ASHES THUNDER DOWN UNDER

We are merely 36 hours away from the start of the most anticipated test series of this year,"The Ashes". So how big is the ashes? As the Australian cricketers are saying in a commercial, it is huge,humongous and many other adjectives. Probably in last 2 decades no ashes series in down under started on an even kill like this one. As many experts saying that this time England has got a pretty big chance of winning series in Australia,I could not agree more with them. But is there only hope or bit of conviction supplemented with this thought?Only time will answer that query. But for the time being we got to fasten our seat belts for some enthralling cricket action over the next 2 months.

Why so many people jumping out from there seats saying england are well and truly en route to win ashes on aussie soil after Mike Gatting's team did the same in 1986? is it such a giveaway question? My answer will be no. Yes, england will start this series with their noses slightly in front but that doesn't guarantee them a series win. We have to have a look at the teams performed well in the land of kangaroos over the past 2 decades. We will find that teams that had done well are West Indies who had a terrific fast bowling as well as a very good batting line up, India who had the greatest batting line-up in the last decade barring the aussies themselves and South Africa having a potent fast bowlers in form of Dale Steyn & Co. If we look at the current English squad that is touring Australia,we will see that they neither have a great batting nor a heartwrenching fastmen. But still they are termed as favourites and that speaks volume about them as a team. The reason is partially their performence over the last 12-18 months and most obvoiusly Australia's decline in form. But believe me they are still regarded as a team to beat.

England will be heavily depended on their captain Andrew Strauss not only as a leader but as their most prime batsman. England's fortune will be dictated a lot on how Strauss performs as a batsman. On such a physically and mentally demanding tour his batting form may bring the best out of him as a skipper.Though his partner Alistair Cook had a torrid time over the last few months. Cook answered his critics with a hundred against South Australia in a warm-up game but that counts very little. It remains to be seen how he copes with the pressure when the series starts day after tomorrow in Brisbane. As they say no 3 is the most crucial postion in test cricket and its even more important if you are playing in Australia. Jonathon Trott will have his task cut out. One thing for sure he will be itching to take the battle ahead as he has some fond memories of the 2009 ashes in England where at Oval not only he made a hundred on debut but played a huge role in winning that test thus regaining the ashes. Kevin Petersen is easily their best batsman on ability but KP is struggling for runs over the last few months. Its been more than 15 test matches that he had a test ton to his name. If England harbouring any ambition of winning this series then KP got to be at his aggressive best. Paul Collingwood is not someone who can ring alarm bells in the opposition camp but he is always a man for crisis. He will surely want to recreate the magic that fetched him a double ton at Adelaide in the last tour here.I think England will go with Ian Bell at no 6 instead of Eoin Morgan. I would personally like to see Morgan in action as he is aggressive and being a left hander will give England the much needed mix in their batting line-up though Bell scored a marvellous 192 against Australia A on a dicey Bellerive Oval track in Hobart. Matt Prior is a decent wicketkeeper batsman though he wont give much headache to the aussies. His keeping standard improved leaps and bounds over the last couple of years. In the bowling department Anderson,Broad and young Steven Finn will share the fast bowling responsibilities. Anderson is a good swing bowler but as general notion is that he may struggle in Australian condition. He has grown in stature compared to last time he toured here. With high humidity and some rain around Brisbane, one can confidently say that red kookaburra going to swing there.If that's the case then Jimmy will pose some tough question to the rival batsmen. Finn and Broad are the kind of bowlers you want while touring Australia. They are hit the deck type of bowlers and being such a tall guy if they can hit the right length with young Broad a handy lower order batsman also who knows they could play a pivotal role in this series. Graeme Swann will be the lone spinner in the first XI. Swann's performance in last 12 months already cemented him as one of best spinners in world cricket. But he has to cope with the pressure that historically off-spinners don't do well in down under. England certainly have the side but few more questions can be asked about their jittery middle order and a very young inexperienced bowling attack in Australian conditions.

The picture in the Aussie camp is altogether different. They have lost last 3 test matches they played which is like Haley's comet as last time it happened was way back in 1988 season.Side has declined long way from the Hayden-Gilchrist-Warne-Mcgrath era. They are on a rebuilding process. Like every side Australia too struggling in this transition phase. But still they are still a pretty competitive unit. Katich and Watson are formidable opening partnership. Watson had a great time once he decided to open the batting for Australia. They have a crucial responsibility to give a good start as it will settle the nerves in the dressing room. Ponting over the past couple of years isn't the punter we know. His only hundred in recent memory came early this year against pakistan when he got 209 after Mohammad Aamer dropped a dolly when he was on nought. He had some substantial knocks in India though he failed to convert those into big ones.Australia will be eagerly hoping that Ponting's bat goes wider and wider with the series progressing. If australia has to regain the urn then punter needs to score big. Clarke had a shocking India series. With a chronic back spasm creating problem, Pup needs to find that elusive midas touch. But this is a very big series for Michael Hussey and Marcus North. As young Usman Khwaja & Callum Fergusson breathing on their neck, they need to deliver and deliver quickly. Brad Haddin's selection raised some eyebrows as Tim Paine did quite reasonably against Pakistan & India. Haddin is a fantastic keeper and also a very attacking minded batsman. He may not be Gilchrist but definitely he can change a game with his aggressive intent with the bat. Australian fast bowling is quite good on their own backyard. Young Dougie Bollinger already developed into some sort of cult figure in Australia. He had an abdominal strain on Indian tour. It has to be seen how well he recovered from that injury. Mitchell Johnson going through rough patch but he is a sort of bowler whose one spell can change the tide in your favour. His biggest quality is that he is a wicket taker. Ponting will be keeping his finger crossed for Johnson to get back among the wickets. Johnson also has an important role to play with the bat.Some crucial runs lower down the order can prove to be decisive. Hilfenhaus is a conventional swing bowler. He has done reasonably after getting the baggy green. Peter Siddle making a comeback after a long injury lay off. On his day he can grab bagful of wickets and can run havoc in the opponent batting line-up. Spin bowling is the department that is a huge worry for them. Hauritz has been dropped after he was taken into pieces by Indian batsmen last series. Xavier Doherty got his chance after a great ODI debut but if we go with his 1st class record then it is anything but impressive. Young leggie Steve Smith also in the ranks but he has to go miles before he settles as a prominent test match spinner. I wont be surprised if Australia goes with 4 seamers in the 1st test at Gabba but with the series going on to places like Adelaide, Sydney lack of quality spinner can prove to be detrimental for the aussies.

So both sides are quite evenly matched . For cricket buffs like me its a huge change as we have grown watching the english side surrender against fabulous Australian teams over the last 20 years. But this time round we have a mouth watering clash in prospect. Can England retain the ashes or will Australia earn the coveted urn? I am not a Nostradamus. So,only thing I can say that I cant wait for the series to start and lets hope that it lives upto its reputation.

GLOOM OR GLORY

Season 3 of the much awaited Indian Premier League just started couple of days ago with some glittering extravaganza of music, lights and finally with some cricket.Those present at Dr. D. Y Patil stadium that day were part of the changing face of the our age old classical sort of game. In the first season everybody was little worried rather bit confused regarding success of this mega event. But with 2 years down the line we can surely state that Lalit Modi's little child has grown in stature in these 2 years. Amidst all this glamours, hype, stardom, pure cricket lovers like me are little apprehensive about the future of cricket. There is a huge clutter of cloud in the sky of cricket.

As we all know that cricket has always been a laid back type of sport. It always lacked the speed like soccer or tennis. But it is like classical music, no matter what the craze about rock n roll, pop music, classical music is here to stay forever. Advent of One day cricket in the late 60s and early 70s challenged this but core of the game remained more or less the same.Few years back invention of T20 cricket came as a thunder that changed lots of things around us.With the modern day fastness and lack of time to watch a game looming large on the sports loving mankind, it took very little time to settle down and then surge ahead like a Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. Suddenly there is a unknown cricketing scenario around us. With mainly country vs country concept of this game we moved to club vs club format like many other sport in the world. With IPL we tasted mouth watering as well as unique delicacies in form of a Kallis & Boucher going after their young South African team mate Duminy or Anil Kumble doing everything to get rid of his long time friend Sachin Tendulkar. We have not seen anything like this in this sport, henceforth craziness unfold in terms of fan following. Even women left all those Saas-Bahu dramas for the sake of watching IPL which was some sort of unimaginable thing few years back.Cricketers also having a bath in the shower of money. Many of them playing IPL well after there International retirement.

Here lies the danger. We are confused about where are we heading and I do believe if that's the case my dear then we have a grave problem in our hand. Not all about this T20 soap is bad. It is competitive, enthralling, full of passion.When it started it was like a cool breeze blowing in the evening of a very hot summer day.It challenged the monotonous nature of modern day one day cricket. It was a new concept and Lalit Modi done a wonderful job with his brainchild. So one can't deny the good things that IPL brought.

Like many I am also a lover of this but little sceptic about few things.Sometimes one can question that do we need the Preity Zinta's, Shilpa Shetty's? But that is different issue alltogether. I am solely concerned with the cricketing affairs. When we grew up we saw tough test cricket battles like Steve Waugh facing Walsh or Ambrose on a green top Sabaina Park not giving an inch to the opposition, Sachin Tendulkar trying every trick of his armoury to negate Shane Warne. Those were the battles of test cricket attracted us to the game. But when I see empty stadiums in test cricket apart from Australia & England or think about the 10 or 11 years old kid only interested in the modern brand of cricket that worries me a lot. For cricket to survive we need test cricket to survive. With all those commerce creeping in this game although good in some respect, it has its own detrimental effects.Many cricketers who could have played few years of international cricket opting to retire from that and only play in the IPL. IPL has become that rich brash kid to some extent.I still believe that according to most of the cricketers test cricket is still the ultimate form of cricket. I am not worried about them but afraid for the likes of Raina's, Rohit's, Jadeja's. IPL is certainly a good stage for young prodigies to showcase their talent but one can argue that playing T20 cricket is at all a good idea or not to harness your talent. With so much money galloring from the sponsors,advertisers in this shortest version of the game, the loger formats have to combat that challenge.One staggering statistics is that we will have more than 110 t20 matches within a time frame of 12th March to the end of May icluding IPL, World T20 & other international commitments. We have to acknowledge the fact that too much of T20 can also lead to the fall down of the interest from this game.

So how to go in the future? Nobody is sure. We will have 10 teams from next year that will mean 94 games in IPL season 4. This version is fantastic to attract fans from those countries unaware about this game.So we have to make our priorities very clear about how to strike the right balance among all the 3 formats of the game. I hope that ICC and able administrators around the world of cricket think seriously about this. We want both Lata Mangeskar as well as Michael Jackson songs. It will be great for us if 15 years down the line test cricket still thrives and IPL going as strong as it is now.