Cricket V

[Paxter]

This is terrible news. Not only were cricketers injured and security guards killed, but this will also put an end to the current test series and will be a massive blow for Pakistan cricket in general. The five players injured were Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Mendis, Paranavitana and Samaraweera.

ETA:

[quote]Our sources tell us Samaraweera and Paravitarana were the ones most seriously injured and have been taken to hospital. they had shrapnel wounds in the chest and hamstring which have been dressed and they are doing fine.[/quote]

[ants]

Terrible news on Pakistan, and I suppose this justifies a few teams pulling out. Real shame for everyone. Bloody terrorists.
[quote name='Jeor' post='1703842' date='Mar 1 2009, 20.11']Well, the collapse is on, and it isn't Steyn who's doing all the damage, it's Kallis with three wickets and a one-handed grab at slip. Australia have lost four wickets in three overs, it's an incredible collapse. But to be fair there's still a lot of work to do for the Springboks and the lead is 350+, so the Aussies are still handily ahead.

I guess it's passages of play like this that we need to remember Kallis for. There was an article on cricinfo about comparing him to Sobers. Part of the reason people don't seem to rate Kallis is that he has great numbers, but no memorable hundreds or five-fors, whereas people like Dravid, Ponting, Smith, Lara etc we can all think of a famous innings. Kallis is every bit as good as they are, if in a slightly different way. The criticism that he isn't a matchwinner who seizes control of a game is somewhat valid I feel, but not nearly to the extent that the theory seems to be peddled about. Steve Waugh was another great player who might not be considered a dominating game-winner, but he was definitely still someone you'd want in any team.[/quote]
I rate Kallis as one of the best batsmen I've ever seen, just behind Lara, Tendulkar and Ponting. But in my view his bowling is over rated. From all reports Sobers was a top line bowler with either fast or spin bowling. Kallis is a handy #4 or #5, much like Steve Waugh, but I'd never want to rely on him to bowl a side out.
[quote name='Ser Stubby' post='1704389' date='Mar 2 2009, 16.06']Hughes has some promise at the top. North slotted in nicely. I'm very impressed with Haddin now. His 'keeping is excellent and better than either Healy or Gilchrist and has batting is useful at no 7.[/quote]
Anyone saying Haddin's keeping is better than Healy needs their head examined. Heally was one of, if not the, best glovemen over the last 20 years. Although I haven't seen the SA performance, Haddin isn't too much more than a backstop with what I've seen. You would never see Heally stuffing up first slips chances like Haddin does regularly, and the idea of Haddin keeping to Warne, MacGill, Bevan, or even May is a little worrying.

[Paxter]

[quote name='ants' post='1705668' date='Mar 3 2009, 16.42']I rate Kallis as one of the best batsmen I've ever seen, just behind Lara, Tendulkar and Ponting. But in my view his bowling is over rated. From all reports Sobers was a top line bowler with either fast or spin bowling. Kallis is a handy #4 or #5, much like Steve Waugh, but I'd never want to rely on him to bowl a side out.[/quote]

Actually, I think that Kallis is the much better bowler. Sobers' test bowling strike rate is just over 90 - he took one test wicket for every 15 overs bowled. To put that in perspective, Chris Gayle and Sachin Tendulkar both have bowling strike rates of around 93 in test cricket - just three more balls than Sobers. So really, Sobers' bowling penetration is only marginally better than a Gayle or Tendulkar. Sure, Sobers might've been able to keep the runs down - but that is not really the hallmark of a great test bowler.

In contrast, Kallis has the far more acceptable test bowling strike rate of 65. This is comparable with specialist fast bowlers like Chaminda Vaas (SR=65) or Michael Kasprowicz (SR=63). So really, there's not much of an argument here. Sobers may have been the more versatile bowler (he bowled fast medium, as well as off-spin and leggies), but there can be no doubting that Kallis has the greater wicket-taking ability. And that is the key attribute for any test bowler.

Really, the area where Sobers completely dominates Kallis is in the batting department. Sobers would fit comfortably in my top 5 test batsmen of all-time (along with Bradman, G Pollock, Hobbs and Hammond), whereas Kallis would be well below those five batsmen, and he would also rank below Ponting, Tendulkar, Lara, Barry Richards, Viv Richards, Gavaskar and Len Hutton.

[Paxter]

Another update on the Pakistan terrorist attack:

[quote]Update:
We're shocked but everyone is OK - Sangakkara

"There are a few injuries but everyone is safe and all the players are out of danger" Kumar Sangakkara had told CNN IBN. "We are shocked, but apart from that everyone is okay. Thilan [Samaraweera] has a shrapnel wound in his leg, but he is fine. [Tharanga] Paranavitana had shrapnel in his chest, but thank God it wasn't very deep and just on the surface.

"I had shrapnel injuries in my shoulder, but they have all been removed and I'm okay now. Ajantha [Mendis] had shrapnel in his neck and scalp, but he too has had medical attention and is fine. Everyone else is perfectly all right.

"It's very unfortunate that this has happened. Everything had gone on very well until this morning, but it just goes to show that nothing is as it seems. I don't regret coming here to play cricket because that's what we have been doing all our lives. That is our profession.

"But I regret this incident, what has happened and the situation that we have had to go through. All we want to do now is to go back home to our families, get back home and be safe."[/quote]

I'm glad to hear that the injuries sustained by the players are not serious. But that will be little consolation for the friends of families of the security personnel who died in this attck.

[sh_wulff]

simply appalled and disgusted by the news in Pakistan
senseless, simply senseless
sad that people lost their lives
sad for the Pakistani cricket fans too

I hope some good can come from this

[The Man Who]

I don't think there will be international cricket in Pakistan for quite some time following this.

Previously the worries were around getting caught up in violence/terrorism, but now that they've actually targeted cricketers, absolutely noone will be willing to go play there. It's a major step up in seriousness for cricketers.

[Multaniette]

seven people dead. :(

[Stubby]

[quote name='ants' post='1705668' date='Mar 3 2009, 16.42']Anyone saying Haddin's keeping is better than Healy needs their head examined. Heally was one of, if not the, best glovemen over the last 20 years. Although I haven't seen the SA performance, Haddin isn't too much more than a backstop with what I've seen. You would never see Heally stuffing up first slips chances like Haddin does regularly, and the idea of Haddin keeping to Warne, MacGill, Bevan, or even May is a little worrying.[/quote]

My head's fine. :P

I make that statement as a former keeper. I rate Haddin because he gets up there under the stumps to the medium pacers - something Healy never did and Gilchrist rarely did - and does it well. It was the key to making Ronald look good yesterday, as the batsmen could not use their feet to break up his length. Maybe the term isn't so much a better keeper overall, but that he does good things that I never saw from Healy or Gilchrist. I don't say that in an attempt to detract from either player - each was the best overall option duiring their tenure. Darren Berry was probably a better keeper than Gilchrist and Tim Zoehrer was undoubtedly the best one of the lot IMHO, but there were reasons to prefer Gilchrist over Berry (batting ability) and reasons to prefer anyone else over Zoehrer.

And Haddin has kept to Macgill for the better part of Macgill's career. ;)

[IheartTesla]

[quote name='Multaniette' post='1705785' date='Mar 3 2009, 06.08']seven people dead. :([/quote]

Sorry to hear that Mult. Of course everyone is more concerned with the safety of the SL cricketers, being the high profile sportsmen they are, but the lives of policemen and innocent bystanders is no less important.

Anyway, there goes another charmingly naive illusion I had about terrorists not targeting cricket players in the subcontinent. The backlash of public opinion would have been too severe for them to contemplate that. But I see that was too wrong. The same argument has been made of touring SL as well - that the Tigers never targeted sportsmen. I wonder when that theory will be laid to rest for ever.

[Hereward]

[quote]But a Pakistani minister, Sardar Nabil Ahmed Gabol, reportedly told private Geo TV that evidence suggested the attackers came across the border from India.

He said the assault came in reaction to the Mumbai attacks, and was a "declaration of open war on Pakistan by India".[/quote]

WTF? Apparently Pakistani terrorists lay waste to Mumbai and the Pakistani government bristles at the idea that it's people had anything to do with it, or that they should cooperate in apprehending suspects, but the moment there's an attack in Pakistan, before anything is known about the attackers, who could well be Tigers rather than jihadis, and it's an act of war by India? Unbelievable.

[Paxter]

Articles have been posted on cricinfo detailing the experiences of Trevor Bayliss and Kumar Sangakkara. This from Sanga's write-up:

[quote]The truth is we owe our lives to the courageous Mohammad Khalil, the driver. I will forever be grateful to him. The tyres of the bus had been shot out and he was in grave personal danger, exposed to gunfire at the front of the bus. But he was hell-bent on getting us to safety and, somehow, he got us moving again. Had Khalil not acted with such courage and presence of mind most of us would have been killed.

Standing still next to the roundabout we were sitting ducks for the 12 gunmen. We only found out afterwards that a rocket launcher just missed us as we began moving and turned for the stadium gates, the rocket blowing up an electricity pylon. Khalil saw a hand grenade tossed at us that failed to explode. Someone must have been looking over us because right now it seems a miracle we survived.

As we moved towards the stadium, Tharanga announced he was hit as he sat up holding his chest. He collapsed onto his seat and I feared the worst. Incredibly, the bullet hit his sternum at such an angle that it did not penetrate. He was fine. Shortly afterwards Thilan complained of a numbness in his leg, which we later found out was a bullet wound.[/quote]

Incredible stuff. It seems that the SL players owe their lives to the busdriver. It would have been so easy for him just to get down out of the range of gunshots and abandon the driver's seat. What he did was truly heroic.

[Stubby]

Thanks for posting that Pax.

Amazing stories of courage and instinctive reactions coming out from this attack. The Sri Lankan guys seem to be remarkably calm. I saw footage of them getting herded onto a military helicopter inside the stadium (a short tiem after the attack) and some of them stopped to take pics of the chopper before they got on. The video is not up on the news site any more but it was incredible footage.

[Horza]

[quote name='Triskele' post='1707269' date='Mar 4 2009, 18.42']Has anyone ever been killed by a cricket ball?[/quote]

Sady, [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_ball#Dangers_of_cricket_balls"]yes[/url].

On the Lahore attacks:

Commiserations to the families of the slain, they died doing their duty.

This attack is disturbingly similar to Mumbai and the ability of the assailants to strike without warning or detection, inflict serious damage and melt away is worrying in the extreme. This attack required serious training, planning and organisation to execute and but for a malfunctioning grenade and a levelheaded bus driver it would have been a complete success. That the perpetrators can bypass the state monopoly on violence so flagrantly bodes ill for Pakistan.

[Maltaran]

Chris Broad (the match referee) is [url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/7923654.stm"]rather annoyed[/url] at the Pakistani security

[williamjm]

[quote name='Ser Stubby' post='1707228' date='Mar 4 2009, 06.41']Amazing stories of courage and instinctive reactions coming out from this attack. The Sri Lankan guys seem to be remarkably calm. I saw footage of them getting herded onto a military helicopter inside the stadium (a short tiem after the attack) and some of them stopped to take pics of the chopper before they got on. The video is not up on the news site any more but it was incredible footage.[/quote]

Mahela Jayawardene (IIRC) was quoted as saying that he thought the Sri Lankans were able to cope with the attack relatively well because of Sri Lanka's recent history of terrorism and civil war.

Murali in particular must be extremely lucky, not only did he avoid the Indian Ocean tsunami by about 20 minutes he's now survived a full-scale terrorist attack unscathed.

[DemonKing]

[quote name='williamjm' post='1708287' date='Mar 5 2009, 09.51']Murali in particular must be extremely lucky, not only did he avoid the Indian Ocean tsunami by about 20 minutes he's now survived a full-scale terrorist attack unscathed.[/quote]

Not to mention the fact he has been allowed to get away with chucking for the last 15 years...

(Ducks for cover).

[sh_wulff]

:rolleyes:

[Maltaran]

[quote name='DemonKing' post='1708407' date='Mar 5 2009, 00.12']Not to mention the fact he has been allowed to get away with chucking for the last 15 years...

(Ducks for cover).[/quote]

I assume you're Australian?

[delete this account pls]

Some ugly accusations flying around that the Pakistani cricket officials had advanced warning of the attack and failed to notify anyone but their own players. I really, really hope that isn't true.

[Horza]

[quote name='Brady' post='1709805' date='Mar 6 2009, 12.18']Some ugly accusations flying around that the Pakistani cricket officials had advanced warning of the attack and failed to notify anyone but their own players. I really, really hope that isn't true.[/quote]

Yeah, I imagine getting shot at and covering a wounded coworker with your body might leave you feeling somewhat pissed off but Broad really needs to watch what he's saying here particularly regarding Pakistani cops vanishing - six of them died protecting the convoy.