Preparing for the ‘Asses’?

The only one of Newton’s Laws of Motion that I still remember by rote [because I had to write it out 100 times to atone for some act of juvenile delinquency] is the one that goes A body at rest will remain at rest, and a body in motion will remain in motion, unless it is acted on by an external force.

If that external force happens to be Tillekeratne Dilshan, throwing his front leg down the track, going as low as he possibly could, extending his bat in front facing up, and walking a good length Shane Watson delivery up over the bat face, past his nose, and over the keeper down to the straight boundary behind him, that object in motion will stay in motion, only quicker. [The Hero Honda ad that followed that over had the legend ‘Stunt performed by experts. Please do not imitate.’ That seemed even more appropriate for the stroke than the bike.]

That moment seemed to contain within it all that was right with Sri Lanka, and all that was wrong with Australia. The Lankans have been taking T20 fairly seriously and, more to the point, almost all their stars further honed their craft in the IPL. In contrast, Ricky Ponting said after the first edition of the World Cup that Australia had made the mistake of not taking T20 seriously. Available evidence suggests that he didn’t take his own words seriously.

Watson — who seemed unsure, ill at ease and most unlike the player who in IPL-1 had been so inspirational with bat and ball for the Rajasthan Royals — was one of those who opted for/was recommended ‘rest’; the man taking him apart [23 runs off 11 balls faced, with five fours and just one dot ball] had honed his T20 chops to a very fine edge in IPL-2, as had a majority of the Lankan side. [Contrast that with Michael Clarke, who opted out of the IPL despite there being talk that franchises could go as high as $1.7 million for his services, and who ended up scratching around for 15 deliveries for his 11 runs in the midst of a phase that saw Australia raise its second 50 off a surprising 54 deliveries].

In a sense, IPL could prove to be for T20 what county cricket has been for generations of international cricketers wanting to hone their skills, and form, away from the pressures of national duty — maybe even more so since, given how crowded the international calendar is already and how large  a chunk the IPL and the Champions League takes, national teams won’t have many opportunities for bilateral T20 fixtures [refer the fact that Oz has played a grand total of six T20 internationals in 2009].

What will — or at least should — hurt Australia the most is that England performed better in a do or die game than Oz did. Even admitting the gulf between the respective oppositions the two teams faced, Australia’s performance was disgracefully inept.

As a friend remarked on Twitter — cruelly, yes, but schadenfreude is a natural corollary to the decline of a side that for over a decade stomped over all opposition, and continually claimed that its only competition was itself — ‘Australia can now focus on the Asses series’ it had rested up for.

PostScript: After the sorry saga of the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL Seasons 1 and 2, John Buchanan’s coaching credentials will find few takers even in the Kanga League — but he just might have a future as an Aussie selector. Remember this statement?