Pragyan Ojha

Darrell Hair: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Darrell Hair thinks its hairy that Saeed Ajmal could bowl at 45 degrees or more for so long.

What he said:

“Well, every man and his dog would have known that.” 

Darrell Hair is bemused with the recent crackdown on illegal bowling actions launched by the ICC.

The Australian umpire, who famously called Murali Muralitharan in 1995, said:

“Whatever they’re doing now, they’re doing 20 years too late. They had a chance in 1995 to clean things up and it’s taken them 19 years to finally come back and say they want chuckers out of the game.  I can’t believe that Saaed Ajmal has been able to bowl as long as he has, and they say he is bending his arm by 45 degrees [the legal limit is 15 degrees] or something. Well, every man and his dog would have known that.

He added:

“People say ‘you should be happy with the way things turned out’…with the chuckers being weeded out. But it doesn’t give me any personal satisfaction whatsoever. All I was doing at any time was just doing my job and I think I did it to the best of my ability. The fact was that no other ICC umpires were willing to have a go. Ross Emerson was very adamant about his thoughts about chuckers but they soon put him into the background. 

I suppose I was lucky I had a few games under my belt so they didn’t want to target me, but they certainly got him out of the way fairly swiftly. It’ll be interesting to see how many umpires are brave enough to get involved in it. I said it in the late ’90s that if something wasn’t done about it you’d have a generation of chuckers on your hands and now you have. They try to emulate Harbajan Singh and Saqlain Mushtaq and Murali and that’s the problem. The crackdown should have happened on those players and the ICC should have let it be known that it wasn’t acceptable.”

ICC general manager of cricket operations, Geoff Allardice, believes the game has reached a tipping point on this issue.

He said:

“The game had reached a tipping point on this issue, when many groups within the game felt that there were too many bowlers with suspect actions operating in international cricket.The most prominent of these groups was the ICC Cricket Committee at its meeting in June, when it observed the ICC’s reporting and testing procedures were not adequately scrutinising these bowlers. They weren’t the only ones talking about this issue, as similar views had been expressed by teams, players, umpires, referees and administrators.

Since that time the umpires have felt more confident to report their concerns with certain bowlers, and their concerns have been supported by the results of the testing of these reported bowlers.”

In India, the irrepressible Bishan Singh Bedi could not resist firing a few salvoes of his own at his favourite peeve.

He said:

“I would like to see what happens to Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh) and Pragyan Ojha, now that umpires are reporting bowlers for throwing and action is being taken against them.”

Bedi added:

“The rectification had to come from the establishment.It’s no doubt late, but better late than never.” 

On the timing of the clampdown:

“Timing doesn’t matter for goodness. It was ugly to watch chuckers floating around – someone throwing javelin, some shot put and others darts.” 

What Darrell Hair really meant:

 “If you know it, your best friend knows it.Besides, should the umpire be looking at the bowler’s arm or at the batsman? How do umpires measure the angle with the naked eye? Trained dogs, perhaps? Something like sniffer dogs, eh? Can we umpires have compasses please?”

What he definitely didn’t:

 “I knew it and I was labelled a dog for it, wasn’t I?

 

 

India Cricket: Of Young Legs, Heller Pacers and Non-Finicky Squads

The English came, saw and were conquered.

The freshly crowned No.1 Test team were all at sea when it came to negotiating the sub-continent’s slow turners.

A 5-0 trashing might satisfy MS Dhoni and his young brigade ;the true test is to come when Team India tour Australia at the end of the year.

The Indians looked sharp in the field owing to young legs in the side.

A consolation T20 win for Graeme Swann, no little thanks to a belligerent knock by the man he termed not captaincy material in his autobiography, “The Breaks Are Off”—Kevin Pietersen.

The hoi polloi were not impressed; the stands were less than full for the games.

A surfeit of cricket coupled with the dismal surrender in England implies that fans cannot be taken for a ride—surely not all the time.

The squad picked for the first Test in the return series against West Indies at home has three express bowlers, each capable of bowling at 140+ kmph.

Does this mark the dawn of a new era?

Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron are chomping at the bit to have a go and make their mark on the selectors before the crucial tour Down Under.

Harbhajan Singh,however, has been sternly castigated by Krishnamachari Srikkanth and his merry men; he remains out of favour.

Rahul Sharma, Ravindra Ashwin and Praghyan Ojha are the twirlers chosen by the wise men of Indian cricket.

Virender Sehwag returns, Ajinkya Rahane is rewarded for his fine displays and Yuvraj Singh makes it back to the Test side and ‘Grade A’.

Virat Kohli has yet another chance to prove his credentials in the longer format of the game—should he play.

Kohli and Ishant Sharma have moved up in the Indian cricketing world—rewarded with Grade A contracts.

Ashish Nehra is the surprising omission from the list of contracted players. Why is he being punished?

The first Test match is scheduled for November 6, 2011 in Delhi at the Ferozeshah Kotla.

Two spinners and two pace bowlers are par for the course on sub-continent wickets.

Will Dhoni risk a Sehwag without adequate match practice? A similar move did not quite work wonders in English conditions. But then this is home advantage and the Kotla is the Nawab’s home ground.

Can Dhoni leave him out?

The second pace bowler’s spot is a toss-up between Yadav and Aaron—Dhoni’s call.

Rahul Sharma is the least experienced amongst the trundlers. Safe to say, he will not play.

The squad picks itself:

M S Dhoni (capt & wk), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag (Ajinkya Rahane), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav (or Varun Aaron).

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