As Cricket mourns Phil Hughes - an Umpire too died on field ... !

In Cricket, the Umpire holds an exalted position – he stands in the best position to watch and judge and his decision is final [forget the referrals !] – in yesteryears, the crowds would come alive, the moment they can sight the two gentleman taking that walk to the middle.  A good Umpire has to see the bowler’s delivery stride, checking whether he is overstepping, follow the ball to decide on whether it would otherwise have disturbed the wicket, takes the edge, whether the ball is caught cleanly, whether it crosses the boundary, whether the fielder’s body is well within when stopping / catching – and when the throw comes in, stands in a position to decide whether stumps are broken before the bat or any part of the body is within the crease !

Sometimes, when the ball is fiercely struck back [mostly lofted shots] – they have to duck or take evasive action swiftly, to avoid getting injured. A Swarup Kishan or somebody with bulky frame doing that often would invite laughter from the crowds. !

The Port of Ashdod is one of Israel's two main cargo ports. The port is located  about 40 kilometers south of Tel Aviv, adjoining the mouth of the Lachish River.  Ashdod  is the fifth-largest city in Israel, on the Mediterranean coast.  Though it had existed for centuries, the modern city of Ashdod was founded in 1956. In May 1956, then finance minister Levi Eshkol approved the establishment of the city of Ashdod. "Ashdod Company Ltd.", a daughter company of City-Builders Company Ltd., was created for that purpose. The first settlers, twenty-two families of immigrants from Morocco arrived in November 1956, and a group of immigrants from Egypt joined them.

The place is in news for wrong reasons – an  umpire at a cricket match in the Israeli city of Ashdod has died after being hit by a ball. Israeli news agencies report that a  batsman's shot struck Hillel Awaskar in the neck, possibly after a ricochet from the stumps at his end of the pitch. The incident occurred  just two days after Australian batsman Phillip Hughes died of a head injury caused by being struck by a ball at a match in Sydney.

Phillip Hughes will forever be 63 not out after the official scorecard for his final match was adjusted by Cricket Australia. Hughes was listed as 'retired hurt' after he was struck on the head and rushed to hospital during the first day of South Australia's match against NSW at the SCG.  The left-hander passed away two days later, leading to an outpouring of grief across the sporting world.  "It might seem like a little thing, but it's an important distinction," said Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland. So - "Phillip will forever remain 63 not out."

Getting back – the exalted Umpire do not wear any protective gear – almost 5 years ago, an Umpire at a match in Wales died hit by a throw.  Mr Hilel  was the former captain of the Israeli national cricket team. In what was to be last in the league session in Israel, he was hit, was taken to a city hospital, but medics were unable to revive him.  It is reported that cricket is not a popular sport in Israel, though there is an amateur league largely populated by players from countries such as India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Hillel Awaskar,  is reportedly a person of  Indian-origin.  The batsman had struck hard. The fast ball first hit the stumps, got deflected and hit Awaskar on his neck. He collapsed on the ground,“ one of the players is quoted as saying.  The 55-year-old Awaskar, originally hailed from Mumbai and moved to Israel almost 40 years ago. Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted doctors as saying Awasker suffered a heart attack after being hit by the ball.  The Israeli police has ruled out any foul play in the incident but is still investigating the case.

In July 2009  at Swansea - Alcwyn Jenkins, 72, of Skewen, had his back to fielder Stephen Davies when he threw the ball at the stumps.  After the inquest, it was ruled that he was hit on the head during an attempted run out and was accidental death.   The fielder Davies tried a pick and throw and only later realised that the Umpire was in the way. Mr Jenkins was flown by air ambulance to Swansea's Morriston Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Concluding, England’s captain Alastair Cook stated that the Phillip Hughes tragedy had some impact on their eight-wicket defeat by Sri Lanka in the second one-day international in Colombo.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

1^st Dec 2014.

Pic credit : TimesofIsrael.com

Meghalaya on Country's rail map after more than 6 decades of Independence

Perhaps it comes as no news -  in times like Pongal - tickets for Southbound trains  are sold out in a few minutes within the offline and online window opening with thousands scrambling to make advance reservations.   Virtually every train to destinations within the State such as Madurai, Salem and Coimbatore as well as Kerala and Karnataka run up huge waitlists. This when there are so many trains running on these routes. North East India is different.  In April 2014, Train no.  15696 Agartala Lumding MG Express covering  a distance of 408 km in 19 hours connected  Agartala in West Tripura with Lumding city in Nagaon Dist of Assam was in news because it put Arunachal’s capital is finally on India’s rail map.   Sri Narendra Modi flagged-off another train on 29^th Nov 2014, this time putting Meghalaya on the Country’s rail map after more than six decades of Independence. 

Meghalaya in the North East of India, means "the abode of clouds" in Sanskrit.  This state borders Bangladesh and Assam.  The capital is Shillong, known as the "Scotland of the East".  English is the official language of Meghalaya. Meghalaya has predominantly an agrarian economy with a significant commercial forestry industry. It is also a major logistical center for trade with Bangladesh.

PM Modi fulfilled a long nurtured dream of Meghalaya on Railway map.  Modi flagged off a train between Meghalaya’s Mendipathar and Guwahati, a distance of 131km, and laid the foundation stone for a 51.38km-long new broad gauge railway line between Bhairabi and Sairang in Mizoram. As the Prime Minister held the green flag at the NF Railway Sports Stadium at Maligaon, the train chugged out of the new station at Mendipathar amid the cheers of thousands who gathered there to be a part of the “historic moment.” With his maiden visit to the Northeast as Prime Minister beginning today, Modi emphasised improving connectivity, seen as the region’s major bottleneck for progress. He will visit Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura during his four-day visit. Underlining his government’s resolve to accord priority to the development of the Northeast, Modi said he had heard that according to vastu shastra, if the northeastern corner of the house was well maintained, the entire house could be taken care of. He said for India to be prosperous, the development of the Northeast is a priority.

He reminded the gathering about the commitment of Rs 28,000 crore in the first budget of his government to building new railway lines in the region.  It is stated that the plan to connect Meghalaya was envisaged in 1880 when the British wanted to link Shillong (the capital of the composite Assam province) with Calcutta through Mawsmai, Cherrapunjee, Companyganj, Sylhet and Goalandu. The project, however, did not materialise.

The Rs 275-crore project was ready in March this year and received the safety clearance in August. Nearly 10.26km of the track falls in Assam. Lauding Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma, who was also present, Modi said connectivity, including optical fibre network system in the region, would help local youths get jobs. Assam governor J.B. Patnaik, Meghalaya and Mizoram governor K.K. Paul, Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla, Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju, Union minister for sports Sarbananda Sonowal and railway board chairman A. Kumar attended the function. Over 3,000 people gathered at Mendipathar railway station to witness the event. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Agitok Sangma  is quoted as telling  The Telegraph, “When Modi waved the green flag, I felt Garo hills is moving forward to a better future.”

Station Name	Arrival	Km	Speed	Elev
Mendipathar		0	36	65m
Nolbari	07:15	9	32	85m
Dudhnoi	07:35	19.1	55	50m
Amjonga	08:11	29.1	56	49m
Rangjuli	08:23	39.4	21	50m
Dhup Dhara	08:50	48.6	57	49m
Singra	09:01	58.1	18	51m
Boko	09:29	66.3	52	48m
Bamuni Gaon	09:39	74	70	49m
Chaygaon	09:50	85.6	54	48m
Mirza	10:05	98.3	60	51m
Azara	10:17	109.3	35	52m
Kamakhya Junction	10:40	122.1	11	55m
Guwahati	11:20	129.1	-	60m

Prime Minister is also quoted as saying - "Railway facilities are the same as they were 100 years back.... Privatise the railway stations and modernise them,"  and that Railway Stations should be better than airports as most travellers are poor people. Modi said the Indian Railways have the potential to become the backbone of the country's economic activity.  "The upper middle class in India wants to go for visiting places once or twice a year. They keep searching for good places. If we have good connectivity, then they will come to North-East as it is full of natural beauty and lovely people. "Once infrastructure is developed, rest all will be done by the public," Modi said.  Good news for the people of India…. North East is  elated to be a part of this moment and becoming part of Railway map of India with the running of the first passenger train.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

1^st Dec 2014.

he bowled fast - but .... played only one Test - Yograj Singh

In the  Vijay Hazare Trophy, Rajasthan plummeted to a new low – being bowled out for 35. At Nagpur, Rajasthan, which is mired in uncertainty due to Rajasthan Cricket Association's internal tussles and those with the BCCI, put up a dismal performance.  It is the second-lowest total in India's domestic one-day cricket, after Saurashtra's 34 against Mumbai in 1999-00. Rajasthan’s score card reads :  0;0;0;0 – 4; 13(no); 4;0;1;6;4. Railways bowling : Anureet Singh 8-3-16-5; ACP Mishra 7.3-3-18-5.

At  Abu dhabi, in the first Test against Pak – against a huge 1st innings score, Tom Latham scored a century becoming the 3rd pair from New Zealand (of father-son who scored test hundreds) – the earlier ones have been   Richard & Walter Hadlee, and Hamish & Ken Rutherford.  In some ways, the Match referee has an illustrious son – and he was once feared to be the fastest bowler in India.  He was in news for wrong reasons though, getting arrested in Chandigarh  on the grounds that he had  come to a house in Panchkula's Sector 2 for a party on Sunday night and was involved in an altercation with a neighbour over parking of cars. The neighbour, in his complaint to the police, alleged that the ex-player  and others assaulted him.

Kapil Dev changed the Indian scene showing that in the land of great spinners, fast bowlers too can emerge.  Kapil Dev was a class apart – Javagal  Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Karsan Ghavri, Madanlal played for long.  The recent times have seen new ball attack of : Zaheer, Nehra, Pathan, Ishant, Sreeshant, Praveenkumar – seriously challenged by bunch of youngsters  :  Umesh Yadav , Vinay Kumar, Varun Aaron, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ashok Dinda, Jaidev Unakdat; then there have been some  nippy fast bowlers and some swing bowlers  who came along but never made their marks which would include: Yograj Singh,  Chetan Sharma, Raju Kulkarni, Rajinder Singh Ghai, TA Sekhar, Vivek Razdan, Bharat Arun, Subrata Bannerjee, AW Zaidi,  Rudra Pratap Singh, Doda Ganesh….

Remember the father of the illustrious Yuvraj Singh – ‘Yograj Singh Bhagsingh Bhundel’ – hailed as faster than Kapil himself.  TA Sekhar too was stated so.    Yograj sadly ended up playing a solitary test and 6 One dayers taking 1 and 4 International wickets. 

I remember following that Test no. 897 at Basin Reserve, Wellington in Feb 1981.  Kirti Azad, Yograj and a young Ravi Shastri who had just flown in as a replacement made their debuts.  NZ captained by Geoff Howarth batted first and made 375.  The captain remained unbeaten with 137.Kapil and Ravi Shastri took 3 wickets apiece, Sandip Patil scalped two while Binny and Yograj had one apiece.  The man who later became Indian coach John Wright was Yograj’s victim.  Indians were all out for 223 with only Sandip Patil (64) making runs. Lance Cairns took 5 for 33. 

In the second innings, Indians bowling so well demolished NZ for 100 in 49 overs.  Kapil took 4/34; Binny 2/26; Patil 1/12- Ravi Shastri took 3/9 …….. Yograj did not bowl a single delivery in the 2nd innings. Set to score 253 for a win, Indians were all out for 190.  They were 136/8 at one stage.

That was the only Test of Yograj singh. Yograj Singh married  Shabnam Singh and they had two sons.  Yuvraj and Zoravar Singh. After his cricketing  career was ended by injury, he entered Punjwood, the Punjabi film industry and acted in man films – sad that it was such a short career for someone who could bowl fast !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

photo credit : The Telegraph (which cites Kapil's book as source)         

         

         

          

New Zealand butchers travel more than 10000 miles for work in Iceland

How far is your workplace – how much do you travel to reach your workplace – and are you working and staying in a place far away from your homeland ?

Iceland is a Nordic country between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean.  The capital and largest city is Reykjavík; the surrounding areas in the southwest of the country are home to two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active.  In its long history, from 1262 to 1918,   Iceland was ruled by Norway and later Denmark. The country became independent in 1918 and a republic in 1944. Until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on fishing and agriculture.  Iceland has a free-market economy with relatively low taxes.

It has plethora of animals that include the Icelandic sheep, cattle, chickens, goats, the sturdy Icelandic horse, and the Icelandic sheepdog, all descendants of animals imported by Europeans. Wild mammals include the Arctic fox, mink, mice, rats, rabbits and reindeer. Polar bears occasionally visit the island, travelling on icebergs from Greenland.  Icelandic sheep  is a breed of domestic sheep with mid-sized breed, generally short legged and stocky, with face and legs free of wool.  Generally left unshorn for the winter, the breed is very cold-hardy.   A gene also exists in the breed called the Þoka gene, and ewes carrying it have been known to give birth to triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets, and even sextuplets on occasion.   At summer’s apex, before the annual slaughter, the number of sheep in Iceland outnumbers the human population three to one.

Thousands of miles away, down under is the Cricketing country of Newzealand, an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses – that of the North Island  and the South Island,  and numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea. ~ and this post is about kiwi butchers travelling 13850 miles for work.  BBC reports that Shawn Parkinson and other Kiwi butchers work for two months for SAH Products in Blondous, Iceland. Every year, several dozen butchers make an epic commute - from provincial New Zealand to rural Iceland - for just two months' work. It's at the extreme end of the trend for fly-in fly-out workers.

As work commutes go, Shawn Parkinson's journey takes some beating. Dannevirke to Auckland - six-hour drive. Auckland to Sydney - three-hour flight. Sydney to Dubai - 14 and a half hours in the air. Dubai to London - seven-hour flight. London to Reykjavik - almost three hours' flying time. Reykjavik to Blonduos, north-west Iceland - three-hour drive. Two months later, he repeats all 22,300km (about 13,850 miles) on the return leg. Every September, he and 30 other New Zealand butchers travel to Iceland for its lamb processing season. It's an annual trek Mr Parkinson has made for the past seven years.

To them it is the experience of a lifetime. It's the other side of the world and you can still get a bit of work. Flights and accommodation are paid by their Icelandic bosses - who struggle to find trained locals for just eight weeks' work - and the wages are similar to those found in New Zealand. The chain - as a production line is called in the meat industry - runs from 07:30 in the morning until 18:00, five days a week with a few half-Saturdays.  He feels a kinship with Icelanders. "They're descended from the Vikings and we are mostly Maori, so we share a warrior history and a similar attitude.  The season is too short - and the factories too remote - for Iceland's butchers to be prepared to relocate. And to train locals from scratch takes too long. So they thought of the better option of getting butchers from far away kiwiland.  The New Zealanders do the skilled butchery jobs on the chain, with labourers from Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic assigned to tasks involving heavy lifting and offal.  The Kiwis are reliable workers - never sick, always do a 100% job," says  their employer.

The online application form to work at Nordlenska asks prospective employees to rate their English language - not Icelandic - skills. The unemployment rate is rather low in Iceland compared to the rest of Europe so it is sometimes difficult to get Icelandic workers for seasonal work. It is stated that this started in 2003 and is continuing despite the distance involved. 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

18^th Nov. 2014