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A brave new world

Its been 269 days since I last posted here, probably the longest gap I've ever had on this blog? I have possibly the best three reasons for it though - my lovely wife and 250 day old twin boys :-) Hopefully the gaps in future don't get longer but as I've discovered, parenthood is like the Pakistan team (or at least the Pakistan team of old) - you never know what you will get next.

And what an eventful 269 days in the cricketing world it has been! Australia have become the second home team in a row to win a World Cup beating (like India did in 2011) their plucky but smaller island neighbour. Those neighbours under McCullum have built up a tough but adventurous Kiwi team who're in the top four in the ODI rankings and will hopefully continue to go from strength to strength in the Test rankings as well. McCullum and his merry men have even managed to goad England into scoring over 400 in an ODI for the first time and start to actually play one-day cricket for the first time since 1992.

The series that followed turned out to be one of the more interesting Ashes in recent times, despite the level of play being largely inconsistent and occasionally pedestrian. It confirmed (if any confirmation was needed) that the influence of the shorter forms had finally taken a full stranglehold over Test match batting and that the capability to bat time has largely disappeared. England's rejuvenation continued, especially in their batting and despite the early summer ruckus, Kevin Pietersen is now a fading memory. They will hope that Bell and Anderson will be soon too, though the latter is likely to be missed the most. Australia came full of hope and left realising that a long period of rebuilding is now in store. The curtain calls for Harris, Rogers, Haddin, and Watson were not really surprises, but for Clarke to come as a world cup winning captain and leave as a retiree, emulating his predecessor in losing successive Ashes on English soil was a bit of a surprise.

More than a bit surprising though was the continued emergence of Bangladesh as an ODI force. Three successive (and convincing) series wins over top opposition (including two of their Asian neighbours) has not only helped them gain a place in the Champions Trophy ahead of the West Indies, it has boosted their confidence. A boost that is starting to seep into their Test match performances and will hopefully continue to do so. A few more 300+ opening partnerships wouldn't hurt either.

The Asian bloc has generally seen a lot of neighbourly action and Sri Lanka have been at the losing end in most cases. They are realising (as India have in the last few years), that losing multiple experienced batsmen in succession can cause run scoring to stall and it takes some time (and patience) to rebuild. India are now closer to the finish line on the rebuilding and have even managed to win overseas whereas for Pakistan, reconstruction is on the horizon with Misbah and Younis likely to exit in the next year. The bowling for these sides seems much healthier with the resurgence of Wahab Riaz, Ishant Sharma, and Dhammika Prasad, and Ashwin and Yasir Shah threatening to be the most dominant spinners in the world for the next five years at least.

The upcoming season then promises to be an exciting one with lots of great match-ups in store. England vs. Pakistan, India vs. South Africa, England vs. South Africa, Australia vs. New Zealand (twice), and more culminating in the World T20. A new season hopefully also means lots of new stars as well as the chance for emerging stars to establish themselves firmly as bedrocks of their teams. And of course, the sun setting on some. Clarke and Sangakkara have been the most notable ones this summer but the likes of Dhoni, Steyn, Cook, Bell, Anderson, Johnson, McCullum, and Herath, not to mention Misbah and Younis have only a few more miles left to go. The world keeps moving on though as it must. My little ones are a daily testament :-)

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