Saturday, March 17, 2007

Gibbs does a Sobers!!

It had to happen! The minnows are minnows after all :-(

Van Bunge will never want to bowl again.

Check out this Gibbs 6 in 6!



Ohh btw did I say English are gonna make it? Well the Kiwis turned the tables over!!

Friday, March 16, 2007

ICC WCC 07:SWOT Analysis Eng Vs NZ!

Wow! Yet another big match today. Kiwis taking on the English!! Expect it to be nothing short of a blinder!

Sample this: Eng V Kiwi Matches played 58. England won 27, NZ..well 27 too! Hmm that doesn't help does it?

Lets get straight to business. SWOT time!

New Zealand

Strengths: Kiwis can bat and bat deep. Also going by their recent form(link to the Hadlee series) , looks like they can chase anything under the sun!
Jacob Oram is definitely the key player here. Vettori and Bond will play a key role as well. With the old ball, this spin-fast duo could prove lethal, more so if Bond is able to reverse it.

Weakness: Inconsistent!. Fleming needs to score if NZ want to go deep into the tournament. Kiwis are just not the same side while playing outside NZ.

Opportunities: Not so great English bowling attack if James Anderson misses play today. Collingwood might be the best In-form batsman for Eng but against the Kiwis he averages a dismal 20.8(His career average is 34 odd).

Threat:Craig McMillan might not play due to his toe injury. Andy Flintoff loves to take the wicket of Fleming which he has been doing pretty consistently.(Link here for stats)
England won the CB series playing against Aus and NZ..that will be a physcological boost.

ENGLAND

Strengths: Impact players-Flintoff, Collingwood and Pieterson. Can tear apart any attack on thier day. A very balanced side as well.

Weaknesses: hmm..Couldn't think of many. if James Anderson doesn't play and the pitch turns out conducive to seam, he will be a great miss. Also compared to Kiwis, the English doesnt seem to be very experienced lot. This could matter if the match goes down till the end of the wire.

Opportunities: Going by the Ken Vs Canada match conditions, Not to forget, Monty panesar who has a great chance of showing his skills on the big stage.

Threat: Well, Not sure if Michael Vaughan can hold up the full match due to his hamstring. Vettori will be a big pain if the condition is anywhere close to his likeness.

My prediction...Its going to be England all the way! Mind you..its not gonna be a easy one tho!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

ICC WCC 07:SWOT Analysis Match#1 WI vs Pak


We are couple of hours away from the most awaited event of the year for all the cricket crazy Indians- The Ninth Edition of the ICC world Cup Cricket 2007.

Here in Japan, not surprisingly there is not even a whishper about it :-(

Being an avid follower(and of course played) of this game for the last 15 odd years, i try to present here a SWOT(Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat) analysis for all crucial World cup matches.

I hope you enjoy it!

Match 1: West Indies Vs Pakistan

West Indies

Strengths:
Batting Department-Gayle, Chanderpaul and Lara of course!
Young legs on the field. Should able to save few runs.

Weakness
: Bowling line up not upto the mark. Heavy reliance on Gayle, chanderpaul and Lara. Ability to collapse like 9 pins-remember the 93 all out against the Kenyans and the more recent 85 all out?

Opportunities:
Home ground advantage. Crowd behind them. Weak Pakistani bowling attack.

Threats:
Mohammed Yousuf - One of his best batting forms and Inzy can belt the WI's rather weak bowling attack.

PAKISTAN

Strengths: Batting definitely. Yousuf, Inzaman and Imran Nazir can belt the leather on his day.

Weakness:
No Akthar, No Sami, No Razzaq. Do i need to say more?
Not that great fielding side as well. If Danish Kaneria plays, dont think he will trouble the heavily Left handed loaded WI team.

Opportunities: Capitalize on good starts. Getting a big total helps nonetheless. Not so great WI bowling attack too.

Threats: Extremely weak bowling attack. Slow legs on the field.

Karth Inc Predicts: This is a toughie. Both teams which have a equally good strengths and bad weaknesses. I am going to stick my head out and say, WI should be able to win this!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Leadership lessons from The Wall

9, 17, 65, 0, 18, 11, DNB, 19, 12, 46

(Source: www.cricinfo.com)

Well, this has been the performance of Sehwag in the last 10 matches he played. An average of 21.88. Not impressive by any standards, let alone International cricket.


However put this question to Dravid, and this is what he shoots back

"It's not like I'm supporting Joe Blogs or some Ramdin or something. This is a kid who's got 300 runs, someone who has done some things in international cricket. I get asked this question, 'Okay, you are supporting Sehwag.' I wonder if it's Joe Blogs or something I'm supporting?"

Strong words from the Wall.

A very subtle but strong hint for Sehwag to pull up his socks.

We all know Dravid’s great technical ability but here he shows his leadership skills is something every aspiring leader should learn a thing or two.

I always believe as a leader, you should have immense faith in your team. Dravid, by sticking out his head and supporting him here, would have imbibed a great sense of confident in Sehwag.

With the selectors and Indians all over vouching for Sehwag’s exit, I bet it would have been tough for Dravid to shout back his support for him, but as a leader Dravid has played his cards well.

This not only gives Sehwag the much needed support, but the other team members will be queuing up to win Dravid’s confidence. This also doubles the team's unity and improves the camaraderie in the team.

Now usually one can see captains speaking for their non performing members with caution and advice, you know something like “well he is a good player, and we hope he does well” and stuff like that.

But from Sehwag’s perspective, his captain by sticking his head out and backing him up will be ten times better than a backroom one to one talk.

Hmm.I wouldn’t be surprised if Sehwag comes out with blazing performance in the World cup.

So, next time one of your team members is not performing up to the mark and if you have the confidence him/her, then shout out your confidence to the stakeholders! It really is a win-win coz if the poor guy manages to perform, your respect among everyone will soar and if he doesnt, you will still not lose the support of your teammates.