Changing Perspective

Cricket Australia and its future of change

Dino — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 06:16:33 +0000

Australia’s ongoing test series in South Africa has been far from what Michael Clarke would have been hoping for. Coming off a series win in Sri Lanka, being one-nil down and struggling to win the second test is not a step up. The one thing this series has shown is that Australia is still a team in transition, and that means changes are necessary. The team and spectators are now faced with the likelihood of axing Ricky Ponting, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson. A sad thought, but ultimately one which would benefit the team in the long run.
Below is a possible 12 man team for the upcoming series against New Zealand, fitness permitting of course.
1) Philip Hughes: A batsman who has promised much but failed to produce consistently with the bat, his first innings at the Wanderers and his last innings in Colombo showed that he has the class to play at this level. Now all Hughes needs is the temperament, something that will hopefully develop over time and a prolonged run in the team.
2) Usman Khawaja: An exciting prospect, this left hander has also shown he has a rock solid technique and the maturity to play long innings. His disrupted run in the team so far has not allowed him to show off his class just yet in the international arena
3) Shaun Marsh: This left hander has all but made the number 3 spot his own. Coming in to the side in Kandy Marsh made an innings, and ultimately, test series winning knock. Since then he has not looked back. His absence in the the second test has been keenly missed and will no doubt remain an integral part of the test side.
4) Shane Watson: The all-rounder’s importance with the ball is continually being highlighted as his test career grows. Unfortunately his role with the bat is of equal importance. Yet due to his history of injuries, it would be best to see him drop down the order from the opening position and adopt a role in the middle order. This will give Michael Clarke the freedom to bowl him and not worry about him following it up straight away with the bat as was see last week.
5) Michael Clarke: No doubt the skipper is much happier batting at the number 5 position and will enjoy coming down the order, his century in Cape Town showed that he can marshal the tail well, something that may be necessary as Australia continues to go through its transitional phase. It will also give him peace of mind as he will not have to worry too much about his captaincy and continually building a team innings.
6) Michael Hussey: With the team looking to the future, Hussey’s spot will come under more and more scrutiny. His lean run in South Africa would not help his cause. However, his sublime form in Sri Lanka will be enough, for now, to warrant his selection in the team. Mr. Cricket will not doubt look to bow out on his own terms.
7) Mathew Wade/Tim Paine: These two young wicket-keeper batsmen have shown that they can perform at the top level. Their glove work is probably better than their predecessor, and thankfully for the two of them their form with the bat cannot be any worse than Haddin’s.
8)Peter Siddle: The right arm fast bowler has not had the best tour with the ball, however, his continual hard work and never die attitude should be enough to see him enjoy an extended run in the team. Certainly with better backup his performances will improve.
9) Doug Bollinger/Ryan Harris: These two seam bowlers have had promising careers continually disrupted by injury. Ideally if they can get their workload under control either one of the two would be a mainstay in the team. One possibility is to see a rotation policy used in regard to these two players.
10)Pat Cummins: No doubt the star of the JoBurg test for Australia, this 18 year old has shown class and maturity beyond his age. The only worry that comes with the continued use of the youngster is a possibility of burnout. Luckily for Australia, a growing rank of fast bowlers in the country means a rotation policy with other youngsters is on the cards.
11) Nathan Lyon: The offspinner continues to grow in his role , with little first class experience his performances are even more impressive. He has not picked up wickets by the bucket load, but has shown that he can be a handful. It would be unwise to keep chopping and changing the spinners.
12)David Warner: This left hander has shown that he is continuing to grow as a batsman. From being a player who walked out looking to hit every ball for six, Warner has matured and shown that he can build a long innings. His continued presence around the test side will ultimately benefit him.

So with this potentially new and younger line up Australia will be heralding in a new era, the dominant team of nineties and earl 2000s will die out completely with the bowing out of Ricky Ponting. Of course for such a great batsman he should be allowed an opportunity to have a farewell test, a strong possibility for the upcoming series.

Sri Lanka punches above their weight with Commonwealth Games bid

Dino — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 07:31:01 +0000

Sri Lanka will learn their fate on Friday in regards to the hosting of the Commonwealth games, and I certainly hope that we do not win the bid. But of course there are many about who are arguing that Sri Lanka should win it that it will ‘help our economic growth’ and ‘the commonwealth games will make Sri Lanka a tourist destination’. Well I am sorry to burst those people’s bubbles but that will not happen.
I probably sound very arrogant, and I agree it is arrogant of me to say this with such little knowledge in economics. Where I lack knowledge in econ I make up in experience in watching these events crash and burn. Lets take for example the beloved Cricket World Cup that Sri Lanka hosted this year. The sport is supposed to be our pride and joy, something all Lankans look forward to. It was a success, Sri Lanka made the finals, the stadiums looked nice and for most of the games they were packed. Of course once the games were over, everything started to unravel. Our captain and vice-captain resigned, our selectors were sacked, allegations of math-fixing came about, our star opening batsman was caught having taken a banned substance before the semi-final and finally the entire cricket board was sacked.
Of course what followed was even worse, it was found the cricket board had run up a bill of Rs. 7 billion for the construction of the three stadiums, one of them all the way down south in Hambantota (for those who don’t know that is supposed our next major city). Question’s were asked over the ticket sales, the black market certainly prospered. The tournament director told me that ‘strict guidelines were enforced regarding ticket sales’. Unfortunately nobody bothered to stop the three-wheeler drivers of Maligawatte from selling these tickets at near a 200% markup. Of course, the cricket board is not to blame they made their estimated profits so who cares if some one else also made a profit right?
So it has been near on 8 months since the World Cup and the cricket board is still bankrupt, to the extent that the players salaries have not even been paid. Finally, the second board has been sacked and elections have been called. What the future holds for Sri Lanka Cricket remain to be seen.
What we can do is learn from our mistakes, we tried and failed in hosting a world event. We are now trying to host an event that will see an original estimate of about half our annual budget. Of course we should remember that we have not added in the corruption and the poor financial management. So you can expect the final bill to be around our entire budget.
Then lets not forget we will be lagged with a Commonwealth Games park, stadiums and athletes village that will be sitting in the middle of nowhere without any chance of being used. This is not a problem that will be unique to Sri Lanka. The Olympic Park in Sydney Australia is faced with a similar predicament. Of course they have the money to maintain it and host the odd sporting event there. Don’t worry I am sure we can host a couple of cricket matches there. But lets not forget we have to build a city to go with the stadiums. Right now it seems as though the government plans on planting all the visitors at the Peacock Hotel. So we need to add on the costs for the whole infrastructure. I can say with certainty that this bill will be lagged with us for a fair few years.
Alright so we are clearly not ready to host this thing, and on the other hand who wants to go for it? Lets face it without the US and China Australia will dominate the medal tally, the UK will come second third will be an even fight and then unknowns from some tiny island in the pacific will get a medal or two. Clearly not a sporting extravaganza to draw the people by the thousands. When you think about it this way, Sri Lanka may be on the right track. No point building anything, no one is going to come.
But alas we are powerless, our delegation headed by the Prince himself has gone over to St Kitts along with a delegation no doubt numbering above 50. Alongside him will be our star spinner Murali, he did win us a world cup maybe he can win us the bid right? Or and of course there is our beloved Central Bank Governor, the man is a genius with money so why should he not be there to sign over our treasury. Well they did say the world will end on 11.11.11 at 11.11am, ironically this is the time we will know whether or not we have won the bid.

Why Indian sporting culture is damaging the world of sport

Dino — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:37:15 +0000

My last article on the Indian Grand Prix was attacked by an Indian the other day, and in his comment he mentioned that I was biased when it came to India. I feel I should set the record straight, I am biased when it comes to Indian sport.
So why do I have this biased attitude towards Indian sport? Well to be honest it is because they have been able to take a culture that is built around rivalry, tradition and gamesmanship and have turned it in to a money making venture. The IPL is a perfect example of this. Cricket has been and, in some parts of the world, still is a Sunday game. That being an all day event that will be considered a family outing. The scenes of kids playing their own mini-games of cricket on the embankments during a test match are slowly fading, we are no longer seeing the old gents seated back carrying on their own scoring during a test match. Now in India, courtesy of the IPL, test cricket is dying out and being replaced by a faster, more glamorous and less sporting event. The Indian Premier League has seen countries replaced with state teams comprising of international players, those who fight with such ferocity during the Ashes and the Border-Gavesaker trophy are now ‘team-mates’. Yes yes unity and friendship and all that jazz are important, but lets face it true sports lovers watch the game for the competition between players. Something that is dying out due to the IPL.
That is not all that the IPL has done, instead of cricket and avid followers, we are treated with cheerleaders, celebrities and giants of the Indian business world all looking for some extra cash. Who can forgot the first IPL when Sha Rukh Khan decided that the attention needed to be on him and danced the entire match on the balcony, there was actually a game going on but nobody remembers that. The cheerleaders jump up every time a boundary is hit, and rather than focusing on the celebrations of the supporters we are forced to view a poor excuse for ‘cheerleading’.
At the end of the match the focus turns to the team owners, a moment given for the players, and then the reactions of the walking wallets and whether or not THEY are happy.
So really the IPL has systematically killed off a sport that has a tradition dating back over a 100 hundred years. The likes W.G.Grace will certainly turning in his grave to see his beloved sport turned in to a glamour show for the rich and famous of Bollywood.
The problem’s go further than cricket, India hosted the Commonwealth Games last year. And it can be described in a single word, ‘pathetic’. The stadiums were empty, those that were completed, athletes were forced to stay in hotels because of snakes in the village and overall there was no atmosphere. True the commonwealth games can never be compared to the Olympics, but having experienced the Olympics I can honestly tell you Delhi and India could have put on a better show. Once again they claimed to be attracting the masses, but only catered to the upper classes.
This past weekend saw the inaugural Indian GP, and despite what the drivers and the organisers say I am sticking by my original evaluation. There is no doubt in anybody’s mind that the only reason India got the race was because of the potential market they hold. But for those real racing fans they will know that an Indian GP will never match up to the tradition of a race such as Monte Carlo or the Nurburgring in Germany. Those are races that were built on tradition and legends of the sport. Unfortunately for India, they have ditched their true culture for a fusion of Western and Indian and in doing so have lost all essence. What is more disappointing is that once again, money has been the controlling factor in this event. Now I know that Formula 1 is built around money, but FIA and Eccelstone used to be able to do it with class. In Monte Carlo you’d have the yacht owners lining their boats up against the track to watch from the comfort of their floating mansions. India, with all its money and class, chose to pack in thousands upon thousands of fans in to a stadium which had been built on the grounds of a ‘planned sport city’.
It is sad that India, who has given us sporting spectacles in the past are unable to repeat the feat. Cricket lovers around the world must really miss the noise from a packed Eden Gardens, it has now been replaced by subdued fans who are bored and rich team owners whose only concern is how much more they can squeeze out before the final ball is bowled. Looking at what Indian sporting culture has done to world sport I guess the cliche saying ‘money is the root of all evil’ certainly is accurate.

The Indian Grand Prix; A less than satisfactory debut

Dino — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 12:57:24 +0000

The Indian Grand Prix was held today, and as an F1 fan I can promise you it was the last race I would want to see on my calender. For those who do not I am biased when it comes to India and their sporting events. This grand prix lived up to its expectations, and those expectations were pretty low.

When India was finally given the go ahead for the race a few years back, it was not an announcement that had been welcomed in the highly selective world of Formula 1 racing. Looking at the tradition and European influence on the sport, you can understand why the followers were not all too impressed.

In the recent years, the sport of racing has seen a greater emphasis placed on money ahead of tradition, this was seen through the increased races in the Middle East and Singapore. It has now moved to what is being described as the largest market possible, India.

After controversy and problems existing in the construction of the track, the race weekend was finally upon us. For most people, the interest in the season has dropped with Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull securing the driver championship and the constructor championship. The only real interest in the race stood with how India will handle this glamour filled sporting event.

So what did India have planned for the race weekend? They were certainly going all out, similar to Singapore they were going to have a concert including the performance of rock legends Metallica. The event was being built up all over the city with vendors getting in to the mood.

Unfortunately the race did not go according to plan, the first big incident was the cancellation of the Metallica concert, which enraged thousands of fans. True to Indian tradition, disappointment was followed by vandalism as the fans ransacked the stadium. A sad showing for Indians, the world’s attention was on them and they certainly slipped up.

The situation only got worse when the first practice session was delayed due to non-other than a stray dog running on to the track. A situation that is common in cricket matches seems to have transferred to the racing track. Apart from the funny side, the dangers of such an incident seems to have been missed.

We’re only lucky know drivers were on that stretch of the track. For all you animal lovers the dog was safe, probably the biggest relief for me this whole weekend.

The track itself was a state of the art affair, certainly India can be complimented on that. Just make sure you do not look outside of the stadium, a barren wasteland lies in view. The dust and sand was so intense that on TV the race was at times difficult to see. Of course, to maintain the tradition Indian ticket prices were on the slightly higher side, but that was too be expected. Whether or not that will keep the standards remain to be seen. India ended the weekend in a fashion that was both embarrassing and sums up their mentality. Sachin Tendulkar was given the opportunity to wave the chequered flag, I mean why would he be given it? Yes he is a sporting god in that country, but he has no connection with the sport nor is he from New Delhi. Its a shame such a emphasis was placed on this man in a sport where few will know his name.

So the race is over, and the event was not as exciting as many of the other tracks. I guess now it waits to be seen how its following seasons go. Of course one thing we are assured of is that money rules all things sporting.

Don’t look back IN wonder, look forward AND wonder

Dino — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 06:49:14 +0000

People are more often than not inspired by greatness seen in mankind’s history, they will look to match it and live by its lessons. When does the time come that people stop looking back and start looking ahead?
For me personally I have realised that all you can take from the past is lessons, but what you can take to the future is limitless. For days I often find myself sitting back and wondering ‘what if’? Going as far back to school days, friendships, choices in jobs, even the smallest choice of walking away or confronting a problem. From that all that regret has been the outcome, I look back and will often see what could have been done differently.
Looking forward and I am faced with choices, not regrets, and that is where the excitement of life lies for me.
The past has happened, I am not in control of it so I take what I can and move on. The future is mine to shape, the success and failures of my future are mine alone.

CHOGM; what a joke

Dino — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:34:51 +0000

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is taking place this week in Perth this week, and personally the whole summit seems to be a joke. Barely a month has passed since the UN summit in New York, and now the ‘worlds’ attention turns to this.
Of course to make stuff interesting the summit needed some controversy; the UN summit had Palestine applying for statehood, so why should this not have the same? Well Australian, and Sri Lankan, media was on hand to assist. Headlines roared ‘Sri Lankan President to be investigated by Australian Federal Police’. Of course, this grabbed the attention of the people, and now attention has turned to Perth.
Of course, as is the case with most ‘breaking news items’ this had not been reported completely. The Australian Attorney General announced that there would be no formal investigation, and that was the end of that.
So what was the need for all that hype? Well I do not see this as being a ploy by the Diaspora living in Australia, cause lets face it no one is going to go all the way to Perth just to protest. No country is going to actually investigate another country’s president without strong enough evidence.
So, from my reckoning this whole media stunt was done to draw attention to the meeting and nothing else. I mean who really goes for the CHOGM? The big scene countries are Australia, England, South Africa and India. Not much to write home about there. So to all those who were super excited thinking Mahinda Rajapaksa was actually being investigated, sorry to disappoint but this story has served its purpose. The CHOGM has made the front page, hats off to the Queen. Yes she is still the Head of the Commonwealth (who’d have thought it).

Formula 1 race that is the roads of Sri Lanka

Dino — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:04:20 +0000

I drove to Dambulla today, and for those of you’ll who know me you’ll will know how much I hate the traffic here, and today I realised how much the roads of Sri Lanka have in common with a Formula 1 race.
Just like a formula 1 race if you want to get to your destination on time, it’s important to get ahead of all other traffic. So the qualifying round will be the waking up early and get on the road, the earlier set off will be the better qualifying time.
Now that you are out in front, its important to maintain your track position. This means no slowing down, and especially no allowing the cars behind you to overtake. To achieve this you have to hold your racing line, or in Sri Lanka simply stick to your lane and maintain a good enough speed. The cars and vans will continually try to overtake you but fail, more often than not it will be a dogfight till you pull off somewhere.
So now you’ve got the basics of getting ahead, and holding that position, the next important thing is overtaking. If on the off chance you have not been able to get ahead early, you will have a lot of traffic to get past. This will see you needing all your skills behind the wheel. My suggestion is work your way up slowly, do not try to overtake a bunch of vehicles at once this will cause all sorts of trouble and will leave you at the back of the pack. Pick your battles, at times play the role of the black-marker and allow another car to overtake you. This will ease the pressure, and ultimately assist in the overall goal.
My suggestion to overtaking in Sri Lanka is get in the slipstream of the car, once the road ahead is clear pull out and shoot past it. Keep enough room, drivers here rarely check their side mirrors. This will be an advantage as you will find yourself past them in no time.
Now often you will find yourself pulling over, especially if there is someone in the car wanting to buy something. It is of utmost importance that you get ahead of the slower vehicles that you may have overtaken earlier. Consider this the pit-stop, and your task is to get ahead of the cars behind you and secure track position. It helps add to the fun of the drive.
So there you have it, in brief a comparison of a formula 1 race with the roads of Sri Lanka

Gaddafi is dead; did he deserve the final hours he was given?

Dino — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:29:16 +0000

So Mohammed Gaddafi is finally dead, or so the Western world will say, in only took several months of fighting and a serve bombing campaign by NATO to achieve this ‘feat’.
On Thursday I spent the evening watching the news which continually showed scenes of, what they described as, ‘jubilation’. What I saw were crowds of men all carrying guns laughing and mocking a bleeding, defeated and humiliated old man. No doubt Gaddafi was a dictator, and no questions that the crimes he committed against his people deserved judgement. The question is did he deserve the treatment he was given by his own people?
Putting aside the fact that the man was, to many, a tyrant and an oppressive ruler he was also a leader of a country. What is more he was an old man, and should have warranted some degree of respect. Instead his body, clothed in torn rags, his face bloody and bruised was dragged through the streets before being hoisted on to a pickup. Members of the rebel group, filming on their camera phones, were heard laughing and yelling insults at the former leader of Libya. Some eyewitnesses have claimed he was heard begging for his life.
Several hours later, after apparently being driven to a hospital, he was pronounced dead. Yesterday the postmortem returned stating that he died from a gunshot wound to his head. Extra-judicial killing, and no peep from the West on this crime.
Gaddafi boasted two months ago that he would ‘squash the rats and insects who were daring to defy him’, these comments directed at his own people who opposed his rule. The fuse was now lit, his death saw the explosion of anger and hatred towards a man that back in 1960s was revered for taking power. Under him the North African country saw their economy, and life in general, boom.
Forty years later; a combination of his greed for power and wealth, and the interference of the Western World saw a leader of a nation being dragged through the streets and executed by those who once looked up to him as ‘father of a nation’.

The over-analysis of movies

Dino — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:08:26 +0000

I watched Transformers 3 recently and it was not half bad. Of course when I told people they looked at me with disgust, comments such as ‘OMG the story line was so lame’ or ‘how can you like that it is so unrealistic’. Well, yes, it is an unrealistic film and for a cartoon adaptation the story line will not be a mind blowing one. But what it does have is entertainment, for all our childhood memories watching Transformers on the big screen is a treat.
Unfortunately nowadays people feel the need to analyse any and everything in society, nothing is taken for face value. What is more disappointing is that more people will take what a minority say as being ‘god’s truth’. When movies first came out they were for the public’s “entertainment”, a simple 10 minute clip of a man waddling down the road and being hit in the head drew laughs and more importantly the crowds. In today’s society if a film like that was shown the critics would have a field day, ‘lame’ or ‘immature humour’ or ‘lack of character development’.

Personally films should not always be analysed and critiqued, sometimes it will do just to sit back and enjoy what is before us. For me sitting down in front of the tv means I want to switch off my brain and let my mind drift with whatever is before me.

Media cheapens Colin Cowdrey lecture

Dino — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:51:56 +0000

Sri Lanka’s reaction to the elegant Colin Cowdrey Lecture delivered by Kumar Sangakarra has crossed the boundary of pride to overkill.
Sri Lankan’s in and outside the country showed their support to the lecture by quoting sangakarra on Facebook. A trend that has taken an upward surge in recent years. Media poured out accolades to the former skipper, complimenting him on the brave stance he took. The sports minister orders for an enquiry were met with boos and calls for his head. Yes Sanga is a national icon and we should be proud. He showed up the beauty of the sport, the unification of cricket was beautified and the corruption of the cricket board highlighted.
So what steps has Sri Lanka taken to support Sanga? Sections of the media have cheapened the lecture and opened the doors for ridicule. Last week i saw an article that said Cricket Australia was contemplating boycotting the tour of Sri Lanka on political grounds. They were only convinced to tour after listening to Sangakarra’s lecture. Really? Apparently this journalist assumed that cricket Australia did not have a representative present at the lecture. He further assumed that Cricket Australia was willing to suffer large financial retribution, Sanga’s golden words obviously changed their mind. Lets forget the fact that the ICC had made it clear that political interference in cricket would not be tolerated. Cricket Australia’s boycott of a tour would have fallen under political interference.
Of course we must forge the simple fact that Cricket Australia had announced they would be touring Sri Lanka and there had been no question otherwise.
Hats off to the standard of sports journalism in Sri Lanka. And applause for the public for having believed this nonsense. Emails circulated promoting this article.
Enough with the rubbish reporting. He gave a good speech, lets not forget the issues he brought up.