Eng-Aus

You have got to give it to the England and Australian cricket teams. Having played a reasonably exciting Ashes (please read Zaltzman on this one), they have somehow connived bring a modicurm of excitement into a series that is nearly as pointless as watching Rohit Sharma play short balls (had to get it out of my system!).

Despite Australia not having played the brand of cricket that one associates with them (save a superb Ponting century), England have struggled with grim determination to dig themselves into a progressively deeper hole, which while Australia is not exactly helping them out of, is not something that Australia is pushing them into either. That said, there are things that I must greatfully thank England for:

1. The adrenalin rush of watching Shah and Boapra trying to communicate in a language that the other can understand while running - difficult obviously since there are all of three words to choose from. Invariably, their partnerships have been some of the most exciting moments of the last 6 matches - lacking in everything but suicidal running abilities.

2. Moments of Nostalgia - Watching English bowlers bowl to Australian batsmen reminds me of the Indian bowlers bolwing to the Pakistani batsmen in the 80's and 90's. Much like their counterparts of days gone by, England's bowlers have managed by sheer perseverence to bring each and every Australian batsman into form, days short of the biggest but one cricket tournament in the world. Remember how every batsman in the world had his highest score against India at one stage - give it a couple of years and watch the same come true of this bowling attack as well.

3. A reason to write - England's incompetence has atleast got me to write again (and will maybe get this blog working again!).

As a complete aside, whats up with these ICC nominations!!!

Walking wickets talk

A 'walking wicket' is how Dravid and Collingwood have been described of late.

Collingwood walked into what might have been his last Test innings, and rescued a crumbling England in the company of Kevin 'Ego (isn't it refreshing to have Andre back?)' Pietersen.

The noise for Dravid's head is not that loud, but the irritation among the fans was clear. Ok, he hit a 90 there and a hundred here, but for a team challenging the top Test team, such a confused batsman at number 3 was a weight on the shoulders.

The subtext that King Cricket talks about, referring to Collingwood's repeated portrayal as a gritty, doughty one, is equally applicable to Dravid - who like Collingwood has broken the mould (or "the Wall") from time to time.

Dravid made some runs today, finally looking comfy against Mendis and Murali. His innings was pretty much a press release that he will only go kicking and screaming into retirement. Which is certainly good for Indian cricket, because the incumbent will have to keep doing well domestically and in ODIs. Gambhir is proof.

Rohit can wait. Owais must wait.