Darrel Harper is in a weird mood these days. It’s almost as if he is aware of how much the world hates him, and he is out on a mission to piss the world off even more. Maybe that is exactly the case.
We all are aware of how stupendously shitty his umpiring is these days. Add to that the balls of the ICC to appoint him as the third umpire, which in these, the days of the UDRS incubation, has become the most important adjudication position. Did he screw up? You bet my blog he did!
I didn’t watch this, as I was mid-air when it happened, but happen it did. Greame Smith, one of the bovine meadow dwellers, nicked a ball to the keeper. Yes, he did nick that. No doubt about it.
What apparently happened was that the field umpire didn’t give it, so the Poms obviously referred it, as he had indeed nicked the ball. After a few replays, Harper ruled against England.
Pandemonium ensued. England had lost a referral, and much of their faith in the system of justice. The bovines rejoiced, the bully thought he had won. Yes he had, but how fair was that?
The alleged truth was, Harper was not provided with the audio feed of the replay, just the video was what he could see on his monitors. That explained his ruling Smith not out. Suddenly, all the blame fell on the broadcaster.
Just when Harper thought this was all over, the broadcaster hit back at him, in a blame game of the nature last seen in Elite Indian Politics. Take a look:
“third umpire Daryl Harper had his volume dial set on four out of 10 when Smith’s caught behind appeal was referred to him this morning. This just gets more ludicrous by the hour. Expect statements from the South African Broadcasting Corporation and the International Cricket Council in an attempt to mollify this debacle.”
HA!
You decide now. I am laughing out too loud to type in more.
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South Africa vs England, 3rd Test, Day 2
I was initially witnessing the game from my sofa, but then switched to test match sofa, an internet radio station comprising of a great bunch of Pommie Fans, and Jarrod Kimber.
Seems like they are somehow affiliated to the Barmy Army. If that is not the case, no offense meant.
I was with them throughout the day, and there were quite a few gems, straight from Vivid De Wet to Dread and the Head. I would not go into the details as its only for the listeners. It’s free anyways, so you shouldn’t care. Btw I was the source of both of them.
This post is not about the Test Match Sofa, but they were more interesting than the cricket. Even though 10 wickets fell today…
Earlier today, South Africa started day 2 at 279/6 looking all set to post at least 350 before lunch and seek some redemption for the innings defeat they suffered in the second test.
They were only as right as Darrel Harper’s decisions are
they were dismissed for 291, kallis boringly top scoring with 108 off 189 and paul harris remained unbeaten on 10 with a strike rate of 142.85. That was the most remarkable thing he did all day.
just as were were sure that the freshness in the pitch had gone, england decided to show us how evenly contested they wanted the game to be, being 4/73 in almost a lot of time.
then the so called recovery began. with bell and cook at the crease, the eyes if the average england fan glinted with the third cousin of hope
then both promptly decided to fool no further. 6/174
The day ended with england being 7/214, and the late surge in runs can be totally attributed to Matt Prior, whose batting has never been worse in his life. That is what will always happen if your form is a downward sloping curve.
Friedel De Wet is straight out of them vivid pornos, i feel. what do you think?
Here is the cricinfo thing on the game.
Hear! Hear! Paddlesweep is writing a book. Watch out…
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Michael Vaughan, the former England skipper thinks that if the poms are to have any chance of competing in the ICC World T20 in the West Indies next year, they should be allowed to play in the IPL.
Before I say anything, here is what he had to say:
“We should be making our players available for the whole of the IPL window. We are not great at Twenty20 cricket. We’ve got a Twenty20 World Cup in May and at the minute we’ve got no chance.”
That coming from the former skipper of a nation which apart from inventing Cricket, also invented T20 Cricket is surprising, though also a reality check on the quality of cricket played in their Domestic Setup.
Another reason could be that the IPL is in March,the World Cup in May and the English Domestic T20 Championship much later. On that count, Vaughan has a point. Vaughan always has a point. Just that no one cares.
What if this a cloaked statement? We all know how richly sold were Kevin Pietersen and Freddy Flintoff, and how wrong were their valuations. Could this be an advocacy of riches for the few talented players in the top rung, who missed out on the IPL Pie last year? I would not deny it.
If Michael Vaughan thinks his statement will carry enough weight to impress the boards, he is, as always, mistaken. The players will go the IPL, but not for the whole tournament, as they have the highly lucrative Bangladesh knocking on their doors.
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Champions Trophy – Semi Final 1
Australia vs England
How wronged can wronged be?
I know I have the habit of jumping the gun a little bit. All right a lot. But most of the times I am true. The some other times I am wrong, I am really wrong. Lets take a look.
I wrote a while back in this post:
Bresnan was man enough to contribute 31 unbeaten runs. Probably the most important of his career. With ODI’s counting it’s last few days on earth, it could well be his best ever.
How wrong was I? A lot wrong, I must admit. I was wrong on both the counts. Tim Bresnan scored 80 today, so I was wrong there.
ODIs aren’t dead. Far from it. They seem to have found a way out – conduct short, exciting tournaments involving top teams ONLY and any format will thrive.
So here am I, admitting my mis-assessment. Apologies. But who knows, ODIs might still die, and personally, I hope they do. There is also this added advantage of ODIs are retired – No one can break Sachin’s records. Awesome!
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