2019

Why The Boundary Rule Needs To Be Amended

July 17, 2019 Happenings

Firstly, kudos to England on winning their first ICC Cricket World Cup. Both teams played like world champions and it seemed that none was willing to relent despite the pressure situation, obviously since both squads were aiming for their very first world cup success. Nevertheless, let’s say if I had to pick the quality of ground fielding I’d pick New Zealand over England. They were so solid at ball possession that at one time chasing a target of 241 seemed very daunting, no matter how good the running between the wickets was the Kiwis were making it harder to take twos. Then England needed 9 runs off the last 3 balls, and the overthrow gave them extra runs. That fateful overthrow from deep midwicket by Guptill, which hit Stoke’s bat on his second run and went for the boundary, will be long remembered. That opened the floodgates and clinched England that infamous tied score.

Going back in time, I feel for England when they were thrice runner-ups, in a sense of nostalgia, this world cup triumph of theirs was 40 years in the making! In 1979 England faced the mighty West Indies who won their second successive Prudential World Cup. Then in 1987, they were again outdone by Australia in the finals of the Reliance World Cup in Kolkata. Finally, in 1992, it would be Pakistan’s moment to lift the Benson & Hedges World Cup beating England. Their lowest point would probably be the 2015 world cup when England was eliminated in the group stage losing 4 of their 6 matches. All in all, the English were knocking the doors of world cup glory for ages, and it seemed odd for the birthplace of cricket to have never achieved this feat. Well, not anymore! Though I would have loved for them to win without all the hoopla and undue attention on the controversial boundary rule clearly meant for T20 cricket.

Background of The Boundary Rule

The entertainment value of the 2019 World Cup finals notwithstanding, as I mentioned, it came with its fair share of controversies and went down to the wire….or should I say the boundary. YES, I’m referring to the maniacal rule of the ICC in awarding the victory to the team that hit more boundaries in the match. So for the uninitiated, a boundary is not just the perimeter of the playing field but it is also referred to the scoring shot that a batsman hits to for four runs or over and beyond the perimeter for a maximum six runs. That disputable rule from Appendix F – Paragraph 13 says, and I quote:

In the event of the teams having the same score after the Super Over has been completed, if the original match was a tie under the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern method, paragraph 15 below shall apply. Otherwise, the team whose batsmen hit the most number of boundaries combined from its two innings in both the match and the Super Over shall be the winner.

ICC Men’s Twenty20 International Playing Conditions Effective 30 September 2018

Just in case if you’re wondering, that reference to Paragraph 15 further complicates matters in the event everything including the boundaries are tied despite the super-over. It’s so complicated that I just decided to post the screenshot from the rule book.

ICC Rule - Para 15
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Don’t Dream, It’s Over!

July 10, 2019 Happenings
ICC World Cup 2019

As the Indian team was reduced to 5 for 3 wickets in the semi-finals against New Zealand today and as I pretty much shut myself off of every medium that broadcast the match scores, these words from the famous Crowded House song began to linger in my mind. I harboured a dream that India would have a walkover victory of this World Cup the way the team had performed superbly in the big games. i.e. Australia, South Africa, Pakistan. In comparison, a score of 240 didn’t seem daunting with 9 batsmen, huh. But it’s a loss whichever way you look at it and we have to wait for 4 years for the coveted cricket trophy to come home. So don’t stop dreaming until then.

Fans will have funny ways to show their contempt to the losing team, somehow their shades of emotions are always in black and white and they would perhaps judge this Indian team on the wrong side of the game. In all the hoopla they’d be forgetting that the guys held out to the best of the best in the world and put up a fight against all odds to win all except 1 match in the league stage. That’s a great record.

So here’s some pouring of my utter exasperation arising out of India’s loss today. To begin with, no doubt this semi-final match would be best remembered in history for being a ‘two-day international’ due to the inclement weather of England. Whatever advantage that India could have got in the second half was lost completely during the second day’s play I feel. Would I have said that had India won the match? Not at all. Quite honestly, I can assure you, not just the fans but even the players would have felt the fatigue of continuing a match on a reserve day, that’s all. I thought ICC could have allowed a new game from the beginning on a new day, with the idea being, an ODI should be played within a single day’s time frame. But the less said the better about ICC rules now.

I would like to say this without any bias or malice against any other cricketing nation, that India were truly the champions of this world cup edition considering the challenges they were faced with and how they were dealt with by men with sheer teamwork. Kudos to the coaching staff on this too who rarely get the spotlight. Despite the loss by 18 runs I still think Kohli’s men played with all their heart and soul and continued to keep a billion dreams of winning the cup afloat. Nevertheless this is how I will remember this world cup and India’s achievements in the days to come. Or at least until the next big Indian victory in a mega cricketing event!

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Canada Maple Leaf

8 Mind-blowing Facts About Canada on ‘Canada Day’

July 1, 2019 Happenings

What better occasion to reminisce about the glory of our great nation than on Canada Day! Well, today marks the 152nd anniversary since the creation of the Dominion of Canada on July the 1st, 1867. It was referred to as ‘Dominion Day’, until 1982 when we started honouring it as ‘Canada Day’ after the passage of the Canada Act.

On this road to prosperity and material progress, our ancestors — thinkers, sportspersons & athletes, scientists, explorers, academicians, and entrepreneurs, strived harder shoulder to shoulder to achieve higher success in their respective domains, including science and technology, medicine, business, space, in the process producing world-class knowledge base so our future generations could advance their capabilities, learn and continue to proudly and securely build the country of our dreams. This is one reason Canadian inventions, products and technologies enrich millions of lives every single day and will continue to do so. In summing up my emotion, the responsibility of safeguarding the prosperity and the diversity of our country rests upon all my Canadians working together in facing the challenges of our collective destiny. Everyone must endeavour for a strong and free Canada. That, for me, is the essence of being a true Canadian.

On this Canada Day, I thought I’d collect 8 mind-blowing facts about our nation depicting our vast diversity from coast to coast:

  1. Winnie the Pooh came from Canada. Back in 1915, there was a bear cub named Winnipeg who got transferred from Canada to the London Zoo. A little boy named Christopher Robin Milne loved visiting Winnipeg. His father happened to be A A Milne who got inspired and wrote Winnie the Pooh.
  2. Canada’s official motto is A Mari usque ad Mare, which translates as “From Sea to Sea.” It comes from the Bible’s Psalm 72:8 which the King James version puts it into English: “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” This verse was applied to Canada on the suggestion of Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley to represent the geographical reach of the country.
  3. Canada shares the longest international border in the world with the United States. And despite being invaded by the US twice — in 1775 (Battle of Quebec) and in 1812 (War of 1812), it’s the world’s longest undefended border with only civilian law enforcement present.
  4. Jacques Cartier was invited by Iroquois natives to their “Kanata” meaning “village” or “settlement” in the local dialect. Because of how often they used the term Cartier assumed it was the name of the country was “Kanata”, or Canada as we now call it.
  5. Canada is home to one of the largest national parks in the world, the Wood Buffalo National Park which traverses the province of Alberta and the Northwest Territories. It measures 17,300 square miles or 44,807 square kilometres. That area is 1360 square miles or 3522.38 square kilometres larger than the total area of Switzerland! The park is also home to one of the largest remaining populations of the wild bison and is a natural nesting place of the whooping crane.
  6. Canada has more oil than you think — an estimated 176.8 billion recoverable barrels. It’s called crude bitumen, a semi-solid source of petroleum, and it’s available in abundance in Canada’s oil sands in the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. About 96 per cent of Canada’s oil reserves is located in the oil sands making it the third largest oil reserves in the world.
  7. The Trans-Canada Highway between Victoria (BC) and St. John’s (NF) is the world’s longest national highway with a length of 7,821 km (4,860 mi). Unfortunately, the highway does not pass through the Yukon, Northwest Territories or in Nunavut (nor in Newfoundland’s Labrador). And last but not least…
  8. On April 20 1980, Terrance Stanley “Terry” Fox started his east to west cross-Canada run called ‘Marathon of Hope’, from St. John’s NL to Victoria BC, to raise funds for Cancer research. He had his right leg amputated because of bone cancer in 1977. Regrettably, after running 5,373 kilometres in 143 days — he’d run the equivalent of full-marathon (42km) distance every day, Fox was forced to stop running outside Thunder Bay, Ont. because cancer appeared in his lungs. He passed away in 1981 at age 22!

Wishing every Canadian on this planet and beyond, a Happy Canada Day!

Sources:

  1. The real-life Canadian story of Winnie-the-Pooh
  2. A Mari duque ad Mare
  3. Canada-United States border
  4. Origin of the name “Canada”
  5. Wood Buffalo National Park
  6. Oil Sands
  7. Highway Overview
  8. Terry Fox

Looking Ahead To A Glorious 2019

December 31, 2018 General
2019 and Calvin-Hobbes

Before I address the elephant in the room called 2019 I must confess it has been a pleasurable 2018, which started dull like the rest of its predecessors but ended on a high note! Though, unmistakably, it’s also a peculiar time of the year today — the year’s last day, which has always pushed me to take stock of the events as I wade through the memories of the bygone era.

New Year, New Beginnings

A new year is like a bunch of 365 fresh pages to channelize infinite energies into writing new chapters, ones which couldn’t materialize in the past year. I always endeavour to accomplish something novel — 2018 was the proving grounds and 2019 is not going to be different at all. However, 2018 was overwhelming in many ways, in which, it felt like it were a ride on some dreamlike magical rollercoaster. To begin with, I became a proud father, while my consulting practice rocketed to greater heights with new ventures, I came across some great reading material as usual that reinforced my belief in my ‘innovation by design’ principles, and I got to experience the latest in PS4 gaming with Lara Croft’s newest treasure hunting. On the downside though, I had to convey my goodbyes to some longtime friends and colleagues although a few new ones joined me in my journey, so in a nutshell, these consequent ebbs and flow enlightened my moments in 2018.

Cannot Wait for 2019

I believe I have emerged stronger, more optimistic and conscious of my purposes thanks to 2018. It was similar to climbing the summit of a mountain, then descending, and preparing to mount another big one, and continuing on the trail until I discovered the spot where I truly belonged. Of course, in this adventure, ‘change’ has been my best ally and I truly believe that the returns of 2018 would continue flowing well beyond 2019 as well, unchanged and quadrupled in volume. So, may the positivity, the knowledge-seeking, and the abundance of joy and happiness also continue to come to everyone’s life. Fingers crossed and hoping for the best and Happy New Year to you all!

Source: Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for December 26, 1993