Tendulkar nears latest milestone...

In Thursday's 5th match of what's been a pretty absorbing series between India and Australia, the likelihood is that Sachin Tendulkar will pass 17,000 runs in ODIs. That's pretty special.

In case you're in any doubt just how special that is, here's the top 3 ODI run scorers:

Tendulkar: 16,993 runs at an average of 44.25 in 434 matches, hitting 44 centuries.
Jayasuriya: 13,377 runs at 32.54 in 441 matches, with 28 centuries.
Ponting: 12,241 runs at 43.25 in only 328 matches, also with 28 centuries.

Believe it or not, over the years Indian's have at various times called for the Little Master to be dropped from ODIs - personally I'd like to see him play at least until the 2011 World Cup....

Murali to retire next year

I'm aware that a certain Cricket Burbler is adamant that Muralitharan throws the ball, but I'm happy to go with whatever the scientists that have tested him say and they have cleared him. So for my money, he's a truly great bowler and the time had to come when he'd bow out - having seen the diabolical way that Sri Lanka have handled the tail end of the careers of great players like Jayasuriya and Vaas, Murali has stated his intentions clearly - he wants to retire from Tests in November 2010, play in the 2011 World Cup, and then milk the cash through Twenty20.

Fair play - I wonder if the Sri Lanka board will allow it to be that simple....they seem intent on making player's retirements tricky.

A thoroughly unfair way of getting out

Sri Lanka lost by 2 wickets today against India in Australia and suffered the worst possible luck - two of their players were run out backing up when Sangakkara straight drove and the bowler managed to get finger tips on the ball before it broke the stumps. It wasn't just any two players either - it was Jayasuriya and Jayawardene who, along with Sangakkara, are the stand out batsmen in the Sri Lankan side.

I'm a big fan of as little luck as possible when it comes to determining who wins - if the best team won every time that would suit me fine, although I know it's not how everyone feels. Can't the powers that be change the law to make the ball dead as soon as it hits the stumps, with the batting side scoring 4 runs? Let's face it - if the bowler hasn't got time to get down to the ball to stop it hitting the stumps, it's probably going for four anyway.

What are the chances that the result may have changed if that law was in place? You can see the Sri Lanka v India scorecard here.

The hardest-hitting pound-for-pound batsman

The reality of working on an experiment involving dozens of sensitive, unreliable and capricious lasers and assorted other pieces of equipment is that it it almost never actually works. As a result, on those rare occasions when it vaguely all comes together (and tonight is essentially the first such occasion in my two years on the project) then you're generally looking at taking data frantically like a headless science-chicken.

Now, data-taking in our lab is a pretty automated process that currently boils down to typing a number and pressing a button every once in a while in the small hours of the night. But before I digress too far off-topic into a physics burble, my point is as follows. During this thumb-twiddling, my lab partner raised the issue:

Who is the hardest-hitting pound-for-pound batsman in world cricket?

Just as armchair fans might compare boxers between weight categories along the same lines, the idea is to pick an explosive international batsman whose hard-hitting strokeplay belies his diminutive stature. So, whilst the likes of Hayden, Flintoff or Inzamam are all dominating strokeplayers, they are marked down on the grounds of body mass!

Who is the best pint-sized powerhouse? Gilchrist? Jayasuriya? Ponting? Bravo? Any suggestions?

And what about his weakest-hitting counterpart?

Tom Moody and Sri Lanka

Spotted this article on Cricinfo about Tom Moody's legacy and thought it was worth a mention. Under his management and, as the article says, with decent support from the Sri Lanka Board after a shaky start which saw the dropping of Sanath Jayasuriya. Hopefully everyone in Sri Lanka will remember him very positively despite a losing final ODI series against Pakistan.