he..he ...he....

A lot is being said about the fate of the greatest Indian batsmen of our times. Their performances are being analysed,compared and taken apart. The general opinion of every armchair expert is that only the younger generation can lift out team to greatness and the fading fab4 along with Mr.Jumbo are perpetrating a great crime to the nation by not hanging up their gloves, bats and balls. The media as usual showing a great deal of journalistic wisdom is coming up with various statistics. Here is one such article.

Also take a look at the comments from readers.....As one of them aptly put ' Statistics is like a Lamp post that a drunk man leans on .. for support not illumination.'

I am still laughing.............

Howzat !!!.....

Just when the Fab Four of Indian Cricket are getting ready to hang up their gloves, pads and abdominal guards to take up offers from various channels to provide high class analysis and commentary, I made a triumphant return to competitive cricket last weekend. Yeah, I played cricket at a ground near my home.

It had been years since I played a 'match' against a team.It bought back all the old memories of the days when I was a kid.In those days (feels like I am writing some ancient history), our one and only occupation during holidays was to spend the whole day in a ground playing 'bet' or 'friendly' matches with any team available. The salient features of those days can be summarised as below:

• First and foremost, get your friends to get up early in the morning and come to play and believe me with some of the 'Rip Van Winkles' we had, it was a hard task.
• Contribute to get a ball. Though the ball would cost 2 rupees, I had to beg our parents to get the 25 paise - my contribution to the ball.
• Reach the ground and look for a suitable stretch to make it your pitch. The accepted way was to pitch your stumps between two other pitches already occupied, with leaving enough space so that players from other pitches affect you as minimally as possible. If you did not find any space, then do what everyone does, intimidate a bunch of kids younger than you to give up the space they had already occupied. Or play a match against those kids to defeat them and occupy the space once they left. Though both of them were effective ideas, sometimes it used to backfire.
• The next step was to search for a team which is willing to play against you. You go all around the ground asking everyone if they are interested in a match. Sometimes we used to spend the whole day looking for a worthy opponent (By that I mean whom we could beat easily).
• Once you find a team, the next stage was negotiations. The amount of the bet (we have played bet matches from 50 paise-1 rupee to 200-300 bucks), total number of overs, total number of players in the team (again this too varied from 6 to 16 in each team), the boundaries (usually the third tree after the bush, or the second stone straight or the stumps of another bunch of kids playing at the far end used to become our boundaries), the rules (whether there is runs for an overthrow, wide, no ball. In later days, we also discussed whether chucking is allowed or not as many kids decided to adopt Shoaib Akthar as their idol). All these formed the subject of intense negotiations and in many a cases, the talks broke down in the middle as one of parties couldn't agree to the terms and conditions.
• After the talks, it was time for toss and the basic rule was bat if you win.
• Now comes the actual game.We used to have lotsa fun. Arguing at each ball bowled. Fighting with the umpire for each decision against us. Fist fights with opposite team, swearing to be mortal enemies hereafter. In short,it was wonderful.
• We learnt multitasking in these play grounds. A player fielding at 'Point' for one match would also be a 'Long on' for another match.

Over the years, this has not changed and even after a long time when I set foot in to the ground yesterday, I saw similar scenes all over. The only change is I couldn't see a single familiar face as most of my contemporaries are either involved in developing second or third chins or adding another tier to their midriff region. Many of them have ventured in to the land of matrimony, never to return.

I had a wonderful time playing even though the kids in the ground were calling me 'uncle'. They were giving me respect and wanted me to field in front rather than on the out field(well I take it as a gesture out of respect rather than the fact that I could not run and pick up the ball). All these reminded me of the truth that I no longer am the young turk that I was and the aches all over my body today re-emphasises that.....

Bowled out at Lords

Its the place where the motley crew of Kapil Dev lifted the world cup in 1983. The place where Saurav and Dravid started their illustrious test careers, the place where Sachin has not even scored a 50, whereas Ajit Agarkar (of all the people), has a test century in his name. Its also the place where Saurav , at his aggressive best took off his shirt to do a half monty.

Coming all the way from India, it would have been be a great injustice if I had not visited Lords Cricket Ground.Yes ladies and gents I did my pilgrimage to the Mecca of cricket last weekend.

Shane Warne has said "You can't help feel your skin tingle with the history that breathes around the place" . Yes, even I could not agree more, the skin tingling did happen...but only due to the damn cold.

Walking on the hallowed turfs of Lords was..to be honest...just like walking on any other well manicured lawn. No seriously it is a place so steeped in history that you actually feel it (obviously the old furniture, paintings, decor helps).

Its the place where you can trace the development of cricket from being a sport which was played by the rich, nobles and aristocrats to the sport which is being administered by the bureaucrats who have no experience whatsoever of playing cricket.

The ground itself started as a private and exclusive place for the rich to play so that the common riff raffs don't disturb them. It was founded by Thomas Lord, who was a business man with a great foresight.There have been three Lord's Cricket Grounds. The original was founded by Thomas Lord in 1787 on the site of what is now Dorset Square.

Lord was obliged to relocate in 1810 to a site called Lisson Grove in the vicinity of Regent's Park but he lost that venue after only three years because the land was requisitioned for a canal cutting. In 1814, the present Lord's ground, formerly a duckpond, was founded.

He built the ground and the entrance to the ground was through his tavern so that people coming in, first buy a drink or two before getting on to the ground. Thus drinking in cricket ground is part of the tradition and players like Flintoff are just following their forefathers.. The colours of MCC, is in fact from the gin manufacturer Nicholson's brand logo. Nicholson was the initial sponsor of the MCC.

It is the home ground for the MCC and the Middlesex County club.Here, the members of MCC decide on the rules and laws of the game.The presence of a big bar, just beside the meeting room of course has contributed to some of the baffling and convoluted rules !!

The ground itself is not that big and compared to some other stadiums, its quite small. Its a unique blend of a era bygone and mordern times.
The pavilion, the old man time weather vane, the long room,the paintings, the visitors dressing room has the old worlds charm. Whereas the new stands, the digital scoreboards, the media
centre, the new drainage system (which cost just 1.8 million pounds) show the modern and technological side of the ground.

The long room is leased out for public for banquets and weddings (very apt as once you are married, you are OUT !! - out of all the opportunities bachelor's life offers!!----there is not better place than Lords to get out)

There is a museum , which also trace the development of cricket from the age of W.G.Grace(who, according to the tour guide, did not bath frequently. No wonder there was no short leg or gully
around him in all the paintings) to Kevin Pieterson.

There are bats,wickets, balls, shoes, caps,etc, which were used in various matches and by great players. Some of those wickets and bats are in such state that if I had them in my room, my mum would no doubt used them as
fire wood.

Then there is a stuffed sparrow, which was killed by a ball.Also on display is the original Ashes urn for which England and Australia play for.Wel atleast England plays for it, but Australia actally owns it....

And when London hosts the 2012 Olympics, Lords will be used for the first time in its history, to play an altogether different game...Archery.

As I was leaving the ground, a wedding party was being organised in the long room and by the look of the bride's family, the groom had a very long innigs to play to avoid follow on...

A great place which is part of the history of the gentlemen's game and am sure in the coming future, will play a important role in cricket (and also in the life of some hapless groom).

We Won !!!

Here is an excellent article by greatbong who sums up all my emotions....