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« Previous EntriesThe wrong final at the wrong time
By Scott 2 years ago, at the start of November, 4 Comments »
Australia are about to take on West Indies in the ICC Champions Trophy Final. Now that they are there, I hope they win, of course, but in the great scheme of things, it would have been much better if the team had ‘lost’ their game against India so the locals could have had something to cheer about and the Australian players could have had appropriate preparation for the Ashes.
Because I can not think of one Australian cricket fan in a thousand that would consider this ODI game to be more important then the Ashes.
No offense to the West Indies, who have played some super cricket in this tournament, and their resurgence is something that cricket fans around the world have been waiting a long time for. It’s just that there’s other things happening in November that are on Australia’s mind.
What would have been better for Australia? Playing in this final, or having Glenn McGrath playing for NSW in the Sheffield Shield this weekend? You don’t need to be a Rhodes Scholar to figure that one out!
Of course, Cricket Australia is as much to blame for this fiasco as anyone. They really did not have to have a triangular tournament in Australia this summer; the five Tests could have been spread out until early February, and then a 5-match ODI series vs England would have been the ideal warm up for both sides before the World Cup. That would have been just ideal from a cricket point of view.
Sadly, it would not have been ideal from a corporate point of view.
4 Comments »Live discussion: West Indies v South Africa, 2nd semi-final
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of November, 4 Comments »
Who will meet Australia in the final? It’s between these two. I’m pretty interested in the Champions Trophy all of a sudden, if only because it would make my month if West Indies not only made the final by ousting South Africa, but went on to retain their title. It’d be as good as finding a loose fiver down the sofa.
Live scorecard. Get chatting!
4 Comments »Angry India fan kills nephew
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of November, 4 Comments »
There is no doubting India’s obsession/addiction/love for cricket but stories such are these are rare, thankfully so, and a bit disturbing. It’s a bloody game:
Madness for cricket has cost a child his life as his uncle - a police official - banged his head on the floor after India’s loss to Australia on Monday. The Chandigarh police registered a complaint against the relative on Wednesday.
[...]
According to the parents of the child, Malkit Singh was watching the crucial Champions Trophy match between India and Australia, played at Mohali near here, in their house in Sector 30 and had an argument with other family members over India’s poor show in cricket.
In a fit of rage, he picked up the child and banged his head two-three times on the floor. Before the child’s family could react to save the child, the damage had been done.
More at DNA.
4 Comments »Australia v New Zealand, 1st semi-final
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of November, 8 Comments »
Worth keeping your eye on this match. Especially with Australia two down for not very many. Live scorecard.
8 Comments »Sarwan and Gayle’s tour diary blog
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of October, 3 Comments »
Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle are blogging their Champions Trophy thoughts at Cricinfo, which is worth keeping an eye on. See here.
3 Comments »Live discussion: England v Australia, Champions Trophy
By Will 2 years ago, mid-October, 23 Comments »
So then, a mere 32 days before the first Test at Brisbane and these two sides - both not at their best - face eachother in the middle of India. As Shane Warne recently pointed out on his site, the conditions in India - muggy, slow pitches and all - don't mirror in any way those in Australia. Little can be taken from the result of this match - or can it?
I'm posting this on Friday as no doubt I'll fail to wake up in time to watch the match - I don't have Sky, either, so I might be making an early-morning trip to the pub. With a hangover. The omens are not good for me, let alone England.
So, let's get some discussion going. Here's the Cricinfo live scorecard. Get chatting!
23 Comments »Does England’s one-dayer against Australia matter?
By Will 2 years ago, mid-October, 5 Comments »
Open forum. Everyone's getting excited, me included. But do these one-day matches mean anything? Can either side take anything from a win? Will the losing captain spout the same old "awww yeah mate, this is only a one-dayer in India" line?
There will be a post up at 9am tomorrow for you 'orrible lot to get chatting in but, in the meantime, post your thoughts on the hype below.
5 Comments »Champions Trophy lets her hair down
By Will 2 years ago, mid-October, 1 Comment »
Patrick's getting far too excited about the Champions Trophy (frankly, it's even woken me up too) and sums it up rather appropriately
If the Champions Trophy were a woman, it would be one of those rather plain librarian girls who turns out to be gorgeous when she lets her hair down and takes off her glasses, only to turf you out of her house at 11pm just as your courting is getting fruity
Pillow talk with the Champions Trophy brunette librarian would probably be filtered/limited by a BCCI or ICC spokesman underneath the bed…
1 Comment »An Australian perspective on West Indies’ win
By Scott 2 years ago, mid-October, 3 Comments »
I see our esteemed editor is excited because Australia lost a ODI game last night against the West Indies.
This isn't actually a shock- I've seen West Indies quite a bit recently, and while they are still capable of an absolute shocker of a performance, their best cricket these days is really quite excellent.
The first point to be made is the pitch- in contrast to the other two fixtures played at the Brabourne stadium, the pitch was excellent. There was reasonable consistency of bounce, and batsmen could play shots with confidence, although it did get a little low in the evening. Good batsmen like Adam Gilchrist and Michael Clarke were able to compile a decent innings by applying themselves to the conditions.
The reason that Australia lost was that only Gilchrist and Clarke were willing to do this. Gilchrist was quite restrained and in the conditions his 92 was a masterpiece. Clarke also provided excellent support, and while they were going, it looked like Australia would pull off a win regardless of the dismissals earlier in the innings.
It was not to be, though, and the reason Australia lost was simply that in the end, Gilchrist and Clarke were left with too much to do. Shane Watson and Andrew Symonds got themselves out with terrible shot selections, Ricky Ponting was simply beaten for pace by Jerome Taylor, and Damien Martyn was a bit unlucky with his placement. It is rare that a side, even as good as Australia, can give away four prime batting wickets cheaply and still win.
All in all, though, it was a pretty good game. Australia surprised early by giving the new ball to Nathan Bracken, who did enough with it, but Glenn McGrath bowled well enough for mine, as did Watson. He's a batsman that bowls, and he did a fine job. Clarke's return to the bowling crease was a positive sign for Australia as well.
For West Indies, this win was important because they did bowl very well indeed. Most of their recent victories have come through good batting performances, and they will hopefully still be rather annoyed with themselves that they did not get 250 on that wicket. I'd never heard of Runako Morton before, but he certainly made a good impression here, and Brian Lara, well, he needs no introduction, does he? But the likes of Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan are still throwing away good starts.
But West Indies bowled really well, and they bowled as a team. Taylor provided real firepower, Ian Bradshaw an impeccable line and length, the spin duo of Gayle and Samuels kept things tidy and there was no weak link for the Australians to 'get after'. Gayle rather lost his rag with his aggressive behaviour, and gave away four runs to Clarke with a ridiculous piece of play- he looked to have totally lost it there for a while.
How far can West Indies go? Not that far. One more bad day like they had against Sri Lanka, and all the good work will be undone. It's hard to see them going on to defend their title without having another bad one.
Tim de Lisle thinks that the main point of this is that England are now the weak link in group A. It certainly adds some spice to the England vs Australia game on Saturday, although since the loser gets to go to Australia early and prepare for the Ashes, it is hard to call it a 'vital' fixture, since everyone will be happy on Sunday.
3 Comments »Ian Chappell on West Indies’ victory
By Will 2 years ago, mid-October, 1 Comment »
Belting match today between West Indies and Australia, a cracker. Since I was away, seems we're now doing audio at Cricinfo - and Ian Chappell offers his thoughts on today's game which you can listen to here or download here. Pretty slick I reckon.
1 Comment »West Indies beat Australia
By Will 2 years ago, mid-October, 10 Comments »
Brilliant performance! What an effort - hat-trick from Taylor. This is massive.
Brief thoughts a few hours later
McGrath wasn’t impressive. He still has a yorker, but he’ll need more than that against England. At the moment he looks old and rusty.
Shane Watson wasn’t impressive. He should be - yet he isn’t. Cricinfo’s resident outspoken oracle, known to many as Bungo and to some as OI YOU, thinks Andrew Symonds is by far the superior cricketer. Symonds is such the fiend of Australia cricket yet he does have a hint of the unexpected and the magic. Watson looks like he’s got a B+ in his “How To Be An Allrounder” A-Levels. But now, preparing for a career as an allround cricketer, he looks short of class. And this is coming from me - I rated the guy highly not long ago! Turncoat turncoat turncoat.
West Indies were in their faces, and Australia do not like it. They didn’t like it against England and it’s quite obvious that it upsets them. They really are the crocodile with a soft underbelly at the moment.
It’s a fascinating scenario. Why, then, am I absolutely soiling myself about Saturday’s mini-Ashes match? Because England are shocking at one-dayers. Go on England, don’t be wimps; they don’t like it up ‘em. Kick some booty.
10 Comments »Shoaib and his steroids
By Will 2 years ago, mid-October, 14 Comments »
So then. What do we all think? Original story at Cricinfo if you don't know what's going on.
"I cannot say much at this time about what has happened but I just want to assure everyone that I am innocent of doing anything I shouldn't have," Shoaib told bigstarcricket.com. "The President of Pakistan has asked me not to comment in any detail at this stage and I want to respect his wishes, so I will keep my message short.
"All I can say is that I have not knowingly taken any performance-enhancing drugs and would never cheat my team-mates or opponents in this way. I have always played the game fair and I give 100 percent and do not feel that I need to take drugs to help my bowling."
And for what it's worth, The Times have a piece on nandrolone and its effects. Leave your thoughts on the whole mess below.
14 Comments »Wily fox Fleming
By Will 2 years ago, mid-October, 9 Comments »
I watched and commentated on New Zealand and South Africa today, and much to my surprise I actually found it bearable. Shock'n'horror. Anand Vasu has written a really good verdict which you should read immediately at that interwebsite thing called Cricinfo.
Incidentally I met a girl yesterday afternoon who works for the online Ad agency who deal with nPower. I told her who I worked for and, as ever, she sort of mouthed "Cric? Innnfooo? Cricketinfo? Cricinfo?". Is it that difficult to comprehend? Cric. Info. Cricinfo dammit!
9 Comments »England v India, 1st match, Jaipur
By Will 2 years ago, mid-October, 8 Comments »
Just woken up to find England in a mess against India. Forgot to put a holding post up here - but then it's all thoroughly dull, isn't it? Leave a comment if you can stand the pain - they're nine down at the moment.
8 Comments »Not the Champion tournament it could have been
By Scott 2 years ago, at the start of October, 6 Comments »
The first ICC Champions Trophy was a speculative venture by the ICC, and perhaps one of its most successful. It was held in 1998, and the format was a simple, eight-team knockout totalling seven fixtures in Bangladesh. The aim of the tournament was to raise funds for cricket in that country and it was very successful in doing so.
Wisden’s Matthew Engel was told it was the most successful event ever held in Bangladesh since they had become independent, such was the impact.
The ICC, in their wisdom, decided to try again, holding a similar event in Kenya in 2000. This was notable for New Zealand’s first ever success in an event like this, and the general success of the event gave rise to various notions that this could be a useful biennial tournament.
However, since then, the event has been given a formal title - the ICC Champions Trophy - and by being incorporated into the ICC’s huge television deal with Rupert Murdoch’s GCC organisation, the Champions Trophy has lost its way. The early events were quick and easy jaunts to some new places for cricketers, but the last three events have been held in established cricket centres, as part of the regular circuit. However, it has failed to capture the imagination of the world cricket community or the playing fraternity. This year’s event, for example, is widely seen in Anglo-Australian cricketing circles as an unwanted distraction to the build up to the Ashes. For both sides, the Champions Trophy will hamper their proper preparation.
Moreover, since the 2006-07 season is finishing with the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, the rest of the cricket world is likely to view the Champions Trophy as little more then a warm-up to the main event; one where teams can be tweaked and game plans be finalised. It has blown way out of size for a tournament of this nature. The early events were very quick affairs. There are six ‘qualifying matches’ in 2006 - a far cry from the 1998 event, which had seven for the entire event. So all in all, the Champions Trophy has become a real orphan of the international cricket calendar, unloved and unwanted by the people involved in the game, foisted on them by thoughtless administrators.
For those of us that remember the two early success stories, this is a tragic waste.
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