Evoking memories of the bodyline era

Travelling by train from Sutton Park Way to Trent Bridge in Nottingham for the Sri Lanka- Ireland final Super Eight match,I met an elderly couple and while wishing them Good morning, got talking to them and introduced myself saying I am a journalist from Sri Lanka and that I was here to cover the Twenty20 World Cup for my group of newspapers.

The couple were a friendly type and then told me that since I an a cricket writer,I should know that I will be soon passing a place called NUNCAGATE.

When I asked the gent, what was significant in that place he said: Elmo, that was where three of England's greatest cricketers were born and went to sport England colours, and he mentioned them.

They were the controversial Harold Larwood, Bill Voce and the Hardstaff's, senior and junior. Now that was going back to the 1930s.That was the time the acrimonious England tour to Australia took place and also heralded the Bodyline era. That was the time when on show was the greatest batsman and cricketer of that time, the great Sir Donald Bradman the run machine who was churning out centuries, double centuries and triple centuries with the greatest of ease.

When Douglas Jardine's England team set sail for Ashes series in Australia, they had decided that they were going to have a packed leg side field and bowl at the ribs and the body of the Australian batsmen, particulary Don Bradman. And the bowler they were going to use to bowl bodyline was Harold Larwood who was a bowler of frightening pace.

Many of the Australian batsmen took life threatening blows and the atmosphere was so tense and annoying that it nearly saw to the end of Australia-England cricket.one side is playing cricket and the other is not, ran headlines in the newspapers then. When everything was pointing to an end of the game between the two great cricketing countries, fortunately saner counsel prevailed and it was alls well that ends well.

Bodyline bowling has since been negated.

The couple who evoked memories of that time and who were in the train with me were Mr. and Mrs, D.Wilkinson,50, Harby Avenue, Sutton in Ashfield Nottinghamshire.

Umer Gul's action in question

When Umar Gul the Pakistani swing ace sent the New Zealanders crashing to defeat in their Super Eight game with the astonishing figures of 5 for six, it upset the Kiwis that they allegedly accused the bowler of ball tampering.

The Kiwis had apparently brought it to the notice of the umpires and the match referee, but everything was cleared and no damage done.

The Kiwis just could not believe how Gul was obtaining so much reverse swing both ways.

Instead of blaming the inability of the batsmen to cope with the devastating deliveries of Gul, they tried the cry baby act and could not get anyone to buy it.

The Kiwis are due later in the year in Sri Lanka for a Test, one-day series and Twenty20 cricket.

Dhoni's captaincy questioned

With the crashing out of the reigning champions India from the ICC Twenty20

World Cup, Mahendra Singh Dhoni?s captaincy has come into question.

The Indians came here very confident that they were going to retain the trophy that they won beating Pakistan in the final in South Africa in 2007.

But to the Indians, to whom cricket is religion, every game and trophy on offer must be won. Losing is anathema to them, and when that happens the first man to have his neck on the block is the captain with the others following.

This time round things did not go well for the Indians and it was natural that they go out.When a team wins,the captain and the team are heroes.

To lose and they all become villains.

So it could be seen how cruel the game can get at times. This is the first time that Dhoni has lost. It is not cricket to have daggers drawn at him.We hope there won?t be a cry to dump him.

Ground guide

The home of cricket Lord's is considered a belter for batsmen in first-class matches,except when the wind blows from the North-East and overhead conditions are either cold and cloudy or baking hot. However, the slowish tracks don't seem to aid constant slogging in the shortest format.

There have been seven totals of 170 or more in domestic and World Twenty20 warm-up games at the venue since June 2005 and none have been chased down.

The Kennington Oval

Batysmen enjoy the Kennington Oval,unless conditions are damp and dreary,because the decks tend to have pace and bounce giving full value for shotds - lofted or laced along the ground.

And there does not seem to be a discernible advantage between batting first or last over the minimum trip unless a total is quite clearly inadequate. On 2005 Twenty20 Cup finals day the scores batting first went down from 217 to 157 to 114.

Trent Bridge

The Nottingham ground is the hardest to weigh up with seam, swing and spin bowlers successful in equal measure. However,on 2006 Twenty20 Cup final day the pitch seemed to hold up very well with three winning totals in the 170s.