Cricket VIII

[delete this account pls]

Thirded. The only reason I don't bitch about ODI's more is because they raise a hell of a lot of revenue for the game. Now that we've got Twenty/20, we can get more excitement and the same amount of money generated in less than half the time. The annual tri-series we have here is the worst part of the cricket season IMO, it just drags on forever.

[Paxter]

Well, NZ ultimately paid the price for their poor batting in the first innings, but credit should go to Vettori for keeping the game alive for as long as he did. Incredible performance from him really - captain of the team, selector, highest run-scorer (272 runs @ 90) and highest wicket-taker (10 wickets @ 32) for his team. That series was basically SL vs Vettori.

As for the Sri Lankans, well, they are nigh on unbeatable at home ATM. They have four of the most in-form batsmen in the world in their team (Jaya, Sanga, Thilan, Dilshan), three great spinners (Murali, Mendis, Herath) and Thushara looks a good long-term replacement for Vaas. They've only lost one test series since 05/06 - and that was against Australia in Australia two years ago. I wouldn't be surprised to see them move to No. 1 in the world in the near future.

[Jeor]

And well done on O'Brien for toughing it out for 75 balls and getting Vettori to a new highest score. Vettori will be able to push his average past 30 by the time he's done with his career. I was watching updates of the match when Oram and Vettori were going well...but it was just too far away for it to realistically happen (especially when Chris Martin is the 11th man, you really only need 9 wickets to bowl New Zealand out, sorry Rimmer). ;)

About Sri Lanka being No.1 in the world...I think their biggest test will be when they have to play in England next (whenever that is). They have great spinners, great batsmen, and some tidy pace bowlers (throw Malinga in the mix and you get a lot more edge from the pacemen), but not many of the batsmen have good records in England. Their batsmen are at home on the subcontinent, and in Australia some of them showed they could score runs on hard and fast pitches (which would also extend to South Africa) but I have the feeling that the Sri Lankan batsmen might be vulnerable to pitches that give the seamers and swingers some assistance.

(Like Australia was. Bah! ;))

[Rimmer]

And well done on O'Brien for toughing it out for 75 balls and getting Vettori to a new highest score. Vettori will be able to push his average past 30 by the time he's done with his career. I was watching updates of the match when Oram and Vettori were going well...but it was just too far away for it to realistically happen (especially when Chris Martin is the 11th man, you really only need 9 wickets to bowl New Zealand out, sorry Rimmer). ;)

Vettori's average is arguably a bit deflated too, since he started as a no. 11 batsman at the age of 18. This test was a bit like the recent Bangladesh one, with Vettori winning it single-handedly. I'm struggling for positives, but apparently this is the highest fourth innings total in Sri Lanka ever, which isn't half bad.

And Chris Martin is a cult favourite over here; we love watching him bat - one of my greatest live moments was when he hit Harbhajan for a lofted drive for 4 over his head at the Basin this year. :) There can't be too many other test players out there who have more wickets than runs to their name. What's funny is that our innings usually end by the batsman at the other end going kamikaze as soon as Martin walks out, as Dan did today.

[Jeor]

What's funny is that our innings usually end by the batsman at the other end going kamikaze as soon as Martin walks out, as Dan did today.

Martin clearly inspires much confidence in his partners. ;) I remember commentators having theories about why Martin was such an automatic wicket...I think the best one I heard was that his eyesight isn't so good, or something along those lines.

Reminds me of Phil Tufnell. Tuffers apparently never wanted to move up the order (even when there were lineups that included Ed Giddins, Devon Malcolm, Alan Mullaly) because as he said himself, he hated walking back to the pavilion alone when he got out. ;) At least if he was No. 11 he always had some company!

[Ser_not_appearing_yet]

Anyone else watching Eng vs Oz 20/20 today?

Should be good.

[Jeor]

Anyone else watching Eng vs Oz 20/20 today?

Should be good.

I would be, except I don't have cable and our free-to-air channel doesn't have the rights to the Twenty20. Doh!

[Ser_not_appearing_yet]

Bad luck mate.

Oz have started ok, 35/0 from 5. Warner keeps swinging blindly to leg, pretty poor technique but he's still there somehow.

And now Watsons out, 35/1.

[Jeor]

Warner keeps swinging blindly to leg, pretty poor technique but he's still there somehow.

Yeah, for all the talk of Twenty20 getting younger players into the game etc, it still does have the potential to stuff around with their technique. Warner burst onto the scene with a scintillating innings against South Africa and the expectations are so high that he's now expected to absolutely bash anything out of the park. Which puts pressure on him to live up to those expectations by scoring quickly, hence the numerous slogs to cow corner etc.

Not a problem if you're an established international who's just learning a few new tricks, but if you're a developing player, the cow corner slogs can creep into your all-round technique. I'm usually not one for blind orthodoxy (straight bat, elbow must always be high, etc etc) but technique does have its uses. ;)

At least at the top level it matters...maybe not so much at club level. ;) When I played grade cricket in Sydney I remember playing against a team that were all just cowboys. 90% of the runs were scored from the arc of mid-on to square leg (the other 10% of runs being edges from ugly hoicks that flew over the slips instead). Not a cover drive in sight. I think we lost to them in that game too. :P

[Rimmer]

Martin clearly inspires much confidence in his partners. ;) I remember commentators having theories about why Martin was such an automatic wicket...I think the best one I heard was that his eyesight isn't so good, or something along those lines.

I saw an interview where he says they do these electronic tests to measure hand-eye coordination, and he comes dead last by a long way. It's funny that any international sportsman should have to do a part of a sport that he's so bad at.

[Paxter]

NZ probable XI for the first T20 International:

New Zealand: (probable) 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Jesse Ryder, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Jacob Oram, 6 Neil Broom/Grant Elliott, 7 Peter McGlashan (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Shane Bond, 11 Kyle Mills/ Ian Butler

Back in business!

[Jeor]

And the second Twenty20 gets washed out due to rain (wasn't raining during the time but the bowler's runups were dodgy). I don't think it's really anyone's fault - you don't want a bowler to get injured playing on that surface, and by all accounts the rain before the game was torrential. A shame for the spectators though.

It's funny that any international sportsman should have to do a part of a sport that he's so bad at.

I think cricket is pretty unique as far as the players having to do things that they really aren't good at. I suppose major league baseball in the National League has pitchers who have to see time at the plate, but the American League has the designated hitter so the pitcher doesn't even have to face up anymore over there. I think most other things are specialist sports where you're rarely played out of position and completely out of your depth.

[DJDonegal]

I guess you could argue that a Decathlete or Heptathlete has to do events that they're not so good at, but really, they're just pretty amazing at everything.

Roll on the ODI's.

[williamjm]

I think cricket is pretty unique as far as the players having to do things that they really aren't good at. I suppose major league baseball in the National League has pitchers who have to see time at the plate, but the American League has the designated hitter so the pitcher doesn't even have to face up anymore over there. I think most other things are specialist sports where you're rarely played out of position and completely out of your depth.

One example would be something like the Tour De France where you have some cyclists who are very good at sprinting fast over very short distances at the ends of stages climbing up huge mountains in the Alps and Pyrenees and trailing in many minutes behind the specialist climbers (or doing similarly badly in time trials).

[Rimmer]

That was an enjoyable T20 against Sri Lanka. We got a low total, and Dilshan got them off to a flyer - it looked like they'd make it in 15 overs - but we somehow kept taking wickets and strangling them. Oram made a hat-trick (the first wicket three overs before the next two) which nobody noticed, including him and the commentators.

Vettori 2/11 off his four overs - he's got the limited-overs cricket mastered. Bond got hit for 16 in his first over, which was a shame, but could happen to anyone with Dilshan in his sort of form. That overhead shot is just insane, and I always cringe as he comes so close to getting smacked in the face.

[Jeor]

Just as Lee is arguably not a good bowler to have in Twenty20 (too expensive), Bond is probably not the best suited for the shortest version of the game either. Both of them are phenomenal ODI bowlers but Twenty20 swings heavily in favour of economy. One reason why Vettori is so good at Twenty20, because economy is Vettori's forte. He isn't the greatest of wicket takers (Test strike rate in the high 70s) but he is an excellent run-stifler and probably the tidiest and most organised spinner going around these days.

Regarding Dilshan's shot...Chopra's column on cricinfo mentioned that he must have practised it relentlessly in the off-season to perfect it before he'd unveil it in an international fixture. Chopra's point in his column was that a lot of what we'd think as spontaneous brilliance and inventiveness is actually the product of lots of practice. Ok, so it doesn't hold all the time (I doubt Flintoff ever did much practice!) but I'm sure training comes into it more than we think.

[Horza]

Thirded. The only reason I don't bitch about ODI's more is because they raise a hell of a lot of revenue for the game. Now that we've got Twenty/20, we can get more excitement and the same amount of money generated in less than half the time. The annual tri-series we have here is the worst part of the cricket season IMO, it just drags on forever.

The Tri-Series was killed off last summer, for precisely that reason (oh and if Aus doesn't make the 'playoff' then it's a revenues nightmare for CA).

[Stubby]

The Tri-Series was killed off last summer, for precisely that reason (oh and if Aus doesn't make the 'playoff' then it's a revenues nightmare for CA).

The WACA is likely to need some form of revenue this year as their test may be in doubt due to the Windies' issues. :(

[Jeor]

I also agree that the ODIs are getting outdated. Twenty20 can bring in as much revenue and is more interesting for the spectators. While I do like the nuances of the 50-overs per innings format, compared to Twenty20 it really doesn't have as much drawing power. The added advantage is that with only three hour games, Twenty20 can be comfortably scheduled in after a work day, whereas you'd have to miss the first innings of an ODI.

I still wouldn't like to see a like-for-like substitution of Twenty20s in place of ODIs. There is a danger of overexposure; the IPL survived because it was in India, but I don't think other Twenty20 tournaments are going to have the same sort of success. If cricket boards need to raise more money they will have to do it through other means - what exactly these may be I'm not sure. They won't want to add more Tests; Test matches are unreliable as far as revenue goes and there are already arguments about there being too much cricket. They might have to start somehow dipping into first-class cricket as a revenue source.

[Horza]

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