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Cricket at the London Olympic stadium
By Will last year, at the end of October, 2 Comments »
“BRING IT ON!” caps-locks John Stern, the sound-as-a-pound and always cheery editor of The Wisden Cricketer magazine. Why? Because cricket could be coming to London’s Olympic stadium.
It makes total sense. It’s oval shaped, and thus ideal for cricket, and can hold 80,000 people – way, way more than Lord’s or any other England venue. And with England hosting Pakistan v Australia next year, not to mention the vast Asian population of London, having a huge stadium to host Twenty20s would be absolutely brilliant. If they get the pricing right, of course…
2 Comments »Trescothick: will he go to India?
By Will last year, mid-August, 4 Comments »
I meant to watch yesterday’s Twenty20 Cup final, but got distracted by my now-brilliant local which has undergone refurbishment. When I got back, I saw Somerset had reached the final and are now going to play in the Champions League. Most of them, at any rate. The big question remains whether Marcus Trescothick will fly out to India. Most recently he’s rejected a possible comeback for England; travelling and touring were at the core of his difficulties in the latter part of his career, and although he is still batting like a demi-god at Taunton, we don’t yet know whether he’ll have it in him to go to India.
But for the tournament’s sake, and for Somerset, let’s hope he does. Given his thirst for scoring, for batting, and his love of Somerset, it seems plausible he’ll play for years and years to come, and like Hick and Ramprakash dedicate himself to county rather than country. Someone of his rare power and strokeplay is needed if an English county is to sparkle overseas.
4 Comments »Adam Gilchrist’s 2009 Cowdrey Lecture
By Will last year, at the end of June, 2 Comments »
An eloquent, thoughtful and insightful speech made by Adam Gilchrist today. He supported the rise of Twenty20 but defended Test cricket, urging administrators to leave it alone as much as possible. He also pushed for cricket to be included in the Olympics, which isn’t something I know or care much about, but I can see the good it would do for the publicity of cricket.
The post-speech question-and-answer session was excellent, featuring Gilchrist, Graeme Swann and Dave Richardson, the former South Africa wicketkeeper now working for the ICC, and a good man he is too. Shared a couple of beers with him in South Africa and he’s a very serious student of the game, with its core values at the heart of everything he does. When asked this evening his predictions for the Ashes, he quipped: “It’ll be 2-1 going into The Oval, with England in front, and the chairman of the ECB, Giles Clarke, will prepare a featherbed for the final Test” which was a bit of a surprise, and not one Clarke will too overly pleased with I bet.
I put up the transcript of the speech at Cricinfo, so do give it a close read, and MCC will have an MP3 of the recording later.
2 Comments »Sri Lanka v West Indies, 2nd semi-final
By Will last year, mid-June, No Comments; be the first!
Please Jimmy, will you fix it for West Indies to reach the final? A Pakistan-West Indies final would be mouth-wateringly unpredictable. Preview of today’s match here.
No Comments »Kyle Coetzer’s catch
By Will last year, mid-June, No Comments; be the first!
I’ve finally found the video of Kyle Coetzer’s astonishing leap at long-on in Scotland’s match against South Africa. All the Associates did themselves no harm in this tournament, and this is comfortably the competition’s best catch. Absolutely brilliant. Just look at it!
Click here if you can’t see the video above.
No Comments »England beat India. World turns upside down
By Will last year, mid-June, 10 Comments »
What’s happening? That isn’t rhetoric. Please: what’s going on?
England lose to the Dutch, thrash Netherlands, are put back in their box by South Africa and now throw everything at India, spanking them convincingly. These are not the results anybody expected; that India, the champions, are going home is difficult enough to comprehend. That it was England who did it, a team so laughably inconsistent, who play one-day cricket as though so little depends on it, is perplexing in the extreme. It’s wonderful, too, and not because I happen to be English; wonderful that this stupid format produces such ridiculousness. It encourages outlandish behaviour and cricket but the crucial essences of the sport still apply. A year ago, I don’t think you’d have accepted a captain suggesting to your team “let’s bounce them out”, even if that team is particularly inept at playing short-pitch bowling. If anything, Twenty20 encourages orthodoxy as much as unorthodoxy.
It’s all gone brilliantly bonkers. This time tomorrow, England might be in the semi-finals. Stop laughing at the back.
10 Comments »Strauss not right for Twenty20
By Mark Tilley last year, mid-March, 6 Comments »
Just a thought on England’s miserable Twenty20 performance tonight. As admirable and as brilliantly as Andrew Strauss has played and captained the side since his elevation to skipper, how can the powers that be possibly have included him in the team for this format of the game?
Yes, he’s the captain and in an ideal world, the captain should play across all formats of the game. But, this isn’t an ideal world English cricket finds itself in. Strauss, a masssively talented batsman, is blatantly not a Twenty20 player. He may have a fine collection of shots in his locker and he may even have a good future in the 50 over version of international cricket. But he doesn’t really fit in with this format of the game.
His innings today wasn’t necessarily terrible. After all, in a lame England batting performance, Strauss notched up the second highest score. But his 22 came off 25 balls and featured just two boundaries. Twenty20 cricket is demanding and a strike-rate of under 100 is unforgivable in the majority situations. There comes a certain point where unless your partner down the other end is belting the ball to all parts, you are just wasting balls.
Surely, Paul Collingwood or someone else could have been asked to captain the side for just today’s game? Strauss will lead the team in the conventional one day series and rightly so but for this condensed version of cricket, why couldn’t someone else have done it? Was it really worth including Strauss in the side just because he is captain? Australia regularly choose Twenty20 games as an opportunity to rest Ricky Ponting and give Michael Clarke an opportunity to take charge. It baffles me as to why England have not done something similar here.
Strauss’ inclusion was not the sole reason for England’s defeat (you’d need about three blogs to cover their various Twenty20 inadequacies) but they aren’t doing themselves any favours at all with poor selection choices such as this one. People lambasted the England selectors for including Alastair Cook in the Stanford Series squad and by the same token Strauss should have been left out here. A great player, no doubt, but not the most innovative and Twenty20 is clearly not his forte. England, please take heed in the future.
6 Comments »Village
By Will last year, mid-March, 5 Comments »
I made the mistake of switching over to the cricket after watching England thrash France in the rugby. What a loser I am. Professional interest got the better of me when I saw Stephen Davies surprisingly chosen to open the batting, and although he immediately looked quite an attractive batsman, England quickly reverted to type and approached their innings with all the testosterone and impetus of a fucking flamingo stuck in quicksand.
They lost their last nine wickets for 66. Well played West Indies, and please do the honest and good thing by trouncing us in the one-dayers. I am in the mood for more making disparaging, bombastic statements about a team desperately seeking its own identity.
5 Comments »Broad shoulders
By Mark Tilley last year, at the end of January, 15 Comments »
Interesting and heartwarming to see Stuart Broad politely refusing the chance to play in the Indian Premier League. Broad, a wise old head on young shoulders, possibly feels that the crucial summer of English cricket, encompassing a Twenty20 World Cup and an Ashes series, is worth preparing for properly and so has opted out of the high profile player auction to be held on 6 February.
Is it a good choice for young Broad? Financially, it is probably not. The Nottinghamshire fast bowler could stand to earn a six figure sum should he be signed by one of the eight teams involved. However, Broad has his eye on the bigger picture. England face a rigorous schedule between now and the rest of the summer and the heavy workload has seen many an England bowler break down injured (see Messrs Sidebottom, Flintoff and Harmison). Broad is clearly desperate to have a big role in the Ashes contest with Australia this summer and views this as his one chance to have a break before the hectic summer.
It is not unfeasible to say that England surely stand to benefit from Broad’s absence from the IPL. Ignoring the fact that Twenty20 is not necessarily a bowlers game and that Broad has painful T20 memories (thanks, Yuvraj), Broad could well have an extra spring in his step come the visit of both the West Indians and the Aussies. Mick Newell, Broad’s coach at Nottinghamshire, has described the decision as ‘very mature’ and it’s hard to argue. Us mortals can only imagine the monetary lure of the IPL and how easy it must be to play motivated by the promise of cold hard cash.
In making this decision, Broad has shown us two things. One – that he views playing for his country as the main objective and ambition in cricket and that no amount of money can detract from that for him. And two - that it is possible for players in this day and age to say no to the big money riches of the IPL. With all the concern over the longevity of Test cricket and the preservation of cricketing traditions, Broad’s mature stance must be a well of relief for those fretting the most.
Here’s hoping that Broad will prove that he made the right decision and really come on as a Test bowler this summer. I, for one, applaud his decision, wholeheartedly.
15 Comments »JP Duminy – a class act
By Mark Tilley last year, mid-January, 2 Comments »
Yes, Australia may have handed it to South Africa in both Twenty20 games. But at least JP Duminy is still dominating the frail Aussies. His innings today of 69 not out off 41 balls underlined his class in the shorter form of the game and continues his extremely impressive run of scores Down Under.
For Duminy, this tour has certainly been a breakthrough for him. Making only a single on Test debut in Perth, he followed it with an impressive unbeaten fifty in the successful run chase, giving solid support to centurion AB de Villers and guiding the Proteas to an historic win. And as if that wasn’t enough, he blitzed the Australian attack all over the MCG in the next Test, making a fantastic 166, batting with the tail. That innings dragged South Africa back into the game, having been pretty much out of it when he came to the crease.
Duminy had a quiet final Test but by then he had already impressed all the right people. His classy stroke-play is what draws most to him and the way in which he has accumulated his runs proves he has a fantastic temperament, well suited to Test match cricket. However, he can still perform in the limited overs arena with a bold 78 in the first T20 match followed by today’sinnings. He has five more one day games to continue being a thorn in Australia’s side.
Duminy looks to have a great future before him. He appears to have already ousted Ashwell Prince from the South African middle order and if he can replicate his Australian success when the Aussies come back for the return series, then he’ll surely be well placed to be one of the world’s best batsman for years to come. Well played, indeed.
2 Comments »Middlesex crowned Twenty20 champions
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of July, 2 Comments »
One of my earliest memories is hearing my Dad talk about Middlesex winning the Championship in 1993. To a naive 11-year-old living just outside London, it seemed perfectly normal for me to follow in my Dad’s footsteps and follow the same team – especially one that appeared to be so dominant. In 15 years of following them, they haven’t won a single trophy…until Saturday when Ed Joyce lifted the Twenty20 Cup.
Partisanship aside, this was a brilliant day’s cricket from start to end, going right down to the last ball. Even some pious dissenters will have been swayed by the whole occasion, and as much as The Rose Bowl is flawed in so many ways, it was a great stage for the day. Shame about the transport links, as ever…
Anyway, here’s something I wrote at Cricinfo. What did you make of the day and of Middlesex’s win?
—
This wasn’t merely the culmination of a domestic tournament but the dawn of unprecedented riches for English cricket. For a competition which appeared out of nowhere six years ago, jutting out uncomfortably between the dusty but familiar Championship, today’s thrilling Twenty20 final between Kent and Middlesex was something of a landmark.
A landmark for Middlesex, of course, who ended 15 years of back-room squabbling to lift their first trophy since the 1993 County Championship. But it was equally momentous for the format itself which, in spite of all money thrown at its feet, is maturing before our eyes. It has changed out of all recognition from the “hit and giggle” fest which made its debut here, at The Rose Bowl, six years ago. Then, it was lacking identity. Nobody knew how long it would endure, and most didn’t really care. The cricket itself was at times shambolic, with batsmen choosing the unconventional route when, in fact, convention would have done just fine.
That is much less so the case these days, and today’s standout innings were each models in orthodoxy. Ravi Bopara’s 29 in Essex’s losing semi-final contained deft glances down to third man and audacious flicks through midwicket, all with a straight bat. Owais Shah, a model of Asian-influenced wristiness but who is mostly a mainstream batsman, threaded the gaps in the field with unerring accuracy time and again. When he hit over the top, as he did five times, they were clean and savage blows that belied the timing he found. And Rob Key was at his uncomplicated best, cover-driving and back-cutting in his breathless 52. England are often chastised for not nurturing the next Ajantha Mendis or Muttiah Muralitharn But they do do orthodoxy rather well, and as Shah’s exquisite 75 demonstrated, that’s no bad thing at all.
There was a danger that Lalit Modi and Allen Stanford’s interest in the English game might sway the players’ focus or detract from their performance in this year’s Twenty20 Cup. In reaching the final, both Middlesex and Kent can play in October’s Champions League – if a date is ever agreed upon – while the victors, Middlesex, head to Antigua in October to take on England at the invitation of Stanford. Cricket has pined for financial investment, all the while resembling an impoverished cousin in the shadow of football. To judge by each of today’s fascinating duels – culminating in a final that surpassed any in its six-year history – Twenty20 is no longer a sideshow or a frivolous, passing shower. It deserves these riches thrown at it. The players certainly do.
“Twenty20 is getting bigger and bigger, and today would’ve done it no harm,” Key, the disconsolate Kent captain, said after play. “It might harm a few other forms of the game, because for me that must have been brilliant to watch.”
It was undoubtedly memorable. With Kent chasing 188, Justin Kemp had plinked his way to a typically muscular (but, oddly, all too rare) 24 before cracking one straight into Ed Joyce’s midriff, only for Middlesex’s captain to fluff it. It appeared to be the defining moment, leaving Kent a very gettable 16 from the final over from Tyron Henderson. Dawid Malan’s embarrassingly panicky throw from third man gave them four runs, reducing the equation to an easy six from three balls. After a clubbed two, a dot ball punctured the atmosphere before Henderson found a last-ball yorker to end Kent’s hopes, and realise Middlesex’s dream. On a perfect June evening, only a handful of the 20,000 capacity crowd had fled following the semi-finals. Key was right. This was the perfect advert for the game.
It is quite a tale for Middlesex. So long the hapless bystanders in Twenty20, they have stormed through this year’s competition with their blend of youth, Irishmen and South Africans. There are more talented sides in the tournament – Durham possess seven internationals – but it was their belief that saw Middlesex through.
“Today, we sat down and just tried to play fearless cricket,” said Joyce, Middlesex’s vice-captain who led the side in the absence of the injured Ed Smith. “If we thought of taking a shot on, or bowling a certain ball, we were just going to do it and have no regrets. And that showed in the way we played in both games. Owais Shah and Tyron Henderson both played fantastic knocks, and everyone chipped in around them. We bowled and fielded very well as well.”
Although Kent are through to the Champions League, there is still the possibility they won’t be allowed to play, since some of their squad have represented the unofficial Indian Cricket League. Middlesex, however, have no such concerns, and Joyce was understandably bullish about their chances.
“I think we have a great template, and we have two of the best spinners in Twenty20 [Murali Kartik and Shaun Udal]. These guys just don’t get hit that much,” he said. “When you look at our batting, we have a lot of young guys like Morgan and Malan who are unorthodox, and then we have Henderson and Shah to back them up. I think we have a good formula, and whoever we potentially play against in the future, we should [be competitive].”
With each year, Twenty20 is growing and maturing. Few would have given Middlesex much hope of reaching Finals Day before the season began, yet it is a testament to their own confidence that they could shine when the pressure was at its greatest. And the drama seen today is tribute to the scrawny little format which was born six years ago, one that has given cricket an identity to be proud of.
2 Comments »Twenty20 Finals Day
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of July, No Comments; be the first!
Even the ECB clerk who first pondered the idea of Twenty20 must be wondering what monster he has unearthed. As we approach the sixth Twenty20 Finals Day in England, the stakes are higher than ever; the amount of money vaguely ludicrous. And no one really knows what the bloody hell is going on.
What the bloody hell is for certain, of course, is the loot. There’s a weeny cheque for £42,000 for the winners of the Twenty Cup, but the real cash cow grazes in Texas: Allen Stanford, everyone’s favourite moustachioed billionaire, has offered the winners of this year’s tournament to challenge England ahead of the Stanford Sugardaddy Superstar Slogathon later this year. There is a reported £30,000 on offer for each of the winning XI should the county beat England.
In addition, of course, there’s the Champions League – that monstrous tournament featuring domestic Twenty20 winners from Australia, South Africa, England and India – though, as usual, there is some doubt as to whether this will take place. The winners of that particular cash whale is £2.5m. Kent and Durham, two of the semi-finalists for tomorrow, are ineligible because they have fielded players who have represented the nasty, evil Indian Cricket League, and Lalit Modi simply won’t accept anything but the purest of pure, as though the ICL has tainted their souls.
It’s a remarkable moment for cricket, this, but also equally uncertain. Announcements from counties, from the ECB – from Allen himself – are all last-minute. Negotiations are constantly ongoing and “in development”. Accusations are denied or refuted; amounts of money disputed or altered seemingly on a daily basis. There is an undercurrent of bubbling excitement fuelled by politics and uncertainty; driven by money. It’s amazing what a few noughts and pound-signs will do for the enthusiasm levels.
What is for certain, however, is four teams will do battle at The Rose Bowl – one of my least favourite grounds, I have to admit – tomorrow, and amid all the tension and pressure to win, it should be a cracking day for all: not least for the Mascot Race (I don’t know why I capitalised that) and David Lloyd’s infectious commentary. My money’s on Durham to beat Essex in the final, but don’t write Middlesex off – the greatest county in the land – especially with Dawid Malan in the side.
Anyway. Keep your eye on Cricinfo, and leave your thoughts on the madness in the comments below.
No Comments »A fan’s-eye view of the EPL
By Jonathan Liew 2 years ago, mid-July, 3 Comments »
On hearing a new initiative, my first instinct has generally been the most reliable one. “A shorter World Cup? Great!” “$10 million, winner-takes-all? What is this, a game show?” But I’m less certain about the contented feeling I got in the pit of my stomach immediately after reading about the impending EPL. On reflection, I wonder where it’s going to leave the casual fan.
Twenty20 cricket is the most expensive form of domestic cricket to watch, and with huge pressure on the ECB to match or even surpass the level of revenue generated by the IPL, it’s easy to envisage a future in which tickets to a Twenty20 game hit the £30 or even £40 mark. And it’s wishful thinking to expect a terrestrial broadcaster to show interest, especially when you consider the sheer number of games involved and the prime Friday-night slot most of them would fill.
What the EPL vision reminds me of most is not its Indian counterpart, but its footballing equivalent: the bloated, joyless Premiership. A middle-class preserve, a place where corporate fools will go to show how ‘down with it’ they are, the domain of Sky or Setanta subscribers alone. We will be told, patronisingly, that this is the price you pay for higher standards.
So a few suggestions, just in case Giles Clarke reads this blog:
1) Include free admission to a Championship game with every Twenty20 ticket. Championship cricket will all but disappear from summer weekends, and it needs all the help it can get.
2) Ticket prices will need some form of regulation. The ‘Iron Law’ of cricket spectating goes something like this: the less you’ve paid to watch a game, the more fun you’ll have. World Twenty20 in South Africa: fun. World Cup in the Caribbean: not fun. 50 rupees to watch the world’s best in the IPL: very fun. £60 to watch Neil Mackenzie trickle along at two an over: really, not fun at all.
3) If you want to sell the rights to the SuperMegaEnglishTwenty20FlyingCircus to Sky for such an astronomically high sum that anyone wanting to watch it will need to buy a new dish, we won’t kick up a fuss. As long as we can have Test matches back on terrestrial.
4) Oh, and thanks for ditching the Pro40.
3 Comments »English Premier League in 2010
By Will 2 years ago, mid-July, 2 Comments »
I’ve been off a couple of days and there’s masses to catch up on at this late hour, not least the ECB’s domestic restructuring and unveiling of the English Premier League. Briefly, this is the deal:
In a unanimous decision, the format that has been agreed upon will involve all 18 first-class counties, plus two overseas sides to make up the numbers, with the matches to be played in the month of June. One of the teams will be provided by Allen Stanford and it is believed the other will be from India, with the winners of the IPL the likely choice.
A separate Twenty20 League for the 18 counties will then take place, primarily on Friday nights in July and August, and will act as the qualifier for the Champions League. The current Pro40 competition will be scrapped to make way for the competition.
Thankfully, the new Twenty20 league has killed off the Pro40 – a tournament hilariously out of date, and purely a money-spinner for the counties. This new money spinner, however, should inject upwards of £60m into the game every year.
It’s all a bit…limp, isn’t it? Keith Bradshaw, MCC’s chief executive, recently offered his ideas which wouldn’t have included all the counties. The ECB’s includes all 18, plus two more, and in doing so renders it far from “premier”. It’s bloated before it’s even begun.
My main concern is overkill; you can have too much of a good thing, as my hangover this morning reminded me. Will England be hungover from Twenty20 come 2011? From June onwards, the country will be overtaken by it; after the EPL comes the usual Twenty20 Cup, and you have to wonder how much energy everyone’s going to have with dozens and scores of these matches taking place. Moreover, how are we, the public, going to react to it?
And has the ECB squandered an opportunity to finally cut down the number of teams? 18 is still too many. 20 is bloody ridiculous.
Secondly, if ECB offer the television rights to Sky (which are up for renewal end of 2009), this bold new tournament won’t seep into the public’s summery minds nearly as much were it on free-to-air. We can only hope that with the additional income these tournaments are bringing, the ECB won’t have to rely on Murdoch’s millions to ratchet up their coffers and thus cut off the majority of the population who don’t have (or can’t afford) Sky.
So are you in favour?
2 Comments »Middlesex remain unbeaten
By Will 2 years ago, mid-June, 4 Comments »
Mighty, mighty Middlesex. For the past five seasons, only Durham had a worse record than Middlesex in Twenty20s, but not so now: they’ve won all five of their matches this season, the only team to do so. Outstanding, tear-jerking performance by perhaps the greatest club in the entire world.
(Allow me the hyperbole. My enthusiasm, and Middlesex’s, will not last for long)
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