Goodbye Freddie

Gosh am gonna miss Freddie and more than that the chants of Freddie.....Freddie. So it's that time of the year when everyone will be bidding adieu to one of England's most prodigious all-rounder. For me he had already retired from the game when he decided to quit playing Tests after the 2009 Ashes. One of the best moments of Test cricket for me was the 2005 Ashes and Flintoff's bowling spells.

So his announcement from all forms of cricket was something of an anticlimax as everyone had already discounted the fact of not seeing him play again. Everything said and done he does deserve laurels for only one epoch making series, other than that everything was mediocre. He stood between the Aussies and the Urn in 2005, the English team was made up of mere mortals and Freddie in 2005. The POMS have moved on since those days and look a much improved side (thanks to foreign imports and Swann). Another feather in his cap was that he made Cricket re-enter the English conscience; many financial gains have been made not only by him but it has cascaded to other players as well.

Who can forget Flintoff shirt-off episode in Mumbai in 2002 and the subsequent event in Lord's when Dada let loose in Lord's Dressing Room. Add to that the most sporting gesture of 2005 when he consoled Brett Lee after the Aussies lost the Old Trafford test during Ashes 2005; has been portrayed as a behaviour to emulate by other cricketers. These events are going to stay in our memories forever and whenever we reminisce Freddie we will relive those days. So in the end we and I in particular will miss his antics. Goodbye Freddie, thanks for entertaining us.

Spot Fixing

This is the latest scandal to rock the beautiful game of Cricket. Don't know why ICC hasn't been able to weed out this problem once and for all. Even though this is something new compared to Hansie Cronje's days, one needs to get into the psyche of players to comprehend the reasons behind indulging in such deeds. The reason for doing this comes to down to one thing only i.e. Money.

Money has not been a problem since IPL started, we could pardon the past players on this reasoning that they didn't have this avenue to make money. Loads of money is being made by players since T20 came into the mainstream, especially IPL. We all missed one fact that the players who have been alleged in the recent spate of events belong to a country whose players have been barred from the IPL riches and to top it off IPL Nights as well. How can one bear not being a part of IPL Nights !

This ain't any reason to pardon the guilty, but this greed is not only because of the disparity of earnings between cricket and other mainstream sports. Cricket being a sport played my only few countries and having an addictive fan following only in the Indian Subcontinent; which is even now considered a developing region. Come to think of it these guys might be the highest earning sports-persons in their countries and way above their Per Capita Incomes.

The main reason behind players not being apprehensive about indulging in Spot Fixing can be lain on the lax regulatory and reprimanding policies of the ICC and respective country Cricket Boards. Everyone knows that all the players indicted in the earlier cases are still having a great time, they have found better sources to sustain themselves; some have been let off after serving bans of a maximum of 12 months and others have taken gladly to remunerating careers as Sport Commentators, Book Authors or Politicians.

So I feel the change should start from the top, making the ICC more responsible for the sport that it had been mandated to not only preserve but also spread.

Confusion Unlimited

This is that part of the year where one looks back at the goals and targets shortlisted at the beginning of the year.As always 2010 was ushered in with magnanimous goals and overflowing hopes. All's not well though, didn't clear one goal and dropped another due to under-preparedness and lack of motivation to pursue it. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, have pinned my hopes on a new goal, though am not sure whether I will pursue it or not. The clairvoyant's prognosis hasn't been encouraging, he told me that as per my stars I am not destined to achieve the new goal even if I try hard enough.

Thought about abandoning it as well, until I read a quote which goes as , " The difference between Successful person and Others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will ". So here I go once again on strength on this inspiring quote, this quote won't be strong enough to push me through, I will have to dig into the god given will-power. More than being successful this is one peak which I want to scale for the journey. And am doing it to beat my long time nemesis 'Sloth'.

Moving on from professional goals, other aspects of life are going pretty well. Waiting for Mom to get back. It's been long time since she left, and there's a constant feeling of something being amiss at home.