The minnow's have all returned home and the big boy's have been left to fight it out amongst themselves for the big prize in one day cricket. Who will be the men who play the key roles in the tournament from here?
Pakistan. In a very odd result Pakistan have somehow manged to top group A. On paper they lack in both batting and bowling but thus far have been better than the sum of their parts. You just never know what you are going to get with Pakistan and as a result they are both unbackable and difficult to write off. As much as a contradiction as that may seem
Key Player: Younis Khan. The veteran batsmen is the backbone of an otherwise brittle batting line up. A difficult man to tie down who is capable of batting for long periods and can shift through the gears.
Match Winner: Shahid Afridi. The captain who was once one of the most feared batsmen in the world has become the golden are of the side. His bowling is difficult to hit and bowl's genuine wicket taking deliveries. Don't be suprised to see an astonishing cameo with the bat at some stage either.
Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka were my pre-tournament favorites and little I've seen has shaken that view. They have good strong top order batting and bowlers who will worry all of the other teams. Will also have the backing of a partisan home crowd and the advantage of home conditions up until the final
Key Player : Kumar Sangakkara. Wicketkeeper/batsmen/captain/chief bottle washer etc. Sangakkara remains the wicket that the opposition most cherish. A difficult man to subdue who will score quickly and can take a game away from the opposition.
Match winner: Lasith Malinga. Forget the fact that his action is barely legal the fearsome toe-breaking yorkers he sends down can turn any match on it's head.
Australia. The Aussies have gone about their business with a minimum amount of fuss and effort. Having gone against conventional wisdom and relied on the pace bowlers on the spin friendly pitches of the sub continent. It may well pay dividends yet.
Key Player: Brett Lee. Lee's retirement from the test arena has left him free to concentrate on shorter forms of the game. The most reliable of Australia's pace trio (although when the other two are "two over" Tait and "where's this one going" Johnson, it doesn't take much.) he can be relied upon to hurry up the opposition batsmen and will find life on the flatest of tracks.
Match winner: Mike Hussey. Huss has returned to the squad following injury and looks in imperious form. Anyone who witnessed the last two overs against Pakistan in the t20 world cup will know that even when things look impossible Hussey can make them happen.
New Zealand. The kiwi's, as ever, have done what's expected. Always a certainty for the quarter finals in any tournament. They are capable of progressing further but need to have all of their first choice players available as the squad lacks depth.
Key player: Daniel Vettori. The skipper's knee should have recovered in time for the quarter finals. He is rightly regarded as one of the best slow bowlers on the world stage in this format of the game and will ask questions of the best batsmen in the world.
Match winner: Ross Taylor. A powerful middle order batsmen, who demonstrated his devastating ability in his remarkable 100 against Pakistan. If he can recapture any of that form then New Zealand could be a match for anyone.
South Africa. Topped group B and have already succumbed to there traditional choking moment against England. Lack lower order batting but if the top 5 fire will be more than competitive.
Key player : AB De Villiers. The consistent run getter in the Saffa's line up so far. A man who scores quickly and aim's shot's all around the ground. When he gets scores he gets big ones.
Match Winner: Imran Tahir. The mercenary of cricket has represented more teams and flirted with more nationalities than is believable. The leg spinner could be the final piece in the jig saw that propels South Africa to a first world cup victory.
India. The best batting line up left in the tournament and arguably the weakest bowling attack. Really should learn from the tie against England and defeat to South Africa and bat 2nd at every available opportunity.
Key player: Sachin Tendulkar. Still the batsmen that most cricket fan's would pay to watch bat above any other. Need's one more century to make it a round 100 in international cricket.
Match winner: Zaheer Khan. Amongst an otherwise suspect bowling attack, Zaheer is the one man capable of building pressure on the opposing batsmen. If India are to progress then Khan needs to be on top of his game.
England. Thus far the most entertaining team in the tournament. If the batting and bowling department's happen to come together on the same day could beat anybody.
Key player: Andrew Strauss. The lynch pin of the batting line up. If Strauss gets over 10 more often that not he will get 50+. He inspires confidence in the guy's around him.
Match winner: Greame Swann The irrepressible heartbeat of the team. His delayed entrance into international cricket has only been more surprising than the form he has shown. The most feared off break bowler in the world currently and England need him to be create pressure and take wickets.
West Indies. The Windies, like England, have stumbled from the sublime to the ridiculous at various point's in the group stages. A propensity to panic at key moment's underpin's the natural talent and flamboyancy of the team.
Key Player: Kemar Roach. Has genuine pace and will progress to become the spearhead of the attack. Still a little rough around the edges but has enough ability to worry the best.
Match Winner: Chris Gayle. The coolest, most laid back cricketer on the planet. If he is in the mood and can bat at full pelt for 20 overs the game can be won before it's even got started.
Now to make my quarter final predictions and fall flat on my face in the process.
Semi finalist's will be Pakistan, Australia, Sri Lanka and South Africa. Don't ask my reasoning, just trust me on this one.
Monday 21 March 2011
Monday 14 March 2011
Raking over the coals.
It seems a little odd to be conducting a postmortem before the last rights have been passed. But I thought I would jump the gun.
England's calamitous world cup showing is almost at an end. They may well yet go on a little longer in the competition but it is unlikely to end with the ultimate prize.
The players and management have so far refused to blame the workload the team have undertaken over the past few months, having essentially been on the road non-stop since late October. But the fact that reference is being made to it in such regularity by members of the squad speaks a thousand words. Also having publicly stated that in future they will play shorter one day series point's to one thing. Paul Collingwood said in an interview that playing the ashes followed by a world cup was much like back to back World championships.
England have been unlucky to lose KP and Broad to injury, but their performances have been those of tired men. Giving off signals that they really don't want to be there.
So where do they go from here? Let's be honest in the grand scheme of things ODI's don't actually mean that much to the fan's, world cup and the oddly named Champion's trophy aside. You ask any English cricket fan the results of the past 5 Ashes series and they will be able to real off scores key performances and moments they remember. Do the same with ODI's and you are generally met with blank stares.
I would like to see a revamping of the one day team in general. We have four years until the next one so ample time to get a good set of players together and give them time to develop and gain experience in the international arena. In an ideal world I would love to see the selectors name a 15-18 man elite squad and stick with those guy's. In much the same way the Australian selectors did with the test squad in the mid 80's. Cricket is a pressure game but being told that you are part of that squad for 4 years would help to reduce the pressure to perform from the outset.
Who would be in this squad?
1 Alistair Cook. I would make Cook captain. He has been discarded from the limited overs game, despite having a good record, on the basis of him not scoring quickly enough. Cook is more than capable of batting the full 50 overs and getting hundreds in the process. If you have a guy like that in the side it allows the other batsmen to play more free and expansive roles around him
2 Steve Davies/ Craig Kieswetter. Both wicketkeeper batsmen who open the batting regularly in this format at county level. Davies is the better gloveman whereas Kieswetter is the more explosive with the bat.
3 Ian Bell. Bell is a class player, who has suffered from being shuffled around the batting order on an almost game by game basis. It is important that he is given a role preferably at 3 that he understands and can make his own.
4 Kevin Pieterson. The show pony of the team. But a man who is capable of playing the big shots and upping the run rate around the more circumspect members of the team
5 Eoin Morgan. England's most consistent and effective one day batsmen over the past couple of years. He is inventive with his shot selection and can manipulate the field as a result of that.
6 James Taylor. A bit of bias from me here for the young Leicestershire lad. But believe me he is the future of English cricket. Processes all the talent and has the temperament to be successful at this level
7 Samit Patel. OK, England have wanted to pick Patel for several years now, but he has failed to meet the fitness goals they have set for him. I understand the frustrations and anger this has caused. But he is a highly talented individual who would be easier to monitor and manage amongst an elite squad.
8 Adil Rashid. Another player who has been on the fringes of the squad for a while. I feel he has suffered from the fact that because of a dearth of Leg spinners on the county circuit it has been difficult to find anyone who know's how to best utilize or captain a leg spinner.
9 Tim Bresnan, Bres is a big hearted cricketer who has improved significantly with the ball over the past 18 months and is capable of bowling tight lines and causing problems for opposition batsmen.
10 Stuart Broad. Simply England;s best one day bowler.
11 Jimmy Anderson. Jimmy has looked physically shot through out the world cup. But has performed consistently well in ODI's for the past 5 years.
the other players I would include in this squad would be, Ravi Bopara, James Hildreth, Andrew Gale, Chris Woakes, Ajmal Shahzad and Steve Finn. That to me is the nucleus of a very good side who would grow together of a group.
Of the current players that I've left out I feel I should explain my reasoning. Strauss and Collingwood will both be in their late 30's by the time the next world cup arrives, it therefore seems pointless continuing with them at this stage, Greame Swann is a player I have a lot of time for but feel that he is better suited to test cricket. Jonathan Trott has a fantastic record in ODI's, but I feel at times that his style of play put's pressure on the guy at the other end.
England's calamitous world cup showing is almost at an end. They may well yet go on a little longer in the competition but it is unlikely to end with the ultimate prize.
The players and management have so far refused to blame the workload the team have undertaken over the past few months, having essentially been on the road non-stop since late October. But the fact that reference is being made to it in such regularity by members of the squad speaks a thousand words. Also having publicly stated that in future they will play shorter one day series point's to one thing. Paul Collingwood said in an interview that playing the ashes followed by a world cup was much like back to back World championships.
England have been unlucky to lose KP and Broad to injury, but their performances have been those of tired men. Giving off signals that they really don't want to be there.
So where do they go from here? Let's be honest in the grand scheme of things ODI's don't actually mean that much to the fan's, world cup and the oddly named Champion's trophy aside. You ask any English cricket fan the results of the past 5 Ashes series and they will be able to real off scores key performances and moments they remember. Do the same with ODI's and you are generally met with blank stares.
I would like to see a revamping of the one day team in general. We have four years until the next one so ample time to get a good set of players together and give them time to develop and gain experience in the international arena. In an ideal world I would love to see the selectors name a 15-18 man elite squad and stick with those guy's. In much the same way the Australian selectors did with the test squad in the mid 80's. Cricket is a pressure game but being told that you are part of that squad for 4 years would help to reduce the pressure to perform from the outset.
Who would be in this squad?
1 Alistair Cook. I would make Cook captain. He has been discarded from the limited overs game, despite having a good record, on the basis of him not scoring quickly enough. Cook is more than capable of batting the full 50 overs and getting hundreds in the process. If you have a guy like that in the side it allows the other batsmen to play more free and expansive roles around him
2 Steve Davies/ Craig Kieswetter. Both wicketkeeper batsmen who open the batting regularly in this format at county level. Davies is the better gloveman whereas Kieswetter is the more explosive with the bat.
3 Ian Bell. Bell is a class player, who has suffered from being shuffled around the batting order on an almost game by game basis. It is important that he is given a role preferably at 3 that he understands and can make his own.
4 Kevin Pieterson. The show pony of the team. But a man who is capable of playing the big shots and upping the run rate around the more circumspect members of the team
5 Eoin Morgan. England's most consistent and effective one day batsmen over the past couple of years. He is inventive with his shot selection and can manipulate the field as a result of that.
6 James Taylor. A bit of bias from me here for the young Leicestershire lad. But believe me he is the future of English cricket. Processes all the talent and has the temperament to be successful at this level
7 Samit Patel. OK, England have wanted to pick Patel for several years now, but he has failed to meet the fitness goals they have set for him. I understand the frustrations and anger this has caused. But he is a highly talented individual who would be easier to monitor and manage amongst an elite squad.
8 Adil Rashid. Another player who has been on the fringes of the squad for a while. I feel he has suffered from the fact that because of a dearth of Leg spinners on the county circuit it has been difficult to find anyone who know's how to best utilize or captain a leg spinner.
9 Tim Bresnan, Bres is a big hearted cricketer who has improved significantly with the ball over the past 18 months and is capable of bowling tight lines and causing problems for opposition batsmen.
10 Stuart Broad. Simply England;s best one day bowler.
11 Jimmy Anderson. Jimmy has looked physically shot through out the world cup. But has performed consistently well in ODI's for the past 5 years.
the other players I would include in this squad would be, Ravi Bopara, James Hildreth, Andrew Gale, Chris Woakes, Ajmal Shahzad and Steve Finn. That to me is the nucleus of a very good side who would grow together of a group.
Of the current players that I've left out I feel I should explain my reasoning. Strauss and Collingwood will both be in their late 30's by the time the next world cup arrives, it therefore seems pointless continuing with them at this stage, Greame Swann is a player I have a lot of time for but feel that he is better suited to test cricket. Jonathan Trott has a fantastic record in ODI's, but I feel at times that his style of play put's pressure on the guy at the other end.
Monday 7 March 2011
There is little else to say.
Following England during this world cup is becoming ridiculous, but entertaining and not to be missed. As they go from one thrilling encounter to the next, confounding expectations positively and negatively in equal measures.
England's latest match was against one of the pre-tournament favourite's and much fancied South Africa in the spin friendly Chennai. South Africa had not really been stretched in relatively easy victories over the West Indies and the Netherlands in their opening two games.
England won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch that was slow and expected to deteriorate as the game went on. Paul Collingwood was replaced by Ravi Bopara and for reasons unknown Micheal Yardy kept his place. More on him later.
England lost both openers to the spin of Peterson in the first over, and when Ian Bell fell to the same bowler, were deep in trouble at 15-3. Jonathon Trott and the recalled Bopara set about rebuilding the innings and posting a competitive target. They accumulated runs at a steady rate and both passed 50. Trott fell for 52 and Bopara eventually made 60. Graeme Swann hit some useful lower order runs but England were dismissed for a well below par 171.
England took the unprecedented step of opening the bowling with the non spinning, spin of Yardy. He was made to look his average self as Amla in particular took a liking to him. Swann was introduced to the attack in the 7th over and caused trouble for Smith from the outset with sharp turn, but South Africa chipped away at the total and by the 14th over had reached 63 without loss.
Swann dismissed Smith with a vicious turner, which took the glove on it's way through to Prior behind the stumps. Amla followed soon after playing a back of length Broad delivery back on to his stumps and Kallis was caught behind off the same bowler a few over's later.
De Villiers and Du Plessis had taken South Africa to a painfully slow 121-3 by the end of the 31st over and seemed to be heading for victory. But De Villiers lost his bails to an Anderson outswinger and the pressure started to show. We all know how South Africa love to crumble to pressure but surely it couldn't happen again.
South Africa lost 4 wickets for 3 runs as England's bowlers turned the screws and bowled tight lines from both ends. Steyn came to the wicket and showed little respect to the part time spin of Pietersen as him and Van Wyk took South Africa to 160-7. Only 12 run's short of victory.
Strauss turned to his quicker bowlers and in the space of 9 balls South Africa contrived to lose there last three batsmen to a combination of Bresnan and Broad as they were dismissed for 165. Another English nail biter.
Later in the evening it was revealed that England's makeshift opener Pietersen would be heading home for a much needed hernia operation and would be replaced in the squad by Eoin Morgan.
More headaches for the selector's and another opener to find. In the past Bell, Prior and Bopara have all opened for England in this format. I would love to see Bell given the chance again for the reasons detailed in a previous post. But whoever is chosen it will involve a re shuffling of the batting order. With Collingwood seemingly out of favour Morgan should slot straight into the number 5 slot ahead of Prior with the unfathomable Yardy at 7.
Michael Yardy a man who makes Luke Wright look like Gary Sobers. A man who England seem to think will win them matches. So far in this world cup in his role as non-spinning all rounder he has amassed 19 runs at an average of 6.33. His bowling figures make even better reading 2 wickets for a cost of 159 runs and even more alarmingly he is leaking over a run a ball. I think it;s time the Bell tolled for young Mike. Tredwell need's to be given a chance in the remaining two group games as they are essentially dead rubbers as bar a set of remarkable results England have managed to qualify for the quarter finals by winning just two games.
My preferred England line up at this stage would be
Strauss, Bell, Trott, Collingwood, Bopara, Morgan, Prior, Swann, Broad, Tredwell, Anderson.
England's latest match was against one of the pre-tournament favourite's and much fancied South Africa in the spin friendly Chennai. South Africa had not really been stretched in relatively easy victories over the West Indies and the Netherlands in their opening two games.
England won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch that was slow and expected to deteriorate as the game went on. Paul Collingwood was replaced by Ravi Bopara and for reasons unknown Micheal Yardy kept his place. More on him later.
England lost both openers to the spin of Peterson in the first over, and when Ian Bell fell to the same bowler, were deep in trouble at 15-3. Jonathon Trott and the recalled Bopara set about rebuilding the innings and posting a competitive target. They accumulated runs at a steady rate and both passed 50. Trott fell for 52 and Bopara eventually made 60. Graeme Swann hit some useful lower order runs but England were dismissed for a well below par 171.
England took the unprecedented step of opening the bowling with the non spinning, spin of Yardy. He was made to look his average self as Amla in particular took a liking to him. Swann was introduced to the attack in the 7th over and caused trouble for Smith from the outset with sharp turn, but South Africa chipped away at the total and by the 14th over had reached 63 without loss.
Swann dismissed Smith with a vicious turner, which took the glove on it's way through to Prior behind the stumps. Amla followed soon after playing a back of length Broad delivery back on to his stumps and Kallis was caught behind off the same bowler a few over's later.
De Villiers and Du Plessis had taken South Africa to a painfully slow 121-3 by the end of the 31st over and seemed to be heading for victory. But De Villiers lost his bails to an Anderson outswinger and the pressure started to show. We all know how South Africa love to crumble to pressure but surely it couldn't happen again.
South Africa lost 4 wickets for 3 runs as England's bowlers turned the screws and bowled tight lines from both ends. Steyn came to the wicket and showed little respect to the part time spin of Pietersen as him and Van Wyk took South Africa to 160-7. Only 12 run's short of victory.
Strauss turned to his quicker bowlers and in the space of 9 balls South Africa contrived to lose there last three batsmen to a combination of Bresnan and Broad as they were dismissed for 165. Another English nail biter.
Later in the evening it was revealed that England's makeshift opener Pietersen would be heading home for a much needed hernia operation and would be replaced in the squad by Eoin Morgan.
More headaches for the selector's and another opener to find. In the past Bell, Prior and Bopara have all opened for England in this format. I would love to see Bell given the chance again for the reasons detailed in a previous post. But whoever is chosen it will involve a re shuffling of the batting order. With Collingwood seemingly out of favour Morgan should slot straight into the number 5 slot ahead of Prior with the unfathomable Yardy at 7.
Michael Yardy a man who makes Luke Wright look like Gary Sobers. A man who England seem to think will win them matches. So far in this world cup in his role as non-spinning all rounder he has amassed 19 runs at an average of 6.33. His bowling figures make even better reading 2 wickets for a cost of 159 runs and even more alarmingly he is leaking over a run a ball. I think it;s time the Bell tolled for young Mike. Tredwell need's to be given a chance in the remaining two group games as they are essentially dead rubbers as bar a set of remarkable results England have managed to qualify for the quarter finals by winning just two games.
My preferred England line up at this stage would be
Strauss, Bell, Trott, Collingwood, Bopara, Morgan, Prior, Swann, Broad, Tredwell, Anderson.
Friday 4 March 2011
after the lord mayors show.
It has taken me a while to think of anything to say regarding England's much lamented performance against Ireland. I didn't want to fall into the trap of an emotional knee jerk reaction. I have had time to sit through the highlights a couple of times and gather my thoughts. So here goes.
From a batting point of view we scored enough runs to be more than confident in beating Ireland. But, unlike the great Australian teams of the past, we at times took our foot off the pedal. All of our top order batsmen got good starts and at least one of them should have gone on to make a big hundred. There seemed be be an collective mindset of I've got a few lets try something expansive. Strauss and Trott were both guilty of getting out to shots that are not generally in their game. KP, where do you start with KP? Caught off an attempted reverse sweep after reaching a run a ball 50. He has been much criticized for that shot and similar ones in the past. That is the genius of the man. It is a shot he plays fairly often. When it comes off he is labeled as a genius, when it doesn't it's an idiotic shot. KP is unlikely to ever play a measured innings, you know what you are going to get with the man and just have to take the rough with the smooth. Wickets to odd shots at timely moments exposed the middle lower order at a time where we really should of been trying to accelerate and up the run rate further. It's difficult to come out swinging from the get go. Especially with the field set back. Although I would question sending in Yardy in above either Swann and Broad at that stage. Yardy is more of a nudger and nurdler than a big hitter so his job should of been to get singles and get the bigger hitters on strike. Yet he came out and went at the ball in a manner that was totally against the nature of his game. Still 327 was more than enough to win the match.
England arrived in Australia last November as the best prepared team I can remember leaving these shores. Nothing was left to chance they had batting and bowling plans which were executed with an almost military precision. The fielding was top notch and I can't really remember anything other than a half chance being dropped.
Fast forward four months and things have seriously changed. In three games in the world cup, England's bowlers have conceded 959 runs. The pitches have been batsmen friendly but seriously. It would appear that as a team we either have no bowling plan for individual batsmen of more worryingly are simply incapable of executing them. Bresnan had worried several batsmen early on with short pitched balls. Yet after the first power play a bouncer was rarely bowled.
Kevin O'Brien played the innings of a life time, one he will never better. But we did our best to make it easy for him. When a player is hitting length balls out of the park where is the sense in keep serving up length balls to hit? Where were the slow bouncers, cutters and yorkers that served us so well in the T20 world cup? Everything points to us having underestimated the Irish and a belief that O'Brien would either run out of partners or get himself out. Both of which could of happened if England had taken there catches.
I hope and believe that England can pick themselves up from this and come back strongly. Lets be honest it wouldn't be England if we didn't make it difficult for ourselves. South Africa on Sunday is going to be a tough game. But if we start getting the basics right we have a shot.
Before that there is the mouth watering prospect of Sri Lanka vs Australia tomorrow. I recommend you catch that one.
From a batting point of view we scored enough runs to be more than confident in beating Ireland. But, unlike the great Australian teams of the past, we at times took our foot off the pedal. All of our top order batsmen got good starts and at least one of them should have gone on to make a big hundred. There seemed be be an collective mindset of I've got a few lets try something expansive. Strauss and Trott were both guilty of getting out to shots that are not generally in their game. KP, where do you start with KP? Caught off an attempted reverse sweep after reaching a run a ball 50. He has been much criticized for that shot and similar ones in the past. That is the genius of the man. It is a shot he plays fairly often. When it comes off he is labeled as a genius, when it doesn't it's an idiotic shot. KP is unlikely to ever play a measured innings, you know what you are going to get with the man and just have to take the rough with the smooth. Wickets to odd shots at timely moments exposed the middle lower order at a time where we really should of been trying to accelerate and up the run rate further. It's difficult to come out swinging from the get go. Especially with the field set back. Although I would question sending in Yardy in above either Swann and Broad at that stage. Yardy is more of a nudger and nurdler than a big hitter so his job should of been to get singles and get the bigger hitters on strike. Yet he came out and went at the ball in a manner that was totally against the nature of his game. Still 327 was more than enough to win the match.
England arrived in Australia last November as the best prepared team I can remember leaving these shores. Nothing was left to chance they had batting and bowling plans which were executed with an almost military precision. The fielding was top notch and I can't really remember anything other than a half chance being dropped.
Fast forward four months and things have seriously changed. In three games in the world cup, England's bowlers have conceded 959 runs. The pitches have been batsmen friendly but seriously. It would appear that as a team we either have no bowling plan for individual batsmen of more worryingly are simply incapable of executing them. Bresnan had worried several batsmen early on with short pitched balls. Yet after the first power play a bouncer was rarely bowled.
Kevin O'Brien played the innings of a life time, one he will never better. But we did our best to make it easy for him. When a player is hitting length balls out of the park where is the sense in keep serving up length balls to hit? Where were the slow bouncers, cutters and yorkers that served us so well in the T20 world cup? Everything points to us having underestimated the Irish and a belief that O'Brien would either run out of partners or get himself out. Both of which could of happened if England had taken there catches.
I hope and believe that England can pick themselves up from this and come back strongly. Lets be honest it wouldn't be England if we didn't make it difficult for ourselves. South Africa on Sunday is going to be a tough game. But if we start getting the basics right we have a shot.
Before that there is the mouth watering prospect of Sri Lanka vs Australia tomorrow. I recommend you catch that one.
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