What a jaffa from Mitchell Starc, but delivery of the century? Delivery of the Ashes?

Mitchell Starc's delivery to James Vince was an absolute Jaffa, but to term it as the ball of the Ashes or ball of the century is a pretty overrated statement. Especially, 'Ball of the century'.

If a delivery is rated as the 'Ball of the century' on the basis of #Ashes then it's quite funny. In the history of Test cricket there are many deliveries better than this or Shane Warne's delivery to Gatting.

Neither do we have idea about deliveries before the television era nor idea about those deliveries since matches started to get telecast on TV. The amount of live telecast of matches were lesser in amount before cable television burst into the scene in 90s.

It's tough to rate any deliveries as so highly or any deliveries as 'Ball of the century' or 'Ball of the Ashes'.

If I need to term any delivery as the best of all times since 90s on Australian soil, it would be Wasim Akram's mesmerising stuff to Allan Lamb in the World Cup final at MCG. Wasim bowled from round the wicket, got the ball to move the other way from an acute angle - far, far better than Starc and should be the all-time best delivery ever bowled on Australian soil since the 90s.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Steve Smith: The captain, the batsman

Steve Smith can bat. Yes, he can not only bat but score runs in plenty and he doesn’t get satisfied with a hundred only – a daddy hundred is needed to satisfy his appetite. But the picture was different eight years ago. On December 2009, Steve was called into the Australian squad as a cover of injured Nathan Haruitz before a Test against West Indies at Perth. Smith had to wait 18 more months to wear the Baggy Green Cap.

A dissatisfied Terry Jenner said, “In my view he’s not just ready for this level of cricket”. Terry was someone who predicted, Smith would be one of the best wrist spinners for Australia if given enough time and space, but he was not in favour of Smith’s early entry to Test squad. Neither Terry nor the Australian selectors could deny how desperate they all were during to that period to discover another Shane Warne despite knowing the fact, such legends are born once in a generation.

Smith made his debut at Lord’s in 2010 against Pakistan and showed glimpses of his talent as an all-rounder, but since then, his expertise remained a mystery to all – all kept guessing about whether Smith is a legspinner or a bowling allrounder.

***

After watching that daring 77 at Leeds against Pakistan in 2010, I came to the conclusion, he was going to be another limited-overs sensation and obviously a poster boy of franchise-based league cricket. His technique was no way near Test standard and he was more of a slam-bang sort of batter. My interest waned about him.

But in cricket, you don’t always need the ideal technique to flourish. There are so many examples and the biggest of them all is Sir Don Bradman, whose greatness developed on his own technique. Javed Miandad was another batsman who became the backbone of Pakistan batting relying on his self-made technique. Gradually, Smith would register his name in the school of self-made technique since 2014 and would continue to plunder the bowlers around the park by scoring daddy hundreds.

Not only that, he would also be given the captaincy of Australian team – a matter which was never thought when he made his debut and when Ponting was angry with him during World Cup 2011 about a catch. He lacked temperamental refinement. But he learned fast to adjust with everything and the result is, he is captain of Australia at present.     

***

Smith lacks the aggression of Ian Chappell or technical brain of Mark Taylor as a captain, but still, he is someone who has the ability to lead from the front. In this years’s Ashes, he was found wanting as a captain on the field at Brisbane, but he made that irrelevant with a gutsy hundred and at Perth, he responded to England’s glory in first innings with a double ton – a ton which battered his counterpart Joet Root and his men psychologically. As the day progressed, it proved more to be Smith v England.

How good was the hundred at Perth? In my opinion, it was just better as I have seen his best in India on testing tracks and all those hundreds were scored on the basis of self-made technique. You cannot say, he struggles on turning tracks as he learned fast after that debacle in Sri Lanka. He can play pace and spin very well or may be there is still another exam left where he needs to pass – swing bowling. But the way he is learning fast, in a matter of time, he might overcome that with flying colours as well.   

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Son, you made me proud

Jonny Bairstow was stuck on 99 at Cape Town in the second Test on 2016. He needed just one more run and plenty of thoughts cropped up in his mind, especially the thoughts of his father late David Bairstow whose death anniversary was tow days later. Mr. David was suffering from a depression and on one black day, the eight-year old Jonny and his family experienced his father’s suicide in a very uncomfortable manner. It was tough times for the Bairstow family. His mother was suffering from a cancer while his sister was too young to feel the horrendous impact of the tragedy.

Mr. David was a renowned cricketer himself and had a lot of influence on the blue-eyed young Jonny to take cricket seriously. Bairstow’s mother struggled to the limits to make her children able enough. At Cape Town, perhaps, she was nervous when his son needed one run to break the hoodoo of nervous nineties – he failed to overcome a red hot Morkel at Lord’s in 2012 and ended up the ghost on 95.

Morkel was still giving him troubles but Bairstow sustained the pressure despite the memories of his father trying to overcast his concentration. One more run, yes one more run was needed to make Mr. Bairstow happy. One more run was needed to say “YES”.

South Africa brought on Van Zyl and Jonny middled one to backward pont for four. We all heard “Yesssss”. The heavens heard it as well as Jonny went on to notch up 150 runs.

“My mum is sometimes unable to look when I bat; she might hide in a corridor when I get near a landmark score. I know she’ll braved this one out, but everyone is standing and applauding so I can’t hear her first. I point my bat towards where I know for certain she and Becky are sitting, gesture for them alone.

Eventually the noise of the crowd dies away. And I think of starting my innings again. But first, I take one last look at the sky. If heaven has a pub, I hope my dad is in it now. I hope he’s ordering a pint to celebrate.

Then I hope he orders another one”.

***

Dawid Malan and Jonny have already scripted an influential partnership to boost England’s confidence. Malan reached his hundred to earn all the accolades, but at the other end, Jonny was calm and quiet and thinking of reaching another milestone to stabilise England’s position and make his father happy on the eve of Christmas. Just like Cape Town, he needed one more run. One more run to answer the critics of head-butt and make his father say “YES” in the heaven.

Mitchell Marsh delivered one short and Jonny swung it towards leg to reach his fourth Test hundred. His celebration was a bit of a nuzzle for his helmet and then look towards the sky in search of his father.

“What a brilliant knock! Son, you made me proud. More strength to you. This is my Christmas gift.”

Perhaps, David said such. May be yes, may be no. Only Bairstow can say as all son and daughter have a special telepathic connection with their parents.    

David is a proud father today. Surely an Ashes ton in the home of enemy means a lot! 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Courage wrapped in the box of composure

William Harvey, the physician who discovered the principals of blood circulation, hails from Roehampton, a suburban district in southwest of London. Dr. Harvey was a genius and tough character and Roehmapton has the tradition of producing tough characters – Earl of Derby, William Pitt the younger, Peter Westbury, Earl of Garnard etc. were also from Roehmapton and in that sense, it’s not a surprise that Dawid Malan would exhibit such a tough temperament at WACA Ground against the barrage of short pitch bowling on first day.

Starc tested him with his cannon balls and so did Cummins. While Josh Hazlewood was nippy as always. Still, Malan progressed safely through some of the tricky passages of play by investing faith in his will power and technique. It was more about courage wrapped in a box of composure. Just like Harvey used to exhibit his guts in a calm and composed manner towards those women who were accused of witchcraft in 1634 and the king sent Harvey to examine those women and give his final reports.    

It was a great knock. A much needed one from a figure who was not expected to do such. A figure who’s Test future is always hanging on a thin rope. Cook’s defensive strokeplay doesn’t fetch him results these days and succumbed to a straighter one too early while Root failed to lead from the front and it was all left to England’s new faces to show the way. Malan marshalled the innings in a mature way and of course, I need to praise Jonny Bairstow’s support at the other end.  

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Shakib Al Hasan as the Test captain - Smart decision but not without a risk

Nazmul Hassan is a smart guy. He knows how to play chess and so far, his chess playing abilities have struck gold, despite the criticisms of local press and ex-cricketers. But such criticism hardly mattered to him as barking dogs seldom bites.

Whatever Nazmul Hassan has done so far, he did it with utter confidence and with maximum risks.  

There always remained a but in his decisions and today’s “Breaking News” would also not be without a but....

Yes, there will always be a ‘but’ in case of Shakib Al Hasan’s ascendancy to Test captain of Bangladesh. The ‘but’ is whether Shakib is interested to lead or not. If he is given the captaincy with the thinking of keeping the superstar busy with Test cricket and shift his interest from playing foreign leagues, then it might prove handy for Bangladesh.

Shakib is more of a whimsical character who relies more on his instincts while fulfilling the responsibilities – if the great man is not enjoying anything, you cannot force him to fetch results. It is very important, he is given the space to to think his own way and sort out matters on his own. But it is also important to notice, such characters don’t cross the limits.

Shakib ‘crossed the limits’ by seeking for a break for five-day formats before a major series against South Africa and, perhaps, to teach him a lesson, BCB shouldered him a big responsibility. But, I repeat, but, they also need to keep in mind whether Shakib is ready for it or not.

Without a doubt, Shakib is a far better captain than others, but he needs to enjoy it at first because he is a mixed big like Romario and Kevin Pietersen. You never know what he can come up with. Either it might be absolutely silly or ridiculous or it might be something eye-popping and jaw-dropping stuff.

But also, I must say, with time, a professional sports person earns maturity and professionalism. In that sense, Shakib should take Test captaincy as a motivating factor. Moreover, he, along with Mashrafe Mortaza and Mushfiqur Rahim expressed their confidence of leading the side against Sri Lanka even without a head-coach. So, I don’t think he should be taken aback by Test captaincy but give his absolute best to prove his worth as the captain in white clothes.  

Thank You

Faisal Caesar      

Richard Pybus should not be the ideal choice as head coach

Let me be loud and clear about Richard Pybus: He is not the ideal choice as the head coach of Tigers. While he was involved with Pakistan and West Indies, he could only earn plenty of negatives rather than positives. I have been following Pybus’ coaching since he was involved with Pakistan cricket in 1999. Whenever Pybus was around, Pakistan’s results were nothing but shambolic.

As soon as he was removed as coach after the Australian tour, Pakistan picked themselves up tremendously under Javed Miandad in 2000 until that defeat in the dark at Karachi. In 2001, General Tauqir Zia, whom I always rated as someone who knew nothing about the game, re-appointed Pybus again to coach the Pakistan team in England. Pakistan’s performance was good but showed his disinterest to coach Pakistan in 2001 and left after 9/11 terrorist attack.

Pakistan roped in Mudassar Nazar and until Australia dashed them at Colombo and Middle East, Mudassar was doing a fantastic job. Pybus was reappointed for the fouth time in 2002, September and one thing I could realise, Pakistan’s future would be dark under this man, who might have been a very competent customer as domestic level but at international level, he lacks the ability to manage the men, plan accordingly, bring the best out of the talents available and heavily lacks the ability to accept cultural differences. Pakistan continued to take the downward spirals and at the end of World Cup 2003, Pakistan cricket hit the rock bottom and Pybus had to leave forever. It took Pakistan and Mr. Tauqir Zia so long to realise how poor Pybus was as an international coach.

***

Pybus went to West Indies and I would only sahre the quotes of Andre E Baptiste, “his is not the first time that Pybus has been negatively associated with West Indies cricket, as we have all heard of his many battles with leading players.

If one did not know better,  it would be easy to surmise that Pybus was actually jealous of some West Indian players. Some suggest it could be the style, the dress, the wealth of the players or something as basic as their good looks, which is probably a more important criteria than most believe in light of how easy foreigners seem to be attracted to our West Indian stars.

So who is Richard Pybus?  And why did the WICB hire him? And what of the fact that coaches in the Caribbean squirm, when they hear his name? Pybus was employed with both Pakistan and Bangladesh cricket associations, with little noticeable success during either term”.        

Andre also added, “As we are now in May 2016 (31 months into a 36 month contract), we can honestly look at the Professional Cricket League pioneered by Pybus and state it has failed. He did not understand and respect the cultural differences from Guyana to St Kitts to Jamaica to Antigua to Barbados to St Vincent to T&T to Grenada to Dominica to St Lucia. But this is not his fault. He is a stranger in a land, where there is a rich history of pride, reputation, style and not one of dogma and contempt. It has been difficult to make the necessary adjustment”.

Even there was a school of thought, Pybus interfered with each and everything in West Indies.

Thankfully, that guy left West Indies.

Good for Pakistan, they did not decide to stick to him further. 

***

Pybus’ association with Pakistan and West Indies were not chummy. Even when he came to Bangladesh five years ago,the experience was not good. He left in the twinkle of an eye. If I had to praise the previous BCB boss for one reason, Mustafa Kamal, then it would be his decision to let Pybus go without even caring his proposals. 

Whether Pybus would be the head coach of Bangladesh or not, still not yet decided, but for the sake of engaging a foreign coach, it would not be smart enough to rope in someone like Pybus, who, as a person is very critical and lacks the personality to control the team.

I expect the Bangladesh media and celebrated critics to act sensibly in this case.

Bangladesh matter more than settling personal scores.  

Thank You

Faisal Caesar