Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy - Ed Hawkins

I always had suspicion on matches between India and Pakistan specially played in Indian subcontinent, nevertheless like everyone I watched those matches. After IPL the suspicion on the players grew in me. I was never a fan of IPL. Never supported any team. Never watched full match. And I was happy when the authorities found irregularities in player conducts , spot fixing etc . But I don't know how these fixes and betting works. So for me all those fixing news are just news. But this book gave me clear view of what is going on in Indian betting market.

I started this book just before quarter finals of the World Cup 2015, fascinated from beginning to end and I finished the book just before first semi-finals.  The author is a specialist journalist in sports betting and knew the mathematics involved in it. Unlike other writers , he travelled all the way to India to get first hand experience with those involved in it. The result is this wonderful book.The book explains clearly myriad working of the illegal betting (the types of bets), syndicates , punters etc.

The book is divided into three parts each explaining the authors takes on different issues on the problem of match fixing and happenings in betting in world cricket, specially Indian market. The author befriends the Vinay and Parthiv  , the bookies, through twitter. These two explains him how Indian betting market works. During World Cup 2011 semi-final match between India and pakistan he received 'script' of the match from Parthiv. A script of things to happen in the match. To his surprise and shock , the match is played out almost the same as in the script. This made him to travel and search more about betting and fixing in India.

For me too , the 'script'  - "Bookie update... India will bat first and score over 260, 3 wickets fall within the first 15 overs, pak will cruise to 100, then lose 2 quick wickets, at 150 they will be 5 down and crumble and lose by a margin of 20 runs" - was real shock. I watched the match again after reading this ,oops to my shock its almost the same . What to say!!

The author asks anyone he meets in India about that particular match but to his dismay no one gave him any detail , even the Pakistan spy too, who promised him about more details. Though in later chapters the author dismantle each part of the script with the match and trying to find the probability of fixing , he could not conclude anything but one can not eliminate the fixing suspicion.

Though betting is illegal in India , the way it operates makes one wonder what the authorities and BCCI doing. This book clearly says that the Indian betting market is well organized and structured. The syndicates runs the whole show with small players on the ground. These syndicates creates fear among the bookies,players and other participants to make these illegal activities discreet. The way these bookies operates on the match day - wow- non stop running commentary of the odds

In Indian industry , a punter can bet on four - (Lambi , Brackets ,Lagna and Khana) bet on runs in a innings, bet on runs scored in a given time (for .eg 10 over period), bet on team to win and bet on team to lose. The author also found that in India spot fixing like the 'no ball' episode( sting operation by News of the World) during Pakistan England match does not exist.The analysis of spot fixing scandal by the author is very well researched and written and the experience in India helped him a lot in it.

The author thinks legalizing betting and gambling will reduce the problems but cricketers and administrators needs to accept the problem and take effort to sort it out. The author also stereotypes iIndians as money obsessed. His interview with various Indian authorities gives reader another dimension of this illegal activities. But the most fascinating interview of all is the one with Lalit Modi. The outspoken former IPL chairman was as straight as possible, though  he did not admit anything was wrong with first couple of seasons of IPL.

This book is a must read for all the cricket lovers specially Indian cricket fans. As the book says most of the cricketers are clean and we believe that ICC and other boards make concrete efforts to root out this evil from the gentlemen's game.
 
More about Pakistan Spot fixing case
CBI report on match fixing -2000
Qayyum Report - 2000
King Commission Report 
Justice Cook's sentencing 

Anti Corruption of Code for Participants
ACSU
How does ACSU work
ECB Anti Corruption documents

Top Cricket Documentaries

I believe its must for any cricket  fan to watch these documentaries. All available in youtube.

Fire in Babylon: One of the best documentary ever about cricket specially about Caribbean cricket. Neatly told.



The Empire of Cricket series is a good way to learn cricket history. Very interesting and informative.
Empire Of Cricket: India


Empire of Cricket : West Indies


Empire of Cricket : Australia


Empire of Cricket : England


India Vs Pakistan


Bodyline - Its Just Not Cricket

Also there is a documentary on Ashes, but I did not like it much.

Below are the links to documentaries on players. I have seen many but liked these four more than others.

Ricky Ponting :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zr2UoCV1c4

Lara :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu0SdnSnU3A

Sachin :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLThtN7BHSM

Wasim Akram:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaxPbGRBrqY

*Videos are taken from youtube.

Cricket World Cup 2015 - Commentators

The experience of watching Cricket in TV depends on the commentators. First I have to admit that I hate listening to Ravi Shastri and to certain extend Sunil Gavaskar. Luckily the current commentary team have Rahul Dravid , Ganguly  and Harsha Bogle who are all better than those two seniors. A breath of fresh air. Following are the people I like to do commentary for the matches I watch.

Mark Taylor:

 He is more neutral than other Aussie commentators. His more analytic and not too talkative. He cracks joke even when things are tense on the pitch. I like his style.

David Lloyd:

 One of the funniest commentators, I like his accent and very easy listening. And he his very open in his views.

Mark Nicholas:

  He easily mingled with the great Channel 9 commentary team and carved name for himself. He is very simple and not analytic but gets over excited sometime.

Rahul Dravid:

Soft spoken, very analytic. He reads the game better than many.

Nasser Hussian:

One difference between Dravid and Hussian is that sometimes Hussian gets over excited and scream. But very analytic and neutral too.

Ian Chappel:

A great reader of game. Talks sensibly.Most of the time neutral in his views on teams.

Mike Haysman:

Just for his voice. One has to listen to him when Steyn is bowling.

Michael Holding:

One only Michael. As smooth as his bowling action. Very neutral. Just listen to his smooth accent. Listen to him when fast bowlers bowl.

Geoff Boycott:

 Just listen to this great Yorkshire man.!

Others :

 Ian Bishop and Mike Atherton. 

It will be great if Bill Lawry  and Richie Benaud do some commentating during this world cup. But I will always miss the voice of Tony Greig.  

Cricket World Cup 2015 - Preview 2

When I started writing about this world cup I did not previewed teams in any order, I just wrote. Other than Windies, normally I will not support any team. I want good game of cricket without any controversies. Any team that plays well needs to be appreciated.

Home favourite :
For me the current Australian team is not as strong as previous world cup teams but they are playing in their home which gives them ample energy. Whether Clarke plays or not, Aussies still have good batting line up in Warner, Smith, Maxwell etc.. Almost all of their batsmen are in good form and whole Australia believes that they will deliver. In bowling , I think Starc will play an important role along with speedy Johnson. In the recently concluded tri-series Starc produced some of the best bowling in ODI recently by an Australian bowler. I believe that they can reach semi-finals.

England:
One team that bored me when they played ODI in the past was England. They never had a good ODI team but the current team looks bit better than the last world cup squad. ECB did a good job in replacing Cook with Morgan. Morgan suites better than old fashioned Cook. Their batting depends heavily on Morgan,Root and Moen Ali. These three scores runs in a brisk pace but one man I think who needs to anchor the English batting line up should be Ian Bell. If Bell scores the rest will score. The superstar of this team is undoubtedly James Anderson. He is a wonderful bowler and he knew Aussie conditions better .Bowling looks good with Broad supporting Anderson.

Pakistan:
Along with West Indies, Pakistan is one of most unpredictable team. The first match against India is very crucial for both teams specially for Pakistan. Same like Windies they don't have consistency in any departments, in fact that makes Pakistan an outside contender for the cup. They can upset any team on their day. So its unwise to bet against Pakistan.

Srilanka:
The ever green Sangakkara and Jayawardne makes this team a team to watch. Their fielding is their strength. The presence of Angelo Mathews in the middle order is a gift .One of the best middle order ODI batsman in recent years. Their concern is their bowling. I always love they way Lankans play their game. They always give their best. I think they will reach semis.

Minnows:
As usual there will be one or two upset victory by these teams but I do not think that any of these teams will reach semis. But they have some wonderful players in Tamim Iqbal, Zakib and  Kevin O'Brien.


Players to watch:

Group A	Group B
Australia	India
Bangladesh	Pakistan
England	South Africa
New Zealand	West Indies
Srilanka	Zimbabwe
Afganistan	Ireland
Scotland	UAE

Of course I will watch all the matches but matches mentioned below are must watch:

Date	Teams
Feb 14	New Zealand Vs Srilanka
Feb 15	India Vs Pakistan
Feb 20	New Zealand Vs England
Feb 21	West Indies Vs Pakistan
Feb 22	India Vs South Africa
Feb 27	West Indies Vs South Africa
Feb 28	New Zealand Vs Australia
March 01	Srilanka Vs England
March 06	India Vs West Indies
March 07	South Africa Vs Pakistan
March 08	Australia Vs Srilanka

All West Indies matches are MUST ...!!

Cricket World Cup 2015 - Preview 1

Its the time for Cricket world cup 2015 . And everywhere people talks about it. is it? thats what all the media says. I seriously doubt it, last week I was in Chandigarh , talked to many people most of them showed no excitement at all. Even a youngster who is working in Australia did not showed any interest. I asked him ," Why are not excited about the world cup?" his answer was " India will not win this time. I can not imagine India reaching semi-finals".

Whenever there is an ICC event my friends and relatives ask me this question " which team you will support other than West Indies?" . That question is very important for me because it prevents lots of unnecessary arguments. All my friends and families knew that I'm a big  Windies fan.  So I start with West Indies.

Any chance for West Indies?

Like me there are hundreds and thousands of Windies supporters who never loose hope on the team. Whether they have good players are not , we will support them. The current team is definitely not the best in recent years but they have some very talented players. The batting depends on Bravo, Samuels and Sammy , and to certain extends Chris Gayle.  On the paper these four looks great but very rarely click together. Lets hope they will come good at this world cup. Roach and Taylor needs to deliver in bowling department. When Windies play well they light up everyone, lets hope for the best.I will be very happy if Windies reach semi final. As Im writing this ,Windies is playing against England in a warm up match and they were bowled out for 122. So for others, support Windies at your own risk. But I still support them.

Team Fabulous :

My choice of 'worthy' winners will be South Africa. I think they have the best players in all departments.In batting they have two outstanding batsmen of recent years , Amla and AB de Villiers. Both can play all the shots in the book at a brisk rate. In Steyn,Morkel  and Philander ,SA have probably the best bowling line up one can hope for. No need to say anything about their fielding, they are probably the best. Luck is the only thing missing . I hope that will change in this world cup. The current SA team have the players with strong will power in all departments.

Team India:

I do not have much expectation on this team lead by MS Dhoni. India do not have the players who are experienced in these conditions. And some of these grounds have longer boundaries.  The bowling needs to improve a lot. So far there is not even a single bowler whom we can pick out as the best. All are below average. Fielding is not consistent. Only department I hope that India will shine is batting. India is blessed with some wonderful ODI players MS Dhoni, Kohli, Rahane and Raina these are players who can change the game on their own. Very tough to reach semi-finals.

Black Caps:
 The current New Zealand team is definitely not an underdog. This time they are real contender for the cup. The team is lead by arguably one of the best Kiwi batsman in recent years, Brendon McCullum. This man can win matches single handedly. Kiwis playing all their matches in home which will make their bowlers more effective. The bowlers too had wonderful seasons before this world cup, hope they will continue it. McCullum, Williamson and Ross Taylor have to do the bulk of scoring. I'm very happy about the inclusion of Daniel Vettori- such a wonderful player. For all their current performance this team should reach semi-finals quite easily.

Players to watch in these teams:

Remaining teams in next post.

Associates XI

In this world cup four associate countries participated, unfortunately all four were out of the competition.I was quite impressed by the way some of these countries played.Very interesting to choose top eleven players:a team from these associates.

The most  impressive of all the associates in this world cup was Ireland, they played like a true professionals.Their ground fielding,their batting were excellent.The brilliant victory over England has given a huge boost for their youngsters who are pursuing cricket.They pushed India and Westindies to their limit. Future looks good for this Irish side.

Canada:they did their best, lack of experience was the main problem for thier bowlers,specially.They fielded pretty well and the batting was also good.The batting of Jimmy Hansra against Australia was the highlight of their campaign.What a hitting, he murdered the Australian pace attack, a treat to watch.

Netherland:The one batman to pick among the all the associates batmen is Ryan ten Doeschate,what a player.Two hundreds and couple of wikets and a wonderful fielder.The Dutch played well better than some of the main teams(test playing).They needs to play more international match specially their bowlers.

Kenya:Waste of talents!Nothing much to say about them in this world cup.Need to revamp the whole team.
As expected i have chose more number of players from Ireland and Canada.Here is my list:
Jimmy Hansra & Paul Stirling:These 2 right handers can handle any bowling attack.Nitish more attacking than Stirling.The Irish on the other hand have more control and variety in his shot selection.
Niall O'Brien:This Irish left-hander can play a long innings and he has that temperament.Very calm and watchful.
Ryan ten Doeschate- A class act
Asish Bagai- his sytle of play suite for the middle order batsman, wonderful offside player.
Kevin O'Brien - very dangerous batsman, can hit any bowlers on his day. what a innings against England.
Peter Borren - Accumulator, very good at the middle overs.
Trent Johnston - A proven match winner , steady line and length bowler
Thomas Odoyo - Wicket taker but gives lots of runs.
Harvir Baidwan -very good bowler, knows his limitations.
Dockrell - i should say he is  find of the tournament for Ireland, wonderful temperament for this young lad. Expect him to play in some counties soon.

I chose Borren as a captain of this side for his leadership skills.He can use Stirling or ten Doeschate or Kevin O'Brien as the fifth bowler and have variety in his attack.I have chosen 2 wicketkeepers since both of them are good batsmen.I prefer Ashish Bagai as wicket keeper than Niall O'Brien.
Here is my team:
1.Jimmy Hansra(CAN) -batsman 
2.Paul Stirling(IRE) -all rounder
3.Niall O'Brien(IRE) -wicket keeper
4.Ashish Bagai(CAN) -Wicketkeeper/batsman
5.Kevin O'Brien(IRE) -all rounder 
6.Ryan ten Doeschate(NED) -all rounder
7.Peter Borren(NED) - batsman / Captain
8.Thomas Odoyo(KEN) - bowler
9.Harvir Baidwan(CAN) -medium pace
10.Trent Johnston(IRE) -bowler 
11.George Dockrell(IRE) - spinner
12th man:Alex Cusack(IRE)-Medium pace
Coach:Phil Simmons(Ireland coach) 


Seems to be good team atleast for me.I hope some of these players will play in the next world cup.ICC should give more matches to these associates before these kind of events.One can not expect minnows to play in bar with the already well established team without proper exposure.ICC should increase the number of tournaments for this associates and allow them to play with the other test playing nations.

Great World Cup matches-II

       England Vs Ireland

02-03-2011 M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

What a match! England once again batted well.Their openers Strauss and Pietersen batted beautifully.They set the platform for the rest of the batsmen.Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell batted very sensibily, both scored runs at a brisk rate.Colingwood's mighty six summed up the batting performance of the English.Old horse Johnston bowled well but the bowler who impressed me was Stirling,the off spinner who bowled beautifully.Most of us thought that England will win comfortably .But What happened was a carnage! Kevin Joseph O'Brien murdered the English attack with his blistering knock.Seldom we see innings like this from a associate country batsman.

O'Brien hit 7 sixes among them one went 95 meters!!He was well supported by Cusack.Mooney who took 4 wickets finished the match with 33 runs,he too played very sensibly. Overall a great team effort won by individual brilliance.Swann bowled beautifully, he varied his length and angles brilliantly but none of the other bowlers supported him.The were hit all over by Irish batsmen specially O'Brien.
England:327/8
Trott -92(92)
Bell  -81(86)
Mooney -63/4
Ireland :329/7
O'Brien -113(63)
Cusack  - 47(58)
Swann -47/3
Man of the match : Kevin O'Brien

     South Africa Vs England

06-03-2011 MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

England chose to bat first after winning the toss on a good batting wicket.Again South Africans started the innings with a spinner, this time with Robin Peterson,slow left arm orthodox and it paid immediately as he took the wickets of Strauss and Pieterson in the very first over.what a start! The inform batsman Strauss was out for duck.The South Africans bowled beautifully ,they took wickets regularly never allowed the English batsman to settle.Trott once again batted sensibily.Ravi Bopara playing his first match in this tournament batted according to the situation, good choice by the England management.

Once again Imran Tahir bowled wonderfully,what a time this man is having in this world cup!Steyn and Morkel did their job, the bowled good line and length.Fielding once again was top class.They bowled out England for 171 in 45.4 overs.

South Africa started very cautiously,openers Amla and Smith played slowly and steadily and built the partnership.Once they departed ,hell broke loose!The Proteas crumbled by English bowlers.Chris Broad and Anderson bowled beautifully,swang the ball both sides,they were wonderfully supported by Swann and Tim Bresnan.Duminy's wicket was the turning point, he was clean bowled by Anderson.Steyn and Wyk brought the score near to the target but it was Broad's day.He came back and bowled out Steyn and Morkel in 47th over.South African batsmen could have tried to score runs by playing their normal game instead of what they have done:playing defensively.

It was a good match.Its good for South Africa to lose a game in the initial stage of this world cup,so that they can srcutinize their flaws in batting order.For England what a way to redeem themselves after their unexpected defeat against Ireland.I firmly belive that both teams will qualify for the quarter finals.
England:171/10
Bopara-60(98)
Trott -52(94)
Tahir-38/4
South Africa:165/10
Amla-42(51)
AB de villiers -25(44)
Broad-15/4
Man of the match : Bopara

Great World Cup matches-I

Pakistan Vs Srilanka 26-02-2011 ,R Premadasa Stadium,Colombo.

The host Srilanka were hot favorite to win this match but Pakistan proved everyone wrong and strongly set their foot on this world cup quest. After a week of dull matches , this match proved to be the first closely fought encounter.
After winning the toss,Pakistan without hesitation opted to bat.I should say that the way they batted  very well specially Younis Khan and Mishah-ul-Haq.They batted very sensibly, never worried about the run rate , they just scored ones and twos and they did it consistently in all overs.On the other hand , Srilankan bowlers did not give much trouble to Pakistan batsmen but during the batting Powerplay Murali and Kulasekara bowled beautifully.

Srilanka started well , both Tharanga and Dilshan scored briskly, even though Dilshan was not in his fluent best.Once the openers were down ,Sangakkara tried to accelerate the run rate and thrown his wicket.Afridi was wonderful, he spun the bowl both ways , his straight deliveries were unplayable.But the Pakistan fielding was pathetic,in fact worst.They dropped easy catches, missed two stumpings and missed many run outs.In the end Kulasekara played some good shots and he brought the score very near to the target.

I liked this match very match , reason: the way the Pakistan batted and fought in the fielding(even though they missed many chances & staring one another).Pakistan have to continue to believe in themselves that they can beat anyone but for that they have to improve their fielding a lot.Man of the match:Afridi
Pakistan-277/7
Misbah-Ul-Haq -83*(91)
Younis Khan     -72(76)
Herath  46/2
Murali  35/1
Srilanka-266/9
C Silva-57(78)
Sangakkara-49(61)
Afridi  34/4

India Vs England 27-02-2011, M Chinnaswamy Stadium,Bangaluru
Another epic match,what a finish!!Hats off to both teams!India batted first , as expected they piled the runs.Sachin played a wonderful innings,looked very poised and the shot selection was excellent.Dhoni shuffled the batting order very well.Yuvraj and Gambhir provided good support to Sachin.Yuvraj used this opportunity wonderfully , he played some wonderful shots on leg side.

India lost last 7 wickets in the last 8 overs and got all out in 49.5 years, which was unpardonable.They should have played sensibly, specially 6th and 7th batsman.The should have reached 350 easily.Swann bowled first four overs nicely but he got hit by Sachin, what a sight !Sachin hitting Swann for sixes!!Tim Bresnan was the stand out bowler for England, he bowled mostly wicket to wicket.Anderson gave lots of runs.

England run chase:
What a run chase!Strauss played a gem of an innings, the best by an English captain.The great thing about his batting in this match was that he scored boundary/ies in almost all the overs.Bell too played well , one of his best.Bell was very fortunate to be rule not out for the LBW appeal by Yuvraj, lots of confusion regarding the distance rule.Im not sure why then they replayed that appeal again and again on the big screen causing lots confusion among fans as well as the players.The replay clearly shows that the ball will hit the stump.!!

One of the worst bowling performance by Indians, none of the bowlers bowled in line and length.Munaf patel bowled somewhat better than others.Dhoni would have tried with Shewag and Sachin.Piyuesh Chawla needs to play more.Fielding was pathetic,none of the fielders showed any energy , many misfield, couple of half chances missed.

England would have won comfortably if they would not taken the batting power play at the time and waited for 3-4 overs.But still their batsman showed lots of characters.The result was a good one - TIE.
India -338/10
Sachin - 120(115)
Yuvraj -   58(50)
Tim Bresnan 48/5
England-338/8
Strauss -158(145)
Bell       -  69(71)
Zhakeer Khan 63/3
Munaf Patel     70/2
Man of the match : Andrew Strauss

If India bowls like this in coming matches, it will struggle to win matches.They have to improve a lot in bowling and fielding.

Can West Indies bounce back?

After watching Westindies against South Africa i was wondering where this team will go in this tournament.The positive from that match was the batting of Darren Bravo, who played beautifully.Apart from him, his brother Dwayne Bravo's batting, bowling and fielding performance.The over dependence on Chris Gayle's batting is also causing them lot.We all know Gayle is a match winner but he alone can not win all the matches, windies batsmen have to keep this in mind and play.

Darren Bravo must play his natural game and play according to the situation, i hope he can capable of playing long innings.Chanderpaul has to bat better and try to score runs at a faster rate,same apply to Sarwan,he has to play his natural game.If these two players play well, i think WI can surprise some teams.Pollard who will follow those two have to play his natural game instead of playing defensively.The problem with Pollard is he had never scored consistently in one day matches , in fact in any of the international matches.

Another important problem this WI team has  is their tailenders pathetic batting, non of their bowlers bats', including Sammy, the captain.The current wicketkeeper Thomas looks to be a good batsman but we have to wait till he scores big.It will take a mammoth effort from these batsman to make this team a competent and winning side.Now they have more problems as Dwayne Bravo was injured and out for 4 weeks.Will they find someone to replace this wonderful player? I scared that they don't have one.

In Bowling , Roach needs to be consistent in his line and length, he struggled with his line in the match against South Africa.He has to understand that he is the team's main strike bowler.Sammy was better against SA but he also needs to be consistent.I feel very sad that this team don't have genuine spinner specially in subcontinent pitches.Benn is predictable and he has no variations, Gayle not bad but they can not afford to have him bowl 10 overs.Their main bowlers have to bowl well. Its very sad to see Windies struggling to find a bowler, once a formidable bowling nation now ??.

Sammy must attack with field placing and he has to make the team believe that they can win.Having said that each and everyone must play according to the plan. I hope this team will provide something to cherish in this world cup.They have to beat Bangladesh,Holland,Ireland and either India or England to reach the quarter finals, will they?