Cricket: More Than a Game

Sri Lanka's attempt to serve up a doctored pitch is brought undone by the rain. Unlikely to make much difference overall.

Some shockingly one-sided matches in the last couple of days. Only a month to go...

Glad I didn't make a smug post after England's innings, despite the temptation.

Yeah, hell of a game on both sides. England really have been smack in the middle of the drama through this World Cup.

I thought Ireland acquited themselves well against India on a fairly mundane pitch. A few more years of this standard of cricket and surely they should be looking for a shot at Full Member status with the ICC?

If South Africa were a girl you wouldn't date her too long.

The gag reflex is just too strong.

Haakon7 wrote:

Yeah, hell of a game on both sides. England really have been smack in the middle of the drama through this World Cup.

I thought Ireland acquited themselves well against India on a fairly mundane pitch. A few more years of this standard of cricket and surely they should be looking for a shot at Full Member status with the ICC?

Yeah, if this was a movie I would consider the drama around the English team to be laid on a little heavy. Drawing a large total, losing to a minnow and winning with their backs to the wall. Cricket at its best.

Ireland is acquitting itself well, they and the ICC need to get tours going involving them, then membership will follow.

Kamran Akmal is either the worst keeper ever seen in international cricket - or still on the take.

That was some of the worst 'death' bowling in the history of ODIs. Shoaib has always been a pea heart so this is not such a surprise.

Conversation with 10 overs to go of the New Zealand innings, Pakistani management

"What do you mean, that figure is a 3 ? Oh crap, signal the lads..."

Whoa! Bangladesh!

Although I think this 'Extra' guy should have been man of the match.

What a cracker! SA vs India, tail saved our asses again.

*edit*

Whoa. 5 years to the day since SA chased down Australia's 434 to win at the Wanderer's. 12 March is an auspicious day for South African cricket.

Good response from SA, I watched their innings and thought a victory was unlikely until very close to the end. I can see them in the final, perhaps against SL or India....Australia seem unbalanced and I think England have just run out of steam.

I recorded the Saffer's innings but couldn't resist peeking at the result.

That was a massive choke by India.

Credit to MS Dhoni for calling out his batsmen for showboating. Thank god for the showboating though, glad we didn't have to chase 350+.

Interesting little stat I saw. South Africa are the only team to have bowled out everyone they've played in the tournament so far.

We can't even bowl out Kenya.

Our board are king of the post hoc press conference justification. Our spin stocks are utterly barren so we select an all pace attack and pretend like this is a masterstroke and competitive advantage when all they do is leak runs while even spinning mediocrities from the minnows are able to dry up the runs.

The batting powerplay has brought so many teams undone. Surely some captain will realise that bringing the field in and put a bit of pressure on is a good idea rather than letting things drift at 6 an over in the middle overs.

Yeah, that is concerning for Australia. It's understandable that conditions in Oz, like SA, are not really conducive to the production of serious spinners, but even without Tahir we have some tricky slow bowlers who can dry up runs. It's hard to believe that Australia can't even find that.

*edit*

Bangladesh beating Netherlands means England have to beat the West Indies. If England bats second in Chennai they may be out.

And we're through. Shame it's at the expense of Ireland who performed really well, they bowled and fielded really well, pity their batting folded.

England squeaks it thanks to BMT and a middle order implosion by the Windies.

Trott claiming a catch when he must have known he was all over the boundary rope was piss poor sportsmanship though.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

England squeaks it thanks to BMT and a middle order implosion by the Windies.

Trott claiming a catch when he must have known he was all over the boundary rope was piss poor sportsmanship though.

Hell of a game! I hope this gets the guys excited about the tournament again, and we see them elevate their game over the coming weeks. I think they've already proved they can compete against anyone on their day.

I'm not sure I'd class Trott as being 'all over the boundary,' though, DeVil. With the squishiness of the padding and the angle at which he's sliding, I think Trott thinks that he's managed to slow himself enough to stop just before. I just watched the highlights and it looked like he was just brushing the side with his shoulder (maybe even just the shirt.)

But then again, he's South African, so its 'win at all costs' right?

Yeah, maybe you're right. But to show the umpire the finger as though there was no doubt at all was pretty forward, IMO. Maybe just shrug and let things get referred rather than try pressure the umpire, that's gamesmanship. I wouldn't expect him to say, 'Yeah it's a 6' with England's back to the wall.

I like to think more South Africans would be like Jacques Kallis when he got that nick to Prior. Turn around, ask the guy if he caught and walk. When you say 'Win at all costs' I think you have us confused with the Aussies. :p

Seriously though, England has been like the centre of the storm of awesome games, while I was cheering for the Windies I can't wait to see what the English have in store for us next. And watching England play and not seeing Broad's supremely punchable face is so much more pleasant.

Hah, Graeme Smith can be quick on his feet. From Twitter.

KevinMcCallum wrote:

The chirp: @GraemeSmith was asked if it would be strange having English fans supporting South Africa against Bangladesh today. (cont)

His reply: “Well, I think the English fans have got used to supporting South Africans these days." Boom, baby.

And an interesting interview with Colin Ingram. Provides insight into the South African team culture. Even the WAGS have uniforms to include them as part of the squad.

Out of curiosity, which web sites do you use for tracking scores and news and things? And what is the name of that giant 20-20 tournament that's mostly played in India? The one with the 3 hourish evening games? I caught a lot of it on youtube last year and it was entertaining. Especially the stats analysis.

Best cricket site on the web is CricInfo. It has everything.

The tournament in question, a controversial thing among cricket fans, is the IPL. First game 8 April.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

The tournament in question, a controversial thing among cricket fans, is the IPL. First game 8 April.

Yeah, I remember reading about that, due to the shortened game length and related rules. But I'm an American, so obviously I have the attention span of a gnat, and my opinion doesn't count. Mostly I just love the stats and bizarre lingo.

Well if you like stats CricInfo will make you very happy. I also quite like 20 20 games as an introduction to new fans. I know a few people who started with the short games and have started following 50 over and 5 day games.

Once you have the basics of the lingo down then you start to see the appeal of the more strategic games.

The IPL is controversial for more than that though. It's been shoe-horned into a very busy international schedule. A lot of players are stretched too thin through playing so much, and it is very corrupt. Well, they claim it was, but I don't think anyone buys that.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

Well if you like stats CricInfo will make you very happy. I also quite like 20 20 games as an introduction to new fans. I know a few people who started with the short games and have started following 50 over and 5 day games.

Once you have the basics of the lingo down then you start to see the appeal of the more strategic games.

The IPL is controversial for more than that though. It's been shoe-horned into a very busy international schedule. A lot of players are stretched too thin through playing so much, and it is very corrupt. Well, they claim it was, but I don't think anyone buys that.

Yeah, that's pretty much the case.

I don't watch it, and I know Dave doesn't approve, but you see some amazing fielding in the IPL and you get the chance to see a selection of some of the best players from around the world, so there are some up-sides as well.

You should definitely be paying attention to the current World Cup, though. Its entering the quarter-finals and its been a great one so far!

IPL is a competition organised by crooks, managed by crooks and played in by the greedy and stupid. Corrupt doesn't begin to cover it.

Haakon7 wrote:

You should definitely be paying attention to the current World Cup, though. Its entering the quarter-finals and its been a great one so far!

Definitely. Anyone with even a passing interest in the game should be following the WC. Fist two weeks were pretty boring, getting good now, and only going to get better.

davet010 wrote:

IPL is a competition organised by crooks, managed by crooks and played in by the greedy and stupid. Corrupt doesn't begin to cover it.

I fail to see how this is different from almost any other sports league I've seen, professional or otherwise. Then again, I'm a curmudgeonly old crank.

I'm watching the WC stats come in now. The closest ties I have to any country playing are England and NZ, as I visited both. Go Kiwis!

Mixolyde wrote:

The closest ties I have to any country playing are England and NZ, as I visited both. Go Kiwis!

It's not up on CricInfo yet, but if the buzz on Twitter is right South Africa plays New Zealand in the quarter final on Wednesday.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but after seeing the way we demolished Bangladesh today I'm starting to feel good about our team. Bangladesh could have put up more of a fight, but our performance was pretty complete. And that was without our main pace guys.

Quarters are official. There's been a lot of confusion because Sri Lanka and India both needed to have home quarters.

Wed Mar 23
08:30 GMT | 14:30 local
10:30 SAST 1st Quarter-Final - Pakistan v West Indies (Match C)
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Thu Mar 24
09:00 GMT | 14:30 local
11:00 SAST 2nd Quarter-Final - India v Australia (Match E)
Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad

Fri Mar 25
08:30 GMT | 14:30 local
10:30 SAST 3rd Quarter-Final - New Zealand v South Africa (Match F)
Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Sat Mar 26
09:00 GMT | 14:30 local
11:00 SAST 4th Quarter-Final - Sri Lanka v England (Match D)
R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

The India/Australia match-up should be the big one.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

The India/Australia match-up should be the big one.

Who are the favorites in the other three?