Rest of the World

First topic message reminder :

I figure a thread for cricket stuff from around the world that doesn't warrant a series-thread is useful

Indeed. Zimbabwe will be praying for a tie or a washout - the only way they can now get to the World Cup.

The WI has performed and only sneaked in through a lucky break confirms they belong "there"
In the B league
For tests also BD, Zim, Afg, Ire & WI should be playing each other largely and only sparingly with the A league

Ireland have to defend 209 to go through to the World Cup.

I make them narrow favourites. Very tough to bat out there, plenty of cloud and low bounce.

Duty281 wrote:Ireland have to defend 209 to go through to the World Cup.

I make them narrow favourites. Very tough to bat out there, plenty of cloud and low bounce.

I thought they needed 250 to win personally - not sure their bowling attack is great, and the Afghans have some good bats

After an excellent Afghanistan start, it has become a real tight one.

43 needed off 36, six wickets left. The pitch is so slow.

Shenwari played one of the worst one day innings I’ve ever seen, fortunately his teammates got Afghanistan home

Sad that Ireland will not be at the next World Cup. They've been a fixture since beating Pakistan in 2007.

But Afghanistan's qualification means that one of the greatest sporting stories continues.

Duty281 wrote:Sad that Ireland will not be at the next World Cup. They've been a fixture since beating Pakistan in 2007.

But Afghanistan's qualification means that one of the greatest sporting stories continues.

The biggest gain is they will play nine matches in the World Cup and that will help them a lot. The day was not that good for Ireland but I congratulate them also for giving a good fight.

Now these two nations will play test matches. My only suggestion to the ICC is that make the schedule such that if any team tour India they must play 1 test match against Afghanistan and the same for Ireland that any England touring nation must play a test match with Ireland. In this way they will get started with test matches and will improve quickly.

The ICC qualifiers were a fantastic tournament, full of shocks, suprises and close games...really enjoyed the whole comp as a whole, shame for Zim that they didn't qualify but what a fantastic comeback from Afghanistan!

Sad times for Kenyan cricket, the government have folded the Kenya cricket association..... thanks for the memories!

I see Colin Bland has died; wonder if it's realistic to suggest he was the first Test-class cricketer to be known for his fielding (perhaps apart from a handful of close catchers, usually from Surrey), his batting or bowling second?

Wiki quotes Peter van der Merve as saying of Bland, "He revolutionised the attitude to fielding, and set a standard not yet equalled".

Hi Kwini - I never saw Colin Bland play but it's clear from my reading and chats with others that he was a pioneer for high quality fielding before there was any expectation of it by teams or spectators. If I get the opportunity this season, I'll ask Micky Stewart his thoughts about Bland. As you undoubtedly had in mind and for the benefit of younger posters - besides being the father of Alec, Micky was a specialist and exceptionally successful close to the wicket fielder for Surrey throughout the '50s and '60s.

PS Sadly, I also heard today that Graeme Pollock is in poor health.

Yup, Never saw Bland live either, missed the 1965 Tour (tho DID see the 1960 crew).

Saw to hear that about Greame Pollock - the greatest of the lot in possibly cricket's greatest family?

High standard of close catchers in those Surrey teams . . . .

What a sh!te idea.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/43824037

Duty281 wrote:What a sh!te idea.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/43824037

Maybe they shouldn't bother with any cricket at all.  Have a pitch inspection, toss the coin and then go straight to the interminable post-match interviews and presentations.  It's unfair on the p*ssed up spectators to expect them to have to concentrate on an actual game.

My favourite bit of that article:

The new competition's board unanimously supports the development of the 100-ball concept

36 games in 38 days during the Blast window... presumably that means theyll play 2 games in a day?
Im all for innovation and that but they are only garuanteeing incomes of 1.3 million for this, that wouldnt even buy you a top draw playewr in the IPL. Its not going to enable counties to bring in significantly better squads or pay the top English talent enough that they feel they dont need to top up in IPL anymore, but will place even more demands on the their top players. Whilst a 15 over knock about wont be as taxing to the likes of Stokes as a 5 day test match its still time spent playing that should be spent training and resting. 
Its goign to leave little or no time for preperation and working on skills and if anything could stop players improving. Playing competitive cricket almost daily for a 5 week period in the middle of a busy international summer risks exhausting our already overworked internationals and stopping the younger players getting the time they need with coaches. If England choose to rest players more during the domestic summer then this only serves to further dilute the quality of those comeptitions...which frankly is pretty poor anyway.

The ECB was ahead of the curve with T20, but failed to capitalise on its potential. Now they are trying to shoehorn in an even dafter format just to bring in spectator numbers with little or no evidence I can see that theres a demand for from these "young people".
What would really make a difference is getting the top stars in and getting the compeition the global
trying to e more posiitive ...this could be seen as a long term investment by the ECB with a view to where things will be in a deacade, rather than the view we take which is where they were 2 decades ago.
Maybe a few years down the line 100 ball cricket will have that global reach, and the likes of Gayle will see an opportunity to prolong their careers with minimal effort in a format that best utilises their raw power approach. Being the inovater here could pull a global novelty audience in the early days and help establish a brand in a way the Blast has spectaculalry failed to do, and grow it into a rival for the IPL with quality players.
If they can learn from the mistakes mad eiwth devleoping the T20 competition (including Stanford) and steal a march on the rest of the world they have a chance of creating a viable brand. This takes a view that the cricket as a proper game is gone and its now become an arms race to get the silliest format to appealt to the brain dead and patronise the young. That income and viewing figures trump the needs of a skill based sport and the only way for domestic professional cricket to survive at all is to generate enough income to keep employing people.

Persoanlly Id prefer a middle ground appreoach of a more radical overhaul of the Bloast comeptition including a move away from the 16 county approach. Alongside that reform and reduce the CC, and yes scrap some first class counties. Accept that cricket simply isnt big enough to sustain the current number of full time professional counties and that the quality of the players and comeptitions isnt good enough to serve the national teams. Demand higher standards instead of higher player numbers. Invest more money in quality academies and coaching coaches. Make sure the pitches are condusive to developing a range of bowlers capable of performing globally rather than enabling the likes of Darren Stevens to thrive. 

A 100 ball comeptition does nothing in the short term to help England, obnly provides a small patch to the leaking finances of the counties, adds to market confussion, and threatens to take interest away from existing comeptitions. Its also clearly a stupid game with little true sporting merit.
There amy be something in it for the long term but its a bleak future for cricket as a sport if thats the case. And we dont even get to moan about the BCCI ruining cricket.

Gimmick. Neither good nor bad , really...yes it might get some attention ; will shorten the games to the advantage of TV networks - and I guess make the thing "different" . : but as Goose says the really important thing is getting the longer game working properly and balancing "proper cricket" with what is essentially marketing imperatives.

Work to do still.

Pakistan off to a bad start in their tour game against Kent...all out for 168

Imam ul-Haq made 61

Will Gidman took 5-fer for Kent

Suprised this hasn't been mentioned... but Justin Langer is the new coach of Australia...good move IMO

Pakistan start their 2nd warm up game this morning against Northants..

good to see a touring side actually playing warm up games!

wisden wrote:Suprised this hasn't been mentioned... but Justin Langer is the new coach of Australia...good move IMO

Agree it is a sensible appointment. Not too surprised it hasn't made a huge splash : didn't even get front page status in Melbourne the other day ...partly because the Football is getting all the attention at the moment and also because cricket is a bit on the nose after the unfortunate events in SA.

He is stepping in at a tricky time , to say the least...

Ireland playing their first ever test match tomorrow, so it's a historic day.

4/6 on Pakistan to win looks pretty damn promising, even in spite of the bad weather.

Duty281 wrote:Ireland playing their first ever test match tomorrow, so it's a historic day.

4/6 on Pakistan to win looks pretty damn promising, even in spite of the bad weather.

I've gone the other way! 14/1 on Ireland is too tasty, playing on what I expect to be a green top in May. And strange things happen in teams first games!

JDizzle wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Ireland playing their first ever test match tomorrow, so it's a historic day.

4/6 on Pakistan to win looks pretty damn promising, even in spite of the bad weather.

I've gone the other way! 14/1 on Ireland is too tasty, playing on what I expect to be a green top in May. And strange things happen in teams first games!

I would love it if Ireland got their test match life off to a roaring start, but Pakistan are surely going to have too much for them in ability and experience.

It's a huge step up for Ireland, and Pakistan proved they were no weaklings in these conditions in England in 2016.

Missing Misbah and Younis from that line up in 2016 though - and that is a lot of experience gone. If they don't have their heads on straight, and treat this game as a warm up for the England series... Stranger things have happened.

But yes, Ireland are 14-1 for a reason!

Ireland should put out a green seaming pitch, it will make their bowling more potent....... and batting equally inept for both sides....and then he game will have some element of a lottery in it

Rain and no play so far, but those Ireland cable knit jumpers are a thing of beauty.

Play abandoned for day one, then. Weather much better for the next four days. As a low-scoring game is anticipated, there should be no problem with getting a positive result.

Intriguing battle in Dublin. Ireland keep chipping away, but Pakistan are scoring at a good rattle.

208/6. Not the best batting surface, so Pakistan are theoretically ahead at this stage.

So Ire won the toss & got to bowl on a seaming pitch in good bowling conditions...had Pak 2 down and then 3 and 4 and 6 down regularly and for a rather lowish total of 159-6

Then they allowed Pak No. 7 and 8 to get away...
Ball had gotten old, there was still swing and Ire dropped at-least 2 easy slip catches, lacked a genuinely fast bowler or quality spinner...and so blew away opportunity to get pak for 225ish and have a sniff against the most vulnerable top order in seaming conditions.

My highlights package was of Ire-cricket, did not show bolwing speeds but they all seemed old fashioned English swing bowlers, Jon Lewis type no faster then low 130s I would guess

pak will cross 300 and their bowling decidedly superior
Does Ire have skill and gumption to bat out a draw?

nevertheless a dream come true for a generation of world class Ire players now aged, past peak and at the fag end of their careers getting to play test cricket.

Hope this spurs production of a new line of international quality cricketers in Ire

Harsh realities of the standard of test cricket hitting Ireland now, as they slump to 5/3 in reply to Pakistan's 310.

Amir and Abbas doing well.

KP_fan wrote:
pak will cross 300 and their bowling decidedly superior
Does Ire have skill and gumption to bat out a draw?

I am not watching, but by the look of scorecard 7-4 its clear they do not have the skill
can they go past the lowest score of 26 in the history, that Eng avoided in their 2nd last test

Kevin O Brien fights with more than a 100 runs in the test and forces Pak to bat again
Lead of 32 now....a lead of 100 may cause some jitters and a 150 and upset
heavy monies to be made on a Pak defeat and I would gamble a few dollars on Pak defeat should the lead get to 100

Brilliant battle from the Irish in this second innings, led by Kevin O'Brien.

Runs starting to flow, too...

Ohh Boy, I wish I had put some money on an Ire win when i wrote my last post.
Pak heading towards a historic loss...if Ire can add another 30 +.... but getting acclimitized  to English conditions
will come back with a vengeance at Eng

Excellent from Ireland. Sensational from Kevin O Brien. Great advert for not enforcing the follow-on.

Still make Pakistan strong favourites. The weather might still scupper it, yet, however.

Get yourselves to the nearest Internet stream or legitimate Sky Sports outpost, fellow 606ers. Ireland have reduced Pakistan to 14/3. Pakistan are chasing 160.

Not only could Ireland be the first team to win their opening test since Australia in the 19th century, they may also win via the follow-on. Headingley-esque!

Balbirnie's horrid test continues, drops Babar Azam which would've had Pakistan 60-4, but now they're motoring on and only need 80 with 7 wickets left. Feels like that was Ireland's chance missed

Yes, I feel like that was the game, too.

Only question now is can Pakistan knock off the remaining 74 runs before the heavens open...again! Rain radar appears to be clear for the immediate future.

KP_fan wrote:So Ire won the toss & got to bowl on a seaming pitch in good bowling conditions...had Pak 2 down and then 3 and 4 and 6 down regularly and for a rather lowish total of 159-6

Then they allowed Pak No. 7 and 8 to get away...
Ball had gotten old, there was still swing and Ire dropped at-least 2 easy slip catches, lacked a genuinely fast bowler or quality spinner...and so  blew away opportunity to get pak for 225ish and have a sniff against the most vulnerable top order in seaming conditions.

Tale of many England bowling performances recently. Decent up top with Anderson and Broad moving the new ball, but lacking someone to knock off the tail with the older ball. No quick fix for that unfortunately.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Balbirnie's horrid test continues, drops Babar Azam which would've had Pakistan 60-4, but now they're motoring on and only need 80 with 7 wickets left. Feels like that was Ireland's chance missed

Obviously the jinx was patiently waiting to come home! I've been plugging Balbirnie for a year or so now.

Didn't see any of this. But I think the way Ireland fought back in the second innings and really pressured Pakistan goes a long way to justify their elevation to Test status.

Duty281 wrote:4/6 on Pakistan to win looks pretty damn promising, even in spite of the bad weather.

Got over the line, but not convincingly!

Superb effort from Ireland to, not only avoid abject humiliation, push Pakistan very close. Kevin O'Brien played one of the great test innings.

alfie wrote:Didn't see any of this. But I think the way Ireland fought back in the second innings and really pressured Pakistan goes a long way to justify their elevation to Test status.

Hi Alfie - yeah, definitely although a shame that some of the mainstays have had to wait so long and are now around their sell by dates. Particularly pleased for Gary Wilson - chatted with him once at the Guildford ground, a lovely guy who did a lot for Surrey.

Well played Ireland
they need a lot of tests....say 8 per year & should arrange with Afg, Zim, WI and BD

Rashid Khan is easily the best T20 bowler in the world. Totally obliterated Bangladesh.

He's great to watch - if England ever actually played a test against Afghanistan in UAE or some place like that, I'd back Afghanistan to win purely based on him and Mujeeb

Three (three!) Test series starts today between West Indies and Sri Lanka - the latter’s first visit to the Caribbean for a test series for 10 years.

With the exception of Shai Hope, the Windies look very weak. 11/10 on Sri Lanka to win the series seems beautiful.

How Devon Smith is back in test cricket I have no idea Duty!

The sad state of West Indian cricket, Olly, very sad.