The Audacity of Ignorance
Our friend Dr. Phil Frank Burns, after lamenting about people not writing intelligent posts or articles about cricket any more, lays a splendid turd which is both banal as well as based on plain wrong facts. He says - Madras is not a preferred test venue like Bangalore is. While Bangalore gets a game every year or every other year, Madras gets a game once every four years. And so there is a good chance that Sachin's last innings at one of his most productive venues will be a duck.
Of course, anybody who actually follows test cricket would know that in the period 1998-2008, Bangalore has hosted 6 test matches while Madras has hosted 7. That even if you take other grounds like Wankhede, Eden Gardens, Kotla, Motera... the number will be at the most 6 or 7. That until 2005, Madras was almost getting a game a year or so. That the cricketing season in India usually consists of a home autumn series followed by a home spring series in the following year, and venues are alloted on that basis. So Madras got a test in the 05-06 season, and now the 07-08 season. That the longest interval between tests in Madras has been between this one and the last one - 27 months, so still not close to 4 years. That 06-07 was a World Cup year, so India did not have it's traditional spring home series, only the autumn home series, and that the 2 previous autumn tests in Madras were rain-hit.
Facts are such an inconvenience when you want to convey both banality and victim mentality.
Of course, anybody who actually follows test cricket would know that in the period 1998-2008, Bangalore has hosted 6 test matches while Madras has hosted 7. That even if you take other grounds like Wankhede, Eden Gardens, Kotla, Motera... the number will be at the most 6 or 7. That until 2005, Madras was almost getting a game a year or so. That the cricketing season in India usually consists of a home autumn series followed by a home spring series in the following year, and venues are alloted on that basis. So Madras got a test in the 05-06 season, and now the 07-08 season. That the longest interval between tests in Madras has been between this one and the last one - 27 months, so still not close to 4 years. That 06-07 was a World Cup year, so India did not have it's traditional spring home series, only the autumn home series, and that the 2 previous autumn tests in Madras were rain-hit.
Facts are such an inconvenience when you want to convey both banality and victim mentality.
