Arjun
Cricketer Of The Year
Brian Lara's 400 not out was the stuff of legends, or at least, the stuff that drives massive sales and gets massive attention. However, some experts, including the late Tony Greig, were critical of Lara, because it was negative, and he played for himself ahead of the team. While the achievement is by no means small, there have been several smaller scores by the man, which have won games for his team. Then there are several discussion on who's likely to make the next four hundred- but does it really matter? It's hardly a match-winning statistic, and goes down as one of the most irrelevant records of all time
Then there's the Big Ten- when a bowler takes ten wickets in an innings. Twice, it has happened- first it was Jim Laker, then Anil Kumble. A point to note is the rather poor cricket played by the Indian team to help Kumble get all ten. We saw Srinath bowl innocuous wide deliveries, with no intention of taking a wicket- and some were rightly called wides. Another attempt was made by the Lankans to help Muralitharan get an all-ten, which reached ridiculous proportions, when the other bowlers were bowling innocuous rubbish, and Henry Olonga, tried to give his wicket away to Vaas, who accidentally let out a feeble appeal, which gave him a wicket he didn't want.
How many other irrelevant records exist? Massive in proportion, but irrelevant in changing the course of a game.
Then there's the Big Ten- when a bowler takes ten wickets in an innings. Twice, it has happened- first it was Jim Laker, then Anil Kumble. A point to note is the rather poor cricket played by the Indian team to help Kumble get all ten. We saw Srinath bowl innocuous wide deliveries, with no intention of taking a wicket- and some were rightly called wides. Another attempt was made by the Lankans to help Muralitharan get an all-ten, which reached ridiculous proportions, when the other bowlers were bowling innocuous rubbish, and Henry Olonga, tried to give his wicket away to Vaas, who accidentally let out a feeble appeal, which gave him a wicket he didn't want.
How many other irrelevant records exist? Massive in proportion, but irrelevant in changing the course of a game.