Steven Smith and the Extraordinary Story of Ordinary Batting (Around Him)

As Australia wobbled to lunch on what could be last day of Ashes 2019, here is the batting statistics of Australian batting unit. Some stunning facts.

Steven Smith has more 4s and 6s (91 + 5 = 96) in the series than the total runs scored by David Warner (95 from 10 innings), his partner in crime during Sandpaper scandal.

Labuschagne, the Concussion Replacement for Smith is the only other Australian batsman to have 50+ average and 300 plus runs.

Australian Openers scored a total of 197 runs from 20 innings. Warner and Harris ended at the bottom of batting averages with 9.5 (10 innings) and 9.66 (6 innings) respectively, while Bancroft ended up with 11 from 4 innings.

Apart from Smith and Labuschagne, no other Australian batsman has managed to average even 30, third best being 27 by Travis Head.

Mathew Wade has an innings of 110 and then 120 from remaining 9 innings, with a one last chance to improve.

With 769 and still the current innings remaining, Smith overtook Alistair Cook (766) for 5th highest runs in an Ashes series with only Bradman (twice), Hammond and Taylor above him.

Going into the last innings of the series, Smith is yet to be dismissed for a score less than 80 in the series, that in itself another incredible record.

In short, England lost the Ashes to Steven Smith, who exhibited the greatest batting performance in a single series in the new millennium. The humongous performance attains a Cult status when we realise the second highest run getter scored less than half of Smith.

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

Missing Warner, Smith and Indian Lineup !

Some Australian Commentators are lamenting the absence of Warner and Smith and claiming the series defeat is because Australia were weakened, thus trying to take the sheen off a brilliant series win achieved by India. Let us take a look at Indian team too.

India played the entire series without their first choice opener Prithvi Shaw. Their best all rounder Hardik Pandya too was missing, significantly upsetting the balance of the team. India's first choice spinner Ashwin missed all but first test. India's second choice spinner (Jadeja) was forgotten till the second test ended.

India played first two tests with an opener under probationary training before retirement (Murali Vijay) and a specialist slip fielder (Rahul). Third test had one and a half openers and fourth test had one opener in Mayank Agarwal, who was imported as an afterthought.

India's problems didn't end there. While Coach Shastri was expected to deliver overseas, it was Rohit Sharma's wife who delivered at home and even he took off during final test, bringing the specialist slip fielder back.

India's middle order had Rahane making guest appearances as if he weren't paid his remuneration and then Rishab Pant was enjoying his Australian holiday with baby sitting tips, till the final test.

India's tail forgot what it means to wag in the first half of the series while the second half didn't necessitate the tail at all.

Australia just missed two of their best batters. With one Pujara, two thirds of Kohli, less than half Rahane, full Pant, imported opener and 3 deadly fast bowlers, India have won their first series down under. Imagine what a full strength Indian team would have done !

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

The Twenty18 Lineup

The calendar changes to 2019 and we have Jimmy Neesham & Cheteshwar Pujara starting the cricketing year in contrasting yet effective styles. Before the year runs away any further, time to look back and present the 2018’s Slipstream XI – a collection of interesting & not-so-interesting events to remember the cricketing year 2018 by. 

0. Let’s begin at the beginning. 

All these years we were sending a coin up in the air for the all-important task of finding who bats first. But the smart fellows at the Big bash League decided that sending a coin up in the air doesn’t seem exciting, so let’s throw a specially designed bat! Which lead to an amusing incident where the bat landed on its side!!! 

1. Debutante(s) of the Year 

Ireland & Afghanistan became the 11th & 12th Test playing nations respectively. While Ireland ran Pakistan close, Afghanistan were overwhelmed by India. Meanwhile Nepal made their ODI debut with a narrow win against Netherlands. It was reported in Nepalese newspaper as “Nepal hammer Netherlands by one run”. 2019 is going to be a bumper debut season as all Associates get international status for T20s.

A Little Bit on Ball Tampering

Ball Tampering – "unlawful alteration of the surface or seam of a ball on the field, to affect its motion when bowled."

Cricket is a batsman’s game. Over the course of last one and a half centuries, laws of the game have been tweaked to make it “swing” increasingly in the batsmen’s favour. Covered pitches, restrictions on bowling, restrictions on field placements, shortened boundaries, better safety equipment, bigger bats, and changes in the front-foot no-ball rule. Almost every single rule change tilting the balance further in the batsmen’s favour. 

Meanwhile, the bowlers have also lived up to the ask, with constant innovations, Bodyline, Swing, spin, chinaman, doosra, reverse swing, knuckle ball, carom ball et al. In due course some have even resorted to the dark arts as well. 

The cricket ball, like everything else on this planet, follows the laws of physics. Bernoulli’s principles regarding motion through a fluid holds especially true. Although, no one has worked out the exact calculations or made big differential equations on the subject, it can be safely said, the more the difference in the nature of the two halves of the ball, the more its tendency to swing. So ensure that one side stays as smooth as possible while other side stays as shiny as possible. Although keep in mind, that is one of the many variables affecting the swing. Others being speed of release, angle of the seam, ambient temperature, wind etc. However, while other variables are not exactly in control, the shape of the ball can be “managed” in multiple ways. Some legal, some illegal, and many falling in the grey area. It is certainly an art, although there are some who move into the darker arts. 

Below is a pictorial representation of the different techniques to manage the shape of the ball. 

Use of any visible agent to change the shape certainly falls in the definitely illegal category. And that is what Cameron Bancroft was caught doing against South Africa. Caught on the cameras with a piece of sandpaper in his pocket which he then tried to hide in his pants post instructions from dressing room, all of which caught by the South African cameramen who were specifically assigned to the task of catching any Australian transgressions. Post the day’s play, Steve Smith admitted to the leadership group’s involvement in the shenanigans. Next day, Tim Paine was leading the side with both Smith and David Warner having resigned in the middle of the Test! 

The Ashes Begin: With A Bang

Its probably the littlest trophy in the whole sporting world. Certainly one of the oldest. More have been written about the Ashes than any other sporting contest. And why not? After all it carries a little poem too.

When Ivo goes back with the urn, the urn;

Studds, Steel, Read and Tylecote return, return;

The welkin will ring loud,

The great crowd will feel proud,

Seeing Barlow and Bates with the urn, the urn;

And the rest coming home with the urn.

Its been a long buildup to the double headed Ashes that are going to be played over the next 8 months. 10 Tests between the oldest rivals.