Andrew Murray and the expectations of a nation…

Do always remember that the worst, most pessimistic media of them all is the British media…. they screwed up Tim Henman’s head so much that he could never become the player he should have been.

Andy Murray is a bit different. He is a Scot for starters, and has already courted a bit of media flak for speaking his mind when he was a wee teenager. The Scottish and the Welsh are not the best fans of the English, so when Murray, then a teenager was asked who he would support in the World Cup football, he mentioned ‘Anyone except England’.  And as you could expect, all hell broke loose (click here) (click here).

Well, back to business, Murray seems tougher, and more talented. Infact, very talented. And gritty. While he might not have the sublime shotmaking ability of Richard Gasquet or the awe-inspiring power of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Murray has a good combination of both, as well as a very Nadal-esque, very Novak-esque amount of fight in him. Oh yeah, plus he is no wilting flower, and is known for his brash press conferences (he was even referred to as ‘petulant’) … may I say, he has a bit of Kevin Pietersen about him.

And a bit of trivia here. Did you know that Murray (as well as his older brother Jamie Murray, a grand-slam winning doubles player) were kids studying in the same school in which the Dunblane massacre took place in 1996. This was one of the first few infamous school shooting incidents (click here)….

Trivia 2. They used to call the Wimbledon following of Henman, Henmania; so what do they call the Murray phenomenon? Andymonium, of course!

Well, he has reached the semis of the US open… and will be playing Nadal.

I, as normal, will support Nadal. But here’s wishing Murray a good tournament and a great career.

Michael Vaughan – Messiah / Messmaker?

At long last, South Africa has managed to win a series in England for the first time in 43 years. Led by the clunky but combative Graeme Smith, they turned in a performance deserving of the margin. They were slow to start with; following on and somehow managing to reach close of match at Lord’s. However, as they began to improve, England’s decline started getting momentum.
 
Michael Vaughan is arguably the best England captain, but the fact is that he seems to have been captaining from memory of that summer in 2005. The Ashes was the peak of his powers, shrewd decisions timed to perfection, the consistent firepower of Simon Jones, Freddie, Hoggard, and the eternally truant Harmison, the blossoming of Pietersen, not to mention the convenient loss of form of the Australian batsmen, in particular, Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist. This series in particular have seen at least one minor incident that can be construed as communication gap between the selectors and the men who matter in the team (Vaughan and Moores). The whirlwind selection of Darren Pattinson over Hoggard who deserved a look-in at the very least seemed to have caught Vaughan by surprise as much as Smith and Arthur. England lost the Test at Headingley and questions were predictably raised of Pattinson’s selection, with Vaughan even dubbing it as “confused”.
 
This may be a small matter in professional sport, but when you consider momentum for winning, I believe that it could work the other way too. England had let slip the initiative at Lord’s (not to take anything from Prince’s fighting century) and were clearly outplayed at Leeds. The result: South Africa found out that their plans were working, with Dale Steyn was making Vaughan a mini-bunny (if ever there’s such a thing like that, considering that a bunny is already an urban legend in international cricket), while England were steadily slipping towards confusion and negativity.
 
Following the loss in the third Test, there were already whispers that if Vaughan didn’t quit, then he would have got the boot. This has been acknowledged by Virgil himself, when he decided to “pack it in”. His batting was woeful, he was beginning to feel the strain of that on his captaincy (putting too much pressure on KP is always counterproductive) and above all, the injury to Freddie put paid to the balance he desperately needed in his bowling lineup to rattle South Africa.
 
Considering all that, was Vaughan right in throwing the towel, with the dead Test to go at the Oval and the opportunity to go out on a pyrrhic high? There have been some voices that he was wrong in quitting when he could have left with some pride intact by motivating his team for one last hurrah. The added incentive would have been to groom KP for the role (though Strauss had a claim to captaincy, albeit his slump is worse than Vaughan’s). But English cricketers are a proud lot, and they would rather go themselves than be kicked out. And Michael Vaughan for one doesn’t want to be kicked out, for if he is and wants to think of retribution, that knee won’t be so accommodating as the English public.

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This post is by co-sports-afficionado Nearpostheader. Welcome to spamsport, Nearpostheader.

Monty, Stuart Broad and English cricket

Monty Panesar will become one of the top 3 spinners in the world someday, capable of winning matches against teams other than New Zealand and South Africa (and, ok, Pakistan, who are the archetype of blow hot, blow cold).

Stuart Broad can do the sustained Steve-Harmison-at-his-best performances consistantly, and there are good chances that he will end up with more test hundreds than Wasim Akram.

Kevin Pietersen is an idiot, a braggart, and an insensitive jerk, but he is a once-in-a-lifetime player, or atleast has the genuine potential of ending up as one.

Alistair Cook is the kind of player countries build their batting line-ups around. (Note, I am talking about test cricket here)

And yet, I am pretty sure English cricket, like English football, will never be the sustained world no 1 for any decent length of time, next decade. It’s about the lack of a positive attitude, it’s about the media, and it’s about the lack of wonderment about the game. A great English performance is more often than not, a struggle. An English team has to be 110% of the team it is playing against on that day, to have a chance of winning. While most top teams, if they are at about 95% of the other team on a day, fancy their chances. A winning attitude, a belief. That is missing.

Cometh the moment, cometh the man!

I think he is a selfish, insensitive lout, but oh yeah, is he a good batsman!

South Africa is always tricky for this ex-South African, and there would have been Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Makhaya firing in all cylinders, but he stood out, in his cocky, brash, devil-may-care way.

To survive, the game needs characters, and this man is a rare showman who can really play, and play well enough to go on and become a legend.

As if following his inspiration, Ian Bell made an even bigger hundred, and missed out on the double by a run..

But this is to Kevin Pietersen! Stud par excellence….