elivered excessive drama to the proceedings. S | Forum

As Indias batsmen flogged a tired attack around Chennai, as they accumulated record after record, with the foul smell of sewage wafting from the Buckingham Canal, just behind the Anna Pavilion in Chennai, adding to the agony, it became painfully obvious that England had no answers to the questions posed of them this tour. Cheap Adidas Superstar Shoes . At least it isnt a timeless Test; England could have been out there for weeks.It would be nice to think that a day like this - a day when the paucity of Englands weapons in such conditions were laid bare - would lead to change. It would be nice to think the ECB would act to improve things.But they wont. And they wont because it wont pay to do so.Oh, they would like to win in India. It would be great.But they wouldnt like to win so dearly that they will give their players a decent chance of doing so. They wouldnt like to win so dearly that they will seek to prevent the increasing marginalisation of spin bowling in county cricket, or to alter the path upon which they are set which will continue to prioritise white-ball cricket to the detriment of everything else. They say they are the guardians of Test cricket, but scratch the surface and almost everything they do is about developing the shorter forms of the game.Absurd though it may sound, England really havent bowled badly here. Their seamers, in particular, were almost heroic on the fourth day. Despite having been in the field since the dawn of time (well, thats how it felt, anyway), they generated pace and hostility with the third - yes, third - new ball and their fielders flung themselves around with admirable commitment. Jos Buttlers gully catch would have been outstanding at any time; in the 171st over of the innings, it was incredible. There is no faulting them for effort.The spinners will probably receive the bulk of the flak. And it is true that they are, judged dispassionately, probably not up to the challenge they have been given on this tour. Liam Dawson at least kept the run-rate under some sort of control and Moeen Ali bowled about as well as he can. You can reasonably ask no more.But they have been let down by a system that treats tours like this as necessary evils. They have been let down by a system that is based around winning the Ashes - at least at home - and, of late, winning limited-overs tournaments. But it is Asia where the heart of the game beats strongest and the Ashes, for all its charm and (crucially) value, is increasingly the cricketing equivalent of the Boat Race in its parochialism. Theres no reason it should be prioritised above all other series.Its worth revisiting the causes of the current malaise.As things stand, a disproportionate amount of the County Championship is already squeezed into the opening two months of the season. That means counties have little use for spin bowlers as their seamers can do the job just fine on surfaces that are often helpful. A new ball is available at 80 overs and, in recent seasons, there have been various experiments surrounding the use of the heavy roller which have, inadvertently, sometimes made life even easier for seamers.Meanwhile, counties have sometimes prepared pitches that provide copious assistance to their medium-pace swing bowlers. While Jesse Ryder and Darren Stevens are both admirable cricketers in many ways, there is no way they should have been taking the quantity of wickets they were able to plunder in recent years. As a result, the role of the spinner has diminished. Last seasons controversial but well-intentioned change to the toss regulations have helped to redress that imbalance a touch. However, any county thinking of signing a young spinner has to think carefully of the value they will gain from them. Unless they can bat and unless they can contain in the short forms of the game, it is hard to see how they will gain the experience they require to develop to their maximum potential these days.One of the most talented young spinners in England, the left-armer Ravi Patel, has played three first-class matches in the last two seasons. Why? Primarily because he isnt much of a batsman and his team - Middlesex - rely on a strong seam attack and the off-spinning all-rounder Ollie Rayner. Its not his fault, its not their fault. Its the system.The situation is compounded by the stance towards turning pitches. While few blink an eye of a side is bowled out in a session by seamers - atmospheric conditions and swing were credited when Sussex blew Warwickshire away before lunch at Edgbaston in 2014 - if spinners achieve anything similar, you can be sure there will be penalties. Hampshire discovered this in 2011 when they were penalised despite producing a pitch that resulted in a game being drawn in four days. More recently, there were whispers from rivals during the 2016 season that Somerset were, in some way, doing something untoward by preparing pitches that helped their spin bowlers. A good argument might have been made to suggest they were providing a service for English cricket.There is a theory expounded by former spinners that the prevalence of limited-overs cricket threatens to ruin the action of young spinners. With their living being dictated largely by their success in T20, they are encouraged to develop their white-ball skills - the quicker, flatter deliveries you tend to see in that format - rather than learning the art of flight and guile that rendered Graeme Swann, who was brought up on spinning surfaces at Wantage Road, such a fine player.But its not just spin bowlers who struggle because of this situation. It is developing batsmen who find themselves on tours of Asia having never experienced anything like it before. Yes, there are development tours, including increasingly frequent camps in Asian conditions, but these are minor details when a major change of mindset is required.And it will only get worse. From 2020, if current plans are passed, there will be no first-class cricket at all in August with the new-team T20 competition running as the priority. From 2017 there will be 14 (rather than 16) Championship games a season with every chance it will reduce further within a few more years. The opportunities for spinners to gain the volume of overs they require to develop their skills will diminish, along with the schedule. We may see ever more players who can bowl a pretty tight four overs, who can field with athleticism and have tremendous power and bat speed. But were losing skills that used to be common in English cricket and once theyre gone it will be very tough to recover them.It would be simplistic to blast the ECB for not caring and not acting. Their priority - probably quite rightly - is the survival of the game in England. They know how desperate the plight of the game is and they are to be applauded for trying to arrest the decline.They have concluded - again, probably quite rightly - that the vehicle for recovery is T20. If they can get more people to see the game, they believe those people will fall in love with it. Again, theyre right. Its still a great game. If we can expose more people to it, theres no reason they wont fall for its charms. It is ironic, though, that it was the ECB who put the sport behind a paywall and have kept it there - despite gathering evidence of the downsides - for more than decade.So get used to losing in India. Because its the price were going to have to pay for our brave new world of T20 cricket. Its an avoidable scenario, but we dont seem to want it enough to make the changes required. Cheap Adidas Superstars . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. Adidas Superstars Clearance . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff. http://www.cheapsuperstar.net/ . However, he did make them miss him a little less. Cundiff, who had the unenviable job of replacing Dawson last season, agreed Thursday to a one-year, $1. SPRINGFIELD, N.J. -- Long, long ago, in a golf galaxy far, far away, there existed a singular dominant player who presided over his peers with a steely glare and an iron fist, rarely squandering an opportunity to defeat these mortals on the grandest stages.If life in the Tiger Woods era sounded like something out of a fairy tale, then life in the post-Tiger Woods era -- The eclectic era? The parity party? -- feels like a return to normalcy, a chance for the game to play out as the golf gods had first intended.Rather than one player triumphing over the field on a regular basis, the major championships have recently resembled a bakery line, with every elite-level player grabbing that little pink ticket from the machine at the counter, then waiting for his number to be called to pick up a trophy. (Blame Jordan Spieth for double-dipping at the counter last year.)This years first three major champions -- Danny Willett, Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson -- own a few notable commonalities. Each ranked among the worlds top 12 at the time of his win, and each claimed his first major title.It all serves as part of a bigger theme entering this weeks PGA Championship. Once a domain for dominance, the majors have become a turnstile for many of the worlds upper-echelon players.For just the fifth time since the inaugural Masters Tournament, there exists a chance that all four majors in a single year will be won by first-time champions. The difference between this year and 1959, 1969, 2003 and 2011, though, is that the 2016 champions list reads like a whos who of major contenders finally breaking through rather than a few surprises slipping through the cracks.Speaking of surprises, its less shocking that Willett, Johnson and Stenson have won than that Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy havent. Those players combined for seven major titles in the past five years, but now each is vying for the years final opportunity at a tournament that once rightly billed itself as Glorys Last Shot.Do I feel like Im playing five or 10 Tigers out there? No, I feel like that would be disrespectful towards Tiger, McIlroy said this week. But the fields are deeper and so many guys have chances to win tournaaments. Adidas Superstar Clearance Sale. ... Golf, its in a good place in terms of how many good players we have, and I feel like its hard to separate yourself from the pack a little bit. But thats what were trying to do. Were trying to separate ourselves and trying to win tournaments and trying to be the best that we can, and hopefully that, in turn, is the best in the world.Or as Spieth more succinctly put it: I dont think theres any Tiger out here right now. I think thats fair to say. Only time will tell.Thats not to say the game is any better with a singular dominant player, nor any worse without one. Dominance tends to fuel the intrigue of the masses (see: Era, Tiger), but a brilliant competitive balance certainly doesnt hurt matters.This years first three majors have not only provided new yet deserving champions, they also have delivered excessive drama to the proceedings. Spieth led by five strokes entering the back nine of the Masters and lost by three; Johnson played his final round of the U.S. Open with a looming video review of a rules violation but never faltered; and Stenson simply provided the better half of one of the games greatest duels on a Sunday afternoon stage, outlasting Phil Mickelson at The Open.If there was going to be any backlash against different players winning majors, it was washed away in the drama of each of these tournaments.It just goes to show how stiff the competition has gotten over the years that Ive been out here, explained Day, 28, who won his only major title at last years PGA Championship. And then on top of it, the guys are just younger and stronger and fitter and faster, and they are just long out there. So just the competition is really, really tough right now. If you dont stay one step ahead of the young guys, its easy to get left behind.That serves as not only the overriding theme of golf this year, but also for this era. Whatever it is -- The eclectic era? The parity party? -- a different player taking his pink ticket and stepping up to the bakery counter when his number is called has clearly become the new normal. ' ' '