Tag: Australia

Warne Honoured by Swann

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Shane Warne is one of the greatest bowlers to have ever played the game and considered by many to be the greatest to have ever lived. He was the first player to ever break seven hundred wickets finishing his test career with seven hundred and eight wickets in one hundred and forty five test matches.

He was also prolific in one day internationals taking two hundred and ninety three in just less than two hundred games for the Australian national team. The forty two year old leg spinner has now swapped the sport for the commentary box, and has been a popular commentator since retiring from all forms of cricket in 2008 after winning the Indian Premier League with the Chennai super kings where he played in a dual role of captain and coach. The player is also well known for applying for his home state of Victoria and English side Hampshire.

England’s Grahame Swann has recently be compared to the Australian spinner, but Swann was quick to dismiss the comparisons as a “wind-up” believing that he is not even in the same league as the Australian record breaker. Swann even went as far to say that Warne was the greatest of all time and could have dismissed an entire team with a mango; such was his ability with the ball.

Warne remains involved in cricket playing in charity matches and also doing coaching, which he hopes he can continue to a higher level. Warne has already met with a number of international spinners for one on one discussion including Grahame Swann who said he was honoured to have the chance to meet and discuss the game with someone who is a cricketing legend. Warne will always be remembered for his ability and will for a long time be considered one of the best to ever play the game.

Pakistan still in Discussions

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Zimbabwe, South Africa as well as Malaysia are being considered among the venues that would host the One Day International series between Pakistan and the Australia Cricket Team at the end of August. The fallen giants of Asian cricket have had to contend with playing their home series in neutral venues with no teams willing to take the risk of coming down to the war torn nation after a terrorist attack on the touring Sri Lankan team bus back in 2009 which killed three people.

The series was confirmed to be held in Sri Lanka but the island nation pulled out at the last moment because of the clash of timings with its own Twenty 20 league, the Sri Lanka Premier League which is also slated to be held at that time. According to a spokesperson for the Pakistan Cricket Board, a decision on the venue will be made in a meeting next week but he did name the three countries in contention for the role of host.

But what has stunned many people is the option of Zimbabwe being a possible choice of venue after the protests which was mainly led by the players of the Australia Cricket Team against the dictatorial regime of Robert Mugabe in the country ahead of the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup that was hosted jointly by South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe. The Australian team has not toured the African country since then and it is highly likely that they will not tour it if it was announced as a venue.

The Australia Cricket Team is slated to play in five One Day Internationals as well as two Twenty 20 Internationals against Pakistan in the tour and it would mean that the tour would be quite long, so Zimbabwe might not be the best option for a venue after all.

AUSTRALIA IN TRANSITION

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The Australia cricket team are most certainly one in transition, and the biggest concern right now to the Australian board would be whether or not the quality of talent that Australia is producing now is up to the standards of their previous teams.

It was clear for all to see that it would take a period of time to recover and rehabilitate after the loss of such an inspirational generation of cricketers, with some of the finest cricketers to have ever graced the game leaving the team. The only man who still remains from that specific golden generation of Aussie cricketers is Ricky Ponting, and to a lesser extent Michael Clarke.

It appears now that Ponting is on his way out of the team, and he has done his best to try and help guide the team towards its new path, but a lot of work still appears to be needed. They have been bowled out for exceptionally low totals with far more regularity of late, with the problem in particular appearing to be the moving ball on seaming pitches.

This is a problem that needs to be addressed, and they also need to try and help bring the Australian public back to the game. Its popularity within the country appears to be on the wane, with attendances down and participation rates reduced. One of the ways in which Cricket Australia hopes to tackle the slump is via the introduction of the new T20 Big Bash League.

Its first game received a relatively poor attendance, but the television viewing figures of Shane Warne’s return to Australian cricket was sensational, so it is hard at this stage to understand just how successful this tournament will be.

GILCHRIST STILL LOVED

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In spite of retiring from the game of cricket almost three years back now, it seems that Adam Gilchrist is still residing at large in the hearts of a large section of the cricketing community in Australia, particularly the Indian fans. The Swami Army, which is supporters’ group of Indians residing in Australia chanted slogans of ‘Bring Back Gilly’ in reference to the former Australian wicket-keeper batsman’s nickname in order to provoke the current Australian wicket-keeper Brad Haddin . Gilchirst, who retired from the international game in 2009 after a series against India, was an extremely popular figure among all cricket fans, mainly because of his explosive batting but also for his honesty that saw him walk off the field many times when he felt that he was out in spite of not being given out by the umpire.

According to the members of the Swami Army, which is being looked at as the Indian answer to the famous Barmy Army of England, said that they were winding Haddin up not only with chants for Adam Gilchrist but also chanted the name of Matthew Wade, the Victorian wicket-keeper who is being looked at as the long term replacement for Haddin in the Australian side.

Sumit Grover, a founder member of the Swami Army, however, said that chants were not intended to hurt the sentiments of Brad Haddin, who was seen gesturing in their direction many times when a wicket fell. It was, on the other hand, a chant for the love of the charismatic Adam Gilchrist, whose swashbuckling style of play earned him a lot of fan following in places far away from his native land.

The swami Army also managed to taunt fast bowler Peter Siddle who seemed visibly upset with their behavior and went on to complain to the field umpire about it.