My Very Brief Career as a Hand Model

Or foreshortening ...

Change the Ball Lads, Change the Ball

If at first it does not swing change the ball and try again. Replace and repeat is emerging as an effective strategy in the current series. Now only if Inzamam had thought this up at the Oval. Change the ball? No problem. We will be coming back with a request of our own soon ... if the ball does not do much. Imran once mentioned that Sarfraz had the ability to pick a new ball that more often than not would reverse. Which brings us to the question of ball manufacturing and what can be done to make balls more consistent. But first they will have to identify the features in a new ball that predict later behavior and oh before that ... make balls that don't go out of shape after 3 overs consistently.

The Savior of Test Cricket

The phrases praising test cricket and hailing the Pakistan-Sri Lanka matches as shining examples of this were reported more frequently on the cricinfo commentary than the wickets falling during a Pakistani collapse. It got somewhat annoying. Then there was Younis arguing the exact opposite; that in fact it was the lack of test cricket that had led to such misery. Both were somewhat off the mark. The Pakistanis have been doing this act for a few generations. Intikhab must have woken up in the middle of a night in a cold sweat believing the year to be 1973. To the fans of these matches I would say," C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas le test match cricket."

But if you are a believer then all the boards should be pencilling in PCB for as many dances as they can on their dance cards otherwise known as the FTP.

Foreshortening Doesn't Make the Ball Bounce on the Ground

Anyway without getting too much into it the solution is simple. Ideally it would be great to watch from below ground level whether the ball bounced but since we are not quite there yet the next best thing would be to put wide angle cameras at the base of the stumps facing the keeper and slips. Of course there is also the side on view that does not cause any "foreshortening".

Strauss may make himself believe that he caught the ball but in this case it was pretty clear he did not, foreshortening or not. He is almost picking it up off the ground being almost careful not to touch the ground as he does so.

There is no way the umpires could have judged it in real time. It was stubbornness or idiocy not to refer it not to mention inconsistency. All the while the proponent of the fielders' word was not so sure about the fielders' word.

Consider the Dilshan

Before the helmet ...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=A5IQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2ZADAAAAIBAJ&pg=2601,185950

Deja vu for Alam

Before there was the internet :)

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19730104&id=BJIQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2ZADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5494,478377

And an Alam did his part this time around too.
And opening still a problem.
And the runouts.