SPORT THIS WEEK – It was humbling to see a cricketer of the stature of Ricky Ponting reduced to a shadow of his former self. Gone was watertight technique, the casual arrogance and the ceaseless flow of runs. The gap between bat and pad was wide enough to drive a truck through.
The decision making was fraught with nerves. This is how competitive sport can transform even as great a cricketer as Ponting. There was a man who used to say that he could learn everything about a man’s soul by the way he competed at tennis. There is more than a little truth in that. Few avenues of human endeavor expose a man’s character as competitive sport.
In Ponting’s case, the load, at the end, became too much to bear. The Ashes are no ordinary Test series. The Ashes tradition of 120 years and the fact that no English team since Mike Gatting’s in 1986 had retained the Ashes in Australia, weighed heavy on his mind. A great cricketer had, ultimately, met his Waterloo. But that does not take credit away from the England team, which is threatening to become as much of a behemoth as was the Australian team of a decade ago.
There seems to be nothing that they lack. In Anderson and Tremlett, they have pace with fire and bounce. In Swann they have a match winning spinner. Strauss leads the formidable batting lineup from the front and is backed admirably by Cook, Trott, Pietersen, Collingwood and Bell. For once the tail is short, with Prior and the injured Broad, capable of making Test hundreds. The fielding has been outstanding and one struggles to remember a vital catch being dropped.
Australia are suffering from a natural let down following the retirement of McGrath, Warne, Hayden, Langer and Gilchrist – some of Australia’s greatest cricketing sons. The replacements are struggling to even approach their high standards. As a result, Ponting’s captaincy has been affected. All too often he seems in ill humour as was visible during his spat with umpire Aleem Dar.
Australia might wish to squeeze an extra year or two out of Ponting, but in order to do that, the captaincy had to go to someone else. And Cricket Australia after due consideration has stuck with original decision of giving the understudy, Michael Clarke the job.
England may have retained the Ashes, but there is still work to be done. Cricketing form depends to a great deal, on momentum and they should press hard to win the series in as emphatic a manner as possible. An Ashes series win is altogether more preferable to retaining the Ashes but with a tied series.
Pakistan have just finished their three match T20 series against New Zealand. After getting a pasting in the first two games, the visitors bounced back with a dominating performance in the third. Abdul Razzaq showed again why he is one of the most feared performers in the shorter versions of the game, with an 11 ball 34 at the death. He then took three quick wickets to seal the game for his team.
The New Zealanders were powered by some brilliant batting from Martin Guptill with the rest of the batting giving good support. This performance should do nothing but good for their confidence which had taken such a beating following one sided losses to Bangladesh and India. But the New Zealanders always give 100 per cent, and are very effective on their home pitches.
It is indeed a wonder that a country with less than half the population of Lahore, can turn out sportsmen who are competitive at the world level in almost all sports. It is obvious that it is the quality of the sports programmes that count, not the quantity. The all too short tennis off-season is about to end, with the Qatar Open leading the way into 2011. In mid January, the Australian Open will commence the Grand Slam season. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will be the firm favourites for the Men’s title.
Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters would be the women’s frontrunners. Justin Henin will be making her return from elbow injury, but her match fitness could be suspect. Serena Williams, who seems able to win titles at will, has been sidelined by a foot injury. Our own Aisam Qureshi will be there in a bid to win his first major title. He and Rohan Bopanna, the so-called Indo-Pak Express, are a formidable combination and should go deep into the doubles draw.
In local tennis news, the Pakistan Open is in progress at the PTF Complex in Islamabad. Perhaps for the first time in Pakistan, because of rain, matches were played indoors on a private court. What was interesting was that the court was similar to the red clay courts used around the world. The bounce was consistent and as a result, the standard of tennis was excellent. The PTF would do well to resurface their courts in a similar manner. The courts that they have inherited are abysmal and no player can improve his game on them.
Aqeel Khan rebounded from his loss to Samir Iftekhar earlier in the year, by defeating him in a hotly contested match in the semi-finals. In the other semi, young Faizan Khurram defeated the veteran Nomi Qamar to reach the final. Faizan had earlier knocked out second seed Jaleel Khan.
Pakistan is entering the FED Cup for the first time in several years. The event is to be played on the hard courts in Bangkok. It is expected that the PTF will hold trials at the coaching center in Lahore, the PTF hard court being unfit for competitive tennis.
