There have been some fantastic matches in cricket over the years, Australia's nail biting semi final victory against South Africa in the 99 world cup, England's fightback and ultimate failure against Sri Lanka in the 2007 world cup and the entirety of the 2005 ashes series immediately spring to mind. But little has come close to the match between India and England yesterday.
I mentioned at the start of the tournament that I fully expected India to beat England, but the eternal optimist in me thought that England could upset the odd's and pull off an unexpected victory. Little did I know of the drama that would unfold.
India's batting as expected made England's bowler toil, with the exception of Tim Bresnan, all went for big runs. Jimmy Anderson taking the majority of the punishment going for a 91 runs off 9.5 overs. It is hard to believe that this is the same Jimmy who caused so much trouble and was one of the stand out performers in the recently finished Ashes series. Since the end of that series he has been a shadow of himself. It remains to be seen if Andy Flower has the bottle to drop a clearly out of form player.
India scored 338 runs. A total which included a barely believable 98th century in international cricket for Sachin Tendulkar. That last sentence is worth re-reading, 98 centuries is a remarkable achievement. Sachin will score a few more and whatever total he eventually finishes on is unlikely to ever be surpassed.
So as Strauss and Pietersen took to the field as with all England fans a feeling of impending doom descended upon me. Little did I know. From the moment KP was caught by Patel in the most surreal of circumstances you just knew that it was going to be a game that would have several twists and turns. Bell and Strauss came together in the 16th over with the score at 111/2. The next 26 overs were a joy to behold as England's two premier batsmen scored runs at will, mixing the ability to pick off a boundary an over with sensibly ran singles it looked like it would become a cakewalk for England. But in the space of an hour England somehow managed to contrive to win, lose and ultimately tie the match.
In the 42nd over England took the batting power play needing 59 runs from 42 balls with 8 wickets in hand. Carrying on in the manner they had been batting would have seen them home comfortably. But some bad shot selections coupled with a master class of death bowling by Zaheer Khan saw England stumble to 310/7 with two overs remaining. 29 runs needed from 12 balls, the feeling of impending doom had returned with ardor.
The penultimate over was bowled by Chawla, both Swann and Bresnan managed to hit sixes over cow corner to reduce the deficit to 14 runs until Bresnan was bowled off the final ball of the over trying to repeat the trick. Step forward Ajmal Shahzad, a man who would not of been playing if Stuart Broad had not gone down with a bout of Dehli belly. Shahzad unbelievably smashed his first ball down the ground for 6, a single and a scrambled 2 left England needing 2 off the final ball. Patel managed to get the final ball in the blockhold, Swann slapped a cover drive and scampered through for a single to tie the game.
It's difficult to sum up the emotions I felt, let alone those of the players. England should never of lost this game from a dominating position 10 overs from the end and with 2 overs left there is no way in the world India should have conceded the 28 runs that they did. I'm not entirely sure who will be more disappointed with the final result. One has to say that England in the end got themselves out of jail, showing a determination and belief that has been so sadly lacking in the past. Maybe, just maybe they could go on and win the tournament. But thats a long way off at this stage.
As a friend of mine commented, anyone who thinks cricket is boring should be made to sit down and watch this game.
In other news, Sri Lanka aren't as good as I suspected, although the return of a fully fit Malinga may alter that. Australia are looking annoyingly good (please God, not again), Kenya are possibly the worst team ever to turn up at a world cup, South Africa's lower order are just looking for the chance to choke once more, Pakistan will capitulate in humorous fashion at some stage and the West Indies outside chances left at the same time that Dwayne Bravo's knee gave way.
Whatever happens in the remainder of the tournament it's unlikely to come close to yesterdays match
Monday 28 February 2011
Wednesday 23 February 2011
A slow start
The cricket world cup is well and truly under way. Today we were even treated to our first competitive game. Thoughts on that later.
It's difficult at this stage to offer any insight into performances or form as the big teams have only been playing the minnows of the game as yet. What is apparent is that one group is more loaded than the other. Bangladesh, Ireland and The Netherlands are proving to be far stronger than Canada, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
I understand the logic in giving the lower ranked teams a place on the highest stage, but unless they are going to be competitive it seems like needless fixtures in an already over long tournament.42 games to eliminate 6 teams is incredible. I appreciate that to improve and gain experience the lower ranked nations will benefit from playing stronger teams but as a spectacle it hardly generates excitement. I'm not sure what the sensible answer is, but can guarantee that it would be the least likely course of action of the ICC.
England's performance today was way below par, but there are positives to be taken from it. Generally speaking in recent times England have been slow starters in world cups so a win is a win. The bowling bar Anderson and the part time shit from KP wasn't as bad as sections of the media would have you believe. Indeed if England had taken their opportunities The Netherlands would have struggled to muster anything approaching 200. Its an old adage but winning when not playing well is a good sign.
Before the tournament began my main concern regarding England was the batsmen's inability to convert a winning position and a propensity to succumb whilst under pressure. The boy's in general got the job done and the majority looked in reasonable nick. Yes there were soft dismissals, but that is the very nature of one day cricket.
In the next 7 days we have some fascinating match up's which should present us with a better idea as to who are the teams to watch.
Three games I am particularly looking forward to are Australia v New Zealand, Sri Lanka v Pakistan and India v England.
It's difficult at this stage to offer any insight into performances or form as the big teams have only been playing the minnows of the game as yet. What is apparent is that one group is more loaded than the other. Bangladesh, Ireland and The Netherlands are proving to be far stronger than Canada, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
I understand the logic in giving the lower ranked teams a place on the highest stage, but unless they are going to be competitive it seems like needless fixtures in an already over long tournament.42 games to eliminate 6 teams is incredible. I appreciate that to improve and gain experience the lower ranked nations will benefit from playing stronger teams but as a spectacle it hardly generates excitement. I'm not sure what the sensible answer is, but can guarantee that it would be the least likely course of action of the ICC.
England's performance today was way below par, but there are positives to be taken from it. Generally speaking in recent times England have been slow starters in world cups so a win is a win. The bowling bar Anderson and the part time shit from KP wasn't as bad as sections of the media would have you believe. Indeed if England had taken their opportunities The Netherlands would have struggled to muster anything approaching 200. Its an old adage but winning when not playing well is a good sign.
Before the tournament began my main concern regarding England was the batsmen's inability to convert a winning position and a propensity to succumb whilst under pressure. The boy's in general got the job done and the majority looked in reasonable nick. Yes there were soft dismissals, but that is the very nature of one day cricket.
In the next 7 days we have some fascinating match up's which should present us with a better idea as to who are the teams to watch.
Three games I am particularly looking forward to are Australia v New Zealand, Sri Lanka v Pakistan and India v England.
Thursday 10 February 2011
Cricket world cup
In 9 days time the Cricket world cup gets under way, unlike it's footballing counterpart it will not capture the imagination, but will almost certainly end in disaster and disappointment. In this post I will have a close look at the England squad and predict where we will fail.
Looking at the squad it would appear we are a batsmen short. If any of the top 6 suffers an injury we may have to endure the rather unappealing prospect of Luke Wright being played as a specialist batsmen. Dear God no! It is also unclear as yet as to who will be opening the batting with Strauss. An idea that hardly inspires confidence at this stage of proceedings. In the recent Commonwealth Bank series Steve Davies started in the role and was then not named in the world cup squad at all. Matt Prior also played at the top of the order but was less than impressive. Prior, Trott, Bell and Bopara have all been mentioned. My personal preference would be Bell. Bell is seemingly in the form of his life and the more overs he spends at the crease the better. I fear England may well continue with the Prior experiment under the misguided notion that he is a useful pinch hitter. Both Strauss and Bell score quickly enough and are good enough to utilize the initial power play and give England a solid platform.
On paper England have a strong batting line up. But they need to start converting starts into hundreds. Pretty and quickly accumulated 60's and 70's are all well and good but will not win matches against the big boys.
The bowling make up throws up even more issues, with Broad, Bresnan, Shazad and Swann all currently recovering from Injuries England have taken the unprecedented step of asking Chris Tremlett to travel with the squad as a 16th man. Although some will have you believe that this is a sensible move, to me it just says that we are expecting one of the injured quartet not to make it or brake down at some stage. You have to question the wisdom of naming so many players carrying niggles in the squad. England's recent selection policy suggests that they will only pick 4 specialist bowlers. Leaving 10 overs a game to be bowled between a combination of Collingwood, Trott, Bopara and Pieterson. If one of the front line bowlers does break down mid-game the prospect of getting 15-20 overs from those 4 is hardly re-assuring.
My final concern is the 2nd spinner option. Swann is unquestionably one of the best spinners in the world currently but the back up options are less inspiring to say the least. Yardy has been relatively successful in T20 but is likely to be targeted in this form of the game. He is a good solid county player but lacks the quality to test the top players at this level. Tredwell would be my preferred option as he is a better thinking bowler with more variation but recent evidence suggests that Yardy will get the nod.
I expect England to beat Holland comfortably in the opening game. They will have too much quality for Ireland. The West Indies and Bangladesh are both very beatable but I wouldn't be surprised to see England come unstuck against one of them. India who are a sold unit, although lacking a little in the bowling department, should have enough to see England off and barring an inspired Pietersen performance I expect South Africa to triumph in the meeting between the sides.
England should progress through the group stage with a little to spare. Like a lot of these competitions once a team gets on a roll and has momentum they can be difficult to beat if England manage that they could upset the odd's although common sense says it is unlikely.
South Africa and India are the bookies favorites and with good reason. Although I think both Sri Lanka and Australia have a good chance.
It is shaping up to be a fascinating world cup. I for one cannot wait for it to start.
I will be spending 6 weeks glued to the team at www.testmatchsofa.com and loving every moment.
Looking at the squad it would appear we are a batsmen short. If any of the top 6 suffers an injury we may have to endure the rather unappealing prospect of Luke Wright being played as a specialist batsmen. Dear God no! It is also unclear as yet as to who will be opening the batting with Strauss. An idea that hardly inspires confidence at this stage of proceedings. In the recent Commonwealth Bank series Steve Davies started in the role and was then not named in the world cup squad at all. Matt Prior also played at the top of the order but was less than impressive. Prior, Trott, Bell and Bopara have all been mentioned. My personal preference would be Bell. Bell is seemingly in the form of his life and the more overs he spends at the crease the better. I fear England may well continue with the Prior experiment under the misguided notion that he is a useful pinch hitter. Both Strauss and Bell score quickly enough and are good enough to utilize the initial power play and give England a solid platform.
On paper England have a strong batting line up. But they need to start converting starts into hundreds. Pretty and quickly accumulated 60's and 70's are all well and good but will not win matches against the big boys.
The bowling make up throws up even more issues, with Broad, Bresnan, Shazad and Swann all currently recovering from Injuries England have taken the unprecedented step of asking Chris Tremlett to travel with the squad as a 16th man. Although some will have you believe that this is a sensible move, to me it just says that we are expecting one of the injured quartet not to make it or brake down at some stage. You have to question the wisdom of naming so many players carrying niggles in the squad. England's recent selection policy suggests that they will only pick 4 specialist bowlers. Leaving 10 overs a game to be bowled between a combination of Collingwood, Trott, Bopara and Pieterson. If one of the front line bowlers does break down mid-game the prospect of getting 15-20 overs from those 4 is hardly re-assuring.
My final concern is the 2nd spinner option. Swann is unquestionably one of the best spinners in the world currently but the back up options are less inspiring to say the least. Yardy has been relatively successful in T20 but is likely to be targeted in this form of the game. He is a good solid county player but lacks the quality to test the top players at this level. Tredwell would be my preferred option as he is a better thinking bowler with more variation but recent evidence suggests that Yardy will get the nod.
I expect England to beat Holland comfortably in the opening game. They will have too much quality for Ireland. The West Indies and Bangladesh are both very beatable but I wouldn't be surprised to see England come unstuck against one of them. India who are a sold unit, although lacking a little in the bowling department, should have enough to see England off and barring an inspired Pietersen performance I expect South Africa to triumph in the meeting between the sides.
England should progress through the group stage with a little to spare. Like a lot of these competitions once a team gets on a roll and has momentum they can be difficult to beat if England manage that they could upset the odd's although common sense says it is unlikely.
South Africa and India are the bookies favorites and with good reason. Although I think both Sri Lanka and Australia have a good chance.
It is shaping up to be a fascinating world cup. I for one cannot wait for it to start.
I will be spending 6 weeks glued to the team at www.testmatchsofa.com and loving every moment.
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