A cricket rant

There is an excellent, though long rant on the present state of affairs in cricket. Things are bad for people in general, with all too frequent terrorist strikes and a bad economy. One might look towards cricket as a last refuge, though that too has fallen prey to the hard times.

Only one good piece of news in these glum times --- Australia reclaiming a spot that they so briefly lost to another excellent team. The natural order has been restored. Good to see Australia doing so well inspite of the absence of Gilchrist, Hayden, Symonds, Warne and McGrath.

Meanwhile the Indian sports media is showing its objectivity going gaga over the new found success of the national team. A team that lacks a good second seamer (Ishant is still too inconsistent) and a good spinner (Bhajji? Oh please!). A team with a supremely talented but not too reliable opener whose philosophy is to "hit every ball", which works very well on the pint-sized Kiwi grounds. Nah! this team needs time and consistent performances on fast pitches to become truly world-class.

Now if only they pushed back the boundaries by twenty yards, banned flat pitches as the ones in the West Indies series, and played in stadiums atleast as big as the MCG, cricket would be worth watching again. I wish to see matches where 230 makes an excellent defendable total.

Oh and while I am still ranting, will someone please throw the cheerleaders out!