Encounters (contd)

In an interview with Outlook India (Magazine May 14, 2007) KPS Gill has pronounced that encounters should happen, if required but that they should not be staged. KPS Gill was the former Punjab Chief of Police.

His comments come in the wake of worrying reports of police corruption, the nexus between the guardians of the law and the underworld, and the involvement of dirty harry’s within the police force using fake encounters to settle private disputes. Encounters are no less than extra-judicial killings.

One cannot disagree with his view that the “criminal justice system has to be strong, quick and effective to deal with the people arrested” but his attempt to explain encounters as a symptom of disenchantment within the force resulting from the failure of the criminal justice system misses the point. The police are an important part of the criminal justice system and police corruption undermines that system and the responsibility for its failure cannot be laid solely at the feet of the judges.

His proposition that “the primary function of the judicial system is to protect society, not so much to punish criminals” should equally apply to the police. The police force exists to safeguard society.

Gill concedes that the view police should be taken to task if fake encounters were to occur but in his view mistaken identity encounters are an entirely different matter and should be a matter for the police chief to determine whether an encounter is a fake. The police cannot be entrusted to investigate such matters. One has to be naïve to expect police officers not to close ranks and a fair enquiry would be impossible to achieve especially where corruption runs deep.

Extra-judicial killings are anathema to a civilised society. There can be situations in which the police would be required to act in self defence but it would be unwise to allow senior police officers to determine questions about good faith.

Bombay's Bent Cops

An alarming tale about Bombay's guardian angels
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Sunday_Specials/Special_Report/Blood_on_their_hands_money_in_their_pockets/articleshow/2008255.cms

Crowe has nothing to crow about

Jeff Crowe was the blundering match referee at the heart of the farcical World Cup final . He once captained NZ.

Jeff has put up his hand admitting responsibility for the embarrassing cock-up in the final minutes of the game when the Aussies began jumping about like kangaroos thinking they had won the match and the umpires told them “its too early mates to celebrate”; which made Ricky Ponting tell umpire Aleem Dar “'Look mate, we've played the 20 overs, we've finished the game.'"

Crowe said: “In hindsight, I should have known the rules and said the game had been called off." All the same, he tried to shift the blame on the third umpire Rudi Koertzen as the one who “may have initiated the process leading to chaotic scenes at the climax of the game.”

How could Jeff have got it wrong, especially when he had elder brother Martin to turn to on matters relating to? Martin is the one who delivered the 2006 Colin Cowdrey lecture. In his lecture brother Martin spoke his mind against the use of technology to assist umpiring, except to determine such matters as line calls for run outs. He also slipped in some comments about his zero tolerance to chucking.

He said:
“I don’t care about talk of 15 degrees here or 10 degrees there… if with the naked eye a bowler is clearly chucking – even by 1 degree – he should be chucked out. Having it tested in a laboratory and not in match conditions is plain ignorance. To straighten your arm from any bent position is a massive advantage over other bowlers who bowl properly.”

Having been pinned in the head by ‘chuckers’ over 15 years, having been dubiously bowled first ball in a test by a certain Sri Lankan bowler, having tried to bowl a decent ball myself with a straight arm, I’ve had more than enough of this aspect of the game.”

It is time to show the same zero tolerance to referees who are ignorant of the rules. Jeff Crowe’s knowledge of the rules – or lack it- has been tested in match conditions and he has been found wanting. He must be chucked out.

World Cup Farce

The World Cup final was a farce. The various reports of the match would make you believe that the match turned into a farce because of the umpires’ decision to delay the Aussie celebration by insisting that the last three overs be completed.

It was a farce because of the fact that the Sri Lankans were made to bat “in pitch black conditions” (see the Independent); and it was a farce because the game was allowed to be played at all on Saturday. There was rain before the match began and nearly three hours of play was lost as a result. There were further interruptions that spoilt the game.

The pitch dark conditions did not descend upon the Oval at the end of the 33rd over; it was considerably dark even before that. The Guardian’s ball by ball description of the game confirms that by the 17th over it started raining. By the 24th over it was “honking down” and the light was poor. Nobody has asked the question as to why play was allowed to continue in those conditions. One is left to wonder as what might have happened if the Aussies had to bat second.

Both teams should have been allowed a fair shot at the Cup but this did not happen. The wicket was so flat and virtually tailor made for the Aussies; Michael Taylor confirmed this before the match began and when the Aussies won the toss the game was as good as over.

It is no way to end the tournament. The nabobs at the ICC were evidently keen to finish the match on Saturday come what may.

Batting with squash ball inside glove

Australia's Adam Gilchrist has disclosed that he had a squash ball stuffed inside his glove when he batted in the match against Sri Lanka.

See http://www.supercricket.co.za/

Aussies Win the World Cup

Australia beat Sri Lanka by 53 runs in a match that was reduced to a farce of 36 overs.

Play started nearly three hours late because of rain and the Lankan innings was marred by persistent rain and they had to play many of their overs in virtual darkness.

The Aussies, having won the toss, batted first under clear skies and the flat wicket, lacking in swing and bounce, offered no assistance to the Lankan bowlers. Even then Malinga bowled superbly and in the context of the match his two wickets for 49 are remarkable.

Despite pre-match indications that Maharoof would play the selectors kept faith with Dilhara whose 8 overs cost 74 runs for the sole wicket of Gilchrist. Sri Lanka could have done with Maharoof’s batting when chasing the target but Gilchrist’s innings of 149 runs off 104 effectively sealed the match in favour of the Aussies.

A spirited partnership between Jayasuriya and Sangakkara gave the Lankans reason to smile and at one stage the target appeared well within their reach but persistent drizzles and interruptions did not help and slowed down the tempo just when they were going along nicely. With dark clouds looming above the Kensington Oval, the Lankans were compelled to take risks to keep ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis run rate. Jayasuriya did just that and was bowled trying to take a mighty swipe at Clarke.

Shortly after his dismissal play was interrupted at the end of 24 overs. Soon after it resumed Jayawardene was out leg before to a poor umpiring decision and with him went Lanka’s hopes of reaching the target. TV replays showed the ball would have missed the leg stump.

With three overs remaining the umpires offered light to the batsman which they accepted but the match officials did not declare a result and to bring the proceedings to an end both sides were forced to go through the motions for the remaining overs.

One of the moments of the match was Sangakkara declining a catch when he dived low to his left and appeared to have held on to a catch from behind, something that would have normally got the commentators applaud it as an example of sportsmanship but we did not hear any mention of it. The Aussies returned the compliment by sledging Jayasuriya for not walking when he was not given out to a leg before appeal.

Last laugh for the Lankans?

Would the Aussies get a hatrick or would they get mugged by the Lankans?

The World Cup final between the two teams on Saturday may just be the clash we have been waiting for to light up the tournament. The match might be regarded by many as a clash between the arrogant Aussies and self effacing Lankans, a clash between two cricketing cultures.

The panache with which the Lankans play has endeared them to many neutrals and brought grudging recognition from critics some of whom even preferred either the South Africans or the New Zealanders to get to the final. Their aging stars Jayasuriya, Vaas and Murali have rolled back the years and have led from the front.

The Aussies are a team with a reputation of being aggressive, exuding a confidence bordering on the arrogance. The cock-a-hoop and the swagger that they evince on the field give one the impression that they regard the trophy as theirs by right. To their credit they have played thus far with a machine like precision, steamrolling their way to the final.

Based on their performance so far, the Aussies, who won the trophy twice before, will undoubtedly start the final as the favourites. They won their matches comfortably wihtout being put under pressure or pushed to their limits.

However, the Lankans might be the ones to find a chink in the Aussie armour. Ricky Ponting has admitted that his team can be beaten if they don’t do things well. Could this be a sign of the self doubt that is lurking beneath the façade of invincibility that the Aussies have carefully constructed for themselves?

When both teams met last at the Super 8 stage the Aussies won comfortably but the Lankans went into that match without three of their key bowlers. Apart from Mahela and Chamara their batsmen flopped but not without posting a respectable score of 226. Evidently the Lankans used that match as an occasion to spar with the Aussies and to have a good look at their bowlers.

The Lankans can outplay the Aussies if they bat sensibly and not gift their wickets away as the South Africans did. For this to happen, the mercurial Jayasuriya might have to curb his smash and grab approach during the initial overs and play the sort of innings he put together against the West Indies.

Very few had expected the Sri Lankans to enter the final in 1996, let alone win the Cup, but the Sri Lankans stunned the Aussies and walked away with the trophy. The Aussies dropped five catches that day, including one off Aravinda de Silva who went on to make a century. Jayasuriya was run out in the second over. It might be history but history has a tendency to repeat itself; and the Aussies probably know it.

Rostropovich dies at 80

The death has been announced of Russian conductor and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. A Pole by birth he was born in Baku, Azerbaijan with music in his blood. Both his parents were musicians.

He is regarded as the greatest cellist since Pablo Casals and is widely acclaimed especially for his interpretations of Dvorak and Tchaikovsky.

Follow this link for a wonderful rendition of the adagio from Haydn's cello concerto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnzLEDDbANY

Wallabies wallop the Proteas

The much touted semi-final match between Australia and South Africa turned out to be a tame, flat, one sided affair. There was nothing memorable about the match.

South Africa went out without so much as a whimper as Ricky Ponting’s men won by 7 wickets and 18 overs to spare. South Africa managed to put on a mere 149 runs on the board and folded up their innings by the 43rd over.

Graeme Smith made the right call with the toss and batted first expecting, we were told, the wicket to get slower as the game progressed. If they had a plan to take the game to the Aussies they probably left it behind, as was apparent by the manner in which they went about their task.

In their haste to take the Aussie bowlers on, the South Africans lost too many wickets too soon and got themselves into a hole very early on. By the tenth over they had lost five wickets for a measly 27 runs by which time their innings was in total disarray. Instead of putting the Aussies under pressure they brought it upon themselves by their wayward batting. The scale of their failure is apparent from the fact that only three of their batsmen reached double figures.

In short, the South Africans played miserably. Had it been Bangladesh playing here there would have been talk of a mismatch, even if the Bangla boys had given the South Africans a drubbing. Instead, do not be surprised if the pundits were to say how invincible the Aussies are.

Sri Lanka in World Cup final

SL progressed through to the final and will meet either South Africa or Australia. SL won the toss and elected to bat first but lost Jayasuriya early playing a poor shot. Tharanga rose to the occasion and made a solid 75. Sangakkara promised much but needlessly threw his wicket away just when he and Tharanga gave signs of reviving the innings.

Two leg before decisions almost put paid to Sri Lanka’s chances of putting up a match winning total. Television replays showed that Silva got a thick inside edge on to his pads while Dilshan was given out trying to paddle a ball that would have missed the leg stump. Sky commentator Bob Willis scathingly referred to the decisions as two of the worst he had ever seen in any form of cricket. Both Chamara and Dilshan were given out just when they were steadily building up a partnership with Mahela.

Fortunately for Sri Lanka, Mahela held the innings together and made a superb 115 not out. He accelerated when it counted and his 100 came off 104 balls. Sri Lanka scored more than 100 runs over the last ten overs.

Vaas bowled with his usual accuracy and Malinga’s first spell was simply unplayable. Malinga struck first and got Fleming’s wicket with a beauty. At one point Fulton and Styris steadied the ship and NZ looked capable of matching SL’s total but once Dilshan got Styris the die was cast for NZ. Murali ran through the middle order and in the space of 5 overs NZ lost 4 wickets for 11 runs.

Dilhara Fernando had a poor game and was warned for running on the pitch. His five overs were costly. Dilhara did not do well in his last outing as well when he gave away too many no balls and wides. Why the selectors went with him instead of Maharoof is anybody’s guess.
Sangakkara was somewhat erratic behind the stumps and dropped Franklin off Dilshan.

Sri Lanka v New Zealand

Semi final ICC World Cup

According to Simon Wilde 57% of all one-day internationals are won by the team batting second, and the figure is higher in matches in the West Indies.[1] This has proved to be the case so far and as far as Sri Lankans are concerned they lost to South Africa and Australia when they batted first. Therefore, winning the toss will prove crucial.

Sri Lanka must be in a dilemma on whether to persist with out of form opener Upul Tharanga. Tharanga made 30 against Bermuda and 26 against Bangladesh but made a patient 64 against India. Just when it was thought that he had hit form he got out cheaply in the matches that followed.

In the end, Sri Lanka might want to take their chance with Tharanga in the hope that he would hit form at the right time. Marvin Atapattu, his possible replacement, has not had an outing so far and if the selectors were to give him the nod then it would also be more out of hope than on anything they have seen of Atapattu lately.

If Sri Lanka is to win tomorrow they will have to lift their game in two areas, (i) the top order batsman will have to score and (ii) they must avoid a collapse in the last ten overs. Much too often batsmen have fallen trying to hit the ball out of the ground when there were singles and twos for the taking.
[1] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article1467799.ece

London Marathon

Chunxiu Zhou won the women’s event in the London Marathon to become London's first Chinese champion. Zhou is the first Chinese runner to win one of the world marathon majors.

Kenyan Martin Lel won the men’s event.

The Doctor

The doctor took my shirt away;
He did it for the best;
He said, "It's very cold today,"
And took away my vest;
Then, having nothing more to say,
He hit me in the chest.
Oh, he did clout my ribs about
Till I was bruised and red,
Then stood and listened to my spine
To see if I was dead,
And when I shouted "Ninety-nine!"
He simply shook his head.
He rather thought that rain would fall,
He made me hop about the hall,
And savagely he said,
"There's nothing wrong with you at all
You'd better go to bed!

AP Herbert making fun out of doctors. It is an excerpt.

Tendulkar not watching ball

According to Bob Simpson the reason behind Tendulkar’s inability to score in recent times has to do with the fact that he is not watching the ball out of the bowler’s hand causing him to pick up the ball late.
( http://sify.com/khel/wc_fullstory.php?id=14434773)

Good bye Lara

Writing in the Telegraph, Derek Pringle described Lara as the greatest batsman of his generation; one who “mixed the flamboyance of a Viv Richards with the dazzling wristiness of a Mohammad Azharuddin”. He told BBC’s Manish Bashin (post match highlights) that Lara was the worst of captains.

The highlights of the match were Dwayne Bravo’s two run outs and Gayle’s breezy knock. Derek Pringle was right when he said that West Indies should have won. Instead, they lost it, especially during the last few overs, due largely to some loose bowling. England have the consolation of winning when it did not matter.

Asked who would win, Derek Pringle wished anybody but the Australians ought to and Jonathan Agnew wished that NZ go through.

Come on Sri Lanka!

Vista ... A distant view?

Computer maker DELL announced that in response to customer demand it would bring back the older Windows XP version on some of its PCs. ( see http://news.com.com/Dell+brings+back+XP+on+home+systems/2100-1046_3-6177619.html)

Bad news for doctors

From the Telegraph:

Up to 10,000 young doctors in the UK who are unable to find jobs in the NHS could be offered voluntary work overseas. According to official documents leaked yesterday, the plan was drawn up by NHS managers. Priority would be given to finding places for UK graduates and those from Europe.
…
And something sickening …

From the Guardian (London) today:

a mother and her three daughters who admitted cruelty relating offences against two toddlers escaped custodial sentence and walked free. They were each given a one-year suspended sentence and ordered to perform community service.
According to the report they forced two toddlers to take part in a "dog fight". “They formed a circle in the living room around the children, a three-year-old girl and a boy of two, and urged them to fight while capturing the whole episode on video.” The children's grandmother, a mother of eight, showed no remorse when she was interviewed, insisting it would "harden" them up, it was stated.
The video came to light after the children's father, a serving soldier, returned from Iraq and discovered the footage from the video camera the women used. The children's grandmother had told police that she saw nothing wrong with what they had done as it would "toughen them up".
…

Good for the goose ...

... but not good for the gander

NZ went into their game against Australia yesterday minus two of their key players Shane Bond and Jacob Oram. On Thursday NZ coach John Bracewell confirmed that Oram would be fit for next Tuesday's game against Sri Lanka saying: "Yes. That's one of the reasons why he's not playing. It's a precautionary thing.”

"He had it (the injury) for a period of time during the home series. The diagnosis is that the initial impact is the worse case scenario, but he's been able to nurse it through. All of a sudden it's got a little bit more serious, so we've just got to take it easy.” However, Bond did not play despite Bracewell confirming he was not planning to rest Shane Bond for today’s match. No explanation was given as to why Bond did not play.

That was on Thursday, but come Friday and Shane Bond did not show up; nor did the critics who took umbrage at Sri Lanka resting Murali and Vaas in their line-up against Australia.

There was no reaction from either the Australians or the critics who earlier this week lambasted Sri Lanka for playing Australia without Vaas and Murali. Ricky Ponting, not one known for shedding tears, felt sorry that Oram missing out on Friday was a big loss for NZ but he showed no such sympathy for Sri Lanka last week.

The reaction – rather the lack of it - demonstrated the double standards adopted by those critics who virtually accused Sri Lanka of devaluing the game and opening up the game for corruption. We have not heard Ian Chappell calling for Condom to go into the NZ dressing room to ask what was happening. Not one of them has said this time that the fans were getting cheated.

Earlier this week Holding informed cricket fans that he had personal knowledge of how the gambling market worked as he had an account with Betfair. Proceeding to pronounce judgement he had this to say: "I think what it does is allow people who know what is happening to get a head start if they are gambling". We have not heard from Mr Holding up to now. Perhaps he would let us know how the market reacted to the omission of Bond and Oram.

Mr Holding’s interest in betting and the fact that he has an account with Betfair raises all sorts of questions, such as whether it is advisable, if not proper, for a commentator to indulge in betting on the outcome of games on which he comments. After all, Mr Holding is likely to have access to sensitive information by virtue of his privileged position.