Perth Perch and a Federer freeze
A fine day for sport. Federer sums it up best: "What a great battle. This is where you get grey hair early in life."Spectators of both matches would agree. I'm glad I didn't see the last hours of both matches, it would have driven me crazy. I thought I was going to have a nervous attack when Federer was trailing after the first set. 10-8 in the last, phew. The dream of the Grand, nay Golden, Slam is still alive. After Djokovic, another Serb in Tipsarevic impresses greatly.
Far away to the west on the same continent, the India cricket team pulled off what many are calling their best ever Test victory. I disagree: for me, the best will still be Calcutta 2001. This would be among the best overseas victories for sure, with competition from that astonishing chase in Port-of-Spain in 1976 or the more recent Headingley victory in 2002. But this is easily the best all-round team performance ever: it had to be, with not a single century or 5-wicket haul.
This was also a match where the Aussies had rare tactical failures. Reading the pitch incorrectly led to them picking the wrong 11, which then led to a slow-over rate, which compounded the huge loss of Hayden. The fort has been breached, but let's not forget their astonishing streaks, not only of 16 straight wins again, but also of never having lost at home in 5 years.
Cricket moves on.
2 comments:
Great win for sure. They could have easily excused themselves after what happened in Sydney. But each played his role well, barring Ganguly who went for a rare failure. The difference eventually proved to be Laxman's innings with Dhoni and RP.
They have done well as a team in the last two years. I thought the whole England series was a great team effort which is why I was so surprised that Dravid quit after that.
Post a Comment