The Original Game » ears later Patel was remembered again, he had almo

Before this Test match, one of the last snapshots of Jeetan Patel in international cricket was that of him on the way to square leg when facing Dale Steyn with the score on 62 for 8 in Port Elizabeth in January 2013. Mens Vapormax Sale Uk . With BJ Watling fighting at the other end on 25. Patel was bowled.If you are a New Zealand cricketer, you are known for making the most out of the limited resources available, through acumen, through spirit and through courage. The last thing you want to be known for in New Zealand is a soft dismissal. The tag just sticks. It is no surprise then that when three-and-a-half years later Patel was remembered again, he had almost given up on wearing that black cap again. Even New Zealand hadnt thought of him until Mark Craig got injured.In this second life, which might not extend to any cricket outside India, Patel first showed improvement as a spin bowler. A wiser and fitter man now, leading wicket-taker in this years county championship, he bowled at an optimum pace for a spinner in Indian conditions without overly sacrificing his length. Ajinkya Rahane said he was the toughest bowler to face on the first day of the Test in which fast bowlers have done most of the wicket-taking. It was with the bat, though, that he had come a full circle. Once again walking out to join that fighter Watling, once again during a collapse, out to face a hat-trick ball in fading light.How was Patel going to react to this déjà vu cricket had given him? He went after the hat-trick ball, but didnt move away from the stumps. Still he came pretty close playing what could be seen as a soft shot in a time of strife. When he drove at the next ball - this one was slightly fuller and hence he connected properly - it seemed like there might have been a plan to look for runs because the pitch was doing too much and might have undone the defence of a No. 9 anyway.Patel had to survive only one more over before the light faded enough for the umpires to take players off the field. This morning, the same intent was clear as he punched the first ball down the ground, between bowler and mid-off for four. Watling kept his vigil going at the other end, and Patel looked to keep scoring. If a drive went gracefully through cover, an edge would fly wide of slips. Once in his 20s, Patel began to rely less on luck and more on finesse.Ravindra Jadejas first ball of the day was driven through cover for four. A sweep for four soon followed. Then came three boundaries in the same Jadeja over. A short ball cut away, two full ones flicked wide of mid-on. He was going with the spin, against the spin, and everything was connecting. With Watling solid at the other end, with runs flowing from Patels end, with Virat Kohli getting increasingly impatient, New Zealand fans would have just started wondering if this side was going to pull off another scarcely believable escape.Cricket was about to play a cruel joke now. Playing back to a ball from Jadeja with flatter trajectory but still on a full length, Patel was caught so plumb he almost started to walk. It turned out Jadejas front foot had failed to stay behind the line, though. This was a man who had bowled three no-balls in 4446 deliveries in Test cricket before this series. It just so happened that Patel caught Jadeja on a streak during which he had just bowled a fourth no-ball in 480 deliveries this series. Cricket was smiling. It was giving Patel yet another chance. Cricket was obviously only going to snatch it away again.R Ashwin was Kohlis fourth choice on the day. Perhaps, while others were doing the damage, Kohli wanted to rest the finger of his main weapon; Ashwin has been bowling with some discomfort thanks to a corn on the middle finger of his right hand. Thirteen overs into the days play, Kohli finally went to Ashwin. Jadeja had already bowled four overs for 25 runs. He had been attacked right away. There was no reason to not look to attack Ashwin if Patel got one in his zone. This is how he had got so far, and he now had his eye in.The first ball was full enough, outside off, the seam rotating towards fine leg, an offbreak. Patel looked to play it with the turn, but the ball pitched and almost changed direction. The ball straightening is enough to defeat you once you have committed to a shot, but this one did more than that and lobbed up for an easy catch. A commentator on air wondered if Patel had played a bad shot in his anxiety to get to his fifty - he was three short. It might have looked like that on first viewing, but Patel had been unlucky here. He was playing the way he had played until then, but Ashwins natural variation did him in.****It is quite possible Ashwin didnt know this ball was not going to turn, but he had given it the best opportunity to not turn. Therein lies the skill of Ashwin and Jadeja. Natural variation is a part of the game. You are bowling on soil, over five days, with a leather ball stitched with a hard seam. It wont always behave as expected. India have derived more natural variation simply because they have put themselves in a position to do so. And that has not just come through accuracy. If you look at visiting spinners, the seam position on their offbreaks is at 45 degrees, or one to seven on a clock. Asian finger spinners have the skill to bowl an offbreak with the seam parallel to the ground, or three to nine on the clock. This gives them the possibility of landing the ball on the leather and bringing in the possibility of that variation. If it lands on the seam it turns.It is not a matter of just flipping the seam in the hand and bowling the way Ashwin and Jadeja do. It takes hours of practice and strong wrists. Watch Ashwins instructional video on bcci.tv. His offspinning action is like turning a doorknob. Try sending a leather ball across 22 yards with that action. It is bloody difficult. Both Ashwin and Jadeja can keep doing this seemingly tirelessly. With Ashwin it becomes even more difficult because he doesnt bowl all his balls this way. Sometimes the seam comes out at 45 degrees, sometimes parallel. He bowls the seam-up arm ball. He bowls carrom balls. He bowls them all accurately. Dont undermine the role of drift in Patels dismissal either. Ever since he has sorted his action out, Ashwin gets beautiful drift and dip on his offbreaks.Cricket is a game of luck where you cant leave things to luck. All you do is try your best to eliminate it as a batsman, and try to put yourself in the best position to catch some luck. The more you try to understand it, the more it can drive you to insanity. Sometimes you just sit back and watch the drama. Cheap Vapormax Womens White . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. Clearance Nike Vapormax . -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks was fined $15,570 by the NFL on Wednesday for his hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees last Sunday. http://www.vapormaxwholesaleuk.com/ .com) - The Chicago Blackhawks aim for their third three-game winning streak of the season when they host the struggling Edmonton Oilers in Sundays battle at the United Center. James Cummings proved that he can do it on his own as Prized Icon produced one of the strongest three-year-old staying performances of recent times in winning the Group 1 AAM Victoria Derby over 2500 metres - the feature race of Day 1 of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.Cummings, 28, confirmed that success is definitely in his bloodline as he followed in the footprints of his great grandfather James Cummings; his grandfather Bart Cummings, the Cups King; and his father, Anthony Cummings, in saddling a winner of the classic.Ridden by veteran South African-born jockey Glyn Schofield, Prized Icon ($17) saw off the challenge by favourite Sacred Elixir ($2.70) by two-and-a-half lengths with the well-backed Inference ($9.50) a further length-and-a-quarter away in third.Oceanographer put on a slashing Melbourne Cup trial in winning the Group 2 Lexus Stakes (2500m). Sweeping from last to first, and just getting there by the official margin of a long-neck, this Charlie Appleby-trained visitor from England propelled himself into calculations for Tuesdays race -- he is now second favourite at $6 with UBET?-- and received a one-kilogram penalty for the Cup in which he will now carry 52kg.Shane Nichols, from the Mornington Peninsula, meanwhile, saddled his first Group 1 win as I Am A Star ($8.50) saluted in the Myer Stakes (1600m). Jockey Dean Yendall is also having a Carnival to remember in riding his second career Group 1 winner after he steered Thursdays Crown Oaks favourite Yankee Rose to victory in the Spring Champion Stakes in Sydney three weeks earlier.The Mick Price-trained Flying Artie ($10) caused somewhat of an upset in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) for three-year-olds. Billed as the Race of the Spring, most pundits had his expected his stablemate Extreme Choice ($3.60) and Godolphins Astern ($2.80) would fight out the finish.The fourth Group 1 race on the day saw Le Romain ($15) win the Cantala Stakes over 1600 metres for Newcastle trainer Kris Lees, to give jockey Hugh Bowman a double after saluting aboard Flying Artie. In the very open race, favourite The United States ($6) finished just outside of the placings in fourth.Headline ActJames Cummings: Commenting that it might take a little while for the win to sink in, his reaction to the victory was as graceful as any post-race comments made immediately after the event could get -- especially when he paid tribute to the patient ride of Glyn Schofield in steering Prized Icon to victory.Away from the snapping photographers and glaring television cameras, the warm embrace between the trainer and his father, Anthony, said everything of their excitement at James achievement and the pride of a father seeing his son star on such a big stage. How often does the fourth generation of a training dynasty go on to win the same race over six decades?James was very quick to attribute any success he has had to the extraordinary situation of being mentored by his late grandfatherThe win was also a further family affair as James father-in-law, Filipino racehorse breeding magnate and major brewery executive Eduardo Cojuanco, bred Prized Icon at his southern New South Wales stud, while James wife -- Monica -- was also in the ownership.Talking PointDerby distance: It may not have been the first-choice topic of conversation among many of the 90,136 people who attended Derby Day, but the appropriateness of the 2500 metres Derby distance comes into question when many analysts are doing their form prior to the race. Nike Joyride Run Uk. The Derby is run three months after the competitors officially turn three-years-old on Aug. 1. Is the race programming expecting too much of these young horses in training for and running in such an important race over that grueling distance? Is it too long?While Prized Icon looked to have handled the trip within himself, there is a case made by some trainers that once they have prepared horses of this age to race over such a distance, then it is more difficult to prolong their racing careers with success into their fourth year and beyond.Will we see a 2000 metre Victoria Derby sometime soon? Probably not. Tradition will weigh heavily on any decision.EyecatchersOceanographer: He was rated a $151 hope when Melbourne Cup markets opened in August. This Charlie Appleby-trained English raider confirmed he wasnt in Australia just to be a low-flying chance with his slashing third placing in the Geelong Cup, and he followed up with one of the most impressive Lexus Stakes performances for a winner of that race -- and as such produced one of the best Melbourne Cup trials in recent years.With the winner of the Lexus Stakes gaining automatic entry into the Melbourne Cup field, chief handicapper Greg Carpenter still allotted a one-kilogram penalty on the strength of the win to take Oceanographers Cup impost to 52kg. It drew this response from Appleby toward jockey Chad Schofield, who will take the Cup ride: It told Chad that he can have an extra cup of tea on the day then.UBET have Oceanographer as the second-favourite for the Melbourne Cup at $7.50.?Tiamo Grace: The Group 2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m) has historically been the best guide to the Group 1 Crown Oaks (2500m) the following Thursday, and Tiamo Grace may well take it up to race favourite and Cox Plate third placegetter Yankee Rose in the classic. Tiamo Graces Wakeful win followed up a luckless run at Caulfield a fortnight earlier. While UBET have rated Yankee Rose at $1.95 in their Oaks market, Tiamo Grace is the second-favourite at $4.60.BlackbookersPure Pride: She was awkwardly away from the gates in the Group 1 Myer Classic and rattled home for fifth placing at $51. Should trainer Murray Johnson decide to line her up in the Group 2 Sandown Guineas (1600m) on Nov. 12, she may be one to remember.Rocketeer: There has to be a feature race win for this guy somewhere when the Autumn Carnival comes around in Sydney next year -- or earlier in the late summer features in Melbourne. He produced four consecutive second placings in lead-up runs and still ran a gallant seventh in the Derby at $12 having had to contend with starting from barrier No. 19.FlopAcatour: This colt may have jumped away from the barriers awkwardly and found to be lame in one leg post-race, but that gives no comfort to the punters who charged into him at $5 with UBET in the dying minutes before race time. Although there were those excuses, as noted in the Stewards Report, the colt also failed at its previous run at Caulfield as the $2.60 favourite. ' ' '