THE NEED FOR SPEED: A TRIBUTE TO PACE AND PACEMEN

It was an ordinary day for me nothing much to boast about so went out for a stroll and came across a playground where small kids were practising under a coach.

The usual net sessions were going on, it reminded me of my days when things were similar – the usual jogging session followed by warm ups and finally the nets. The sessions started as a batsman walked into the nets and took guard and bowling to him was a tall lanky lean guy who had the luck of getting a new ball, down he came sprinting and hurled his first one at a pretty good speed but the batsman was too good for him. Smack! And the ball sped away past the bowler.

The coach cheered the batsman and the bowler got a pat and was told to put that cherry in the right place, he went back and started the process all over again. For the next few deliveries the bowler didn’t face much success as the batsman just took him for a grand beating. Now came the adrenaline, this time he extended his run up, clasped the ball tightly in his hands, fixed his eyes at the batsman, and started charging. All he needed was the speed …yes the need for speed and bang he hits the bulls eye and the stumps uprooted from the ground and the celebration was a spectacle – a real good spectacle.

It happens everytime when the fast gets going when there is this need for speed it’s always a spectacle.
Fast bowlers are never made or sculpted - they are born. Fast bowling is a natural art, although hard work and determination improves it but the fact is “once a fastie always a fastie”. I have always felt the need to understand what goes on in the mind and psyche of a fast bowler as he is such an indispensible part of the team, there are expectations from everywhere to deliver, to take wickets and yes the expectation to rip off the speedometer.

Aggression is one of the main ingredients of the fast bowlers. Talent and, yes, it has to be used or applied with care as i’ts also a double edged sword. Fasties can never afford to be mild and calm as aggression drives them inspires them and also sometimes sadly breaks them. There is always this intent to perform and deliver that makes the fastie charged up and, well, all I can say the bottom lime is about the speed.

Any fast bowler anywhere in the world wants to bowl at a freaking speed and break the stumps into pieces and he wants it every time … every single time.
The fasties are married to labour, sweat, glamour and pain and never can escape these which follow them right through their career. They start with it and end with it. It is also sad that they have a very short shelf life and once that fizz is out you are just any other bowler, just any other person. Saying that one must also see that fast bowling is not easy, it looks glamorous and rewarding when everything goes your way but when things change they really change badly.

My heart went out to Stuart Broad when he was clobbered for six sixes in one single over and I am sure he might get nightmares even today about that. Your self-confidence gets shattered, your psyche gets disturbed and, well, you carry that tag almost your entire life. But fasties have heart of gold and that can be seen as the same guy has come back strongly and has not only given his country the Ashes but also has shown to the cricketing world that I may be wounded but I am not hurt I may lost but I may not give up, the essentials of a fastie.

I have to say this whilst all cricket being played all round the world one misses the thrill or goosebumps of a Shoaib Akhtar or the rampage of Brett Lee.. he still has not fazed out but injuries have taken its toll.. the swing of Akram or the toe crushing yorkies of Waqar. We want those days back we want those moments back, those inswinging yorkers, those outswingers which become a formality to the slip cordon, those earth shattering and helmet shattering bouncers, we want them all back and I hope the new players give us those moments back.

I will always say being a fast bowler is difficult but to bowl fast consistently is even more difficult, but who cares as Tom Cruise says “I feel the need –The need for speed”.. the spirit always remains. Generations have changed and so has the game but one thing has not and will not —-The Need for Speed..
Speed means this.

Am I a Rookie or a Pro?

Maturity has surely got to do something with age and experience, but, as far as talent is concerned, there does not seem to be any relation even remotely. This comment comes from various observations made especially in the world of sports. I would speak mostly of Indian sports as I relate closely to it.

There was a time when Sachin Tendulkar was welcomed into the big world of cricket with great pomp and show as he was the one of the younger cricketers around or perhaps the youngest cricketer India has ever produced. One may take that as an exception or a rarity saying that “well there are not many geniuses around”. But come today the ‘age of technology’, ‘the age of speed’ where everything and anything can’t wait, i.e there is no room for patience things have to be instant or rather very quick, one cannot afford to waste time.

If you wanna make it you have to make it quick because today’s India has a tremendous talent pool with competition from all round the country and the best part is talent today gets rewarded

In the Indian Premier League or any other competitive sporting competition around one can see the average age of the players participating has come drown drastically and the amount of sportspersons in their teens and early twenties outnumber their elders comfortabl. Age has got nothing to do with talent ,yes accepted but why then in the past this was not the case.Well a very big point which is to be seen here is that today India’s involvement has increased, many more people are interested in actually playing the game rather than watching it and also in today’s times one can spot the talent instantly and maybe groming part also undergoes a quick process.In short the world iis running very fast, real fast.

Ajinkya Rahane is a very famous name in Mumbai Indians camp and I remember that I have played with him when I was 12 years old and he was barely 10!!! And the same guy now will be in the Indian dressing room in few days. Nothing to take away from his talent or perseverance but what startles me is the pace at which progress is achieved.

Anybody from Maria Sharapova to Usain Bolt to Vijender Kumar are our young sporting icons. The important thing to note here is that these guys are really young and they have it in them to handle every kind of pressure at this young age which is a sign of high maturity and also good PR qualities.

But again I will make an effort to say that yes “young is in” today and maybe the trend is going to grow but also it has its own problems associated with it. Any young new performing sporting individual today is attacked by media and money and success which they had thought was years of toil and hardwork comes enclosed in an envelope all you got to do is just sign the dotted line and its done. Here talent should not be compromised and effort should be made to continue the performance and excellence amidst prosperity. Then a legend is made, then one becomes a true icon. Nobody other than Sachin Tendulkar can be a better example for this.

I have taken pains actually to comment on this issue because i am already 22 years old and after finishing a rigorous process like engineering, I still have not made the cut and yet watch people of my age and even people younger than me do things that I may perhaps not do ever in my life. Kudos to them, kudos to the emerging India and kudos to youth.
regards

CRICKET COMMENTARY: WHEN THE GAME COMES ALIVE

Cricket has become more and more glamorous and eye catchy over the years, be it the coloured uniforms or the use of the “white” cricket ball , the flood lights , advertising banners , those catchy display boards showing the Third umpire’s decision and nowadays the “Cheerleaders” .
Each one of them has brightened up the game which earlier had everyone in “Whites” and with the odd “Cherry” moving around. But there were “Commentators” then and there are “Commentators” now luckily they have’nt disappeared.

Commentary has always been an indispensible part for any sport and especially for Cricket where there is such a huge target audience off-field, the one who track the match on Television or Radio, one can never eliminate or ignore commentators.

There is something special about these guys, I must say as they give life to the game and with their illustrations and observations they really have the power to even make a boring dayat the field hyper exciting . They are like painters who always try to decorate the game with their baritone, subtleness and sometimes sheer passion. One can easily say it’s an easy life for a commentator as he has to simply sit in an air conditioned room, watch the game in the best possible comforts and talk and talk.

But Commentary is not only”talking”, Its much more as they should possess every minute detail regarding the game, every small change made on the field, every moment to capture and more importantly these should match the taste of the audience as otherwise they may not be accepted.
Nowadays it’s been more difficult than ever as there is so much competition around and the audience always wants that drama, one liners and a little more than merely reading out the game . Commentry is also handled and taken care of some of the female counterparts which is a good prospect and one can just expect more of the likes of Dona Simmons and Anjum Chopra to take the league of female commentators ahead.

It has been a good mix of commentators all these years as one can see there have been ex cricketers, legends of the game, donning the hat of the commentators as the likes of Sir Richie Benaud, Sir Geoffery Boycott, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and more recently Anil Kumble and also one can see an odd Harsha Bhogle who does an excellent job even without first hand experience of playing at that level.

There have been transitions as far as commentary is concerned where earlier Commentary was more of a quiet affair and well not to take out any of its class which later moved into an exciting and pumping phase where the likes of Tony Greig, Dean jones, Bill Lawry set the mood rolling with their high drama high charge high octane commentary. Who can ever forget the famous “Sharjah days” where every match was played in front of such huge crowds and well commentary of such high passion made it a must watch . Well the most famous of those instances has to be the one in which Sachin Tendulkar famously hit that straight six of Micheal Kasprowicz and Tony Greig just went crazy check it here.

Apart from excitement and drama one can see some very good observations made by some of the commentators like Ian Chappel, Boycott where they do not fear to call a spade a spade and if something is not happening right they would not keep quiet and also their criticisms are respected. Be it the language, tonality or the expression they have it all. My personal favourite has to be the one where Sunil Gavaskar thrashed the Australian captain Ricky Ponting during the famous Ganguly-Clarke catch controversy. He wanted to prove a point and the way in which he did it was simply awesome . Instances like that take commentary to a different level altogether.Check it here

We have them all from the soft spoken to the loud to the task masters and also the humorous who add all the ingredients which are so much required for a good cricketing experience.Be it the Radio, Televison , Pre match talk or Post match analysis the commentators are there everywhere sharing their knowledge expertise and experience such that we audience not only relish the game played on the ground but also take home some knowledge from them. All in all a good bargain if you cannot make it up to the stadium to witness live action.

REMEMBERING DAVID SHEPHERD: A LEGEND

It was a dull day for me yesterday and nothing was in its place, I was not feeling happy and well when I came to know about the sad demise of the great “David Shepherd”, it was more pain. All my life I have grown seeing this “Legend” of an umpire on the Cricket field with his near perfect umpiring expertise and rather the odd Nelson jig which has always been his signature move. His demise was a shock.

David Shepherd was one of those cricketing personalitites who with his honesty, integrity and perseverance took the game to high sporting standards. With his roly poly appearance and with his jovial behaviour Shepherd was always a treat to watch.Shepherd holds the distinction of officiating three World cup Finals at Lahore, Lord’s and Johannesburg. Shepherd officiated in 172 ODIs and 92 tests between 1983 and 2005.

Shepherd started his cricketing career with a bang as he scored a hundred at his First class debut for Gloucestershire against Oxford Universities but his career as a player was never set rolling although he scored 12 centuries to prove his mettle with the bat .Shepherd turned to umpiring in 1981 and later in 1985 he had his first assignment at the International level and since then he has always been a favorite.

Shepherd can be thought of sometimes a taskmaster where in one could see his displeasure or discomfort for excessively appealing bowlers. I personally have seen him frown for some appeals where even the bowlers knew that it was’nt out and still went on appealing and the look on Shepherd’s face used to say it all.

Throughout his career he maintained good record and arguably maintained very high accuracy. Never one could ever think of Shepherd give a wrong decision. He was a strong willed man and knew what his job was.Standing in three consecutive finals is not an easy job and when one does that job with no hassles, it speaks a lot about the person’s credentials.

But towards the end of his career somewhere in 2001, he was criticized for overlooking “Saqlain Mushtaq’s” no balls which earned him wickets which made Shepherd think of resigning, such was his level of commitment. Letters from friends and relatives and continous pleading from well wishers made him revert his decision.

Even when he was standing in his last match at West Indies his professionalism was honoured by none other than Brian lara who presented him with a cricket bat. Also he was always looked and honoured as a gentleman who knew his job pretty well.

But the most striking part of his personality was his famous “Jig” whenever the Scoreboards showed :Nelson” (i.e 111 or its multiples). The entire English crowd would wait for the scoreboard to show Nelson and would instantly enjoy the famous jig.

The crowds loved him, the commentators loved him and so did the Purists. He was not after introducing “Technology” in the game initially but later accepted that it cannot be ignored.
Cricket has lost its old statesman and one of the Umpiring Greats.In short he was education for all the new age umpires who have followed him and try to match his level of expertise and sportsmanship.

It was a pleasure to write about a Legend and I offer my condolences to his family and ask the Supreme lord to give strength to his freinds and family during these testing times. May his soul rest in peace.

Dave, We shall always miss you and your famous “Nelson”..