Dein erstes Forum » Dennis Mitchell, who has relay gold and

BCCI president Anurag Thakur has said India will not play any day-night Test at home this season. Thakur put to rest speculation on India hosting their first ever day-night Test in the long home season comprising 13 Tests which will be played up to March.Thakur said more experiments like the one in Duleep Trophy were needed before BCCI took the final call on introducing the pink ball in Tests.It is too early to say anything [about pink ball]. As far as trying it in Duleep Trophy under lights is concerned, it was a big success. But you need to look at overall picture before you take the final call, Thakur told PTI.I think we need to look into many areas before we take the final call. I would like to go into details in a scientific manner to take the final call. As of now, we are not ready to implement pink ball this season.The pink ball was initially expected to be used in the ongoing Test series with New Zealand but the decision was put off amid speculation that it could be done in the upcoming home series against England and Australia. India are also scheduled to play a one-off Test against Bangladesh. Thakur explained why more time was needed before using the pink ball for the first time.I think we need to take the final call after keeping a few things in mind. First, how to make it more interesting [for fans] and result-oriented, he said. If you have matches like the one in Kanpur [which lasted five days], well done.Then we dont need to do anything. Second, how do you involve more fans who come to the ground or watch it on TV? Third, you really need to look into areas as to how [pink ball] is impacting Test cricket at a time when enough people are not coming to watch Test cricket. What are the real reasons behind it?One more factor to be considered, he said, was the role of pink ball or red ball in terms of seam, shine, turn, swing and late swing.With the red ball, you can have reverse swing after 20-25 overs, but with pink you cant. So the challenge for batsman goes away, Thakur said.This seasons Duleep Trophy attracted mixed responses about the use of pink ball from the current and former players. Thakur said the pink ball should be tested in at least a couple of domestic seasons before it is used in Tests.Even if you have to play with pink ball, you should play two-three seasons with it in domestic cricket. Let us look at the ball, how it behaves, how the grounds behave.Let us take Test matches to smaller venues and see if it makes any difference. You need to take it to much smaller centres where people have not seen international cricket. 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LOUIS -- The New Orleans Saints looked like a team playing out the string.PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas -- The smartest minds in American sprinting have spent years trying to solve the riddle of why, as often as not, U.S. relay teams have struggled so mightily to get the baton around the track when the stakes are highest.Leave it to the Jamaican, Usain Bolt, to come up with what might be the most plausible answer: They tend to panic.The American sprinters are gathered this week at an Olympic training camp outside of Houston, once again trying to create chemistry and find answers to a problem that never really goes away.Eight times since 1995, the American men have either been disqualified or failed to get the baton around the track at the Olympics or world championships. The women, who set the world record in the 4x100 at the London Games, arent immune to the butterfingers, either. Theyve mishandled the exchange in two of the last three Olympics. And at last years world championships, in the 4x400, where the pass shouldnt be a big deal, a bobble cost them the gold.The key to changing that dynamic: I think just being relaxed, said Tyson Gay, who helped the Americans get the baton around four years ago, only to cost them the silver medal because of a doping violation. No pressure, just relax. Thats all I think.If only it were that simple.In a sport built on individual accomplishments, the relay is that singular opportunity for the country that routinely wins the most medals in track to show that it can, in fact, function like a team.Since 2008, that pressure has been coupled with the fact that Jamaica -- while not as deep across the entire scope of track and field -- has the fastest man on Earth.When youve got Michael Rodgers standing in the third relay zone and Jamaica and us are shoulder to shoulder and hes looking at Usain Bolt on the anchor leg, thats going to impact your athletic performance, said Duffy Mahoney, chief of sport performance for USA Track and Field.Last year at world championships, Gay and Rodgers mishandled the final handoff and the exchange came outside the legal passing zone. It disqualified the Americans and sent Bolt on what couldve been a jog to the finish line for the gold.Asked to explain Jamaicas baton strategy, Bolt said there was no magic to it.We know the key thing is just to get the baton around, he said. Because with the U.S., we know we always have the best team, and they tend to panic. Pressure gets to them somettimes.ddddddddddddBolt doesnt have to be on the track for things to go bad.In 2004, then again in 2008, the U.S. women mishandled the baton in the 4x100. The 2008 miss, combined with a botched exchange between Gay and Darvis Patton in the mens race, contributed to the United States being shut out of gold medals in all six sprint races for the first time in Olympic history. That led to a top-to-bottom overhaul of the way the U.S. handles relay training, which now requires sprinters to attend training camps and participate in a number of relays before the Olympics.Carl Lewis, who won relay gold in 1984 and 1992 (he wasnt on the team that got DQd for passing outside the zone in the 1988 qualifying heats), has been one of the most outspoken critics of the U.S. team. He says theres too much politics involved in who gets coaching assignments and who gets to run in the relays, and not enough time devoted to perfecting the art of the baton pass.Ive been to (junior) nationals, Ive been to (junior) Hersheys meets, Ive never seen a baton hit the ground, Lewis said in March. What they need to do is get a retired college coach whos going to tell the agents to kiss off, and tell the athletes to get in line and know how to put together a relay.In charge of the relay operation this year is Dennis Mitchell, who has relay gold and silver from 1992 and 1996, but whose appointment to that role was controversial. Mitchell served a two-year doping ban and was caught up with Trevor Graham, Marion Jones and the BALCO doping scandal.What, in Mitchells mind, does it take for a perfect relay exchange?What doesnt it take? he said. The girls are running at anywhere from 10 to 13 miles an hour, the guys are somewhere around 20. So theres a lot of moving parts that happen when youre going through a zone.When things hit on all cylinders, the results can be incredible. In London four years ago, the team of Allyson Felix, Tianna Madison (now Bartoletta), Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter ran the oval in 40.82 seconds to break a 27-year-old world record.And when they dont, the second-guessing begins.The closer the race, the more pressure it puts on the athlete, Mahoney said. Sometimes, no matter how well-prepared they are and how good they are, things happen. Its sports. ' ' '