Rest of the World

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

Sri Lanka closing in on an historic series win...

Haven't lost a wicket this morning and just 64 more needed now. Kusal Mendis has picked a good time to come back to form.

The way this game has gone I suppose a dramatic collapse is still possible ? But think you'd get good odds on SA down the betting shop right now

157/2 now...

Looks to be in the bag for the tourists .  Quite a remarkable transformation after getting beaten at home by England and hammered in Australia and NZ !  Does this say something about SA being a little flattered by their current ranking ?

Update : 173/2. Over by lunch indeed...

Fantastic performance from Sri Lanka. Dale Steyn seems to be a bit past it? Reminds me of when Darren Gough came back for England (against SA in 2003). A former great who wasn't up to standard any more and promptly retired. Steyn has got his record so I wonder if that will be it.

What with England in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka in SA and India in Aus - winning Test series away from home is just too easy these days.

Definitely, something needs to be done. Fewer warm up matches would be a good start. It's all getting a bit predictable

VTR wrote:Definitely, something needs to be done. Fewer warm up matches would be a good start. It's all getting a bit predictable

England's problems in West Indies suggests not entirely true...but it is nice to see a few touring teams successful for a change. Does all add to the feeling that that Test Cricket , if not at a "high" in absolute class at present , is enjoying a period of extremely competitive matches : surely not a bad thing ? Anyone can beat anyone on a day ? Everyone salutes a dominant team ; but frankly I prefer this to seeing series virtually guaranteed to go only one way before they start...

Just ridiculous from the two Sri Lankan batsmen to cruise like that, after all the batting difficulties on the first two days.

Yes, it's a good time be a follower. Also most matches end in a result. Of course teams are appalling at batting out for a draw now, in fact it's a pretty much dead skill nowadays.

So England beat Sri Lanka away, who beat South Africa away, but lost to the Windies away, but they did beat India at home, who beat Australia away but lost in Australia and New Zealand, who beat Pakistan away, who drew away to England.

Can't get my head round it!

With India going to the West Indies, Australia going to England, and New Zealand visiting Sri Lanka, all in July/August/September, we could well see more touring sides emerge victorious.

Applause for Lanka.....they hit a Nadir.......whitewashed in home spinning conditions by England....and how they came back....roaring in adverse conditions & match situations....at one point against an odd of 50 to 1 in first test

test cricket is alive and kicking and great to have Lanka and WI as competitive sides

Afghanistan murdering the Irish in the t20 16 sixes by Zazai 254 in 18.1 overs. Might be a record score this

278/3 record Highest score in T20 Zazai scored 162 off 62 balls including 100 of 42. 16 sixes and 11 fours. Usman Ghani Assisted with 73 of 48

Ridiculous! Not only are ODI scores often higher than test scores, T20s now going the same way!

Decent start by Ireland, too - 47/0 after 4 overs.

Aye the short boundaries are an equaliser in the way nothing else is in cricket. Mujeeb seems to bowling alright relative to this match but fareed is being carted all over. 55 of 5

90 of 8 overs but the run rate creeping up as they fall one or two runs short per over

Terrific away series win by SL. Doubt they would have been so competitive in that second Test if they had not had that miraculous win in the first. So, fittingly, Perera was made Man of the Series.

Agree that it's good to have seen some away-victory series of late. Runs a bit harder to come by, too, which brings some, perhaps over-inflated, batting averages more down to earth.

Yes. That win gave them the sort of guts that Ranatunga used to provide for them. They have good players who haven't until recently shown their best so hopefully this is something that pushes them into greater things.

India'a lack of depth in batting exposed as they experiment too much in T20s
while Aus is a genuinely moderate side

Sanath Jayasuriya banned from all cricket involvement after admitting two breaches of the ICC anti corruption code.

As part of an investigation he was asked to hand over all phones. Seems he failed to do so, changing his story at times and ultimately destroying one phone and the SIM card.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/cricket/47371282

I do wonder what was stored on that phone such that he would seem to destroy it. How the mighty are fallen?

More news today, Duanne Olivier will be lost to international cricket for three of his peak years (at least) after signing a Kolpak deal. No criticism of that decision from me, but how sad with all the money in the game that he can't make a decent living playing for his country

VTR wrote:More news today, Duanne Olivier will be lost to international cricket for three of his peak years (at least) after signing a Kolpak deal. No criticism of that decision from me, but how sad with all the money in the game that he can't make a decent living playing for his country

He was only looking for an overseas player deal, but when Yorkshire offered him a 3 month kolpak deal, it was apparently too good to turn down. I guess he is a little down in the Saffer pecking order even so Yorkshire do not have huge amounts to spend, but agree it is rather sad.

Can't criticise Olivier really. The timeframe for professional sportsmen to earn money is very short, and fast bowlers are likelier than most to suffer with injuries, etc. Still terribly sad that someone who had only just burst on to the international scene has essentially given up his international career so soon (for at least three years anyway). Not something I particularly like to see in international sport TBH.

Without wishing to spark that particular debate, Kolpak is an EU thing, so after the end of March (or perhaps June?) counties will almost certainly no longer be able to sign players on these deals (though deals signed prior to exit date will still be valid). Could explain the timing.

Only if we leave with no deal would Kolpak end immediately. Any exit with a withdrawal agreement in place will see a transition period where existing laws (including employment) would continue.

A big loss to test cricket, but as Yorkshire will be paying him three times more than the South African board (according to the Guardian), it’s a perfectly understandable decision.

LondonTiger wrote:Sanath Jayasuriya banned from all cricket involvement after admitting two breaches of the ICC anti corruption code.

As part of an investigation he was asked to hand over all phones. Seems he failed to do so, changing his story at times and ultimately destroying one phone and the SIM card.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/cricket/47371282

I do wonder what was stored on that phone such that he would seem to destroy it. How the mighty are fallen?

Money, Hoes, Cars and Clothes that's how all my n***as roll.

Let's just say he enjoys his creme eggs a half dozen at a time.

Fair to say Bangladesh’s seamers are not good

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Fair to say Bangladesh are not good

Minor edit needed!

The master Kohli brings up his 40th ODI century. He’s motoring after Tendulkar. I thought Tendulkar’s 49 ODI centuries would never get breached but it’s likely to go within the next couple of years

Balbirnie has played the innings of his life as Ireland successfully chased down a tough target of 257 to beat Afghanistan and level the 5-match series at 1-1. Eight sixes and eight fours, 145* from 136 balls.

Marvellous.

India win a low scoring thriller in Nagpur. Australia will be gutted they should’ve won after getting off to a great start in their chase. Bumrah is quite fantastic.

A new T20 league featuring teams based in Scotland Ireland and the Netherlands is launching later this year - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/47466844

According to the Telegraph teams will be based in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

Good news for those of us that like a bit of cricket but trapped in the frozen north, though the Glasgow weather in September tends to be fairly suspect!

Australia in a dominant position in the third ODI vs India in Dhoniland(Ranchi).

Australia piled on 313-5. Khawaja with his maiden ODI century. Finch 93 and Maxwell a rapid fire 47. Australia should’ve got 350 but for a combination of poor tactics and a minor collapse.

India on the ropes 32-3. Dhawan, Rohit and Rayudu blown away by Cummins and Richardson.

All on Kohli...again

Another half-century for Kohli, as his ODI average just goes above 60.

This geezer Kohli is quite simply different gravy. His record is ridiculous but having seen players from other eras, Kohli inherited Viv's genius

41st ODI century for Kohli, 8th vs Australia

Kohli has 15 ODI hundreds since 2017 &
*no other team has combined more than 15 hundreds in this period*
SA as a side has 15 hundreds
I would have thought Eng had more but apparently not

KP_fan wrote:Kohli has 15 ODI hundreds since 2017 &
*no other team has combined more than 15 hundreds in this period*
SA as a side has 15 hundreds
I would have thought Eng had more but apparently not

England has 28 hundreds in that time by my count? Most one player has is six though! It is by the by really , either way Kohli is ridiculously good. Best ODI batsman of all time.

Quite a turnaround in this deciding fifth Aus-India ODI :

Thirty overs down , Khawaja and Handscomb cruising...170 for one and looking like a 330 total : and suddenly it's crashed to 199/4 after thirty nine and Stoinis and Turner struggling to reignite ...

Could still cash in with big last ten overs I suppose ; but India will be hopeful at the moment , with Bumrah still having 4 overs to spare.

Testing chase of 273 for India to win the series on a slow pitch.

Chase not going too well atm, 132-6 of 29.

Will a series defeat have much impact on Indian morale?

It might put a shadow of doubt in some minds, LT.

A timely win coming up for Australia.
I didn't expect this series result but it's great to see a little confidence coming back into the group. Some decent talent there.

Great series win for Australia, 0-2 down becomes a 3-2 win.

Lots of Indian batsmen got starts, but none could convert into a formidable score.

Most interesting thing from the aus perspective is how much theyve turned to spin, and had success with it. Lyons barely played in ODIs through his career but looks to be a core part of their current plans. Will they be taking that set up to England though? Im not so sure. Their warm ups are largely Asia based, which isnt really ideal.
India seem to have largely picked their world cup side, or at least the same balance, rather than one for the spin friendly wickets.
id suggest its a much biger morale boost for Aus than it is a hit for Indias, and with star batsmen coming back into consideration do show they can still be a force. Importantly they showed they can just about handle Indias lead spinners.
The series also seems have underlined how much leggies are a wicket taking threat in limited overs now, its not just Adil Rashid. Combining that threat with dot balls from an orthdox spinner seems to be pretty much a global thing now, and explains why England arent showing any signs of giving up on Moeen

Bit of a novelty tomorrow - Afghanistan playing Ireland in a test match, in India (Afghan's home venue). Should be a comfortable win for the home side in hot, spinning conditions.

Bangladesh team almost caught up in the atrocities in Christchurch. Quite rightly the test due to start shortly cancelled.

Unsurprisingly Ireland are struggling in their test. Theyve gone backwards since the period 5 years or so ago when there was a groundswell that they should be given test status and now are largely players not good enough to even get in CC first teams regularly. Whilst Afghanistans rise in that same period has been remarkable and seems to be sustainable Ireland are a mile behind the teams they used to be held up against like Bangladesh and even Zimbabwe. Although still ranked below them scotland are a better side currently.

As for the New Zealand situation yes it would be absolutely ridiculous to go ahead with the game given whats happened. No doubt the PCB will also be asking again how come they are banned from hosting games when terror incidents of all kinds are still commonplace in other nations.

Just read the full story of how close the Bangladesh squad came to getting caught up in it. Unbelievable, I would be surprised if they didnt head straight home. Whilst they werent directly targeted like the Sri Lanka bus incident it must be genuinely terrifying for them.

Gooseberry wrote:Just read the full story of how close the Bangladesh squad came to getting caught up in it. Unbelievable, I would be surprised if they didnt head straight home. Whilst they werent directly targeted like the Sri Lanka bus incident it must be genuinely terrifying for them.

I gather they are off home asap. Would certainly have made no sense to proceed with a cricket match in the aftermath of such a tragedy. Indeed a terrible experience - though I guess they were actually extremely lucky to have been saved from direct involvement by a happy incidence of timing. The whole thing of course was an awful business and has been probably felt more keenly in Australia due to the relative proximity than other such events further afield - sadly no longer particularly uncommon.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/26277007/leeward-islands-declaration-lose-backfires-bad-maths

South Africa are no longer the biggest idiots in world cricket

Ireland in with a chance. Target of just under 150 but very passive start to the chase from Afghanistan. Reminds me a lot so far of England collapsing to defeat in the UAE chasing a similar total at the start of 2012