Rest of the World

First topic message reminder :

Duty281 wrote:

JDizzle wrote:

Duty281 wrote:So the most likely scenario is an Australia/New Zealand final at Lord's.

There are many things wrong with the WTC - points system is convulsed and perhaps not particularly fair - but Test cricket at neutral venues is something worth getting excited about! Shame it is only one game.

Yeah, I can't personally say that I am a fan of the WTC. The points system doesn't work properly, fixtures are of unequal value and weighting, and boiling an entire test championship down to one solitary fixture to decide the winner doesn't seem right to me.

That said, I think that Australia and New Zealand are the two best test teams in the world right now and, if that is the final, it would be the right fixture. A shame, as you say, that it's only one game and not, at least, a three-game series.

The current system is a temporary fudge to get around the unforseen situation and make the best of whatever fixtures could be fulfilled.

Had it gone to plan all the teams wouldve played home and away fixtures and had equal opportunities to earn points. That hasnt been the case, but at the same time I dont think anyone can argue theres not a clear top 3 teams with England sat just behind them and the rest of the world a significant step back from that.

One off game may be a bit unfair in that the toss could well play a major part in deciding it, but its always been about providing a focused big televised event rather than genuine competition. However the remaining fixtures pan out we should end up with two teams who deserve to be in the final even if New Zealand have just played at home. A long series in a neutral country just isn't viable in the modern calendar or that interesting to anything other than the hardcore fans.

Duty281 wrote:Yes, Nissanka has a colossal FC average of 67.5 after 59 innings, including 13 centuries. How much you can read into it is another matter, though he does appear to open the batting the majority of the time for his side; so his first foray into the test arena, batting at six, must be a little disarming for him, albeit one he's coping with for now.

West Indies getting batted out of this game. It appeared yesterday we were heading for a tight conclusion. Now it seems the West Indies will be reliant on another Mayers masterclass to win from here.

Debut test ton for Nissanka, perhaps we can read something into his mesospheric FC average!

It's all gone wrong for the West Indies - a first innings lead of 102 turned into a deficit of 332 and growing. Even Dickwella, fortunate to survive a dropped chance earlier, is managing to carve the opposition bowling to all parts.

If someone in any country, bar India, averaged 68 in FC Cricket they would be in the Test side long before 33 games! With all due respect to SL, they don’t have the largest player pool so how has it taken this long to cap him!

Dickwella out for 96, as he bottom-edges on to the off stump. No first test ton for him. Seemed to be a bit of needle out there judging by the exuberance of the West Indies' celebrations.

Sri Lanka's tail is quite something. Lakmal at 8, Chameera at 9, Embuldeniya at 10, Fernando at 11. One of the worst tails you can have, but they don't need much of a contribution from them with the lead at 359.

Pitch has gone flat
If WI have to chase 390
With 15 overs today and 90 tomm.....it's chasable
All 3 results possible now

375 to win. This should almost certainly be a Sri Lanka win from here. Maximum of 114 overs left, probably won't get them all in because of the slow over-rate today, so the required run rate is likely to be beyond the West Indies.

Sri Lanka get two new balls, if required, scoreboard pressure and a brittle West Indian batting line-up to confront.

Weird as it may sound I think WI and Lankan wins are equiprobable
WI should get to 75 for no more than 2 wickets down tonight
And then they have 300 to knock off tomm
Conventional logic and Betting sites might make SL undisputed by far favorites
But
Given pitch, WI team and temperament make up it's far more closer affair I think

34/1 at stumps. No better than 'ok' for Sri Lanka, a lot of their bowling in this mini-session was quite wayward, but they should be confident of getting the nine remaining wickets on a pitch with some low bounce and a long West Indies tail.

But, the way test cricket's been going for the past couple of years, I wouldn't be surprised to see Cornwall lofting the match-winning six some time tomorrow!

Cricinfo wrote:No wickets lost in that session with West Indies adding 90 more to the 57 they made before lunch. This leaves us with a tantalising prospect: West Indies need 194, Sri Lanka need eight wickets. The scales have tilted towards West Indies,

CI are crazy...its 95% draw and 5% lankan win from where game stands at the start of last session

Bonner aged 32 has an unbeaten 100...averaging nearly 75 now in his 3rd test..bats at No. 3 in this test ....but strangely averages only 28 over  71 FC games

On another note...WI is one of the few countries ( actually the only one now) where some pitches go to sleep as game progresses and then just die...this one  being so lively at the start that WI put Lanka in.
In the past India and Pak  also had some such going flatter and dead as game progressed  pitches especially so in 1980s...and particularly so Faisalabad the deemed "deadest" of them all where  Lillee made the famous remark after going wicketless
that whenever he dies, he should be buried beneath the match pitch

Very tame finish. Sri Lanka lacked intensity in the field and should be highly disappointed.

Sri Lankans fielding has been woeful, and WI have needed it. Brathwaite not 81* dropped in the 30s at slip, and Joseph who is offering some support down the order has been dropped twice already

WI play 5 bowlers 3 of whom are bowling all-rounders and generally get them useful lower middle order runs in Rakheem, Joseph & Holder.
On the back of Braithwatte and all rounders.....WI get to 350 after being put in.....it's a middlish good total

BUT
you never know with SL & WI......both highly unpredictable

Seems like another well-balanced test on an unlively wicket. Sri Lanka 136/3 in response to the West Indies' 354 all out - could go either way this one.

West Indies get a second new ball in 19 overs time, and they're only three wickets away from getting Lakmal to the crease; Sri Lanka need a strong effort from their middle order to get up to 350, and they still have Nissanka to come in at 6.

I see that Thirimanne is continuing his recent form of not being a walking wicket at the top of the order, his test average which is still rubbish doesn't do his actual talent any justice at all.

Horrible stop-start day with plenty of rain interruptions. Sri Lanka have crawled up to 250/8, still behind by 104, plenty of batsmen getting starts but not kicking on. The manner of some of the dismissals will have no doubt infuriated Mickey Arthur. Nissanka is unbeaten with 49* and keeping his side afloat - he loves the cut shot, he's made a brilliant start to his test career, and he's surely batting at least one spot too low at 6.

May still get more play tonight, but it's unlikely. The final two days look clearer and it's set for an interesting conclusion. Wonder how bold the West Indies will be in pursuit of winning this test and, with it, the series?

If it is a draw it'll be the first 0-0 in a test series since Bangladesh v South Africa in 2015.

Windies now well over 200 ahead. Watching Kyle Mayers it strikes me he's too high at four. He could be devastating coming in at six or seven. Looks decidely unhappy with the short-pitched deliveries, but a lovely striker of the ball

56 overs bowled today in four hours and twenty minutes of play - that's laughable. Especially when you consider 20 overs have been bowled by a Sri Lankan off-spinner.

Just a matter now of when the West Indies will declare and how bold they'll be. Lead is currently 269, and I imagine they'll want at least 375, maybe even 400. Conditions are still favourable for batting, so I think Brathwaite will be erring on the side of cautious.

Windies are ahead by 288 and max 123 overs left in the game

so they could leave 350 to chase in 100 overs...but that's too risky....pitches are flat and do not deteriorate
they would push it more towards 400ish in 90 overs and hence more towards a draw

Duty281 wrote:56 overs bowled today in four hours and twenty minutes of play - that's laughable. Especially when you consider 20 overs have been bowled by a Sri Lankan off-spinner.

Just a matter now of when the West Indies will declare and how bold they'll be. Lead is currently 269, and I imagine they'll want at least 375, maybe even 400. Conditions are still favourable for batting, so I think Brathwaite will be erring on the side of cautious.

Over rates are becoming very frustrating. England's in the recent series was bordering on farcical. I rate Jack Leach highly as a cricketer but how a spinner can take that long to begin each over I can't fathom.

It's seeped into white ball cricket as well. The ODI and T20s between England and India were taking an absurd amount of time to finish for one day games.

It's an issue that needs addressing as it will alienate fans. In Test cricket fans will feel shortchanged. In white ball cricket games finishing unnecessarily late will drive away younger families with kids needing to get to bed.

West Indies declare with a lead of 376, almost the exact same as Sri Lanka's lead in the first game. Just under 40 minutes tonight and 98 overs tomorrow left in the test.

The West Indies applied themselves with the bat in the first test, on a fairly lifeless pitch albeit with some low bounce, to save the game. Now it's up to Sri Lanka to do the same on a near-identical wicket.

Sri Lanka's openers safely negotiate nine overs to get to 29/0 at stumps. Will be hard work for the West Indies to get ten wickets tomorrow, especially with some more rain likely to arrive at some point, but the Sri Lankans do have a long tail with Lakmal coming in at 8.

The final count, by the way, was 85.3 overs bowled in six hours and 40 minutes of play, which I think is an over rate of around 12.8 per hour.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explaining-iccs-new-rule-how-stumps-got-bigger-for-bowlers-taking-drs-for-lbw-decisions-7255380/

ICC makes changes to DRS

including the bail in the Wicket zone is a no brainer fix of a flaw.

this is a good one though
A player can now ask the umpire if “a genuine attempt has been made to play the ball” (deliberate padding or not) before going for an LBW review. Previously, it was all about the umpire’s interpretation and the bowling side wasn’t authorised to ask the question

On the over-rate issue: Yes, it's poor that overs in Tests are left unbowled, even after extended post-tea sessions.

One way to get round this is to push the tea interval back until a certain number of overs have been completed. This will mean a less-lengthy final session. Main problem here is the light at the end of an extended day.

But in the LOIs, I can't understand what the fuss is about (unless it's the TV scheduling guys throwing a hissy). All the overs get bowled anyway and the crowd are not being deprived as they are when 90 overs are not completed in Tests.

I think SL will save this Test quite comfortably. Although it's likely to be two drawn matches, the series has at least thrown up a good-looking young player in Pathum Nissanka.

One thing I would like to see, regarding over-rates, is a day's play extended to however long is needed to get the overs in (beyond the extra 30 mins presently allocated) and, if rain or bad light prohibits that, roll those extra overs over to the next day's play, utilising early starts and late finishes where possible.

Of course the danger with that is over-rates might get even slower if captains know they have all the time in the world to get them in!

With regards to limited-overs over-rates, it can be a dull experience for the viewer if games drag on too long. T20s are meant to last around the same length as a game of baseball, two and a half to three hours, but one of the England/India T20s lasted around four hours, and numerous franchise games drag on for a similarly long time, aided with the advent of 'strategic timeouts' i.e. extra advertising breaks for broadcasters.

Anyway a delayed start to the test match today with rain around, making the draw look even more nailed-on.

I'd agree with duty there on the issue with slow over rates in one day games being the amount of time with no cricket going on at the cricket. White ball cricket is the entry drug to get people into game. For a cricketing zealot like me an extra hour at the ground for a T20 isn't significant. For a parent with their kids at the ground trying to get them interested that extra hour of no cricket risks losing the younger fans though.

I've always liked the idea of not stopping for lunch and tea until a certain number of overs are bowled. Keep them out there. Other stoppages permitting of course, caveats would need to be built in for situations where there are lots of wickets falling or lots of reviews that naturally slows play.

Meanwhile Pakistan are cruising to victory over South Africa in the first ODI of three. Saffers made 273 - Van der Dussen with his first ODI ton, and Miller with a controlled 50, rescuing their side from 55/4 to post something halfway competitive, but at least 30 short of par on a good batting wicket and a ground with short boundaries.

Though Pakistan lost an early wicket, Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq have controlled proceedings since to take Pakistan to 181/1 with 19 overs left. Babar Azam is such a lovely batsman to watch in full flow, one of the most artistic in world cricket, and he's just brought up his 13th ODI century.

Oops, I completely jinxed Pakistan! They were cruising to victory, but they've collapsed like England did in the first ODI against India. 186/1 has become 203/5.

Not over yet, Rizwan may still get Pakistan home.

Exhilarating finish. Pakistan get home off the final ball of the match. Rizwan fell with a few overs left. Shadab Khan, who had combined with Rizwan for a fifty stand, survived being dropped and chopping on to his stumps in the penultimate over (no-ball due to a over waist height full toss), only to sky one to a fielder with just 3 needed off 6 balls. Madness.

Faheem Ashraf then saw off three dot balls in a row, one of which he didn't play at, before calmly scoring the winning runs off the next two balls without a care in the world. Pakistan are many things, but they're never, ever dull.

Sri Lanka 93/0 at lunch. They're probably more likely to win it than the West Indies from this position. RRR still under 5 with 284 needed. If the rain stays away...maybe a chance?

WI -Lanka meandering towards a draw......pitches make prying out 3rd and 4th inning wickets very hard in WI
Lanka has done two good second innings and should be happy with a drawn series

WI don't care for the result I think

Duty281 wrote:One thing I would like to see, regarding over-rates, is a day's play extended to however long is needed to get the overs in (beyond the extra 30 mins presently allocated) and, if rain or bad light prohibits that, roll those extra overs over to the next day's play, utilising early starts and late finishes where possible.

Of course the danger with that is over-rates might get even slower if captains know they have all the time in the world to get them in!

With regards to limited-overs over-rates, it can be a dull experience for the viewer if games drag on too long. T20s are meant to last around the same length as a game of baseball, two and a half to three hours, but one of the England/India T20s lasted around four hours, and numerous franchise games drag on for a similarly long time, aided with the advent of 'strategic timeouts' i.e. extra advertising breaks for broadcasters.

Anyway a delayed start to the test match today with rain around, making the draw look even more nailed-on.

yes that's where the solution lies.....in Early starts and couple them with heavy , very heavy fines....and bans...so that the captains don't take extended hours as the first recourse

ODI series between South Africa and Pakistan locked at 1-1. Third and final ODI has an interesting conclusion in store - Pakistan have made 320/7 off their 50 overs. Strange innings, Pakistan were 206/1 with 15 overs left and were on track to make 350. Then a collapse saw them slump to 257/6 with just four overs remaining. No matter, Hassan Ali dispatched the ball to all parts with a knock of 32 off 11 to send them up to their final total. Markram and Smuts bowled an unusually high number of overs - 18 between them - on a pitch taking more turn than expected.

South Africa have lost half their team to the IPL for this game, but 321 is still achievable on a ground with small boundaries, even if they are missing De Kock, Miller and Van der Dussen.

After winning the ODI series, Pakistan are now 13/8 to win a four-match T20 series against South Africa. Seems plenty generous considering nearly half of South Africa's first-choice team are at the IPL, and a few others (Bavuma, Hendricks, Pretorious) are also missing for either injury or personal reasons.

Watched IPL sporadically for two days
I wasn't a big IPL fan....and skipped it for a number of years.
But to my amazement...the assembly line of talented replacements that Ind kept producing recently....a lot of which was courtesy IPL....made me keep an eye on this years IPL


I couldn't but help noticing the Curran bowling to Curran event and Sam the talented one taking Tom the mediocre one for cleaners....24 in an over.....made me wonder why anyone would spend(waste) their overseas procurement dollars ( USD 750K) on Tom
nevertheless Tom ended up on the winning side.

Woakes was brilliant with swing....I would always want him in each of my side.
and then it was noticeable how The IPL sides are intending to use Moeen as a genuine top order bat and first choice spinner.

Avesh Khan looks like a ready to drop-in replacement for Siraj...should a need every arise

Actually caught a little of that game too...in fairness to Tom C , he had been bowling quite well - until brother Sam took him to the cleaners at the death.

Quite liked the look of Avesh.

Watched a bit of Punjab vs Chennai game.....and Ali played another good allround game.....CSK is using him as a full allrounder batting at 3

Poor man has been lately maligned off the field.....good to see his Eng team mates stood by him firmly.
Personally I too do not like seeing long unkempt beards on field....but no one should be maligned for display of religious beliefs.

Stokes out for at-least 3 months, big loss for Enf.....should be back for at-least 4 tests against India if healing and rehabilitation goes well

Start of the SL/Bangladesh series today - both sides with extra seamers in the XI suggests a bit more for seam in Kandy than we saw in Galle for the England series

Bangladesh 240/2 at the moment and going well - Tamim falling short of a hundred but Nazmul is closing in on his, after losing Saif for a duck

No Embuldeniya for the hosts, he's injured. Seems to have made it a lot trickier with Bangladesh over the 300 mark and still only two down.

And Zimbabwe have collapsed in a T20 against Pakistan. 79/2, chasing 150, down to 97/6.

Chasing 119 to win a T20 against Zimbabwe, Pakistan needed 41 from 26 balls with seven wickets left. Pakistan then lost their last seven wickets for just 20 runs, giving Zimbabwe the win.

Peak Pakistan?

Into the 4th day in Sri Lanka and there’s been 10 wickets in the game total for nearly 1000 runs

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Into the 4th day in Sri Lanka and there’s been 10 wickets in the game total for nearly 1000 runs

Glad I'm not bowling on that !

Karunaratne might fancy going for Lara's record...

Not watched any of the match but 1053 runs across four days for the loss ten wickets suggests a dog of a pitch. The only intrigue is seeing how big Karunaratne goes from here.

I’m not a big cricket fan, but this Sri Lanka Bangladesh borefest appeared on my timeline somewhat randomly.
Can someone please explain what’s the logic of such ‘dead’ playing surfaces? From my very limited knowledge it’s merely aiding stat padding for the batsmen?

Jeff Navarro wrote:I’m not a big cricket fan, but this Sri Lanka Bangladesh borefest appeared on my timeline somewhat randomly.
Can someone please explain what’s the logic of such ‘dead’ playing surfaces? From my very limited knowledge it’s merely aiding stat padding for the batsmen?

Sometimes groundsman get pressure from board level to create pitches that will definitely last 5 days in the hope of more ticket revenue during a Test match. In current circumstances I'd find that hard to imagine though.

These days it's simply due to very poor pitch preparation. Which does happen even to excellent groundsman it should be noted. Just not that often anymore. There have been instances of pitches being relaid after renovations on the ground and well regarded groundsman producing absolute shockers.

In Australia there was a move to 'drop in' cricket pitches as the massive cricket grounds get used for other events as well. The squares were cultivated outside the ground with the soil and pitch set on top of massive concrete plinths, then quite literally dropped into the pitch for Test matches in the summer. Some dire wickets came out of that for a time.

I haven't seen any of it, but the second test between Sri Lanka-Bangladesh looks like being on another dead pitch. Sri Lanka 273/1 and approaching stumps on the first day. 11/10 currently offered on the draw.

Bit more life in the Zimbabwe-Pakistan test, with the former 127/7 in the second session. Hassan Ali tearing them apart.

Buttler has just plundered 124 for RR v SRH. Some breathtaking batting.

Maine man wrote:Buttler has just plundered 124 for RR v SRH. Some breathtaking batting.

The most remarkable thing in some ways is that it's his first T20 hundred! Brilliant batting though.

He's had a lean time of it in white ball cricket since the CWC win but a player of his class was always going to come good.

RR and SRH are two teams with some really uneven recruitment and are struggling accordingly it must be said. The easy IPL trap to fall into of having some excellent overseas players but not enough from the Indian contingent backing it up. Almost the polar opposite to Mumbai who's domestic recruitment has been brilliant, which gives them a base from which they can add that sprinkling of stardust to finish things off.

The Dutch beat the Irish 2-1 in a three-game home ODI series; a very low scoring series as in six innings there was not one score of 200+.

A blow to Ireland's chance of qualifying for the World Cup, but a near-perfect start for the Dutch.

Losing a few senior players in quick succession has knocked Ireland a bit. Murtagh, Rankin and Wilson are all gone. It seems a bit of a transitional period.

Meanwhile Kevin O'Brien is 37 and Porterfield 36 so won't go on forever. They rotated in these games, didn't play together.

Stirling is a terrific bat and Balbirnie has been really solid for Ireland but outside of them you've got the talented but green Tector and Tucker, then George Dockrell who has converted himself into a batting all rounder. It's a fragile batting order.

Little is a really talented bowler, Young and McCarthy are reliable, Simi Singh is an underrated offie in my opinion and McBrine does his job of tying up the RR well. They are just missing that bit of extra firepower and experience that Rankin and/or Murtagh could offer first up though in my opinion.

I think the current Scotland team is coming together well for the T20 World Cup at the end of this year. Lots of players in a good age range, some quality top order batsman and lots of bowling options.

Mark Watt is a really good white ball spinner. Ali Evans and Safyaan Sharif have been consistent and built experience. Gavin Main has some raw pace. Hamza Tahir seems a good spinner. Then hopefully add in the quality of Wheal and Davey for the World Cup. That bowling line-up with a top 4 of Coetzer, Cross, Macleod and Munsey could surprise a few teams I reckon. I'm obviously not suggesting they're dark horses to win the thing but they could definitely spring a fun upset as Netherlands and Ireland have in the past when peaking at the right time.

Two test series in the Caribbean between the West Indies and South Africa starts tomorrow. A battle of the seam bowling attacks - Rabada, Nortje and Ngidi v Joseph, Roach and Seales.

You may not have heard of Jayden Seales before, but apparently he's a mightily impressive medium-pace bowler. He's only played one first-class match (for West Indies A) in his career, yet has impressed the selectors enough in intra-squad games and a handful of limited-overs matches to be tipped to make his test debut tomorrow.

West Indies 56/7, after losing three wickets in eight balls.

This one could be over already.