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27th April 2006 |
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Hello Friends,
Looking forward to India's tour of West Indies already!! Wait for some time guys as India is on a much needed break before they take on the Carribeans in a full fledged tour. Meanwhile you can enlighten yourself about what exactly is the "need of the hour" and the ICC rankings.
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 Balancing schedules is need of the hour
' Bigger squads ' and ' better schedules ' should be the mantras of the modern age, otherwise burnout will become a real problem. Today's players are not playing excessive cricket, they are simply playing too much of it in a cramped season in which boards pack matches like sardines in a can.
The solution to the burnout problem lies neither in Ricky Ponting's " give us a break " nor in Sunil Gavaskar's " players must be prepared to play for their nations every day of the year ". There is a far better way to plan the international calendar although the difficulties of so many nations in both hemispheres having their peak season between November and March do not help.
No board really crosses the accepted defined limit of 15 Tests and 30 ODIs in a calendar year. What they end up doing is stringing too much cricket together as they did in making Australia play five Tests in a row in five weeks. Had Cricket Australia been a benevolent employer, it would have shown a lot more compassion in the scheduling. More...
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:: Hard work pays |
An incredible streak of unfailing feats has put the Indian wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on top of the LG ICC player rankings for batsmen in one day internationals. Dhoni overtook Australia's Ricky Ponting after he made 59 in the 2nd match at Abu Dhabi.His sheer grit and determination to succeed has taken him to where he is today. There have been many instances where Dhoni has taken India home single handedly and it can be safely said now that he is in the team for keeps. The 24 year-old made his ODI debut in December 2004. In 42 matches he averages 52.76 with two hundreds and eight fifties at an awesome strike-rate of 103 runs per hundred balls.
While its Dhoni who is shining on the batsmen lists, the Indians can take pride in Irfan Pathan who is on the 3rd spot in the top bowlers in ODI rankings. Pathan is at No. 3 in the ODI rankings for all rounders as well just behind Shaun Pollock of South Africa and Andrew Flintoff of England. The other Indian in top 10 is Harbhajan Singh at No. 10 although he slipped three places following his poor show at Abu Dhabi.
The shared two-match series ( DLF Cup in Abu Dhabi) means India and Pakistan remain unchanged in the ODI Championship table in third and fourth places respectively. India trail second-placed South Africa by three points and are 16 points behind leaders Australia while Pakistan are two points behind India. Here goes the detailed rankings Click...
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| :: BattleNext |
New Zealand in South Africa
NZ v SA, (2nd Test), Cape Town, April 27- May 1
NZ v SA, (3rd Test), Johannesburg, May 5-9
Zimbabwe in West Indies
ZIM v WI , (1st ODI), Antigua, April 29
ZIM v WI , (2nd ODI), Antigua, April 30
ZIM v WI , (3rd ODI), Guyana, May 06
ZIM v WI , (4th ODI), Guyana, May 07
ZIM v WI , (5th ODI), St. Lucia (D/N), May 10
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| :: Did you know ? |
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The only batsman who has scored five Test hundreds in a row was West Indian Everton Weekes (1948-1958). |
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| :: Cricket Poll |
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Should Sourav Ganguly be included in the World Cup probables squad ? |
| VOTE NOW |
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Keep reading your favorite newsletter while your favorite team is on a break. Send in your comments and suggestions at nik@corp.123india.com. Find the newsletter interesting enough to refer it to your friends as well! Then use the Refer a Friend option at the bottom of the page. I will see you again in 10 days! Yes, your friend will now be with you more frequently. I am going to write to you every 10 days instead of a fortnight. Have fun with cricket.
With warm regards,
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With Warm Regards,
Nik - Editor, 123India.com Cricket
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