Aussies not for big bucks?

Needless to be said, this is the third edition of the Indian Premier League. For the second time in succession, players from Pakistan are banned (once officially and unofficially this time) from participating in the same. At the same time, one other aspect that needs to be noticed is that some most of the players from Australia are also not found to feature in the IPL despite having the potential in them to attract huge sums of money and a lot of fame as well. The list includes close to a dozen players from the country. This is to be indeed given a closer look.

Last year in 2009 (obviously), Michael Clarke was found to back out from that year's edition of the IPL despite being offered a base price of $1 million the reason for which sources say is not enough for him considering his caliber. And, there was Shaun Tait who withdrew his name from the auction list when he wanted to improve his game as far as his international commitments were considered. This also was found making Shaun Tait back out from the CB series earlier that year for the same reason which drew a lot of applause. This was said to have been done by Shaun Tait to battle depression.

So has been the case with Mitchell Johnson who has not seen featuring in the IPL so far in all three editions though having the potential in him to make it big here. Johnson was believed to have been offered a price if $800,000 which he turned down without a second thought. And this year, though being free from his international commitments, Ricky Ponting is seen nowhere in this edition of the IPL despite having appeared for Kolkata Knight Riders earlier. While others like Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori and others who are also into their international commitments are being seen.

The only players being seen from Australia are players who have quit playing international cricket like Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist and Martyn to name a few. Someone like Andrew Symonds is making his appearance owing to the fact that he has been banned from playing international cricket for Australia for reasons best known to everyone after the T20 world cup last year. The other category include players like Shaun Marsh and David Hussey who have not been featuring for the Australian team for a long time. The only players who play regularly play for Australia and still show interest in IPL have been Brett Lee (if not for his injury), Warner,Watson and Ryan Harris offlate.

New Zealand a much happy team now

Finally, yesterday New Zealand becomes the third team to be defeated by Australia in all three formats of the game when they formally lost the second test by 176 runs after the Kiwis were bowled out for 302 runs on the board. An expected result was delayed by just another day when the test match which should have been lost on day 4 itself happened to go on until the end of the 5^th day. Similar to the Aussies, even the Kiwis followed suit when almost every known batsman fro the New Zealand side contributed his little bit to his side.

There were 20+ scored from the blades of Walting, Tim Macintosh, Mathew Sinclair, Vettori, Guptill, McCullum and Southee. Earlier in the test match, even the Aussies had shown a similar type of team work when there were 40+ scores from the blades of as many as 7 Aussie players on the 4^th day's play. This is the difference between both the sides where Aussie batsmen scored 40+ regular scores which was twice of what each batsman from the New Zealand side could contribute to his side. After Australia had amassed 511 runs on the board, the Kiwis had lost half of their side for less than 200.

New Zealand's defeat came after Pakistan and West Indies had their turn when they had faced the Aussies some three months back. The only difference this time was the unlike in the previous two occasions where both Pakistan and West Indies lost a test series in Australia, New Zealand lost their test series at home and not on their tour to Australia. However, the NZC may not follow the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt by banning players from playing international cricket or impose hefty fines on their players. May be the NZC will not even take the loss against Australia seriously with most of the teams' fate being almost same when they face OZ.

This was Australia's 7^th test match victory out of the 8 games that it has played since December last year. At the same time, this was New Zealand's 3^rd loss at home with the other one being against Pakistan. New Zealand have repeatedly shown the world that they are hardly interested in playing test cricket when they can show some decent performances in the remaining two formats of the game. New Zealand won two out of the 5 one dayers against Australia and one T20 game out of the scheduled 2 matches. But, the Kiwis were nowhere when it came to playing tests.

Aussies - A perfect example for team work

Well what a team work this has been from the Australian team, who can still bring the cricket fans out of the IPL mood that is catching up high on the other side of the globe? If one goes through the scorecard of the second innings of Australia's bating chart, almost all the Aussie batsmen have done their bit towards the team total of 511 for the loss of 8 wickets. If not for the captain Ricky Ponting who returned back scoring just 6 runs that all included was a full-toss hit out of the boundary line, the rest of the Aussies batsmen gave in everything they could to their team.

Much to the surprise, there were decent knocks from the blades of Ryan Harris and Nathan Hauritz - both of whom are more known for their bowling skills and less when it comes to playing a similar delivery. Ryan Harris scored an unbeaten 18 runs and Hauritz scored 41 that included 2 sixes as well. But, I give it all to the opening batsman - Simon Katich who not only top scored with 106 but also held the Australian innings firmly after their first innings lag of 33 runs. This is evident from the fact that he stood at the crease for 279 deliveries having crucial partnerships with Shane Watson and Mike Hussey.

Simon Katich not only bought in all his experience when he did that but also showed a non-selfish motive when he gripped the Aussie innings as mentioned. It was Katich who was responsible for his team to put up such a mammoth total after their initial hiccup. All batsmen who followed Katich came up with increasing strike rates with Hussey, Clarke, North and Haddin returning with strike rates of 41.87, 57.79, 66.66 and 120 respectively. All these were steadily increasing after Katich's 37.99. One bad decision that Ponting was found doing was when he declared the innings at 511 with 2 wickets in hand.

It is neither an insufficient total at which Ponting should not have declared nor the two wickets that Australia had that could have added few more runs to their mammoth total of 511. But, the fact is that, had Ponting chosen to declare a bit later, may be Nathan Hauritz might have scored a half century who had to end his innings at 41*. An interesting fact is the, it was only Mitchell Johnson who could not contribute with the bat for his team but did everything to compensate with the bat when he took three of the five wickets that fell from the Kiwi side.

A peculiar Aussie reply

On the 2^nd day's play between Australia and New Zealand, no matter if New Zealand put up a total of 264 on the board which was more than the total of 231 put up by the Aussies on the 1st day's play. This can in no ways trouble the Aussies. All that the New Zealand could achieve was a 33 run lead in the first innings. In case New Zealand had to take a lead, be it by any amount of runs, for that the Aussies should display an under - power performance which would in turn allow the opposition to capitalize. And this is what New Zealand did.

It is just a matter of time before the Aussies get back strongly at the opposition and this time as well the situation is no different. At the end of the day's play, the Aussies were 35 runs on the board without any loss of wickets and furthermore, the Aussies had a lead of 2 runs which, though not much at the moment, with three full days being available, the Aussies can make it count for which its history itself is an example. May be at the end of the 5^th day, New Zealand could take home only the satisfaction that they had a first innings lead and nothing more.

If one side of the coin suggests New Zealand taking an upperhand after they took a lead of 33 runs as mentioned, the other side of the coin also suggests that the Kiwis lost all their ten wickets almost a session before the second day's play got over. So, it would not be wrong to say that New Zealand had got hardly anything to take away from the match. Highlights from the scorecard suggests that if not for Ross Taylor, no other Kiwi batsmen really stood to the Aussie challenge whatsoever. If there was Ross Taylor who notched up a hundred for his team, there was also Mitchell Johnson who bagged 4 wickets for Australia.

And, Ross Taylor didn't achieve this without the aid of some sloppy fielding from the Aussies who dropped him when the batsman was on 7, 53 and 92. However, some majestic knocks from Ross Taylor were witnessed when the batsman scored 25 runs from Nathan Hauritz over which included three consecutive maximums. By the time New Zealand crossed a total of 231 put up by Australia, they had lost 6 wickets meaning the remaining 4 5 batsmen from New Zealand could manage just 71 runs, with Taylor's score being 41 out of that. So, by hooks or crooks, Kiwis took a temporary edge over Aussies.

Why the bias?

It is not an unknown fact that Australian cricketers have at most of the times been given a special treatment be it on the field or off the same. The most recent one being the mongoose bat that the former Australian batsman and the present Chennai Superkings opener Mathew Hayden is found to use in the current edition of the IPL. One has to wonder as to how come Hayden is allowed to use a bat of his choice when the ICC has issued certain rules regarding the size and shape of the bat which involves its width, length and also the material used to manufacture the same?

Of course, there has been a situation in one of the earlier matches when Mathew Hayden was run out when obviously he failed to make it to the crease before the ball made it to the stumps. Had Hayden used the conventional bat that every other non - special cricketers use, he could have made his ground with the long handle aiding him make it to the crease. But, this is not so important here. The point is in what way is Hayden's actions justified regarding the bat what he uses? This is not a problem with Hayden alone but with the entire Australian cricketers.

No one needs to be specially cited regarding Ponting raising his fingers to declare Ganguly out in the famous Sydney test. More than questioning Ponting's ethics on the field, one has to think how come the ICC never intended in taking any sort of action on Ponting when players are fined for excessive appealing and maintaining a slow over rate. Ponting's deed was no way less when compared to these offenses. So has been the case with recently, Johnson being fined for his spat with Scott Styris with the latter having to bear 15% of the match fees as fine with no fault of his.

Is it because the IPL is not a part of the ICC that Mathew Hayden is allowed or is it because that Hayden has retired from international cricket that the issue is not blown up? If today, Hayden is allowed to use a mongoose bat with a short handle, what if Brett Lee comes out bowling with a rubber ball citing the extraordinary bounce that it has? Of course, every ball that makes contact with the bat would have to be replaced with every ball getting broken upon the same which is secondary. In case anyone else uses the mongoose bat, it would be termed as Hayden's bat from then onwards still giving due credit to Hayden for his cleverness.

It was the Aussies who blew the issue of Murali's bowling until Warne had an upperhand when the ICC had given Murali a clean chit. But, no one dares to give it a thought regarding the deeds of Aussie players. Reason?

Luck shifts from NZ to OZ

Finally, yesterday in the 2^nd one dayer between Australia and New Zealand, it was Australia who was finally declared winners after the last New Zealand wicket fell and not until the last legal Aussie delivery bowled. This is quite obvious when all the odds namely the weather, the opposition and the team itself favors only one team and aides its victory. Fortunately, for Australia it was also the toss that they won which helped them level the series 1-1 at present. Added to that was Ponting chose to bat first on a pitch where chasing a decent total would not have been that difficult.

The pitch to a greater extent suited the batsmen which saw all Aussie batsmen but Ponting and Michael Clarke contribute with the willow. The Aussie batting progressed in a slow and steady manner with even the pinch hitter Mitchell Johnson providing his share by scoring at a rate of more than run a ball during his unbeaten score of 16 runs from 13 balls. On the otherside, even the bowlers from the New Zealand side did not lag far behind in showing some sort of discipline in their bowling by making use of the Australians' fear for spin bowling when Vettori bowled 10 overs.

Bad luck struck the New Zealand side when play was suspended for a small duration owing to rain delays on two occasions and as it always happens, the side batting second always has to pay a heavier price for no mistake of theirs. The number of balls was reduced by 30 and the number of runs required to win the match was reduced by just 9. And, the time has not yet come for anybody to dispute the Duckworth Lewis method which has seen so many deserving teams lose out to non deserving ones. However, this time luck had to favor the Australian side no matter what.

The situation was the same like the one in the first one dayer where a slog shot from Styris saw the ball clear the fence and ensure a win for the Kiwis. The same slog shot could have even been a miscue and landed safe in one of the eleven Aussie fielders' hands. Or, Styris could have been beaten and in the process the stumps rattled. But, it was luck that batted for New Zealand in the form of Scott Styris. And this time, it should have been the top order batsmen to have made things easier for New Zealand and not the late middle order in Vettori trying to settle down issues.

Finally, there was a reason for the Kiwis to smile when Daniel Vettori was awarded the man of the match for his contribution with both the bat as well as the ball. Otherwise, New Zealand never deserved anything much.

Australia wants more from Ponting

Well after Australia's loss to New Zealand at Napier a couple of days back, tongues have to wag for the losing team. This happens to be either some lame excuses which form the reason for losing or the strength that the opposition is aided with that inversely hit them. However, Ricky Ponting comes out asking more from the Aussie batsmen when scoreboard suggests that the Aussie batsmen have done enough to see their team through the match which unfortunately didn't happen at Napier. It was just a matter of time that Australia get back to their winning ways which can be proved in the next 4 ODIs that follow.

This was more or less Dhoni's words when he comes out blaming the batsmen for India's loss in the finals of the tri nation tournament featuring Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India a couple of months back. However, though the batsmen should have put up atleast a score of 300 on the board, Ponting's words are not completely justified whatsoever. Every Australian batsman put up a score in excess of 10 runs which is not guaranteed in case of a touring team that loses. Australia had a depth in batting upto number 9 until Mitchell Johnson who can prove something with the bat.

Ricky Ponting justifies his words citing the team total which was at one stage 50/1 at the end of the 6^th over with the run rate above 8.0 an over, without realizing the advantage of the powerplay that the batsmen were enjoying. Even a run rate of over 10 an over at that stage should not raise eye brows. And, how can one extrapolate the final match score with just 6 overs been bowled? If this is the way calculation can go on, a match should yield a total in excess of a thousand incase the 1^st over goes for 20 runs and the same is expected to happen for the remaining 49 overs.

Meanwhile, Ponting should take a look at his own captaincy when the way he used his bowlers is given a close look at. Despite going in for over 6 an over, Bollinger is given to bowl his entire quota of 10 overs. One has to wonder as to what on earth made Ponting go in for full pace attack leaving little room for the spinners to cash in. Ponting had spinners like Michael Clarke and Nathan Hauritz who bowled just 5 overs. Despite decades of experience, Ponting was found forgetting the fact that the batsmen from New Zealand are bad players of spin bowling. The Aussie bowling was found to oscillate between medium pace and fast bowling.

Whatever, despite all these mishaps from Ponting, he must consider himself lucky enough for coming close to winning and not losing in a one sided manner.

Ricky Ponting misses Steve Bucknor & Mark Benson

Whenever a team finds itself in shambles, the first person to face the axe is the captain of the team. And it is more so in case of the Australian captain Ricky Ponting who had no choice but to be at the receiving end when his team was all out for a partly total of 127 in the second test at Sydney against Pakistan. Tongues have already started wagging against the Australian skipper's favor when he chose to bat first in the so called green top in Sydney, which Ponting did otherwise. Whatever may be the reason, Australia's score card can never read anything else if not for the truth.

However, everyone (including me) would be shocked indeed when a team like Australia loses its first 7 wickets at a score less than 75. And as it is in front of us, Australia's final score reads 127 all out. I just wonder as to how many people would have died all over the world from heart attack after the Aussie batsmen did such an unbelievable feat and that too at Sydney! Though Australia are not with the greats like Adam Gilchrist, Damien Martyn, Simon Katich, Justin Langer and others, Australia are still the opposition to beat by most of the teams around.

Australia still have Mike Hussey, Ponting himself along with Shane Watson who can make a decent batting line up. And another reason for the Aussies to kick themselves is the fact that they have been bought down to their knees by a team that have not played a single test match in the year 2008. Scorecard reveals that the highest run getter in the first innings of Australia was Mitchell Johnson who scored 38 runs and added to that was the fact that he was the lone six hitter in the innings and also the batsman who hit five boundaries that was more than anybody else in the Australian first innings.

And it was not Danish kaneria who posed some problems for Aussie batsmen who are bad players of spin comparatively. But, it was some Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Sami, the former who was suspected of doping charges and the latter who has come back to play test cricket after more than two years, since the ICL was a failure. All that the Pakistan team needed to demolish the Aussie batting line up was four bowlers, out of which the ten wickets were shared by the three fast bowlers viz Sami, Asif and Umar Gul. And yes, this was the venue where the onfield umpires viz Steve Bucknor & Mark Benson played for Australia to get them their 16^th consecutive test win 2 years ago.

I hope Ponting would surely recall the moment and miss the services of these two men more than someone like McGrath & Warne.