyard cricket, do you?”

What he definitely didn’t:

“It’s all part and parcel of the game. Kids should take to sledging like a fish to water.”

Virat Kohli: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Virat Kohli is a pacific leader.

What he said:

“If I’m playing the peacemaker, you can imagine what was going on out there.”

Virat Kohli believes that he has discovered new-found maturity as the skipper of the Indian cricket squad. He was describing his reaction to frayed tempers on the fourth day of the first Test match at Adelaide.

India lost to Australia but not before taking the fight to their opponents.

Kohli scored the most runs by a player in his first match as skipper.

Kohli added:

“But I knew I was the captain and had to step in, otherwise things would have turned ugly. I think I am getting smarter and more mature with age… And with a little bit of captaincy, some grey hair as well. I realised I had to step in and calm things down.”

On his stint as skipper:

“I haven’t slept on all the five days. Honestly, I’ll have 12 more grey hairs in my beard now. But I enjoyed captaincy despite the result… We were going for the win, it didn’t happen. We had the right approach and we are not far away.”

What he really meant:

“I guess it’s a little like Donald Duck conducting Anger Management sessions.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Set a hot-head to cool another.”

Geoff Marsh: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Geoff Marsh keeps it all in the family with a hat-trick of baggy green caps.

What he said:

“Speak to my wife, we should have kept going!“

Geoff Marsh is pleased as punch to present the baggy green cap to his second son, Mitch, who made his debut for Australia against Pakistan in the first Test at Dubai on the 22nd of October.

Marsh’s elder son, Shaun, was bestowed the honour by his father in 2011.

Marsh said:

“It was quite tough, really. It was a real honour to be asked to do it. It was just pleasing, more pleasing that he’s got the opportunity to play Test cricket.

I’m pleased for both my boys. They followed me around while I was playing Test cricket and coaching Australia. Deep down you could see it in their eyes they wanted to follow in those footsteps and now they’ve both been given that opportunity. Hopefully there’s a lot of cricket left in them.”

On Michael Clarke’s assertion that Mitch could be a future captain:

“It’s nice to hear the Australian captain say things like that.I said to Mitch you’ve just got to take every day in Test cricket one day at a time. Test cricket puts out a lot of challenges, you’ve got to meet those challenges and you only do that through good focus and concentration and working hard.

He’s only a young boy. He thinks about the game a lot. We’ll just wait and see. He’s got to get through a lot of hurdles. He’s only young, hopefully he can just perform well and consistent and see what happens after that.”

What Geoff Marsh really meant:

“It would have been even better if  the Australian side were simply a Marsh XI.”

What he definitely didn’t:

 “Hindsight is eleven-eleven.”

Ian Chappell: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Ian Chappell can walk, chew gum, gorge on spicy dishes and dispatch spin bowlers with appropriate disdain.

What he said:

“If you can walk and chew gum at the same time, then you can eat spicy food and also play spin bowling. The trick is to acquire a taste for the former and be taught the latter correctly at a young age.”

Former Australia skipper Ian Chappell is not convinced by Justin Langer’s specious explanation that playing spin is like eating chilli. One has to develop an appetite for it at an impressionable age to relish it.

Chappell writes:

“I acquired a taste for spicy food at 19 but learned to play spin bowling from about eight. I retain my enjoyment of spicy food to this day and those lessons I was taught as a youngster stood me in good stead as my career progressed, culminating in a few months at finishing school – a tour of India.

To me, it is at a young age that the real problem lies with modern Australian batsmen, and it is here that the roots of their disconnect with playing good spin bowling lie: the coaches overlook the correct footwork fundamentals.

The first things I was told about playing spin bowling were among the most important:

1) Don’t worry about the wicketkeeper when you leave your crease, because if you do it means you are thinking about missing the ball.

2) You might as well be stumped by three yards rather than three inches.

To make a real difference to a spin bowler’s length you have to advance a decent distance, and coming out of your crease only a little generally improves the delivery.”

He added:

“Playing spin bowling well is a state of mind. To succeed, a batsman has to be decisive, look to dominate, have a plan and not fear the turning delivery. Once I learned on the 1969 tour of India that because of the slower nature of the pitches you had a fraction more time than you first thought, and that when the ball turned a long way it provided opportunities for the batsman as well as the bowler, I never again worried about prodigious spin. I was often dismissed but I never again feared the turning ball; I looked upon it as a challenge to be enjoyed.”

What he really meant:

“Eating spicy food requires mouth-work and ability to roll one’s tongue. Playing spin bowling requires footwork and a sharp eye. You can do both because they exercise different body parts. Now, did you get my analogy?”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Spicy chewing gum, anyone?”