Just Cricket

It has been a good fortnight of cricket. Scintillating test cricket in the northern hemisphere, display of authority from a top class side in the south. For about three days in what one could call the Valentine's day Test, Pakistan looked like they had the upper hand, courtesy the partnership between Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq. It was very uncharacteristic of Pakistan to show such grit and determination, putting up such a big partnership after having been 33-4 on the first morning. Pakistan further dominated with the ball showing signs of making a strong comeback in the series. South Africa were still a worrisome 174 behind Pakistan when Peterson walked in with just four wickets in hand. But, there is just something about top sides as South Africa are currently, that they are always there or thereabouts even when the opposition is on top, waiting to seize on any opportunity presented and that's what they did, not just in this test in Cape Town, but in Adelaide last year as w...

               Captains of this era have all been the perfect ones for their respective countries, if one considers the situation that each country was in at the time of being made captain. Andrew Strauss, Graeme Smith, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ricky Ponting have all been good captains given the records that they possess even after such lengthy stays at the international level as captains. The thing that was common amongst these people was that they all had a good base for them to start on. Strauss was probably the one amongst these four to have started on shaky ground. Statistics as Captain for each player.                               Three people who catch the eye are Michael Clarke, Misbah-ul-Haq and Darren Sammy. All these 3 have been captain for about the same number of Tests which is on...