From the Editor
The fire that was soothing
Cricket is the most cerebral of field sports, but a fast bowler letting rip on a responsive surface is it's animal moment, and in a sublime sense
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
Shane Warne remains the bowler I have enjoyed watching the most, but there isn't more thrilling sight in cricket than a fast bowler in full pelt. Cricket is the most cerebral of field sports, but a fast bowler letting rip on a responsive surface is its animal moment, and in a sublime sense.
So after all those depressing days, finally some cheer. A double dose in fact. Two sensational sessions of pure fast bowling, ten wickets, two men in the hospital, two more knocks on the head, and the pitch hasn't been declared dangerous yet. Has it all been a dream? After all, I did fall asleep on the sofa watching Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior squeeze single after single against that magical tweaking duo of Chris Gayle and Ryan Hinds.
So while watching normal business of Yuvraj Singh swatting sixes as if practising his bat swing, I have taken time to reconfirm on Cricinfo that the second day at Kingsmead did happen. Against the recent average of about four wickets a day, 13 wickets did fall in a whole day; and neither South Africa nor Australia employed a sweeper cover for their fast bowlers.
Full postCricket's disaster journalism
There is always a buzz around our offices when big stories break. But big stories in recent weeks have only meant bad news, and it has gotten progressively, sickeningly worse
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
There is always a buzz around our offices when big stories break. In sports terms, it can be likened to an adrenaline rush. But big stories in recent weeks have only meant bad news, and it has gotten progressively, sickeningly worse. The sandpit in Antigua and the collapse of the Stanford dream now feel utterly trivial in the wake of Lahore. Each of these events has brought enormous professional challenges but little joy.
As the world's premier cricket website we take pride in being quick and credible. But what a sad moment it is when we have to call Mahela Jayawardene to ask how many of his players have been wounded, or ask Kumar Sangakkara to give us a first-person account of the time he spent dodging bullets, or to get Younis Khan to open his heart about what this means to his team and his nation. As stories, each of these were remarkable, but we'd rather be writing on cricket.
You may have missed a familiar name in our coverage of the Lahore attack. Osman Samiuddin, our Pakistan editor and a veteran at covering cricket disasters, has taken a break to get married - the only event that has brought us some cheer in recent weeks. He wrote us a long email carrying emergency instructions before he left. It began like this:
Full postThe good draw and the bad draw
I have a simple rule to judge a good Test: it must carry the possibility of a result till lunch on the last day
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
Is it just a coincidence or are we entering the dark ages for bowlers? High scores are spreading like a rash. For the first time in the history of Test cricket two scores of 700 have come in consecutive weeks. There had never been a Test featuring scores above 600 and 700, we have now have two in successive weeks.
And who knows where the Lahore Test is headed? I am filled with such dread that I'm not even switching on the TV. Thanks heavens the epidemic hasn't reached Johannesburg yet. Now that's what you call a Test.
Thanks for your thoughts on my earlier posts. We haven't posted only those comments that were offensive: everyone has the right to disagree but not to abuse. And, with hindsight, I can now see why my sentiments about the Karachi pitch might have seemed a bit extreme. My feelings were a bit raw then because after a point every run scored felt like an assault on the senses and a betrayal of Pakistani fans who had waited for Test cricket for so long. But now numbness is taking over.
Full postA conversation with readers
Cricinfo's primary duty has always been to its readers, and one of the great gifts of the internet, is the connection it allows between the reader and the writer. This page will be a modest attempt to further that connection
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
This blog has been a long time in the making. It's a lame excuse, but I can offer the explanation that I was looking for the right tone for this blog because I also write in the other areas of the site. I don't claim to have found it, but I have been shamed into action by John Brewin and Graham Jenkins, my colleagues at Soccernet and Scrum, Cricinfo's sister sites, who have started their editor's blogs.
So first things first: this will not be a column, nor a journal or a diary. Rather, I am hoping that it will develop into a conversation. Cricinfo's primary duty has always been to its readers, and one of the great gifts of the internet, is the connection it allows between the reader and the writer.
This page will be a modest attempt to further that connection.
It will also feature random reflections and observations forgive me, and feel free to chastise me, if it occasionally veers towards self-indulgence but mainly it will aim to draw you into the world of Cricinfo. I am always curious about what goes into the making of things I like: movies, books,
gadgets, magazines, or even cocktails and pasta, and I hope it will be of
some interest to you to get a peek behind the scenes at Cricinfo. Alas, that
will not include what Andrew McGlashan is up to in the evenings at the St
Lawrence Gap in Barbados.
Full postThe pitch needs attention
The dead pitch is Karachi was as poor as the one in Chennai where Virender Sehwag scored a faster than run-a-ball hundred
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
Most writers don't mind people disagreeing with what they have written, or even getting criticised. Freedom of expression, their own and that of others, is a value journalists cherish and guard fiercely. But I must confess I am a bit surprised with some of the reactions to a piece I wrote criticising the Karachi pitch that managed to get into the record books for all the wrong reasons. In fact, I had expected the opposite; that the Pakistan fans would agree with me that pitches that produce no contest between bat and ball are the biggest threat to Test cricket. Instead, many readers found my views "extreme", "ignorant", and worst of all "prejudiced".
Perhaps I wasn't able to communicate what I wanted to say clearly. I thought I was speaking on behalf of the cricket fan, in Pakistan and elsewhere, but if it came across as if I was singling out Pakistan unfairly, then obviously I failed. I felt the same way about the Chennai Test between India and South Africa despite Virender Sehwag's sensational, faster than a run-a-ball triple-hundred. Any pitch that produces 1498 runs at the cost of 25 wickets is cricket's enemy; and any pitch that reduces a bowling attack comprising
Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Morne Morkel to cannon fodder makes a mockery of the most central appeal of cricket. I rejoiced when the bowlers struck back on a slightly bouncy, but by no means unplayable or dangerous, on which India were dismissed for 76 on the first morning in Ahmedabad.
The pitch for the final Test of the series, in Kanpur, produced an interesting debate. India had obviously wanted a turner and they got hit. The pitch looked baked and cracked before the match began, and though it didn't turn out as dangerous as people feared as it might be, run-scoring was still a struggle. The match finished in three days, and the pitch was reported by the match referee for being below par.
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Writers
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