KHI 26-02-2012_Layout 1 2/26/2012 3:33 AM Page 20
20sports
Sunday, 26 February, 2012
DubAi open
Goerges
sends Wozniacki
crashing out
Gul, letting his performance do the talking
SportS thiS Week
I
ALI AKBAR
S there a better, more hard working and unassuming workhorse of a fast bowler than our very own Umar Gul? He has been carrying one half of the Pakistan new ball load for the past several years with a consistency and poise that could only have been polished in the crucible of English County cricket. In Pakistan's Twenty20 against England, it was Gul who stepped into the breach to quell the hemorrhage of runs brought about by Kevin Pietersen against the inexperienced Junaid Khan. Gul is a genuinely fast bowler and has the ability to control line and length at express pace, something only the best of the best are capable of. A modest soft spoken man, he lets his performance on the field do the talking. Such a refreshing change from the self-styled greats that we have been afflicted with in the recent past, Umar Gul is certainly a source of pride for Pakistan cricket. This was a satisfying win for Pakistan after the ignominy of the oDIs. The oDI mindset is quite different from that of the Test. In a Test match, a spinner has time to work the batsman out. He can apply close in fielders that the batsman is only too aware of. In the oDIs the spinner has to be in the run saving mode and the luxury of flight has to be dispensed with to a great extent. Thus the delicate balance between the spinner and the batter is tilted ever so slightly, but enough to make the difference. The relative ineffectiveness of the spinners allowed Alastair Cook and Pietersen to regain the form that they had been searching for and consecutive hundreds by both were enough to make the difference.
DHONI’S REMARKS RELEVANT TO PAKISTAN Mahinder Singh Dhoni is never one to hold back on his words and his statement regarding the fielding abilities of India’s aging trio of Sehwag, Tendulkar and Gambhir was quite significant. Dhoni has
recently stated that India cannot afford to play all three batters because they leak an average of 20 runs an innings. Twenty runs an inning amount to four overs of batting, something any side can ill afford. This is especially relevant to Pakistan because many of our players are hesitant to dive headlong for the ball to save boundaries. A boundary saved could be worth two runs. This lack of fielding commitment could be because our selectors do not lay as much emphasis on fielding as a specialty, so the fielders concentrate more on their one field of expertise and do not wish to injure themselves by doing something crazy while fielding. In Australia, for example, the selectors look for the player to be outstanding in two aspects of the game, be it batting and bowling, batting and fielding or bowling and fielding. If the same criterion was applied to our team, many of our greats would not have been able to get into the side. It is simple math. Every run saved is one run less to be made, so if a side saves 20 runs more than the other, they have an extra four overs cushion when they bat. That is why Jonty Rhodes was gold dust for the South Africans. He hardly ever missed a catch; in fact he created catches from nowhere. He then stopped a slew of runs in the point-gully region. So, if he was averaging 30 while batting in oDIs, he was worth well over fifty an innings to his side. This is an aspect that should not be lost to our selectors when they make their decisions. At the moment all our fieldsmen are capable but there is no one who stands out, someone who can electrify the side with his inspirational work. These fielding instincts are developed very early in a cricketer’s career and are difficult to instill once the incorrect mindset is developed. Whoever gets the Pakistan coach’s job would be well advised to do his oDI sums and focus on this vital aspect.
PUNTER, IRRESISTIBLE IN HIS POMP The Triangular series in Australia is beginning to pick up steam. The Sri
the triangular series in australia is beginning to pick up steam
Lankans are beginning to play some effective cricket and have had the measure of the Australians and the Indians. They may be the one team from South Asia who show total commitment while fielding. Perhaps it is because their grounds are less hard and their grass softer and more lush than their other regional counterparts. But commitment is a state of mind and the Sri Lankans certainly have that. They have left the absence of Muralitharan well behind and are playing some excellent cricket. The curtain is slowly coming down on the stellar career of Ricky Ponting, with announcement by selector John Inverarity that he was being dropped from the Australian oDI side. Ponting has been cited as being the best Australian batsman since Donald Bradman. Few would argue with that, although Steve Waugh or Neil Harvey might also come into the reckoning. In his pomp, Ricky was simply the best. once he got through the initial few overs where he could be caught out reaching for the ball, Ponting was simply irresistible. His pull shot off even the fastest bowlers was one of the all time great strokes in cricket. What set Punter apart from his peers Lara and Tendulkar was that he was a superlative fielder, almost in the same league as Rhodes. No one hit the stumps with the accuracy and regularity as he did. His catching was also safe and sure. In recent years, as the edge comes of his reflexes and eyes, he has lost the infallibility of his pull shot. There have been a run of low scores. But it should be remembered that Ponting’ last Test innings was a double hundred. There are not too many Test matches ahead for Australia and Ponting has expressed a desire to tour England in 2013. That tour would depend on Ricky’s performances in the series against the West Indies and South Africa. But till then retirement from Test cricket is entirely Punter’s call.
DUBAI: Julia Goerges of Germany reacts after beating defending champion Caroline wozniacki at their wTA Dubai open semi-final. AfP DuBAI AFP
C
ARoLINE Wozniacki's hopes of regaining the world number one ranking took another blow when her defence of the Dubai open title ended in the semi-finals on Friday. Wozniacki lost the top spot after an Australian open quarter-final defeat last month. She then fell at the first hurdle in Doha, and on Friday failed to capitalise on a 4-2 second set lead against unseeded German Julia Goerges and was beaten 7-6 (7/3), 7-5. Despite this there was also plenty of evidence why the world number 19 from Germany had beaten her better known Danish opponent in both their last two meetings. Goerges, who will face Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in Saturday's final, hit the ball with great power, especially on the forehand, and was prepared to risk errors to apply pressure. Had Wozniacki been more confident she might have held on to her serve in the seventh game of the second set and perhaps extended the match to a decider. Instead she chose to dispute the Hawkeye replay decision which consigned her to 30-40 -- a futile if emotionally understandable response which both indicated and heightened her frustration. Mostly Wozniacki used a slower pace and changes of pace and direction, as well her impressive mobility to contain the Goerges bombardment, but she was not quite consistent enough to make the policy work. "Today was just a day where you try, you try, you try, and it just doesn't work. You know, you have some of these days sometimes," said Wozniacki, who will also defend title-holder’s points at her next tournament, in Indian Wells the week after next. "overall, I think I played some good matches. I can take some positives from it," she said, referring principally to her quarterfinal win over Ana Ivanovic, another former world number one. Goerges was thrilled with her win. "When you see the draw you never expect to get to the final," she said of something she had only achieved three times previously. "It’s amazing to be in the final and to beat Caro again. I just tried to stay aggressive and play my kind of game." Goerges has enterprisngly taken advantage of a top half minus the injured world number one Victoria Azarenka, and which quickly lost the sixth-seeded semi-injured Marion Bartoli, beaten by Peng Shuai of China in the first round. Goerges will play the in-form Radwanska, who has only lost to Azarenka this year and will climb one place
DUBAI: Denmark's Caroline wozniacki serves to Julia Goerges of Germany during their wTA Dubai open semi-final. AfP to world number five if she takes the title. The rising 22-year-old from Krakow overcame former world number one Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 2-6, 6-0 in a topsy-turvy match in which Radwanska started and finished the more patient and controlled player. Jankovic tried hard to impose her new more attacking emphasis upon an opponent who defends, contains and counter-attacks very well, but the Serb could only make it work in the middle of the match. Radwanska remained calm through that period of pressure although she admitted to finishing tired after a contest of one hour and 43 minutes in which she did plenty of running. She also admitted to having had arguments with her father Robert, who last year alleged that she needed "a psychiatrist, a psychologist, something like that," and with whom she has parted as a coach.
Memphis open
Top seed
isner out MEMPHIS: Top seeded American John Isner was sent crashing out of the ATP and WTA Memphis open after losing to Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) in a quarter-final match Friday. Isner, who hammered 48 aces in his first two matches in Memphis, fired 11 aces against Melzer in the 81 minute match at the $1.1 million indoor hardcourt tournament at The Racquet Club of Memphis. Besides Melzer, hardserving Canadian Milos Raonic, Czech Radek Stepanek and Benjamin Becker of Germany also reached the semis on Friday. In the tie break, Melzer had a double fault to hand Isner a set point, but the Austrian battled back to win the final three points of the set. Isner, who is ranked 13th in the world, also had two double faults and won just 67 percent of his first-serve points. Melzer won 80 percent of his first-serve points, had seven aces and saved both of his break point chances. Third seeded Stepanek also cruised into the semis surviving a firstset tie break then dominating the second set to beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (7/5), 6-0. Stepanek will face Melzer in the semis. AFP