CRICKET ONLY & ONLY CRICKET

Well after England lost the first test against the West Indies at Sabina Park Jamica, the present England captain looks like being in no mood to take risk of any sort whatsoever. Whether Andrew Strauss has found a better reason to blame for the Jamica debacle being a different issue altogether, this time it is England all the way at St John’s, Antiua. And taking inspiration by the Jamica defeat, Andrew Strauss might have gone to take the responsibility himself at Antigua no matter what. Not only that England lost the first test by an innings, but they also failed to take a first innings lead.

Had this loss been against a popular team like India, Australia or South Africa, Andrew Strauss could have afforded to relax by putting the blame completely on the strength of the opposition. But, this time the team that Andrew Strauss was facing was the West Indies, who having been at the receiving end of England for the last decade or so. And moreover, all the odds were against the West Indies given their poor run of form in the last decade or so. Adding  to that would be the fact that losing against West Indies is something equivalent to losing against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe.

So, though England haven’t lost even an ODI to any minnow team, their loss to West Indies at Jamica could be correlated to a defeat against any other minnow. And coming to the current test match, Andrew Strauss absolutely doesn’t want to risk with his fortune. This could well be confirmed from the decision taken wherein Strauss never made up his mind to impose a follow on despite having the right to do so taking into consideration the caliber of the West Indies team. A lead of 281 would have been safe heavens for England especially against the West Indies. But, Strauss’ fears can well be understood.

There is no doubt that England can surely in all aspects win the game against the West Indies and also the series probably 3-1. If not for the likes of Ramnaresh Sarwan, none of the West Indian batsmen really stood up to the English bowling. An, it is not at all Strauss’ fault, for after the Kolkata test debacle that is believed to have taken place due to Steve Waugh declaring the follow on, the then Australian captain Ricky Ponting has never ever made up his mind to impose follow on, no matter how big the first innings lead is. This could be seen from the fact that India in the first & third tests at Bangalore & Mumbai respectively had a first innings lag of more than 200. Still, Adam Gilchrist didn’t impose follow on. And even Strauss is a human being.

In the recent times, meaning in the past one year or so, the Australian team is found going the way India had been doing since a decade or so. Not touring Pakistan or even not playing the same, if not for a mega event like the ICC Champions Trophy or the ICC world cup. This, I guess is the second time that Australia have boycotted from touring Pakistan. This reminded me of the way India never toured the country for 12 long years from 1989 to 2004 for reasons well known. Well it is not at all Australia’s fault whatsoever.

Well Pakistan can think itself to be lucky to get into the record books for being the only team in the world to have played a test match at a neutral venue. This has happened twice if I’m not wrong. In 2002, Pakistan hosted Australia at Colombo and once there was a test match between Australia and Pakistan in Sharjah as well. Irrespective of whether the ground at Sharjah meets the standards for conducting a test match or not, there was a test match held there. Never mind for the situation demanded it from Australia.  And once again this time this is bound to happen.

Pakistan has agreed to play Australia Australia has agreed to play Pakistan provided it is at a neutral venue.  The tests are scheduled to be played between April 24th to May 7th at Dubai and Abu Dhabi . And the test series between the two nations scheduled to be played in England and that too probably. So, finally there can be a contestbetween the two countries after four long years. The only question now is that can Pakistan draw something out of the lack of form of the current Australian side? For, they are no India or South Africa for that matter.

Pakistan has to consider itself to be lucky yet once again for they have played Australia just once after the world cup 2003 in Australia where as obvious Australia won 3-0. And had the test series in 2008 taken place smoothly, still Pakistan would have faced the Australian team without the likes of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist to name a few. The rest of the teams have had a taste of Australia more than once. India had it twice in 2003 and 2004, South Africa twice in 2005-06, England in 2006-07 and as follows. So, there is something that Pakistan can boast of eh!!!