And now... Two contrasting yet similar retirements
The Occassion : Ashes 2005
The Venue : Lord's, London
The Mood : Australia favored to retain the Ashes, but England's new look team not to be written off
The Scene : Australia choose to bat, regardless of the green top.
The First Over: 6 foot 7 Harmison charging in to bowl to the dimunitive Justin Langer, all of 5 foot something. Right in the first over, Harmison bangs one in short, the ball explodes of the surface, hits Langer smack on his elbow. painful? yes... round 1 to Harmy and England.. Setting the tone for things to come.
Cut to about a year later
The Occassion : Ashes 2006
The Venue : Gabba, Brisbane
The Mood : A hurt Australia trying to get back what they think belongs to them. England? well riddled with injuries but big at heart.
The Scene : Australia choose to bat again..no green top this time.
The First Over: 6 foot 7 Harmison charging in to bowl to the dimunitive Justin Langer, all of 5 foot something. Right in the first over, the first ball Harmy bowls, is collected by Andrew Flintoff at.. yes.. SECOND SLIP!!! painful? yes, this time for the Poms.. round one to Aussies.
This reflects the happenings in the cricketing life of Mr. Stephen Harmison. From a potent spearhead to a liability, the jorney from Lord's to Brisbane has been painful. For him and more so to the faithful Barmy Army. An odd good performance here and there making little or no impression, in fact forcing the selectors to sit him in one of the Champions trophy games.
And now, we hear the news that he has given up. Has given up something that he never really mastered. Steve Harmison has retired from the one day game. Well, we should say he is smart, since we all know so well that he was so close to being dropped anyways. Lets just hope for his sake and England's that this helps him in the longer form of the game.
Which brings me to todays other big news in the cricket world. Someone else who gave up the shorter form of the game to persue his test career. Not that this guy was struggling, but he made what turned out to be the right decision at the right time.
Yes, I am talking about the charismatic, the champion, the spin doctor, I am talking about THAT MAN SHANE WARNE. There is no doubting Shane Warne's ability. 699 wickets from 143 games is phenomenal. But if you look at the number of games he has inspired the Aussies in, without taking a bagful of wickets, it is absolutely mind boggling. Ironically, the two best Warne inspired victories in my memory are in the one day format. Semi final of the 1996 World Cup against the West Indies at Mohali, and the semi final of the 1999 World Cup against South Africa at Edgebaston. I am not going to go into the stats of those games. But those two were the ultimate examples of how his confidence and his tenacity rubs off on his teammates.
Being an India fan, I still have no qualms in saying that Shane Warne has been my favorite cricketer over the last few years. And when he says in his retirement press conference that Sachin is one of the best he has bowled to, it makes me doubly proud.
His duels with Sachin are, well.. unforgettable.
Come the end of this years Ashes at the SCG, the cricket world will miss those magical sliders, those mesmerising googlies and perfectly pitched leg spinners from the master himself.
So Mr. Harmison, by announcing your retirement from ODI's on the same day as this great Aussie, you have taken one page out of his book(that which reads quit ODIs to prolong your test career). Lets hope for your sake and England's, you take the other page off his book also ( that which reads BEING A CHAMP IN TESTS)
Farewell, Warnie...
The Venue : Lord's, London
The Mood : Australia favored to retain the Ashes, but England's new look team not to be written off
The Scene : Australia choose to bat, regardless of the green top.
The First Over: 6 foot 7 Harmison charging in to bowl to the dimunitive Justin Langer, all of 5 foot something. Right in the first over, Harmison bangs one in short, the ball explodes of the surface, hits Langer smack on his elbow. painful? yes... round 1 to Harmy and England.. Setting the tone for things to come.
Cut to about a year later
The Occassion : Ashes 2006
The Venue : Gabba, Brisbane
The Mood : A hurt Australia trying to get back what they think belongs to them. England? well riddled with injuries but big at heart.
The Scene : Australia choose to bat again..no green top this time.
The First Over: 6 foot 7 Harmison charging in to bowl to the dimunitive Justin Langer, all of 5 foot something. Right in the first over, the first ball Harmy bowls, is collected by Andrew Flintoff at.. yes.. SECOND SLIP!!! painful? yes, this time for the Poms.. round one to Aussies.
This reflects the happenings in the cricketing life of Mr. Stephen Harmison. From a potent spearhead to a liability, the jorney from Lord's to Brisbane has been painful. For him and more so to the faithful Barmy Army. An odd good performance here and there making little or no impression, in fact forcing the selectors to sit him in one of the Champions trophy games.
And now, we hear the news that he has given up. Has given up something that he never really mastered. Steve Harmison has retired from the one day game. Well, we should say he is smart, since we all know so well that he was so close to being dropped anyways. Lets just hope for his sake and England's that this helps him in the longer form of the game.
Which brings me to todays other big news in the cricket world. Someone else who gave up the shorter form of the game to persue his test career. Not that this guy was struggling, but he made what turned out to be the right decision at the right time.
Yes, I am talking about the charismatic, the champion, the spin doctor, I am talking about THAT MAN SHANE WARNE. There is no doubting Shane Warne's ability. 699 wickets from 143 games is phenomenal. But if you look at the number of games he has inspired the Aussies in, without taking a bagful of wickets, it is absolutely mind boggling. Ironically, the two best Warne inspired victories in my memory are in the one day format. Semi final of the 1996 World Cup against the West Indies at Mohali, and the semi final of the 1999 World Cup against South Africa at Edgebaston. I am not going to go into the stats of those games. But those two were the ultimate examples of how his confidence and his tenacity rubs off on his teammates.
Being an India fan, I still have no qualms in saying that Shane Warne has been my favorite cricketer over the last few years. And when he says in his retirement press conference that Sachin is one of the best he has bowled to, it makes me doubly proud.
His duels with Sachin are, well.. unforgettable.
Come the end of this years Ashes at the SCG, the cricket world will miss those magical sliders, those mesmerising googlies and perfectly pitched leg spinners from the master himself.
So Mr. Harmison, by announcing your retirement from ODI's on the same day as this great Aussie, you have taken one page out of his book(that which reads quit ODIs to prolong your test career). Lets hope for your sake and England's, you take the other page off his book also ( that which reads BEING A CHAMP IN TESTS)
Farewell, Warnie...
posted by Amit at 6:41 AM
10 Comments:
No an iota of doubt in my mind that Mr Shane Warne is one of the greatest leg spinner of our generation.
and righly so, he choose the best appropiate time to hang his boots,winning the coveted ashes and leavingthe game on a HIGH, which in itself is a remarkable feat to achieve.
He'll be missed though. Half the fun of watching the Aussies play is seeing him step up to the bowling mark, twirling the ball in his hand, and looking like nothing's gonna stop him from getting a wicket!
Deep,
leaving on a high is something our guys need to learn.. remember Gavaskar,Kapil Dev.. who knows.. maybe Sachin is next on this list.
dead right revealed,
but you know who will miss him most? our own VVS!! he just had 2-3 centuries stolen off him!!
dead right revealed,
but you know who will miss him most? our own VVS!! he just had 2-3 centuries(future) stolen off him!!
Warne is class! At least on the field. Off it he's no better than white thrash. Still as a cricketer... he deserves nothing but respect.
Hope him and the grath leaving make the ozzies more human... less juggernaut. Still with Ponting and Hussey in their batting don't think that's going to happen at least in this decade :(
like I said leaving on a high , in itself is a remarkable feat to achieve, not every cricketer can get that
Not taking anything away from the likes of kapil and gavaskar , there are lot of other things involve apart from your own performance.
And yes hopefully sachin will be on that list too...
I hope Sachin does do that! I'd hate to see him doing what Sourav's doing now! Y'know clinging on to dear life. Its really sad. For a former captain to be reduced to this. N I know that in a way he's being really brave etc etc, but honestly I think its time he realised that he's lost it, cos he HAS. We need young guys to come in, now. Don't get me wrong, I love the oldies, Rahul n Sourav n Sach n VVS n Kumble, the lot of them, but time n tide wait for no man and all that!
@Amit: Ur rite about VVS missing him the most. Heh!
Bharath,
Right, he would have been better off had his off field life been half as his time on it.
This is probably too late, but I just want to mention that Gavaskar did not, by any standards, prolong his test career just because he wanted to continue on forever. His last Test innings was a 96 against Pakistan at Bangalore on a vicious turner. Sadly, it was in a losing effort (16-run loss). The inning is considered one of his best, a lesson in playing spin bowling on a last-day subcontinental pitch.
Also, Tendulkar is heading the same way as Kapil Dev. I'm not even sure what records he wants to surpass. He's by far the highest ODI run-getter, Ponting might surpass him. If he wants to catch up to Lara's Test aggregate record, it'll only happen because Lara will retire before Tendulkar (there's speculation that Lara will call it quits during the English summer). Regardless, Ponting will deservedly surpass the Test record. If Tendulkar wants to end his career on a high, then he must play like his natural self. If his natural self wants to 'accumulate' runs, then I'm afraid it's time to go.
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