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Via CorSullivan, we have the incredible tale of the Afghan cricket team which may qualify for the 2011 World Cup:

When the British marched into Afghanistan in 1838, they brought polo mallets, fox hounds and cigars. They brought imperial hubris, bone china and cases of port. But the players of the Great Game also brought a great game: cricket.

One hundred and seventy-one years later, cricket has returned here, an outpost of the world’s most civilised sport in one of the world’s most brutal places. Today, the Afghan national cricket team opens its 2009 campaign to secure a place at the Cricket World Cup in 2011, having already won two qualifying tournaments last year. That this stricken, blood-soaked country should be able to field a cricket team at all, let alone one as successful as this, is an astonishing achievement: it is a story of endurance and passion, and of the strange power of sport to transcend politics and war. [...]

If Afghanistan is a nation full of despair, its cricket team is a rare beacon of hope. The players will tell you that they feel their country has been let down on so many levels by the international community. On that green stretch of grass in Argentina today, at least, it’s Afghanistan’s chance to nudge the balance sheet. Pride is the word that the countless fans and well-wishers have used, again and again, in postings on the team’s Facebook page. Says one supporter, Ahmad: “Loins of Afghanistan, proud of you all… I have a wish, that is to show the world that we can beat you.” Or, in the words of the captain, Nowroz Mangal, “Cricket is not just a sport. It is much, much more.”

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Adnan Khan, writing on Macleans, says:

A decade ago, if anyone even mentioned Afghan cricket, they would have been the laughingstock of the cricketing community. “Afghans play buzkashi,” cricket snobs around the world might have said derisively, referring to Afghanistan’s national sport in which men on horseback battle to carry a goat carcass over an opposing team’s goal line. “Cricket is too refined a game for them.” What most people didn’t realize at the time was that Afghan refugees living in the impoverished camps of Peshawar on the Pakistani frontier were developing a love for Pakistan’s own national pastime.

Across the border in Afghanistan, the Taliban regime had banned cricket along with any other sport, including buzkashi. Only in Pakistan could Afghan cricketers express their desire to learn the game, as well as showcase their talent for it. Now, since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, Afghan cricketers have risen to the rank of golden boys in the cricketing world, turning heads from Malaysia to Tanzania. Their most recent triumph at the 2009 Division 3 World Cup qualifying tournament in Buenos Aires has propelled them up the world rankings to a level nearly on par with Canada’s own national team.

In the last few years, the Iraq War has grabbed all our attention. But once in a while, articles like these bring back us to what is happening in this landlocked country that has been plagued by violence in the past three decades.  The Afghans are a proud nation, but they remain divided. The influence of a national sport like cricket can help unite them in the way that the 3Cs – Cinema (Bollywood), Cricket and Congress (the Indian National Congress) helped unite the fledgling India after independence.

Qualifying for the World Cup and having their team have an extended run by beating a few giants can improve the country more than the entire NATO force. The armed forces should flood the country with TV’s that can access free satellite coverage of the cricket World Cup. Our best wishes are with these brave players from a land that is struggling to find its identity.

[Photo licensed from djhorton]

It is not surprising that Sehwag broke the Indian record for the fastest century in one-day internationals. What is surprising is that he took so long to do it. The recent match between India and New Zealand was Sehwag’s 204th ODI match in his 10th year of playing one-dayers. Sehwag played his first ODI at No. 7 scoring one run off 2 balls against Pakistan in Chandigarh in 1999.

Most people who see Sehwag batting when he is full flow would be nonplussed by comparing his statistics in Tests with those in ODI. According to conventional wisdom, a person like Sehwag should have no business playing Tests. The law of averages dictates that he would throw away his wicket quite often and end up with a miserable average. On the other hand, we would expect him to be enormously successful in one-dayers, especially since he is an opener and can use the fielding restrictions to aid his natural game.

But take a look at his stats. He has a poor ODI average (34.30). The better one-day batsmen all have above 40 averages and the great ones (like Bevan) hover around 50. Sehwag has few centuries (11) for the number of matches he played. The only redeeming fact is his superb strike rate (101.66) which means that he takes less than a ball to make a run.

In Tests, Sehwag can truly be called a legend in the making. He already has an average (51.06) that most batsmen would die for. He makes his runs at a stunning pace (78.14) and already has two triple-centuries to his name, one of them at more than a run per ball. He invariably crosses 150 when he makes a century. 

Why is this so? How does he manage to throw his wicket away faster in ODIs than in Tests, even though the latter stage presents more challenges in making runs? One theory I have is that in Tests, Sehwag is constantly looking for runs and is able to dispatch the marginally bad ball whenever it occurs. In ODIs, he doesn’t have that luxury and he needs to throw his bat at even good balls, hoping he gets it right.

[Photo adapted and licensed from Flying Cloud]

One more in our series on street cricket, here is the “Straight Drive” blog with a post about an office cricket tournament and talks about his childhood cricket too:

The match has contained all the aspects of a street cricket. Umpire was from the team which is batting. So, even the full-tosses which were going under the hip called as no-ball and the balls going under the bat called as wide. Long arguments for the way the other side has done the umpiring and tit-for-toe, everything reminded of my school days, where we just fight like this. I am just laughing at them still everybody loves to win the game at any cost. Thankfully, we have got stumps. In school, we used to draw the stumps at the walls and there will be arguments for whether the ball has hit the stumps. If the boy standing as umpire wants to bat, he will give out even though the ball didn’t the stump (lines drawn).

The greatness of cricket comes from the ability to create your own rules in any conditions. If you don’t have stumps, use sticks. If you don’t have sticks, use a box. If you don’t have a box, use a pillar. If you don’t have a pillar, use a wall. If you don’t have a wall, just invent a strike area and make rules about how many strikes are allowed. See, easy…

Cricket balls? No problem. Get a tennis ball, rubber ball, or even a bunch of golf or table tennis balls. Cricket bats? If you have a coconut tree, you can cut a branch and make a bat. Or use an umbrella. No proper ground? Invent rules about what a four or a six is. No onside sixes or you are out. Not enough people? Have last man batting or bat left-handed. 

I wonder how many other sports can make such rules on the spot.

[Photo licensed from rohit]

It has been an age since the West Indies won a series against any major Test-playing nation. The decline that they encountered in the 1990s seemed to be irreversible. Even the presence of a giant like Brian Lara did nothing to reverse that trend. But today there is a spark of light that seems to be the end of a very long tunnel.

People will point out that there are many objections to treating this victory in any special way. After all, the West Indians won a solitary Test and that too on the basis on an extraordinary performance from two bowlers who have not replicated that effort. The pitches that the remaining matches were played on were dead and, to use the oft-repeated cliché, bowler’s graveyards. And in two of the matches, the West Indians were 1-2 wickets away from a defeat.

Yes, we can all agree that the West Indians did not win this series by putting up a commanding performance. But when a team is getting whitewashed regularly and losing at home without even being able to put up decent scores, this is a major milestone from the West Indians. This is one step forward, but nevertheless a huge step in gaining respect and self-confidence.

And remember, this is not a one-off performance. The West Indians have been improving their performance in recent times, drawing a Test against Australia (which SA may not be able to do at home, we will see) and holding the Kiwis to a 0-0 draw in the 2-Test series.

What the West Indians have to do now is to take courage from this performance and build up their team to perform against other teams. They may not be able to reach the heights of their illustrious predecessors immediately, but if they understand their limitations and slowly work towards fixing them, they can be one of the strongest teams once again. 

Well, it didn’t take too long on the fifth day for the South Africans to bundle the No. 1 ranking and give it back to Australia. The defeat was particularly ironic in that South Africa made the largest innings score in the match, ranking among some of the highest 4th innings scores in history. If they had only made a similar score the first time around, maybe they would have had a chance of saving the match. 

Kudos to Australia from coming back from demoralizing Test and one-day series losses to SA at home, and then beating them in their own den with a bunch of debutants who performed brilliantly. This puts the previous South African win in a different light now. Maybe they were just lucky in the first two Tests in Australia. But the defeats helped Australia regroup and reclaim what is definitely theirs. They deserve it. 

We, on this blog, have been guilty, like many others, of gloating at Australia’s recent troubles. But I would justify it as hoping for a more level playing ground for teams and greater competitiveness on the world stage. Think of how boring the 2003 and 2007 World Cups were. This is not just about Australia. There is nothing more nauseating than watching two mismatched teams play, which pretty much defines any match played by Australia in the last few years. This post by Philip Oliver misses that point.

For SA, maybe they can try to regain some pride by winning the last match. They still have a lot of work to do in the coming years to prepare for the next encounter with the Aussies. I would say that this series defeat would rankle more than the previous 3-0 whitewashes. Rarely have we seen the crown snatched so cruelly and so quickly from a new monarch. 

[Photo licensed from milivoj]

England have a lead of 82 runs scored over 15 overs. There are 90 overs on the final day. If they bat only 30 overs, then they leave the West Indians 60 overs to get what they hit in 45 overs. Enough time for bowling them out, but enough time to allow them to win too. More likely, they will have to bat 43 overs with a 2-over break, thus challenging WI to make a 58-over target in 45 overs.

That is almost a 1-day scenario. Enough temptation. Will the West Indians go for it? And if they do, will the English bowlers have the guile to take them out? So far, they have not demonstrated anything of the sort. Of course, if someone can do a Taylor once again.

On a different continent, the South Africans need 302 runs with effectively only 7 wickets in hand. The only remaining batsmen who have made a mark in recent times are Duminy, Boucher and Steyn. Not very inspiring. Scoring 300 on the last day is never an easy task in any situation. Only saving grace is that the most threatening Australian bowlers seem to be injured. But then you know what happens: On comes Michael Clarke to make a mockery of the match situation.

Seriously, South Africa have to score at least 100 without losing a wicket and 200 without losing more than two. That makes it 100-odd to get with 25-30 overs and 5 wickets in hand. Then it is game on. If Boucher or Morkel can blast some boundaries at that point, then it will be pretty close. Of course, Australia have more options in a Test match to play negatively and avoid losing the match unlike a one-dayer.

All bets are off if South Africa lose early wickets tomorrow. It would be a much more interesting situation if it was only 200 to get today. South Africa could keep trying. But in this case, if they lose early wickets, Ponting can attack more without worrying about the odd boundary and put greater pressure and start toppling wickets.

As much as I would like the two matches to bring some surprises, I think we are in for boring foregone conclusions: Australia win and West Indies draw, sealing their respective series.

Australia have batted South Africa out of the match and series after the 3rd day and it would take an innings of Hanif Mohammed proportions from a South African batsman to save the day. Not only does the current form of the Australian bowlers rule that out, the South Africans have to do it with their captain out of the running and their foremost batsman probably still under the mental strain of being hit on the jaw.

What a damb squib this series has turned out to be. I am reminded of the Ashes 5-0 whitewash that followed the 1995 classic series in England. Or how the Australians steamrolled past every team in the last World Cup after losing to England in the tri-series and drubbed 3-0 by New Zealand. When you mess with the Australians, heaven help you. They come back and they come back strong.

The story behind this series has been the injuries that has made the Australian comeback possible, though not in ways that they anticipated. Brett Lee and Stuart Clark, both fearsome bowlers, were out of the running for this series. But their replacements have been more than competent, punishing the SA team. It is embarrassing how deep the Australian talent pool is, and how ashamed the Australian Cricket Board should be to have thrown away the last series by keeping non-performers like Hayden around, when they could have had Hughes. 

For the SA team, injuries have been disasters. Smith’s injuries prevent him from leading the effort against pumped up Australian debutants out to prove themselves. Without Smith’s leadership (and undoubtedly, he has more of that than Ricky Ponting), the South Africans seem lost. Kallis has not been great against Australia, but something is always better than nothing, and although he came back from retired hurt, he didn’t last too long.

The West Indies almost had a disaster today losing Gayle to an injury, but the new-look West Indian team is intense and knows how to last out there. Once again, they crossed 100 overs and look good for another century of overs. If and when they overhaul the England score, they will have completed the biggest upset in recent times, and set up England to look forward to another miserable Ashes against a rejuvenated Australia.

Finally, we cannot ignore Sachin’s injury when he was very close to making the first double-century in ODIs. Given how 300 is an average score nowadays and how regularly teams cross 350, the day is not far away for someone. It would have been sweet justice to have Sachin Tendulkar cross that magic figure, just as he should get his first triple century before he retires. Maybe some other day.

[Photo licensed and adapted from leonrw]

DeadBall and Short of a Length have been going at each other over the India-NZ series. Right now, it is kind of a wash as NZ won the T20 series handily and India is leading the one-day series 2-0. Of course, India have the momentum now, but the series could easily swing the other way.

Anyway, it is all in good fun. Here are some of the missives back and forth:

DeadBall: Indian Summers

SOAL: Announcing the Cricket Blogger Wars

DeadBall: The Phony War is Over

SOAL: Are You Not Entertained?

DeadBall: The Power and the Glory

It would have been nice if the Kiwis won the match to keep the series away, but Sachin Tendulkar deserved it. Whatever they say about the man’s contributions in Tests, he owns the one-day arena. In the dusk of his career, he makes the 43rd century in the country where he reshaped his ODI career. Anyone remember the 82 off 49 balls back in 1994?

[Photo licensed from chris gin]

As the history of SA’s World Cup difficulties show, they come ever so near the prize and then self-destruct. After managing to defeat Australia at home, all they had to do was hold their nerve against an inexperienced new Australian team at home and lay claim to the No. 1 title without anybody objecting. At the end of the 2nd day in the second Test against the Australians, they are already looking at a demoralizing defeat (Test and series), their captain out for several weeks and perhaps even a whitewash.

What a change from just a few weeks back when South Africa had beat Australia in the second Test to clinch the away series and then beat them again in the one-day series. Even without their captain, Graeme Smith, they won the ODI series with a match to spare. Australia, on the other hand, seemed beaten down and failed to even beat the New Zealand team in the following one-day series.

The key to Australia’s comeback has been the excellent performance of their debutants and Mitchell Johnson. Even without his bat talking in this match, he has made an impact, striking fear into the hearts of the South African batsman, like we have not seen in some time. Today has been a ferocious advertisement for hostile fast bowling.

South Africa’s hopes lie in some amazing heroics by Jean-Paul Duminy and Dale Steyn. They have done it before, but history rarely repeats itself and not so soon either. With only 10 batsman in the team after Smith’s injury, they would first have to get very close to Australia, then bowl them out for nothing and then not do the same as the Australian batsmen. Tall order. Possible, but improbable. If it happens, that would be one of the greatest comebacks in Test cricket. 

[Photo licensed from coda]