Sports This Week – England brought the curtain down on the Ashes series with a dominating triumph over Australia in the fifth Test. The issue, as it happened, was never in doubt. Australia’s batting had no answer to the English pace attack of Anderson, Tremlett, and Bresnan, supported by the feisty off-spin of Swann.
Anderson is a master swing bowler, with the ability to bowl outswing as well as reverse swing. In Tremlett, England have a bowler who brings the ball down from a height and who has the strength to generate an explosive pace off the wicket. Bresnan, a bowling allrounder, bowled in the mid 140s and picked up crucial wickets.
So dominating was the England pace attack that Swann did not have to perform his usual heroics. While the England batsmen were confidently leaving the ball outside the off stump, the Australians were very much at sea, time and again nibbling at the ball. The result was never in doubt.
England are now one of the very best sides on the cricket circuit. The retirement of Paul Collingwood from the Test scene paves the way for the precocious Irishman Eoin Morgan. This will further bolster the middle order of a batting lineup that can do no wrong at the moment. Should the sputtering Kevin Pietersen get some consistency, England could be the team to beat in the forthcoming World Cup in the sub-continent.
The India-South Africa series was billed as a battle for the number one spot. Although the series was drawn, India managed to hold on to their number one ranking. A lot was going to depend on how the Indian lineup handled the South African pace attack of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, considered the best new ball operators in the game. Although the Proteas did make inroads into the Indian batting, especially in the first Test, the Indians held on to salvage an honourable series draw. Tendulkar and Laxman were the standouts, with Tendulkar passing the 50 Test century mark. Laxman continued his quiet, unassuming ways as the savior of India, with some superb second innings knocks. He is India’s man of the crisis, having rescued his team time and again. The fact that his second innings average is higher than his first innings’ is testimony to his ability to fight the rearguard action. Sehwag, for once, had a bad series, having been worked out by the impressive Steyn.
But, more than anything, this series reaffirmed Jacques Kallis’ stature as one of cricket’s greatest. In the final Test, Kallis hit centuries in each innings under the most trying circumstances. He had sat out India’s batting with a painful rib injury and was only expected to bat if absolutely necessary. With South Africa at 60 for 4 and Harbhajan’s spin spitting and darting around with a packed on-side field, Kallis proceeded to reverse sweep against the spin and bounce, forcing the bowler out of his rhythm and Dhoni to change the field.
Having defanged the bowling, Kallis went on to take South Africa to safety with his 40th Test century – second only to Tendulkar’s 51. Then there is Kallis’ batting average of 57, ahead of Tendulkar and Ponting as well as the small matter of 270 wickets that he has taken with his fast bowling, not to mention 200-plus catches. Truly, Kallis now rivals Gary Sobers as Test cricket’s greatest all-rounder.
Pakistan are playing New Zealand in the first of two Tests at Hamilton. New Zealand were struggling at 177 for 7 but a typical rearguard brought them back to some respectability. But Pakistan at close on the second day were just 40 shy of overhauling the Black Caps’ 275 with six wickets intact. This could turn out to be a really absorbing contest if Pakistan survive the new ball Sunday morning and take a meaningful lead.
The real story, however, is unfolding in Doha where two of Pakistan’s premier fast bowlers along with their captain, are fighting a battle for their cricketing careers. The first reports suggest that there are variations in each player’s defence. According to leaks from the Qatar Financial Center, one bowler is saying that he was asked to try extra hard on the ball which turned out to be a no- ball. Butt is reported as saying that he had asked Aamer to purposely bowl a no-ball because the batsman was coming forward too early. Quite clearly, all three are grabbing at straws to nullify the volume of evidence that is available to the prosecution.
The News of the World is a master at playing games like these and will have all the necessary evidence at hand. The ICC has spent months collecting evidence and building its case. It is reported that they have also collected evidence from the World 20/20 Cup in the West Indies. The writing may be on the walls for the trio. There is hope that the younger Aamir may escape a harsh penalty because of his youth. But the other two, Asif and Butt could see the curtain come down on their careers.
What a tragedy it is for Asif, one of the most compelling bowlers of the past decade. His mastery of line and length and ability to work batsmen out was magical. At his best, Asif had no peer. The fault is partly that of the PCB and the team management. They let a youngster from Sheikhupura out into the wild and wooly world of cricket’s seamier side without proper counseling or briefing. First there was the steroid incident, then the Dubai drug issue. There was the Veena Malik scandal and finally, the spot fixing revelation. With proper handling, Asif could have been a match winner for Pakistan for years to come.
Mohammad Aamir was the rising star of world cricket. A clone of Wasim Akram, Aamir was fast and could move the ball both ways. His age could be his bet of saving his career. It could be argued that he was misguided and really did not know what was going on. Aamir, even if he is given a lengthy ban is young enough to come back, but the same cannot be said of the other two who could face much tougher punishment. While all Pakistanis hope for the best, it is important that if found guilty, an example should be made of these players in order to deter other cricketers from following the same route.
