T20 World Cup: Live Matches Discussion

First topic message reminder :

Hi all,

I've set up our very own 606v2 T20 World Cup SuperBru tipping competition for anyone who is interested.

http://www.superbru.com/worldt20/player_home.asp

First game is Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe on Tuesday, September 18 at 19:30 (local time) in Hambantota.

The full list of fixtures is here:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/world-twenty20-2012/content/series/531597.html?template=fixtures

The pool code for 606v2: playsacs

Everyone is welcome.
Enjoy the matches and best of luck to your team.

Who do you think will win?

McCullum played a fine innings that should win the match for his side. It is not easy to contain a batsman like McCullum for long, and as Bangladesh's top bowler Shakeeb had a poor game with the ball their chances took a beating.
Bangladesh would need an absolute miracle to make a match out of this from now.

Tamim Iqbal isn't going to play any part in that miracle, he goes without troubling the scorers!.
Ashraful plays one miracle innings ones in 5 years, will this be the day?

Iqbal gone 3rd ball, game over in all probability.

I've been stuck in meetings the last hour and a half

Nicol's been woefully out of form, which I think is behind his demotion - I'm a little surprised that Watling didn't play ahead of him, though Nicol is a spin option.

Good to see McCullum show why he's #1 on the international T20 batting rankings - he's actually more consistent internationally at T20 than in IPL

Not good from Bangladesh with the bat so far. Too many shots being played - even chasing a big score you need to give yourself a chance.

Shakib had just hit a 4 and that ball wasn't there for the shot, should have just clipped it off his toes for a single. He's too good a batsman to keep getting himself out like he does.

McCullum drops a sitter

Another wicket to a swipe accross the line. Bangladesh forgetting those singles. Not good enough with the bat, the inexperienced youngsters excuse is beginning to wear thin...

Will Bangladesh surpass Zimbabwe's 93 at least?

Nasir Hossain has bludgeoned a quick 50 here to keep the margin respectable at the very least.

New Zealand win by 59 runs, now time for the Champions.

Mike Selig wrote:Another wicket to a swipe accross the line. Bangladesh forgetting those singles. Not good enough with the bat, the inexperienced youngsters excuse is beginning to wear thin...

They've been a full member for more than 10 years now and have not got better at all. Can't remember much they've done apart from the odd ODI win (e.g. vs. Aus 2005, vs. England 2011). They've been trotting out the young player/developing side thing for all that time, it doesn't wash anymore, they're simply awful.

Afghanistan win the toss and bowl first.

Hales
Kieswetter
Wright
Morgan
Bairstow
Buttler
Patel
Broad
Swann
Finn
Dernbach

As expected really. They were never genuinely going to go with three spinners with the pitches as they are. And Broad is a spot too high at 7, so Samit has to play really.

The side looks decent but definitely a lack of experience. If you take Hales, Keiswetter, Wright, Bairstow, Buttler, Patel, Dernbach, they've not done much notable in any form of international cricket between them. I'd also guess that lot have around 100 appearances in any form between them, most of which would be Keiswetter and Wright.

wicket maiden to start, hello...

Hales fortunate there: poor miss from the afghans, that should have been a run-out.

Nervy from England.

excellent start for Afghanistan should have been even better, you should really hit the stumps there. Lots of bounce in the pitch, England 5-1 after 2.

Early days but this has been SHOCKING so far from England. The only boundary was an edge and should have been 2 down. Scoring at 2 an over!

Hales looks in decent touch. Wright struggling but frees himself a bit with a sliced boundary there.

Good energy in the field from the Afghans.

Pitch just a little two paced

Bhogle is a clown, why do we have to have him on commentary?

not nearly enough singles for England so far. Looks a tricky pitch to bat on actually, very two-paced.

Wright for me is too "4 or nothing" for international cricket. Let's see if he can prove me wrong but so far it's been that. That last ball should have gone to 3rd man for a single.

This pitch is weird! That one over the keepers head from back of a length, but 3 or so balls have gone through a bit low.

this one flies off a length straight over the keeper's head for 4

then Hales cuts one in the air, but in the gap for four. Oh and Zadran loses his line, flicked past short fine-leg for four more. England underway...

Very good from Hales, 3 boundaries followed by a tip and run to mid-off.

3 overs in a row: one too many? Batsmen have gotten used to his pace, and Wright drills one for 4, then whallops a 6.

Again, shows you don't have to panic with a couple of quiet overs up front, one big over and you're back in it.

massive over for England as Wright bludgeons a four back past the bowler before slamming one miles over long-on for six. 23 from the over, England much healthier now...

Wright proving you right so far Mike, dealing exclusively in boundaries, though thankfully he's hitting enough of them at the moment.

hold on, he's just hit a single

lovely couple of straight boundaries by Hales to round off the PP, England 52-1.

Nasser is such a good pundit. Him talking about the keepers going back when they should be coming closer at the WACA and on fast pitches was brilliant. I'd never thought of that.

Good PP for England in the end, 52-1. They really got going with some lovely shots in the last 2 overs.

Afghanistan desperately need a wicket here, otherwise the game will run away from them very quickly indeed. Wright in for Bopara is producing the results.

52-1 off the Powerplay. Highest PP score so far?

Hales looks a good player to me.

Afghanistan bowling a bit full, need to hit back of a length really. Too full and it's floaty, as those last two fours from Hales show.

Spin coming up, will be interesting to see what it does on this wicket.

England motoring now. Maybe the plan at the start was to see off the opening few of overs. I'm presuming the Afghans have one maybe two decent bowlers and the rest they can get at so better to keep wickets in hand.

Good over that from Shenwari just 4 of it. But wickets, that's what Afghanistan need.

spin now, and straightaway England slow down, just 8 runs off the last couple of overs. Hales looks like he's struggling with it a bit.

Couple of quieter overs as England try to line up the spinners.

Afghanistan should keep chopping and changing their bowlers so the batsmen can't get settled.

Yep, Wright goes downtown to hit a nice straight 4. Hales struggling a little bit against spin.

So far so spot on from England, with the power hitters still to come.

better from England, Luke Wright down to the pitch of the ball and hits it back over the bowler's head for four. Really strange pitch this one, doing odd things.

Oh Hales run out backing up too far, unlucky way to go

Oooh unlucky Hales. Nice knock though.

Over to you Morgan.

Afghans get the wicket after a few quite overs, but an unfortunate way for Hales to go.

England 74-2 at the half way stage of their innings. They should be looking to score at least 170 from here on. If Morgan stays in for most of the remaining 10 overs, they can go even beyond that.

England will look to set this up for the last 5 or 6 overs you feel. Aim for 160-170 on this surface that should be enough.

Anyone else a bit irritated by the way the Sadiq celebrated "his" run out of Hales?

Morgan taking his time here to settle. He should just keep the singles going before taking the bowling on in another couple of overs.
With England's pace bowling unit led by Finn, 170 should be quite good. Wright closing in on his 50. Has been a pretty good innings from him.

We really are pitiful against spin, aren't we.

Good job Luke Wright is in a bit of nick.

50 for Luke Wright.

Hales looks utterly clueless against spin. Shanky was right, he is simply not good enough in Asia (probably not good enough at all for international cricket, as you can tell, I don't rate him too highly).

50 for Wright, well played. Pleased for him.

Afghanistan haven't allowed the game to run away from them as yet, but without wickets England will score big in the last 5-6 overs.

Excellent batting from Wright.

I don't believe in bowling 4 overs on the bounce in T20 unless you're very good or the batsmen are really struggling. Just allows them to settle.

From here 160 should be a strict minimum.

Got to disagree with you Fists on both counts:

Hales played nicely, decent technique, good shot selection and got England going after the slow start. Struggles against spin, and will have to work on that, but to call him not international class is wrong at this stage.

I think England have played the spinners pretty well, knocked it around, not looked to go too big too often and hit the odd boundary.

So far it's been a very professional effort. If they finish it off as they should they'll have 170 which is an excellent total on this surface.

170 will be enough, certainly.

Hales just looks very shaky to me, Mike. I don't find him convincing at all. Maybe it's just me.

Anything under 160 England will be disappointed, but with only 2 wickets down they should look to score 170 or more. They haven't panicked against the Afghan spinners and although didn't score big, like Mike said they did a sensible job.

Now Morgan on the move, will be trouble time for Afghanistan.

That over hurt Afghanistan, they were doing well enough before that.

Oh dear, Afghanistan's fielding going to pieces a bit here.

Goes to show, even in T20 the value of wickets in hand. And again, why a couple of quieter overs as the batsmen get going aren't a bad thing, and can be caught back easily enough.