Cricket In Heaven..Joke

Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, now pretty old guys, 75 and 80 years
old, are sitting on a park bench feeding pigeons and talking about cricket,
like they do every day.Sachin turns to Sourav and says, "Do you think
there's cricket in heaven?" Ganguly thinks about it for a minute and
replies, "I dunno. But let's make a deal: if I die first, I'll come back and
tell you if there's cricket in heaven, and if you die first, you do the
same."They shake on it and sadly, a few months later, poor Sachin passes on.
One day soon afterward, Ganguly is sitting there feeding the pigeons by
himself when he hears a voice whisper, "Sourav... Sourav!" Ganguly responds,
"Sachin! Is that you?" "Yes it is, Sourav," whispers Sachin's ghost.
Ganguly, still amazed, asks, "So, is there cricket in heaven?" "Well," says
Sachin, "I've got good news and bad news." "Gimme the good news first," says
Ganguly. Sachin says, "Well... there is cricket in heaven." Ganguly says,
"That's great! What news could be bad enough to ruin that!?" Sachin sighs
and whispers, "You're going to be the opening batsmen on Friday."

History Of Cricket

The British brought cricket to India in the early 1700s, with the first cricket match being played in 1721.[6] In 1848, the Parsi community in Mumbai formed the Oriental Cricket Club, the first cricket club to be established by Indians. After slow beginnings, the Europeans eventually invited the Parsis to play a match in 1877.[7] By 1912, the Parsis, Hindus, and Muslims of Bombay played a quadrangular tournament with the Europeans every year.[7] In the early 1900s, some Indians went on to play for the English cricket team. Some of these, such as Ranjitsinhji and KS Duleepsinhji were greatly appreciated by the British and their names went on to be used for the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy-two of the major domestic tournaments in India. In 1911, an Indian team went on their first official tour of England, but only played English county teams and not the English cricket team.[8] India was invited into The Imperial Cricket Council in 1926 and made its debut as a Test-cricket-playing-nation in 1932 led by CK Nayudu.[9] The match was given Test status despite being only 3 days in length. The team was not strong in its batting at this point and went on to lose by 158 runs.[10] The Indian team continued to improve throughout the 1930s and '40s but did not achieve an international victory during this period. The team's first series as an independent country was in 1948 against Sir Donald Bradman's Invincibles (a name given to the Australian cricket team of that time). Australia won the five-match series, 4-0.[11]

India recorded their first Test victory against England at Madras in 1952.[12] Later in the year, they won their first Test series, which was against Pakistan. They continued their improvement throughout the early 1950s with a series win against New Zealand in 1956. However, they did not win again in the remainder of the decade and lost badly to strong Australian and English sides. The next decade developed India's reputation as a team considered to be strong at home. Although they only won two series (both against New Zealand), they managed to draw home series against Pakistan, England and Australia.Kapil Dev receiving the Cricket World Cup in 1983


The key to India's bowling in the 1970s were the Indian spin quartet - Bishen Bedi, E.A.S. Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan. This period also saw the emergence of two of India's best ever batsmen, Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath. Indian pitches have had tendency to support spin and the spin quartet exploited this to create collapses in opposing batting lineups. These players were responsible for the back-to-back series wins in 1971 in the West Indies and in England, under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar. Gavaskar scored 774 runs in the West Indian series while Dilip Sardesai's 112 played a big part in their one Test win.

The advent of One-Day International cricket in 1971 created a new dimension in the cricket world. However, India was not considerably strong in ODIs at this point and batsmen such as the captain Gavaskar were known for their defence-based approaches to batting. India began as a weak team in ODIs and did not manage to qualify for the second round in the first two editions of the Cricket World Cup. Gavaskar famously blocked his way to 36 not out off 174 balls against England in the first World Cup in 1975, India scored just 132 for 3 and lost by 202 runs.

In contrast, India fielded a strong team in Test matches and were particularly strong at home where their combination of stylish batsman and beguiling spinners where seen at their best. India set a then test record in the third Test against the West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1976 when they chased 403 to win thanks to 112 from Viswanath. This West Indian defeat is considered to be a watershed in the history of their cricket because it led to captain Clive Lloyd dispensing with spin altogether and relying entirely on a four man pace attack. In November 1976 the team established another record by scoring 524 for 9 declared against New Zealand at Kanpur without an individual scoring a century. There were six fifties, the highest being 70 by Mohinder Amarnath. The innings was the eighth instance in Test cricket where all eleven batsmen reached double figures.

During the 1980s, India developed a more attack minded batting line-up with stroke makers such as the wristy Mohammed Azharuddin, Dilip Vengsarkar and all-rounder Ravi Shastri prominent during this time. India won the Cricket World Cup in 1983, defeating the then favourites West Indies in the final, owing to a strong bowling performance. In spite of this the team performed poorly in the Test arena, including 28 consecutive Test matches without a victory. In 1984, India won the Asia Cup and in 1985, won the World Championship of Cricket in Australia. Apart from this, India remained a very weak team outside the Indian subcontinent. India's Test series victory in 1986 against England remained the last Test series win by India outside the subcontinent for the next 19 years. The 1987 Cricket World Cup was held in India. The 1980s saw Gavaskar and Kapil Dev (India's best all rounder to this date) at the pinnacle of their careers. Gavaskar made a Test record 34 centuries as he became the first man to reach the 10,000 run mark. Kapil Dev later became the highest wicket taker in Test cricket with 434 wickets. The period was also marked by an unstable leadership, with Gavaskar and Kapil exchanging the captaincy several times.A graph showing India's Test match results against all Test match teams from 1932 to September 2006 A graph showing India's Test match results against all Test match teams from 1932 to September 2006

The addition of Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble to the national side in 1989 and 1990 further improved the team. The following year, Javagal Srinath, India's fastest bowler since Amar Singh made his debut. Despite this, during the 1990s, India did not win any of its 33 Tests outside the subcontinent while it won 17 out of its 30 Tests at home. After being eliminated by neighbours Sri Lanka on home soil at the 1996 Cricket World Cup, the team underwent a year of change as Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, later to be become captains of the team, made their debut in the same Test at Lord's. Tendulkar replaced Azharuddin as captain in late 1996, but after a personal and team form slump, Tendulkar relinquished the captaincy and Azharuddin was reinstalled at the beginning of 1998. With the captaincy burden removed, Tendulkar was the world's leading run-scorer in both Tests and ODIs, as India enjoyed a home Test series win over Australia, the best ranked team in the world. After failing to reach the semifinals at the 1999 Cricket World Cup, Tendulkar was again made captain, and had another poor run, losing 3-0 on a tour of Australia and then 2-0 at home to South Africa. Tendulkar resigned, vowing never to captain the team again, with Sourav Ganguly appointed the new captain. The team was further damaged in 2000 when former captain Azharuddin and fellow batsman Ajay Jadeja were implicated in a match-fixing scandal and given life bans.

Since 2000, the Indian team underwent major improvements with the appointment of John Wright as India's first ever foreign coach. India maintained their unbeaten home record against Australia in Test series after defeating them in 2001. The series was famous for the Kolkata Test match, in which India became only the third team in the history of Test cricket to win a Test match after following on. Australian captain Steve Waugh labelled India as the "Final Frontier" as a result of his side's inability to win a Test series in India.[13] Victory in 2001 against the Australians marked the beginning of a dream run for India under their captain Sourav Ganguly, winning Test matches in Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, West Indies and England. The England series is also known for India's highest ODI run-chase of 325 runs at Lord's which came in the Natwest ODI Series final against England. In the same year, India were joint winners of the ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka, and then went to the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa where they reached the final only to be beaten by Australia. The 2003-2004 season also saw India play out a Test series in Australia where they drew 1-1 with world champions, and then win a Test and ODI series in Pakistan.

At the end of the 2004 season, India suffered from lack of form and fitness from its older players. A defeat in a following home Test series against Australia was followed by an ODI home series defeat against Pakistan followed by a Test series levelled 1-1. Greg Chappell took over from John Wright as the new coach of the Indian cricket team following the series, and his methods proved to be controversial during the beginning of his tenure. The tension resulted in a fallout between Chappell and Ganguly, resulting in Rahul Dravid being made captain. This triggered a revival in the team's fortunes, following the emergence of players like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, and the coming of age of players like Irfan Pathan and Yuvraj Singh. A thumping home series victory over Sri Lanka in 2005 and a level series with South Africa put India at 2nd place in the ICC ODI rankings. This was followed by a convincing ODI series win in Pakistan in early 2006 following a loss in the Test series, which gave India the world record of 17 successive ODI victories while batting second.[14] Towards the middle of 2006 however, a 4-1 series loss in the West Indies gave rise to a slump in India's ODI form, while they achieved a 1-0 victory in the Test series that followed, giving them their first Test series victory in the Caribbean since 1971. India's ODI form, however, slumped further with a disappointing performance in the 2006 Champions Trophy and a drubbing in the ODI series in South Africa. This was followed yet again by an initial good performance in the Tests, giving India its first Test match win in South Africa, although they went on to lose the series 2-1. This Test series was marked by Ganguly's comeback to the Indian team.[15]

The beginning of 2007 had seen a revival in the Indian team's ODI fortunes before the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Series victories against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, marked by the comeback of Ganguly, and strong form by Tendulkar, and the emergence of young attacking players like Robin Uthappa saw many pundits to tip India as a real chance to do well at the 2007 Cricket World Cup. However, defeats to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka saw India fail to reach the final eight.

India's traditional strengths have always been its line-up of spin bowlers and batsmen.[16] Recently, it has a very strong batting lineup with Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag all being selected to play for the ICC World XI in the 2005 "SuperTest" against Australia. In previous times, India was unique in that it was the only country to regularly field three spinners in one team, whereas one is the norm, and of the fifteen players to have taken more than 100 wickets, only four were pace bowlers from the last 20 years.[17] However in recent years, Indian pace bowling has improved, with the emerging talents of Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel and Sreesanth and many more playing in the national team.
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Indian Cricket Captains

Twenty-eight men have captained the Indian cricket team in at least 1 Test match, although only 6 have led the team in more than 25 matches, and 5 have captained the team in ODIs but not Tests. India's first captain was CK Nayudu, who led the team in four matches against England, one in England in 1932 and a series of 3 matches at home in 1933/4. Lala Amarnath, India's fourth captain, led the team in its first Test match after Indian independence. He also captained the side to its first Test victory and first series win, both in a 3-match series at home against Pakistan in 1952/3. The Nawab of Pataudi was captain for 36 matches from 1961/2 to 1969/70, returning for a final 4 matches against West Indies in 1974/5.

India played its first ODI in 1974, under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar. India won its first ODI under the captaincy of Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan in the 1975 Cricket World Cup, against East Africa.

Sunil Gavaskar took over as Test and ODI captain in the late 1979s and early 1980s, leading India in 47 Test matches and 38 ODIs, winning 9 Tests and 14 ODIs. He was succeeded by Kapil Dev in the 1980s, who continued for 34 Test matches, including 4 victories. Kapil Dev led India to victory in 40 of his 74 ODIs in charge, including the 1983 Cricket World Cup.

India has had only four regular Test captains since Mohammad Azharuddin took charge in 1989. Azharuddin led the team in 47 Test matches from 1989/90 to 1998/9, winning 14, and in 173 ODIs, winning 89. He was followed by Sachin Tendulkar, who captained India in 25 Test matches and 73 ODIs in the late 1990s; Tendulkar was relatively unsuccessful as a captain, winning only 4 Test matches and 23 ODIs. He was replaced as ODI captain by Ajay Jadeja and then Sourav Ganguly; Ganguly became the regular captain in both forms of cricket in 2000. Ganguly remained captain for the first 5 years of the 2000s and was much more successful, winning 21 of his 49 Test matches in charge and 73 of his 141 ODIs. The current captain, Rahul Dravid, took over as Test captain in 2005. In his fourth full series in charge, he led India to victory in the West Indies, the first instance of India winning in the Caribbean in over 30 years.

Scotland to target Pakistan in Twenty20 World Championship

John Blain, the Scotland fast bowler, has targeted Pakistan as a
potential weak link in the forthcoming Twenty20 World Championship
which kicks off in South Africa on September 11.

Scotland join Kenya as the two Associate nations in the inaugural
Twenty20 tournament after reaching the final of the World Cricket
League in Nairobi earlier this year. But although considered to be
underdogs, Scotland, Blain insists, aren't there to simply make up
the numbers.

"We're more confident in this competition," he told the BBC. "We
have a decent record in this length of game."

In addition to exposure to the format in the country's domestic
competition, three of their squad - Dougie Brown, Navdeep Poonia and
Dewald Nel - have first-class experience in county cricket. And
Blain is far from daunted at the prospect of tackling Pakistan.

"We've played against the Indians, and they're a great batting
side," he said. "But Pakistan, with all due respect, can be volatile-
and it depends which side of the bed they get out of. The Pakistan
match has to be a major target for us."

ICL spreads its wings, makes BCCI sweat

Mumbai: In a dramatic press conference in Mumbai on Monday, the ICL named 45 Indian players and seven foreign recruits who will play in the breakaway league.
"We need these set of people who are ready to make their own life, ready to decide what they want to do without being pushed by somebody, and threatened by somebody," former India captain Kapil Dev said, referring to the players who jumbed into the ICL bandwagon.
The leader of the ICL pack was typically combative. The red shirts belonged to some legends of the Indian game, led by the World Cup winning captain himself. Only former India off-spinner Erapalli Prasanna was a new face among the coaches and executive board members.
But the real excitement was reserved for the black shirts worn by the players recruited in the league. Led by Dinesh Mongia, a total of 45 Indian players have signed on the dotted line. These include Reetinder Singh Sodhi, Laxmi Rattan Shukla, Deep Dasgupta, J P Yadav and Thiru Kumaran.
"Our boys are free to play for India anytime whoever wants it," confirmed Kapil.

The rumour mills had been working overtime on the foreign recruits. And for once media speculation proved correct. Former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, batsman Mohammad Yousuf, all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, who announced his international retirement earlier on Monday and opener Imran Farhat have also joined. Also on board are South African players Nicky Boje, Lance Klusener and Nantie Hayward. Clearly, the ambitious project believes they can compete with the BCCI in the market place.
"There has to be strength in the product, there has to be entertainment, there has to be good cricket to watch. I don't see why either viewers would not be attracted to us," said Himanshu Mody, Project Manager of the ICL.
So what happens next? The Indian players who have jumped ship won't be able to play for either their state teams or India now. Although, they haven't given up hope that the BCCI will soften its stance.
"It will be an honour for me to play for India again, and I'm not saying that I won't play for India. If they pick me, of course I'll play for India," India discard Dinesh Mongia says.
The announcements have been made and battlelines have been drawn. But despite the brave words, it still remains to be seen how well the sponsors and the Indian cricketing nation will react to this new entrant.

Bob Taylor on wicketkeeping

'Teams are investing too much in batsman-keepers'

Wicketkeeping has been a hot button during the England-India Test series, mostly for the poor quality of much that was on show from both sides. Bob Taylor, who kept with distinction to the likes of Ian Botham, Bob Willis, Chris Old and Phil Edmonds in 57 Tests for the England side of the late 1970s and early '80s, spoke to Cricinfo about where the likes of Matt Prior and MS Dhoni are going wrong, the unhealthy modern obsession with keepers who are primarily batsmen, sledging, and more.

Matt Prior is under a lot of fire for his work behind he stumps. What do you think is wrong with his keeping?
One of his problems is, he doesn't use his feet. When you stand back to seam bowlers you've got to move your feet and get your body behind the line of the ball. You can't afford to wait for the last second before moving. If they nick it and the nick's wide, you need to be moving, sort of half-anticipating it. Prior has to be a bit more agile on his toes and get his body behind the line of the ball.

Does it come to as a surprise? Because Prior has kept in English conditions for a while now - where, with the ball swinging around, it's paramount for keepers to cover a lot of ground?
It does come as a bit of a surprise. If it is an overseas wicketkeeper, like [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni who hasn't had a lot of experience keeping in England, then you can understand it because the ball definitely deviates off the seam and through the air more in England than it does abroad, due to the atmospheric conditions.

Prior is just going through a bad spell. He hasn't got many runs against India and that is definitely playing on his mind. This is the hardest part of keeping wickets: concentration.

Do you think it's possible for him to correct this at what is a relatively late stage in his career?
He can certainly improve. He obviously has got the ability to improve. With proper coaches at hand it is definitely possible to make the correct changes.

Is it necessary to have a wicketkeeping coach?
Yes, there is definitely a role for a wicketkeeping coach. But I don't know if there is individual coaching or advice available for international wicketkeepers. Wicketkeeping coaching is a specialist subject. I am a cricket coach and to this day I can't express clearly to a bowler how to hold the ball, about his action and so on - I haven't got a feel for it. Likewise a bowling or batting coach who has never kept wickets will have no feel. With wicketkeeping, the most important thing, apart from getting the body behind the line of the ball, is concentration - an area I specialise in.

We've seen in this series how wicketkeepers like Prior, and to an extent Dhoni, have often failed to collect the ball neatly. Are there any technical faults that are responsible?
When you keep to a quick bowler the two priorities are the speed of the bowler and the pace of the wicket. The general rule is, you take the ball about waist-high usually. Now if you are taking the ball at ankle height then you are standing too far back. That is the main problem with wicketkeepers today: they stand too far back. So if the batsman nicks it, he takes the pace off the ball, which means it will hardly carry to the wicketkeeper, and it certainly won't carry to the first slip. And there's nothing worse for a fast bowler who is striving to get a nick, and when eventually the batsman does nick it, it doesn't get carry to the wicketkeeper or a slip. That's a crime.

Do you see that as a trend, keepers not working on the basics?
I am sure they do work, certainly the international keepers. They must, they have to.

I always ask a wicketkeeper what he prefers to do, whether he likes to work with a couple of players or he likes to keep wickets in the nets. Personally I don't like keeping wickets in the nets because to me that is quantity rather than quality. You go into the nets, there are three or four bowlers and one batsman. You're crouched behind the stumps, you're in an confined space in the net, and the bowlers are running in one after the another. In this scenario the wicketkeeper is a jack in a box - he is up and down from his crouched position, up and down, up and down. Now, in a match, by the time the ball is passed round to the bowler and he is ready for his next delivery, the wicketkeeper has had time to gather his thoughts, relax. So keeping wickets in the nets gets you into bad habits.

I would rather have a wicketkeeper, a batsman with a very narrow bat (about the width of a cricket stump), and a thrower or a bowler 10 metres away throwing outside the off stump. The batsman can then either hit the ball or miss it deliberately and the wicketkeeper doesn't know whether he is going to play it or miss it. That's more realistic practice.
If you look at cricket history, the successful teams always have had an excellent fielding side, and good fielding sides are led by their wicketkeeper

How important is the positioning of slip fielders?
The first slip's position is governed by where the wicketkeeper stands, particularly with the fast bowlers. Generally speaking, the first slip is at least a metre or a metre and a half behind the wicketkeeper and wide by a simlar distance, and then the second slip is in line with the wicketkeeper. Again, with experience you talk with the slip fielders and you know exactly where to stand.

What is the key to collecting balls down the leg side?
If there is a right-arm fast bowler and you've got a right-hand batsman, I say to wicketkeepers: as soon as you see the line of the ball going down the leg side, start to move. Don't wait for it to go past the batsman, otherwise that's too late, particularly if the ball swings. In English conditions the ball dips and swerves late, so as soon as you read that the ball is going down leg, you have to be on your toes; your feet have got to be moving. That way if a batsman gets a nick down the leg side, one can convert half-chances.

Do you think specialist wicketkeeping is a dying art?
Yes, because the captains and the coaches have this temptation to choose a batsman-wicketkeeper. As long as he can bat it doesn't matter, he is a back-stop. For me that is wrong. You've got to have a true wicketkeeper. Duncan Fletcher thought it was easier to make Geraint Jones into a Test wicketkeeper than it was to make Chris Read, who Jones took over from, into a Test batsman. It didn't work.

Okay, the wicketkeepers can improve their batting but it is not the be-all-and-end-all. Teams are investing too much in batsman wicket-keepers.

Are wicketkeepers born or made?
You've got to have a certain amount of ability, haven't you? Yes, wicketkeepers are born not made, but you can improve if you have got any ability. You need the intelligence and the ability and then you can improve a lot if you work hard at your game.

Great batsmen rely on instinct and hand-eye coordination. What about great keepers?
It's the same, isn't it? You've got to be in the right place at the right time and that comes with experience and natural ability. Good wicketkeepers miss fewer chances? Good wicketkeepers are able to convert half-chances into chances, diving inches from the ground, catch a ball that wouldn't carry to slip, and things like that.

Like batsmen and bowlers, how difficult is it for keepers to adjust to different conditions and various pitches?
When people ask me who is the most difficult bowler I have kept to, I tell them without sounding blasé: "It isn't the bowler, it is the conditions." As an English cricketer travelling to the subcontinent, where the wickets were flat when I played and there were world-class batsmen who were hardly beaten by our bowlers, I became redundant. The only time I was fielding the ball generally was when the ball was being thrown back from the boundary. So for most of the day when the conditions are hot and sticky, the batsmen are striking the ball all around the ground, you've had nothing much to do. Then in the last over of the day suddenly the batsman nicks it or you miss a stumping and that batsman is there the following day and its odds-on he'll get a hundred. Now that's what wicketkeeping is all about: taking that difficult chance in the last over of the day after a hard day's fielding.
If the ball is turning and bouncing, you should have enough ability to be able to take that. When its doing something, the wicketkeeper is alive, he is expecting something to happen.

I've talked to Ian Healy about how it was to keep to Shane Warne and he agreed. I said, "Ian, with no disrespect, Shane was [consistently] beating the bat with his repertoire of deliveries, so you were ready for it, you were on your toes. It takes ability to be able do that, but its much easier if you know the ball is going to beat the bat." That's why you need the concentration.

Most wicketkeepers find it difficult to keep against spinners in modern cricket. Why?
That might be due to the influence of one-day cricket where a lot of wicketkeepers stand back because the captains are bowling quick bowlers all the time, so they don't get much chance to stand up to the stumps.

There has been a traditon of great bowler-keeper partnerships - Lillee-Marsh, Bari-Imran, Warne-Healy. So one important aspect of a being a good wicketkeeper is that he needs to have a good rapport with the bowler. Isn't it?
Yes. When people ask me who I think is the best wicketkeeper ever, I would say Ian Healy, because Healy and Shane Warne complemented one another: Ian Healy made Shane Warne into the best legspinner of all time and Shane Warne made Ian Healy into the best wicketkeeper. If Healy had missed some of those catches and stumpings, Warne wouldn't have 700-plus wickets. The rapport is something that grows; you build it up with experience and talking.

When a keeper drops a catch, how difficult is it for him to bounce back?
If you drop a catch, that's history. You can't bring it back, and you know the very next ball you could do the same again. So you just ought to forget it, drop it out of your mind and think about the next ball, because if he nicks the next one and you drop it, you're doubly at fault.

How does a wicketkeeper know when he is out of form?
When he is dropping the ball, when he is missing and dropping catches. Basically, whenever you are keeping well you don't think of what you are doing, you just do it automatic - this is a natural wicketkeeper. An unnatural, or a wicketkeeper of lesser ability, has more risk of missing chances, so it is going to be doubly harder for him.

Prior was picked by England for his batting. He started off well against West Indies earlier in the summer but it is beginning to sort him out now, isn't it? Why was Geraint Jones dropped? Because of poor batting form. Ironically his wicketkeeping improved somewhat but he wasn't getting runs, so obviously the press boys criticised him as they are doing Prior now.

Wicketkeepers as captains - what are your thoughts?
It's very difficult. There haven't been any successful wicketkeeper-captains. Alec Stewart tried to captain, open the batting and keep wicket. That's three jobs and it was impossible. A wicketkeeper is better off being the captain's right-hand man. He can advise the captain and inform him about what is happening around.

International wicketkeepers are seen as sledging a fair bit. Is it important to be vocal behind the stumps?
No. Categorically no. I would never advocate it. The thing that Matt Prior and few others are doing nowadays, this sledging business, of getting on to the batsman and trying to pressure him into playing a bad shot ... it's a load of rubbish because while you are doing that you are not concentrating on your job. Whenever I coach youngsters I tell them to forget about what goes on on television with these international players and just concentrate on what they are doing. The only way I would allow a wicketkeeper to shout around is to encourage his own bowlers and fielders, not at the opposition batsman. It is totally out of order in my book and its not part of the game.

Do you think you would have played in this modern age solely as a specialist wicketkeeper?
I doubt it. I don't think so. I kept wickets for England in nearly 60 Tests, and contributing largely to that was the fact that we had a certain Ian Botham. Botham would bat at No. 6 or 7, while I came in at 8 or 9. They could afford to play me because Botham was a genuine allrounder who used to get runs and wickets to help you win the match.
That's what wicketkeeping is all about - taking that difficult chance in the last over of the day after a hard day's fielding

Are there any specialist wicketkeepers left in international cricket?
I'm not sure there are. The last one was Ian Healy.

What do selectors need to look for when they're picking a keeper?
First and foremost, whenever I'm coaching kids I always say the second most important member of a cricket team, at whatever level, next to the captain is the wicketkeeper. You pick a wicketkeeper for his wicketkeeping ability. When you've got somebody like Adam Gilchrist who can bat and keep wickets then you are very lucky, but if the decision is marginal I'll always go for a wicketkeeper-batsman rather than a batsman-wicketkeeper. That's because an inferior wicketkeeper is always found out and there can be a costly miss, like Matt Prior's drop of Tendulkar in the first innings at The Oval last week.

The wicketkeeper inspires the rest of the team. If you look at cricket history, the successful teams always have had an excellent fielding side, and good fielding sides are led by their wicketkeeper. If you've got a sloppy wicketkeeper who is dropping the ball, missing the stumping, then heads go down and it becomes uninspiring.

Bob Taylor is currently sales and marketing manager at British Cricket Balls Ltd, the company that supplies Dukes cricket balls for Test and first-class matches in England

Nagraj Gollapudi is assistant editor of Cricinfo Magazine

Change in ODI rules

London, June 29: Cricket’s bias towards batsmen keeps growing with ICC on Friday giving its nod to a change in playing conditions which empowers a batsman to go for a free-hit without fearing a dismissal in the delivery following a front-foot no-ball.

The International Cricket Council okayed a number of changes to playing conditions at its annual meeting.

Accordingly, if a bowler bowls a front foot no-ball in a ODI, the following delivery will be deemed a free hit and the batsman cannot be dismissed by the bowler from that delivery. The changes would come into effect from October 1, ICC said in a statement. It has also decided that an additional fielder would be allowed outside the fielding circle during the second or third power play in a ODI.

In case an one day innings is reduced, the numbers of overs making up each of the three power plays shall be reduced proportionately.

There will also be a mandatory change of ball after 35 overs of each innings in a ODI. The replacement will be a clean used ball.

ICC also decided that the minimum boundary sizes in all international matches will be increased with the square boundary measuring at least 150 yards from one side of the ground to the other. (PTI)

Link:http://cricket.123india.com/news/062007/320070630.html