As they say, class, class, class!
Class is surely permanent! The innings that was played by Jayawardene today was amazing! It just stunned the kiwis into submission. Actually kiwis were assisted a lot by the umpires - with 2 attrocious decisions today. Looks like its the Jamaica heat thats getting to everyone on the field!

Tharanga’s knock also was a very useful one today, given that SJ got out very cheap!
Lets see how the kiwis respond!
If the Lankans go on to win this (which I think they should), it would be an interesting final!
//Phaedrus

I was involved in some email exchanges with a few of my friends, and most of us had one thing in common - dedidated appreciation and love for a man called Brian Charles Lara and his brand of cricket! And his announcement to retire was followed in as much depth as possible.
That led to a discussion as to what the BCCI and WICB are doing currently and the revamps(or thereofs) that are taking place! I thought, it doesnt matter what the BCCI and the WICB do or dont do!
I guess it will take ages for the Indian and WI cricket teams to get anywhere close to Aussies/SA. They have basically changed the style of the game and brutalised it to the fullest extent possible, that the only way to stop them is either thru a sheer pace of someone of  Marshall’s capability or through the guile of likes of Warne! And there dont seem to be any one of those capabilities on either Indian or WI horizon.
And the saddest part, there doesnt even seem to be an attempt being made to unearth or breed folks of that calibre!
Whatever happened to indian spin and WI’n pace bowlers of the yore!
Just think of Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Holding, Marshall, Ambrose, Walsh
OR Prasanna, Bedi, Venkatragahavan, et al!
And juxtapose - Bhajji, Kartik ..ok, I will stop here, before I start nauseating !!
Hope you guys see the bottom line here - complete dearth of spin talent in our gullies!
I sincerely wish that Mr.Kumble should open a spin academy - probably sponsored by a big group (like MRF did for pace academy) and unearth and train spinners! Hope they learnt from the Bangladesh and Lanka drubbings that they got, that it was spin that did us in!

More later ..

The performance in the first one-dayer has been a very true reflection of a lack of a certain commodity: experience and the ability to apply to the crease!
I truly wonder, why are they doing this to Laxman ? Is Jaffer so better than Laxman, that they he gets a nod while VVS is cooling his heels?
It is really difficult to comprehend what vengy is thinking ..as they say, absolute power has a way of getting to your head, irrespective of the fact that you have played 120 tests or 20!

Awaiting a more spine-ful display in the remaining 3 matches!

//Phaedrus