A Viewer's Woes

It’s a real pity when the quality of the TV coverage fails to match up with the quality of the sport on the field. But this is exactly what has happened over the past few weeks as far as the IPL and the UEFA Champions League and Cup is concerned. Set Max’s coverage of the Indian Premier League has been appalling to say the very least. The pre-match show ‘Extra Innings’ is an insult to the game of cricket, as an anchor not knowing the difference between leg and off spin endeavours to put forward intelligent questions to pundits such as Katrina Kaif and Akshay Kumar. For instance, during the interval of the match between Delhi and Bangalore, the presenter asked Ms. Kaif her opinion on how the Royal Challengers must go about chasing their target. I am not trying to say that they must do away with the glamour quotient, after all Katrina is a very pretty lady and all of India would love to see her on screen. But surely she can be kept away from a cricket show, cant she?

Besides the third grade pre-match show, the quality of the commentary has also at times been downright dreadful. The other day I had to go through the trauma of hearing Ranjit Fernando describe a 146 kilometer per hour ball from Dale Steyn as a slower delivery. Add to this Arun Lal’s insightful pitch reports, Ramiz Raja’s astute understanding of the LBW law and Aamir Sohail’s perceptive views on the game and we have a wonderfully talented commentary team.

After having my cricket spoilt by the terrible coverage on Set Max I had to go through the ordeal of watching the European football games on Ten Sports. I don’t bother seeing the pre-match show knowing fully well the extent of rubbish produced by the so-called experts in the studio. But listening to the commentary during the game is something that cannot be avoided. Commentary for Wednesday night games is provided by the Sky Sports team normally consisting of Andy Gray and one of Martin Tyler, Rob Hawthorne or Alan Parry which acts as more than a saving grace. Ten Sports’ in house star commentator Richard Drew is summoned for games played on days other than Wednesday which are telecast on the channel. Yesterday in the game between Zenit St Petersburg and Bayern Munich, Mr. Drew was at his tedious best. He made an interesting football game sound like a telecast of a celebrity funeral. Apart from his mind numbingly boring commentary, he managed to constantly interchange the names of Philip Lahm and Marcell Jansen who were playing at right full back and left full back respectively in the first half. Mistaking the gangly Jansen for the diminutive Lahm is like mistaking a Hummer for a Porsche. In spite of the camera focusing on the back of their shirts time and again, it was not until the beginning of the second half when Jansen was replaced by Christian Lell did Richard Drew grasp that he had got the players’ names wrong.

I for one cannot wait for the day when the telecast rights for European football matches and for cricket matches played in India are once again granted to ESPN Star. But in this day and age where money seems to be the only criterion in determining who wins the telecast rights, the possibility of such an occurrence seems highly improbable.

Zenit and Spirit

It’s been a while since I have seen a UEFA Cup match and I was quite looking forward to the second leg between Zenit St. Petersburg and Bayern Munich played at the Petrovsky Stadium yesterday. I was mostly interested in watching the likes of Luca Toni and Frank Ribery play, both of whom have been highly impressive for Bayern this season. But what I witnessed was an excellent exhibition of counterattacking football from the Russians who put 4 goals past Bayern to win the tie 5-1 on aggregate. Munich hardly had anything to show for their possession as Anatoly Tymoschuk the Zenit captain did a superb job of anchoring the midfield for the home team.

Every time Zenit got the ball, they looked like creating something and they took the lead through a Pavel Pogrebniak free-kick in the 5^th minute, which was struck powerfully down the middle and any goal keeper at that level other than Oliver Kahn would have made a better effort of saving the shot. The second goal though was beautifully crafted by Konstantin Zurianov who dropped his shoulders admirably to get past Martin Demichelis before easily slotting the ball past Kahn. In the second half as Ottmar Hitzfeld threw more and more attacking players into the fray, Zenit doubled their first half advantage through a headed goal from Victor Faitzulin and a second from Pogrebniak. They might not be household names, but Zenit were certainly good value for their victory last night which surely must have caused a great deal of embarrassment to the German European Giants.

In other news, the IPL game between the Knight Riders and the Royals yesterday acted as more than just an eye opener as regards issues of spirit of the game is concerned. The Rajasthan captain Shane Warne complained after the match about the antics of the Kolkata skipper, Sourav Ganguly who had allegedly made the Royals’ openers wait for five minutes too long in the searing Jaipur heat before taking the field. Warne also expressed disgust at the fact that Ganguly forced umpire Pratap Kumar to refer a catch taken by Graeme Smith of Ganguly to the third umpire in spite of the Proteas skipper's claims that it was cleanly taken. The question that essentially arises here is whether Ganguly should have walked? Before bringing the spirit of the game into the equation I believe such decisions shouldn’t be referred to the third umpire in the first place. Technology can be helpful only in cases where video replays provide conclusive evidence. More often than not in cases of closely held catches, video replays haven’t been able to provide definitive proof of whether the catch had been taken or not.

I am of the opinion that in such cases the use of technology goes against the fundamental reasons why it is advocated in the first place and the on field umpires must take a decision based on what they saw as to whether the catch was grassed or not. Having said that I felt Sourav could have avoided gesticulating to the umpire to get him to refer the catch to the third umpire. But then again after all that we saw in the recently concluded test series between Australia and India, one could hardly blame Ganguly. That’s why I felt that the whole talk of the captains having signed a spirit of the game agreement was a load of twaddle and at some point when tempers boiled on the field it was bound to come into question.

Where was Misbah?

The Bangalore Royal Challengers got their team selection for the match against the Chennai Super Kings shockingly wrong. Having failed to field Misbah-Ul-Haq when he was available for their previous match against the Rajasthan Royals, one would have thought Rahul Dravid and the rest of the think tank would have got it right for the match against the Super Kings. But they continued to bench Misbah-Ul-Haq whose ability in 20-20 cricket is unquestionable.

I can only put this blunder down to Dravid’s inability to take tough decisions when they matter most. Selecting Misbah would have meant that either Kallis or Boucher would have had to sit out for one match as they could have been drafted back into the eleven for the next match since the Chennai match was Ross Taylor’s last of this season’s IPL. Of the two although Boucher is a far better 20-20 player, dropping Kallis would have been the tougher decision not least because of his stature in international cricket. But what is also important to bear in mind is the fact that dropping Kallis would have meant that a local player with the ability to bat in the top order and bowl three or four overs would have had to have been brought in. The Bangalore team certainly does not have such strength and depth in their squad. However they do have Shreevats Goswami, the India U-19 player wicketkeeper who is also considered to be a promising opening batsman. Had the Royal Challengers brought in Goswami for Boucher and Misbah for Chipli, their chances of emerging successful against the Chennai team would have been far better. Having picked up only one win from their first 4 games, the Bangalore team is very much up against it in their quest to qualify for the semifinals.

It's Supposed to be a Gentleman's Game

The recent controversy created by Harbhajan Singh has once again got me wondering whether cricket is still a gentleman’s game. The modern day game is plagued by far too many scandals which were hitherto never associated with the sport. Controversies created by the match fixing issues that were exposed in the April of 2000 sent the cricketing world into a state of deep shock. The doping scandals surrounding Shane Warne and later Shoaib Akthar once again brought forth several doubts with respect to terming cricket as a gentleman’s game. Off the field problems during the recently concluded series between Australia and India only accentuated my doubts. And now we have this issue of one player physically assaulting another on the playing field. This to me is quite simply inexcusable.

There is no place for such forms of disorderly conduct in the game of cricket or in any other sport for that matter. Harbhajan Singh for my money should be dealt with in the strictest possible manner. Merely banning him for a small number of games and fining him a few quid is going to be of no use. It is indisputable that Harbhajan has been on the wrong side of the law on far too many occasions. Harbhajan’s disciplinary track record must be kept in mind while determining his guilt and subsequent punishment. He is someone who simply never seems to learn from his mistakes. Singh who will be charged under Level 4 of the ICC’s Code of Conduct, can if found guilty be punished with a ban of between 5 test matches or 10 ODI Matches up to a life ban. Lalit Modi, the IPL Commissioner was quoted as saying that Harbhajan could be banned for up to 10 matches. In my opinion such meagre punishment would serve no purpose. Lesser offences in other sports have brought forth greater punishments. Rio Ferdinand was banned for a period of 8 months by the English FA for having missed a drugs test. Shane Warne was banned for a period of one year for having tested positive for a forbidden diuretic. I see assault on the playing field as an offence as severe in nature as cheating in the form of consuming drugs is or in the form of fixing matches is. Harbhajan in my opinion must be expelled from the game for a period of no less than a year and not doing so will only further dilute the reputation of cricket as a gentleman’s game.

Element of Style

All the razzmatazz and excitement created by the IPL has made me sit back and wonder whether I’d rather watch a brutal Brendon McCullum innings in a T-20 game or a finely crafted test match innings by someone like a Mark Waugh or a V.V.S. Laxman. For all the goose bumps that a 20-20 innings generates, I would any day go a million miles more to watch a stylish batsman construct a century in a test match or to watch a back-to-the-wall match saving innings by a Steve Waugh or an Inzamam Ul Haq.

The sheer pleasure of watching a Mohammad Azharuddin front foot flick or a Damien Martyn caress through covers is indescribable. No words can possibly do it justice. However what can be said is that it far exceeds the pleasure generated by watching a batsman massacre the ball in a T-20 game. Beyond a point viewing an Andrew Symonds or a Shane Watson carting every ball out of the ground is unexciting and boring. There is no doubting the thrills and spills that are produced by a game of 20-20 cricket, but I am just one of those stereotypical conservatives who still love watching cricket played by men in white.

Great Entertainment

I was at the M.A. Chidambram Stadium yesterday to watch the Chennai Super Kings take on the Mumbai Indians. It was a hugely entertaining night and I must admit that it was great fun watching a T-20 match in the stadium. The atmosphere was electrifying and I frankly have never seen anything like what I witnessed yesterday at the stadium. The pre-match entertainment served as a decent appetizer to what was going to be a great game of cricket.

I have been privileged to witness some great knocks at the Chepauk ground and although Suresh Raina’s half century might not be up there with the best of them, it still was a fantastic innings. Raina started of in slightly circumspect fashion but soon began to strike the ball beautifully on both sides of the wicket. His six over extra-cover of Harbhajan Singh was by far the shot of the day and his ability to rotate the strike when he couldn’t hit the big shots stood out in what was a superb fifty by the southpaw from U.P. It was Hayden’s brutal innings of 81 of 46 balls though that set up the total of 208 for the Super Kings which in the end proved to be insurmountable. Whilst he played some of his characteristically audacious shots by coming down more than a few inches to the fast bowlers, it was his reverse shot for four through point of Pollock that showed his ability to improvise when needed.

The Mumbai team was always up against it. Chasing 209 of 20 overs on any surface was never going to be easy and they made things tougher for themselves when Luke Ronchi was run out after a direct hit by the local boy Badrinath who was fielding at backward point. The stand out performer on a day of big hitting was strangely enough a bowler. Manpreet Singh Gony’s four overs for 18 runs which included the crucial wicket of Sanath Jayasurya was the spell that changed the course of the match. All the other bowlers struggled to find the right length and Jacob Oram in particular had a very poor outing. Mumbai was left with the task of getting 19 runs of the last over from Joginder Sharma which initially seemed to be all too easy for Abhishek Nayar who carted the first two deliveries for boundaries. But Joginder somehow managed to hold his nerve in the end and the Super Kings emerged successful for the second game running. A word of mention must also go to Mahendra Singh Dhoni who was once again excellent in marshalling his troops. He seems to have the knack of bringing the best out of ordinary players which is a quality that all great leaders have possessed. But Dhoni will find it harder as the tournament continues if his bowlers continue to let the team down by failing to hit the right length on flat sub continental pitches. However the availability of Nitini and Morkel from the fourth game onwards is likely to bolster the weak Chennai bowling attack.

Bowling Shane!

There is no better sight in world cricket than Shane Warne bamboozling his opponents with his leg break bowling. Watching the magician in action for the Rajasthan Royals against the Kings XI Punjab yesterday was an absolute pleasure. Warne’s spell of 3 wickets for 19 runs of his four overs is one of the best bowling performances in the league thus far. He could have had more had Darren Lehman not dropped a sitter offered by Yuvraj in his third over. Warne did ultimately nab Yuvraj in his final over by cleverly reducing the pace and trapping Yuvraj in front of the wicket. The famous ‘zooter’ was also in display with Warne grabbing the wicket of James Hopes by catching him plumb in front of the stumps. The word ‘genius’ is often used loosely while describing sportsmen, but Warne is one man whose genius is unquestionable.

McGrath, Ewood Park and Styles

It was as if he was never away from cricket. Glenn McGrath was at his accurate best helping the Delhi Daredevils restrict the abysmal Rajasthan Royals to a meager 129 in their 20 overs. McGrath was bang on the money from the first ball itself. He hit the right length and kept the ball in the corridor of uncertainty thereby making it very difficult for the batsmen to get it away. His figures of a wicket in four overs for twenty one runs is a phenomenal performance in this form of the game even though he was only bowling to an incredibly poor Rajasthan batting line up. I said in my earlier post that it would be interesting to see how McGrath copes with the 20-20 format. Well, so far he has lived up to his legendary status. But the real test is still to come.

After having watched McGrath bowl his first spell, I switched my attention to the start of the game at Ewood Park between Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United. From United’s perspective it was very important that they didn’t lose this game so as to ensure that the title is still in their own hands. They managed just that through a late Carlos Tevez header. It was one of those games where the ball just wouldn’t go into the back of the net. Brad Friedel was superb in the Blackburn goal and he thwarted several attempts by United to get level after a rare defensive blip by Ferdinand had given Santa Cruz the chance to put Rovers in front, which he took with great composure. It was finally a flick on from Scholes from a Nani corner which gave Tevez the opportunity to head past Friedel and earn what could be a very valuable point for the Champions. Man United can now all but mathematically wrap up the title if they manage to defeat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. I would imagine that the title would be theirs even if they can manage a draw at the Bridge as they would only have to win one of their two remaining games against West Ham United at home and Wigan Athletic away.

And finally Rob Styles for my money should be banned from refereeing at any level of the game. After his horrendous blunder to award a penalty to Chelsea against Liverpool early in the season, the FA dropped him for one round of matches. I cannot understand how such a dreadful decision could be punished with a mere one round suspension. Again at Saint Andrews, in a game between Birmingham City and Manchester City, he seemed to compensate one poor decision by awarding a penalty to Birmingham when Sun Ji Hai had merely indulged in a legitimate shoulder-to-shoulder challenge with Gary McSheffrey. In the game at Ewood Park, he was back to his awful self and failed to award at least three blatant penalties to United. As Roy Keane said recently referring decisions do not even themselves out over the course of a season. There is no place for poor refereeing especially when the stakes are so high. The decisions at Ewood were probably not as bad as some of the ones that he had made earlier in the season. But that does not take away anything from the fact that Mr. Styles continues to make terrible decisions and that he should be banned from refereeing at any level of professional football.

A Review of the Squads

Virtually every conceivable news medium in India has had their say on the strengths and weaknesses of the 8 teams competing in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League. With the competition getting underway tomorrow in Bangalore, I thought I must add to their comments and opinions. I believe it is the quality of the domestic players present in a squad which will determine its effectiveness considering that only 4 non-Indian players from a squad may be present in the final eleven. Therefore whilst analyzing the players in a team, particular emphasis needs to be placed on the Indian players that the team has managed to obtain.

Bangalore Royal Challengers: Most people are of the opinion that the Bangalore team owned by Vijay Mallya has far too many players unsuited to this version of the game. Agreed, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Shivnarine Chanderpaul (in spite of his recent brilliance) and Wasim Jaffer might not be the world’s best 20-20 players, but I certainly have my doubts as to whether all these four players will find a place together in the final eleven. 20-20 cricket is not all bang-bang and the presence of one or two of these players in the eleven will certainly stand the team in good stead. It must be remembered that the Bangalore team does posses the dangerous Misbah Ul-Haq who has one of the coolest heads in world cricket and Cameron White, the Victorian captain who is a massive hitter of the cricket ball as well as a useful leg break bowler. They also own Mark Boucher who is capable of wonderful improvisation as the wicketkeeper batsman.

Bangalore’s bowling attack is one of the most formidable in the Indian Premier League. Dale Steyn can be lethal under the lights and his new ball partnership with Zaheer Khan could serve the team wonderfully well. It will be interesting to see how Praveen Kumar who had an excellent series in Australia recently performs in this shortened format. They also have Kumble and Kallis to call upon to apply the breaks in the middle overs (Although I am not quite sure what exactly qualifies as ‘middle overs’ considering the format of the game). However as a fielding unit the Bangalore team does not inspire the greatest confidence and I don’t see them saving the necessary 15 or 20 runs in the field which could be crucial in this format. The pool of local players at their disposal seems to be decent and the likes of Virat Kohli and Shreevats Goswami who are both talented young players may well get a chance to showcase their skills in front of a wide audience.

Chennai Super Kings: Although Mathew Hayden may not be available for the entire tournament, I think he is one of the best buys made by any team. He loves the conditions in India and he is capable of demolishing any bowling attack and the start that Hayden provides along with Fleming could work wonders for the Chennai team. The middle order is extremely strong with the likes of Michael Hussey, Subramaniam Badrinath, Suresh Raina and Parthiv Patel offering solidity and the likes of Dhoni, Albie Morkel, Jacob Oram and Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan offering the firepower that is vital in the 20-20 format. Dhoni’s captaincy has been very impressive and it will be interesting to see the tactics that he employs once the tournament gets underway.

Whilst the players present are more than decent fielders, the team’s problems are primarily contained in the bowling department. With Morkel and Ntini likely to miss the first few games, the team is extremely short of new ball options. Lakshmipathi Balaji who was once considered an excellent prospect for India is returning from a lengthy spell on the sidelines and Oram is not amongst the quickest bowlers doing the rounds. I cannot also for the life of me imagine why a team would have actually spent money to buy Joginder Sharma. If at all you must be paid to have him in your team. For me he ranks as the worst buy made by any team in the league. The team does however have Muralitharan in its ranks and I don’t think anything can be said about Murali that hasn’t already been said. Although I am hoping the Super Kings emerge victorious, I think their lack of new ball options might cost them dear.


Deccan Chargers: They have by far the most exciting team on paper. An explosive batting line-up and superb bowling options make them the team to watch out for. Assuming that Gilchrist and Vaas are automatic choices considering their availability for the entire tournament, the other two spots open to foreign players needs to be filled up from a list which includes Afridi, Symonds, Styris, Chamara Silva, Nuwan Zoysa and Herschelle Gibbs. VVS Laxman, Rohit Sharma and Venugopal Rao offer excellent middle order options. Gilchrist in spite of his age and retirement is the best wicketkeeper batsman in the world and is likely to open the batting with Gibbs or Afridi which is mouthwatering to say the least.

The presence of RP Singh who had a superb time at the T-20 World cup as a new ball partner to Vaas could prove to be extremely important. Pragyan Ojha, the young left arm spinner who may be called upon to apply the breaks is one for the future. As a fielding unit the Hyderabad team is right up there with the best in the league, but the lack of adequate local bowling options barring RP Singh and Ojha is a cause for concern. Sanjay Bangar may well have to be called upon to bowl his military medium dibbly dabblers. I think the team could have well done with a good local first change bowler. But with the options that Styris, Afridi and Symonds offer, this might turn out to only be of marginal concern.

Delhi Daredevils: The team boasts an excellent mix of foreign and local talent. Sehwag and Gambhir at the top of the order are potentially the best opening pair in the IPL. With the presence of de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik the team has first-rate choice for the position of wicketkeeper batsman. The one that doesn’t make the cut is likely to be used in the middle order in any event. Shoaib Malik and Dilshan are both intelligent middle order batsmen with the latter also having the reputation of being one of the best fielders in the world. Local options in the form of Mithun Minhas, Manoj Tewari, Rajat Bhatia and Shikar Dhawan are likely to further boost the middle order.

The bowling attack contains the legendary Glenn McGrath and the phenomenally accurate Mohammed Asif. It will be interesting to see how McGrath adapts to this format of the game. Although McGrath was the Man of the Tournament at the 2007 ODI World Cup in the Caribbean, we did see some of the batsmen launch into him in a manner that we were not accustomed to seeing. McGrath does however have the necessary experience and the guile to be successful in this format. In Daniel Vettori the Delhi team probably possesses the best spinner in this version of the game. Assuming McGrath is an automatic choice, I think one of Asif and Vettori will be picked, which would mean that the team needs to pick two bowlers from its local pool. I would expect Yo Mahesh and Amit Mishra, both of whom are not the most consistent bowlers to get the nod. Overall the Delhi team boosts an excellent blend of local and foreign talent and all things going well they are a certainty in the semifinals.

Kings XI Punjab: A sensational middle order and a compact bowling attack make Kings XI Punjab one of the stronger teams in the IPL. However it is the lack of adequate batting options from the local pool of players that is concerning about the team. The likes of Ramaresh Sarwan, Kumar Sangakarra, Mahela Jayawardene, Shaun Marsh, Simon Katich, Luke Pomersbach and James Hopes are all superb batsmen but all of them cannot be picked in the same eleven, which is what makes the need for local batting talent crucial. Barring captain Yuvraj Singh, the team lacks world class Indian batsmen and this could well cost them dear once the tournament gets underway. The lack of opening batsmen in the squad makes me think that Irfan Pathan may well be asked to don the role of an opener alongside Katich or Sangakarra.

However, the bowling attack seems to be very solid. Brett Lee and Sreesanth are likely to share the new ball with Pathan offering a good choice as a first change bowler. Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla are the spin options that are available to Yuvraj. Although the team possesses Kyle Mills, I don’t expect to see him being used too much in view of the restriction on the number of foreign players in the eleven. The presence of Powar does however have a negative effect on the fielding as the presence of a singe poor fielder in the eleven could cost your side valuable runs.


Kolkata Knight Riders: The team probably contains the largest ensemble of star players amongst all teams in the IPL. In Ganguly and Gayle the team possesses an explosive opening pair which is capable of denting the bowling attack of any team in the world. In the absence of Gayle, the team can make use of Salman Butt who seems to revel in Indian conditions. The presence of Ricky Ponting and David Hussey greatly boosts the middle order. In Brendon McCullum they have one of the best wicketkeeper batsmen in the world. For a small man he packs quite a punch. I do however believe that the team needs to pick two players from the group of Aakash Chopra, Cheteshwar Pujara, Siddharth Kaul, Rohan Banerjee and Iqbal Abdullah in the final eleven with the first two likely to get the nod. Whether these players rise to the occasion will be crucial to the hopes of the Kolkata team.

The absence of Shoaib Akthar due to his ban might well turn out to be a blessing in disguise as the team can make use of Ishant Sharma and Umar Gul who are both far more consistent as new ball partners. The inconsistent yet at times brilliant Agarkar offers a nice blend to the pace attack while the presence of Murali Kartik means that Ganguly has an intelligent spin bowler in his arsenal. As a fielding unit the Kolkata team is not the best, although their strengths in other departments might well compensate for this.

Mumbai Indians: I am extremely surprised at the composition of the Mumbai team. Although they have an explosive top order in Tendulkar, Jayasurya and Uthappa, the middle order is lacking in top quality players. Ashwell Prince of South Africa is simply not suited to this format of the game. The rest of the middle order will have to be filled up by local players none of whom barring Abhishek Nayar are worthy of mention. The Mumbai team also lacks an established wicketkeeper batsman although Luke Ronchi has been highly successful in Australian domestic cricket. The teams strength lies in its top order and its bowling attack which is potent with the presence of Shaun Pollock, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh. Pollock’s performance with the bat in the lower middle order is of great importance if the team is to be successful. Jayasurya’s left arm spin may also be extensively used by the team. All cricketing fans will be watching with keen eyes to see how Tendulkar performs in this format of the game. The start that he and Jayasurya can give at the top order is of crucial significance to the team’s chances.

Rajasthan Royals: On paper, probably the weakest team in the competition. Justin Langer is likely to open with Graeme Smith whenever the latter is available and the starts that they provide are of vital importance. The middle order contains decent quality in the form of Younis Khan, Mohammed Kaif, Shane Watson, Dmitri Mascarenhas and Yusuf Pathan. The likes of Watson and Mascarenhas need to click for the team to be successful. Kamran Akmal is a useful wicketkeeper batsman and may even be used as an opener in the absence of Smith. In spite of the presence of Kaif, as a fielding unit the team looks rather ordinary especially with the presence of Munaf Patel. The lack of quality local players in all departments might cost the team dear. Pankaj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja and Taruwar Kohli none of whom are established players might have to perform important roles for the team. However, the team does possess decent bowling options. Munaf Patel, Morne Morkel and Sohail Tanvir are all good quick bowlers. The guile and astuteness of Warne as both bowler and captain is of vital significance. Warne needs to be at his best for the team to even enjoy moderate success.