tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879424282194021052.post9081351217491454657..comments2023-07-19T21:15:20.413+08:00Comments on Voice-in-Sports: An honest analysis of Malaysia's performance in the Asian Cricket Council Trophy.Gandhi,http://www.blogger.com/profile/00147314282459423346noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879424282194021052.post-32341554912016551252008-08-06T20:08:00.000+08:002008-08-06T20:08:00.000+08:00Reading the above comment, i wonder if people are ...Reading the above comment, i wonder if people are interested in the message or more interested in the writer.<BR/>Maybe the answer i would get is both i.e "technical know how and technical know whom".<BR/>So blogging is ok if the name is known? The bottomline, i presume.Gandhi,https://www.blogger.com/profile/00147314282459423346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7879424282194021052.post-44975047458929673182008-08-06T19:45:00.000+08:002008-08-06T19:45:00.000+08:00Dear “Cricket Lover / Ex – National player”,The sa...Dear “Cricket Lover / Ex – National player”,<BR/><BR/>The saying "Hidup segan mati tak mahu” applies to majority of sports in Malaysia, sadly. In case you are not aware, the only sport that has brought the nation delight would be squash. Some credits need to be given to badminton, bowling and also hockey I must say.<BR/><BR/>But something can be done about this instead of us just sitting around and droning about how things are done. Leave the players aside, but all those involved regardless of cricket lovers, officials and let’s not forget former national players will need to obtain the first class mentality. It is pointless to have first class mentality players who are surrounded by spectators/observers of the third class mentality. Don’t know if you should know better but the first class facility is a secondary issue. Many more things which are not in place may contribute to this factor. Point? <BR/><BR/>But it’s nice to know there is someone enthusiastic as you, who claim to be a cricket lover, hopefully with no hidden agenda or personal intentions. <BR/><BR/>Now to contribute my opinions about the performance of the national team in the ACC tournament, let me begin by saying an improvement is an achievement in any sport. So therefore from standing in the 7th place to being 6th place is surely some sort of success the way I see it. All other teams remained or degraded in their ranking except Malaysia & HK. <BR/><BR/>You certainly do not sound like a former national player. Where is the sportsmanship in everybody these days? Looks like we prefer harping on the negative side of things. I guess it brings people more joy. But then again that’s just the way I see things since I have played cricket too, in the state level and I follow this sport very intensely. Mainly because I just love the game, nothing else.<BR/>Cricket is a team game. It is all about team effort and team contribution. So I totally disagree with you when you mention that there are culprits that are the cause of the bad performance. Funny why someone would think that way. It’s so typical of us to point fingers whenever there is a downfall. Does anyone point fingers if the team were to rise as champions? Does anyone point a finger to the captain saying that it’s all because of him that the team won? Never. Sad to know as a cricket lover / ex national player your views are so superficial. You need to understand the composition of the squad before you can throw a judgment. Here is how it goes; the captain takes responsibility and opens the bowling although he is a spinner (no genuine opening bowler) , bowls during power play, bowls during slog/death overs. As for wickets that you might be referring to as a comparison, please note that this is a one day match and not a 3 day match, economic run rate plays a big part. I don’t need to remind you that there is an immense difference in this do I? On batting, the team is composed of all rounder’s. The batting order changes according to the situation and criticality of the game. Times when the runs needed to be pushed, the coach would send hard hitting batsmen. All these are what you can refer to as team tactics and strategies. I am not sure if you did analyze that all matches Malaysia lost in ACC, we were batting second. Something to think about!!<BR/><BR/>One thing to ponder, the U 19 players participated in the ICC world cup? How many actually contributed to the ACC tournament? As far as I am aware, NSC spent limitless amount of money on them. Well they all pulled out. So I guess this is why Malaysia has to turn to foreigners. But the selectors of the Malaysian team need to re-strategize because from the first time Mal used expats that were selected never did make a difference to the team. Here I am referring to Sarath and also Kodikara. Malaysia lost to Singapore, and is currently third behind the UAE and Nepal in terms of cricket playing fields with the eventual champion Hong Kong much further down the pecking order. Very true. But then you must also bear in mind that most of these countries you mentioned consists of all expats playing for them from all over such as Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. For your additional knowledge, Hong Kong had 9 Pakistanis playing for them. That is practically the whole team. And that you would refer to as development? Funny I don’t see how. What development are we talking about? <BR/><BR/>There has been lots of improvement in the national team. Players have come out of a nut shell under the current captaincy. So who would you suggest that can best lead the national team? Name me one player of those capabilities. In fact if you really want to go deep into statistics and studies, you should consider looking back on the stats of all former national players in this link http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/MAL.html You might want to think again before you judge. Then we shall see if you can re-phrase these achievements as an improvement. Also to add, tremendous performance by Suhan Kumar Alagaratnam and Dhinesh Muthuraman. You really want to help cricket, try spending one entire day just sitting down and listing 30 cricketers in Malaysia of international standard that you think can bring this game to another different level. That way we do not have to abide with the saying "Hidup segan, mati tak mahu”. That could be a start to your contribution? Better? <BR/>But lastly, it is certainly pleasing to see a fellow cricket lover who has interest in the game and wants to see it grow. It would be better if you just step up and voice out your opinions directly. By voicing out, I do not mean blogging. Let’s be more practical.<BR/><BR/>As always, for the betterment of cricket.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com