Cricket IX

[Paxter]

Bah. The Tigers are going to lose this, but that was an awesome counter-attacking hundred from Rahim. "Green shoots" are starting to materialise for the Bangladeshis :thumbsup:.

[The Winged Shadow]

I am really happy with Bangladesh's performance, but i would've been happier if they managed to take 20 wickets :P . I had really high hopes for Nafees but he let the team down big time, let's hope he picks things up next match. Fuck Ashraful. Seriously, he of all people should know better by now yet he keeps making the same mistakes all the fucking time.

Mahmudullah and Mushfiq are my favorite players at the moment. Not because of their runs but because they played with such good temperment and with a plan to stay there for the long haul. Hardly saw such maturity from the most of the upper order. Tamim did well as well, but he keeps losing it after getting 50s, and needs that mentality fixed asap. But compared to first innings, he, unlike the upper order, showed big improvements.

We need better fast bowling attack. Shadat played well, but Shafiul and Rubel looked a bit meh. It'd be good to have Mortaza back soon (hopefully).

Very pleased with Bangladesh. We'll get there sooner than later methinks :D

[Vestrit]

I saw him on Ross and he seemed OK, but he did talk about all the sledging he gets for looking a bit... well, pretty. I imagine acting like a prat on the field is either over-compensating or attempting to develop a hard reputation.

the Guardian OBO commentators nicknamed him 'Malfoy' a while back, and apparently a lot of cricketers have latched onto it and call him it too

[Vestrit]

Plus he's still very young, and fast bowlers are temperamental at the best of times

[Maltaran]

the Guardian OBO commentators nicknamed him 'Malfoy' a while back, and apparently a lot of cricketers have latched onto it and call him it too

I remember on TMS during the Ashes, one lunchtime they had Daniel Radcliffe and Tom Felton in the studio, and asked Felton about the resemblance. Apparently, Broad has had that nickname for years, and the first time Felton went to a Leicestershire match the team got them to pose for a photo together.

[Vestrit]

I remember on TMS during the Ashes, one lunchtime they had Daniel Radcliffe and Tom Felton in the studio, and asked Felton about the resemblance. Apparently, Broad has had that nickname for years, and the first time Felton went to a Leicestershire match the team got them to pose for a photo together.

Class! :lol:

[Jeor]

First ODI between Pakistan and Australia today.

Their Test team might be weak, but Pakistan's ODI side actually looks quite good with a few personnel changes. A batting lineup that consists of Kamran Akmal with licence to hit out as opener, followed by Khan, Yousuf, Malik, Umar and Afridi down at 7 is a powerful batting side. Gul appears to have been rested for this match but Rana Naved at 8 can certainly clear the boundaries, and Gul himself can play a few shots. They have much more experience (particularly Khan, Yousuf and Afridi for ODIs) and all the batsmen except the opener Butt are quick scorers in the one-day game, and Butt averages close to 40 so it makes up for his slow scoring. The bowling is also pretty good - Gul is an excellent limited overs bowler although he isn't playing today, Asif has miserly control and a good economy rate, Aamer has pace and there are some legitimate part-time bowling options in Afridi and Malik.

I expect this one day series should be much closer than the Test series, and for Yousuf's sake I hope they can pull out a win or two.

[Stubby]

Something to get Paxter's blood pressure rising...

Rumours have emerged that the former prime minister (John Howard) has been nominated by the governing cricket bodies in Australia and New Zealand to take the leadership of the International Cricket Council when the job becomes vacant in 2012.

[Jeor]

The idea isn't too crazy, I suppose. I assume we're talking about the ICC Presidency, which is more a 'chairman of the board' non-executive position rather than an actual business or cricketing executive, which Howard wouldn't be suited for. If both Cricket Australia and NZ get the ball rolling it could become a possibility, because whoever they nominate will be the frontrunner. Pawar will have just finished his term 2011-2012 so another Indian president would be unlikely, and England (2009-10) and South Africa (2006-08) have both had the presidency more recently than Australia (2000-2003), so it probably would go to whoever Cricket Australia nominated. I don't think the ICC would go for a West Indian, although the situation could change a bit in the next few years.

Pakistan faltering after a good start, although they still have some batting to come. Younis Khan has a great reputation and I've been pushing for him the last month or so, but he does look qiute a bit out of touch in this innings.

[Paxter]

shouldn't be allowed within a 10 km radius of a cricket pitch, let alone running international cricket's governing body :angry:.

Hopefully a Sri Lankan or West Indian gets the nod. Or perhaps Howard will face competition from

:P.

ETA: A good article summarising why the Howard option is not viable.

[The Winged Shadow]

Once again, the lower order of Bangladesh comes through to save their face :ohwell: . The tail enders played more balls than the top order... :thumbsdown:. Mahamudullah needs to be more up the order so he can have some decent support. He managed to get most of his run with the tail enders as his partner, and all due credit to the tail enders for sticking there for so long, even though in the end it cost Mahmudullah his 100. A good knock none the less. At one point it looked like they'd barely get 100 much less 233.

Now we just need to bowl well :fencing:

[Paxter]

This is a real shame for SA cricket. Smith and Arthur were a winning combination and have led the South African team to some landmark victories in the last year or so. Reports indicate that Corrie van Zyl will take over as caretaker coach.

@the winged shadow: Well, the bowling didn't really go well for the Tigers at all. But there are still some good signs, especially with Tamim and Mahmudullah in the batting department. I really hope that one of Siddique or Raqibul perform well in this innings, because Bangladesh need to start improving their middle order. Tamim is excellent at the top and Al Hasan, Rahim and Mahmudullah form a fairly strong lower order, but they need more consistency from the number 3-5 batsmen.

ETA: Pakistan are having an embarrassingly bad ODI series. Looks like the two WACA games are both going to be dead rubbers :thumbsdown: .

[Jeor]

Yes, Pakistan don't look like getting a win this whole tour. To be fair they did actually have an outside chance of getting this game - the equation was down to about 60 runs from 40 balls with Afridi and Rana (who can bat) still at the crease, both having hit sixes. But the top order failing again meant that there was a bit too much for the lower order to do.

The Pakistan ODI team, good as it is on paper (I was singing their praises a few days ago) relies heavily on Afridi. The quality batsmen like Younis, Yousuf and Malik have not looked like scoring. Afridi is the only one who lends some sort of momentum to the batting, although Umar Akmal briefly did tonight as well. But expecting more than a quickfire 30-40 off Afridi is expecting too much. Ajmal has been excellent as the suffocating spinner in the middle overs, twice now he has bowled 10 overs for only 40 runs when Australia have put up a 280ish total.

Sad to hear about Mickey Arthur and Graeme Smith. It seems to be a peculiar thing of South Africa's that the captain of the national team holds much more power than the coach. Hansie Cronje (before the whole match-fixing thing) was the cricket supremo when he was around too, it was known that he held all the power in South African cricket. To be sure, most captains have more power (or certainly at least more visibility) than the coaches in any national team, but it seems to be more pronounced with South Africa.

[Sir Thursday]

151 for Tamim, nice! Looks like India are still going to walk away with it unless others step up though :(.

Sir Thursday

[Paxter]

Strange night of ODI cricket at the WACA. Not sure what Afridi was thinking really :dunno:.

And the pitch invader's tackle on Latif was disgraceful. :thumbsdown:

[Jeor]

Strange night of ODI cricket at the WACA. Not sure what Afridi was thinking really :dunno:.

And the pitch invader's tackle on Latif was disgraceful. :thumbsdown:

I think Afridi was just really hungry. :P

Silly of him to do it, and now Pakistan have virtually no chance of winning the Twenty20, which was their last chance of getting any sort of win out of this tour. With an in-form Afridi as a one-man wrecking ball, Pakistan would have had a decent chance in the Twenty20, but I'm not so sure now.

[Ski the Swift]

What the hell happened to the Tri-Series? :P

[Paxter]

Just checked out the fixtures for the upcoming India v SA test series, and I can only shake my head in dismay. This should have been an epic battle between two of the best test teams on the planet spanning at least four test matches. But instead, we are left with a mere two test matches, which hardly deserves to be called a "series".

And to make matters worse, I then find out that, originally, SA had agreed to play only a five-match ODI series and no test matches were scheduled at all. It was only at the request of the Indian cricket board that the the fixtures were changed to include tests. I find that pretty hard to accept considering that the two teams have only played against each other in a test match on five occasions since 2005. A test series should have been an automatic choice. The low priority assigned to the test format in fixture negotiations between these two teams (and particularly on the part of the SA cricket board) is making me despair for the future of the game. :frown5:

[Paxter]

Hope springs eternal for the Aus v WI ODI series as the Windies score a massive 399 from 45 overs against the PM's XI. It's a shame that Shiv, Sarwan, Edwards, Taylor, Benn, Bravo are out injured for WI. But, on the back of this performance in the tour match, I have a feeling that they'll still outperform the Pakistanis. Chris Gayle is at the peak of his powers right now.

[Jeor]

Hope springs eternal for the Aus v WI ODI series as the Windies score a massive 399 from 45 overs against the PM's XI. It's a shame that Shiv, Sarwan, Edwards, Taylor, Benn, Bravo are out injured for WI. But, on the back of this performance in the tour match, I have a feeling that they'll still outperform the Pakistanis. Chris Gayle is at the peak of his powers right now.

Outperforming the Pakistanis shouldn't be too hard, considering they lost 5-0. I was really surprised by that scoreline - they should have won at least one with guys like Afridi and Asif in their team. A couple of times they got reasonably close (especially that last game) but it has to be demoralising not to be able to pull out a single win in eight matches now.

The Windies likewise have impact players like Gayle but I have a feeling their bowlers will struggle to restrict Australia to gettable totals. Pakistan had a good attack with Asif's control and some economical spinners in Afridi, Ajmal and Malik, but I just don't think the Windies have quite the same quality, and White/Haddin and co. could inflict some real damage. Nevertheless I hope they do manage to make a hard-fought and competitive series happen.