Cold summer after the Ashes

Namaste England

Cricket’s obviously not top of the pops in England currently. “How many days you will be staying? Is the cricket season still on? Who’s playing? How many matches? Is this the one day series? Who won the Test series?’’ was the flurry of queries thrown by the young immigration officer at Heathrow.”

What a dramatic change from circa 2005 when cricket had recaptured everyone’s imagination in England after the remarkable Ashes win. It wouldn’t have been half as disorienting had the young man’s Asian lineage not been so distinctly evident.

Fortunately, his senior, undoubtedly English, interjected to clear up the mess, as it were. “It’s been an Indian summer so far hasn’t it? But we’ll get even in the one-dayers.’’
Does cricket have a future? Well, I like the story of the optimist who would rather see the glass half full rather than empty.

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David Beckham, back in England from the United States briefly, haunted Tuesday’s sports pages across newspapers. He turned up at Arsenal’s training ground to spend time with the England team, more specifically coach Arsene Wenger, which had shutterbugs in a tizzy and soccer scribes scurrying to grab sound bytes for the next day’s exclusive.

Is Beckham being fancied again as an England player? Even Wenger would have followed the former England’s unproductive (yet) journey to the US this season. Los Angeles Galaxy, the club which hired Beckham for zillions of dollars, is still waiting for some goals. Indeed for him to even take the field regularly. A return to the national side seems far-fetched.

Yet Beckham’s superstar status remains undiminished. His T-shirts, one learns, still outsell those of other soccer stars, and his latest hair style is again the rage. Does this prove that he was a great footballer?
Read my lips.

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The forecast was for heavy rains in Southampton, venue of the first one day international, even threat of the match being completely washed out. By the end of the first half, Rahul Dravid would have wished that the met office had been more accurate.

The Indian captain’s luck with the toss continued, but not much beyond that as Alistair Cook and Ian Bell slammed impressive centuries to take their side to a whopping 288 from 50 overs. On a true wicket, both batted with confidence, and belted the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground.

Of the bowlers, only Zaheer Khan and RP Singh looked in good form. Agarkar lacked control and was punished severely, but the more disappointing for me was Piyush Chawla, who went for 42 from seven overs. But he is young, loves to bowl, can bat a bit, and fields superbly. For the last mentioned attribute alone, he should be persevered with.

With the Test series under his belt, Dravid’s job is to ensure that his team sustains the winning momentum. While the focus in the ODIs will be on the brilliant Yuvraj Singh, sidelined for more than a month, the captain would do well to nurture talent like Chawla.

As I write this, India have to make 289 to win on a smallish ground, but against an England side determined to snatch back some honours. How Collingwood’s team bowls to the likes of Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Yuvraj and Dhoni will be the key to the result.

But if England do win, who knows the young immigration officer of Asian descent at Heathrow might have some cricket to talk about on the morrow.