World T20 discussion thread

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Thu 09 Sep 2021, 11:18 am

First topic message reminder :

This is fast approaching in the UAE, and squads are beginning to be announced. England have announced theirs this morning

England's preliminary squad for the World T20;

Jason Roy
Jos Buttler
Dawid Malan
Jonny Bairstow
Liam Livingstone
Eoin Morgan
Sam Billings
Moeen Ali
Sam Curran
Chris Woakes
David Willey
Adil Rashid
Mark Wood
Chris Jordan
Tymal Mills

Reserves: James Vince, Liam Dawson, Tom Curran

Looks a solid squad, albeit the team has taken a hit in recent months with Archer's injury and then Stokes's withdrawal from international duty.
Billings in as the main batting backup, makes sense to me. He's played well in limited opportunity the past few summers.
I am a touch surprised both Woakes and Willey are in the squad...seems like they both do the same role to me?
Seems harsh, but happy no Tom Curran. He's not played well enough to be included.
I see some "why no Parkinson?" and it does seem a tad weird he isn't in reserve...but ultimately in T20 can you afford to carry someone like him, who while is a good bowler, is a liability in the field and offers absolutely nothing with the bat. I can see why Dawson is the chosen reserve over him, with those considerations.

I think the likely XI is;

Roy
Buttler
Malan
Bairstow
Livingstone
Morgan
Ali
Woakes
Rashid
Wood
Mills

The real selection choices in there are between Woakes/Jordan, and Moeen/Sam Curran. Rest looks fairly set in stone to me

by eirebilly Sat 23 Oct 2021, 3:57 pm

by eirebilly Sat 23 Oct 2021, 3:57 pm

The only person happy about this is my wife who will be glad to see an early day for cricket Very Happy

by guildfordbat Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:02 pm

eirebilly wrote:The only person happy about this is my wife who will be glad to see an early day for cricket

Billy - you may have time to show her a recording of the Namibia game and talk her through where your boys went wrong! Wink

by eirebilly Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:05 pm

guildfordbat wrote:
eirebilly wrote:The only person happy about this is my wife who will be glad to see an early day for cricket

Billy - you may have time to show her a recording of the Namibia game and talk her through where your boys went wrong!

Ah here now, I do enjoy life too much to do that Very Happy

England will knock this over in the power play.

Rashid on a hatrick...

by Duty281 Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:05 pm

Early days, very early days, but this is going to be tremendous for England's NRR.

And an emphatic statement to start the tournament. 49/9!

by CaledonianCraig Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:06 pm

Wickets falling thick and fast and Windies all at sea and out of hope on 49 for 9.

by KP_fan Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:09 pm

Eng came switched on..... on top of their plans and execution inspite of their team limitations

WI did not arrive
Their journey will start next game hopefully with a serious damage to NRR.

The two quality spinners by T20 standards for Eng did an imperious job...reconfirming how games on these pitches will progress

by alfie Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:10 pm

West Indies haven't changed their game plan...

Pollard caught on the fence...and the rabbit follows in the same way first ball. Rashid having a picnic.

50/9. Far from "death over specialist" , Mills to bowl out now. Like that from Morgan. Going for the throat thumbsup

by alfie Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:15 pm

Mills mirrors Moeen's figures 2/17 off his four. Good start to the tournament for him.

Rashid gets 4/2 Shocked

55 all out. Wow. Collingwood looks quite pleased...

by eirebilly Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:15 pm

Definitely over within the power play or soon after.

At least its not the worst ever World T20 score...

by Duty281 Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:16 pm

Amazing figures for Rashid.

2.8 the required rate. Could get Boycott and Sibley in for this one.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:17 pm

Go and knock them off as quickly as possible and get that NRR to the point it’s like an extra point

Unbelievable performance from the bowlers/fielders!

by guildfordbat Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:24 pm

Excellent team performance from England, both bowling and catching.

Brain dead batting from the West Indies. They got themselves in a hole and kept on digging.

Good point made by Duty and Olly about NRR - a long, long way to go in this tournament but important to grasp anything that increases our chances of qualifying for the next stage.

Meanwhile, every member of the West Indies side will need to field like Jonty Rhodes and then some ....

by alfie Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:48 pm

Yes I'm sure England will want to knock these off quickly for the run rate. Don't need to go silly about it though : should be able to pick them off without too much trouble - and I guess they will want to get a bit of practice in batting on this sort of pitch because it seems we are going to get a lot like it.

21 off three fair enough start.

by alfie Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:50 pm

Roy gone ...bit of a gift . Fell for the slower ball and straight to the fielder.

Gayle the catcher : just as well he hardly had to move Smile

by JDizzle Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:52 pm

Bairstow in at 3. England definitely after the NRR boost.

by alfie Sat 23 Oct 2021, 4:59 pm

JDizzle wrote:Bairstow in at 3. England definitely after the NRR boost.

Clearly the plan. Unfortunately it is a couple of fours and out but I guess they aren't too bothered about wickets ...Moeen next so Malan has presumably done his work for the day.

Nice bit of bowling from Hosein to the new batsman ; but I doubt it is going to lead to a collapse...

by alfie Sat 23 Oct 2021, 5:03 pm

Not going to get the runs in the power play...I did think that was a slightly exaggerated target anyway. If they can do it in eight overs they'll be happy.

Moeen appears to be run out now. You could say they've been a bit sloppy with this so far. Morgan next ? No , Livingstone...

by king_carlos Sat 23 Oct 2021, 5:06 pm

Sloppy is a good description alfie.

by alfie Sat 23 Oct 2021, 5:11 pm

39/3 from the power play. Considering the lack of pressure and the obvious intention to score the runs as soon as possible you'd have to say that wasn't a particularly good one for England - not that it matters much today.
Does also add to the feeling that batting on these surfaces isn't going to be easy for anyone.

And now Livingstone is caught and bowled...quite a brilliant catch by Hosein clap

Glad they aren't chasing 120.

by JDizzle Sat 23 Oct 2021, 5:14 pm

Malan has to be injured at this point right?

by guildfordbat Sat 23 Oct 2021, 5:24 pm

alfie wrote:39/3 from the power play. Considering the lack of pressure and the obvious intention to score the runs as soon as possible you'd have to say that wasn't a particularly good one for England - not that it matters much today.
Does also add to the feeling that batting on these surfaces isn't going to be easy for anyone.

And now Livingstone is caught and bowled...quite a brilliant catch by Hosein

Glad they aren't chasing 120.

Go along with all that, Alfie.

Very fine take by Hosein - Mrs Bat assured me it was clean and she doesn't miss a trick! Wink

With Hosein's two caught and bowleds plus Moeen's run out, I accept the fielding hasn't let them down today. Mind you, it was always their legs and not the hands that I was concerned about. Plus the batting let them down so horribly that what followed was never going to be significant.

Convincing win for England, albeit not as convincing as I was hoping for at the half-way point.

by KP_fan Sat 23 Oct 2021, 5:29 pm

Eng made a hash of the chase and did not do it clinically as they would have liked My Initial assessment of 130n par was probably correct ...that would have tested Eng.
Still Eng should be very pleased with the result

Spin and slow bowling is the key & having ability to bowl express yorkers a big PLUS....big drop in pace i.e from 90mph to 70mph is also hard to tackle

by alfie Sat 23 Oct 2021, 5:32 pm

JDizzle wrote:Malan has to be injured at this point right?

You think ? I'd say they just reckon he starts off too slowly and decided to push the others up. As it happens they probably might just as well have stuck to the usual order as they'd likely have reached in about the same time... 8.2 overs isn't too bad I guess.
Suppose sending Jonny in at three was arguably a fair idea : after those two early boundaries it looked as if he might have got them to the target in an over or so less if he'd got hold of Hosein ; but I'm not sure it was really worth messing about with the order for a possible marginal gain.

Definitely looks as if we can scale back our expectations of scoring in this competition. Few teams might be rethinking their game plans.

by JDizzle Sat 23 Oct 2021, 5:37 pm

alfie wrote:
JDizzle wrote:Malan has to be injured at this point right?

You think ? I'd say they just reckon he starts off too slowly and decided to push the others up. As it happens they probably might just as well have stuck to the usual order as they'd likely have reached in about the same time... 8.2 overs isn't too bad I guess.
Suppose sending Jonny in at three was arguably a fair idea : after those two early boundaries it looked as if he might have got them to the target in an over or so less if he'd got hold of Hosein ; but I'm not sure it was really worth messing about with the order for a possible marginal gain.

Definitely looks as if we can scale back our expectations of scoring in this competition. Few teams might be rethinking their game plans.

Purely as no-one promoted seemed to show much intent either! Weird they didn’t send Malan in when no-one, bar Bairstow briefly, showed much intent anyway. Makes sense logically why they did it, but just didn’t match up to how everyone played.

by guildfordbat Sat 23 Oct 2021, 5:59 pm

See that Moeen got MotM. Even though Rashid picked up a fourfer for next to nothing, I feel that's just about the right call. Moeen's contribution during the opening power play was excellent and sealed the win - the West Indies never got over that.

A call out as well to Morgan. His handling of the bowlers - especially giving 4 on the reel to Moeen - and the fielders was top notch.

by Duty281 Sat 23 Oct 2021, 6:17 pm

Great win for England to kick off, though the West Indies have to bat more intelligently than that. These pitches aren't quick pancakes that scoring sides can just blast away on. You have to respect the bowlers, the slowness, the turn, otherwise implosions like this will happen. There's no excuse for it, the IPL was a great indicator.

Whereas, usually, in a T20 you think a side batting first getting 140 is just about defendable, 160 is a good score and 180 is a tremendous effort, in this tournament (more often than not) 120 is just about defendable, 140 will be a good score, and 160+ will be fantastic. And in the evening games (the ones that start 15:00 in the UK), the side winning the toss and fielding first has a mammoth advantage because the ball is effectively a bar of soap for the side fielding second.

Anyway, England have started well. Their NRR reads +3.97 at the moment which is a nice boost. Next game is v Bangladesh on Wednesday at the earlier time, a proper test against some very capable spinners. West Indies play South Africa on Tuesday, whoever loses will be close to the exit door.

by VTR Sat 23 Oct 2021, 6:21 pm

Excellent opening win, not going to complain about the four wickets. Think I read it was the fewest overs batting ever for England to win a T20, clearly they won't have chased many scores around this before of course

Amazing how T20 has evolved tactically and selection wise and really seeing it in this tournament. It used to be put a team together, have a whack, and see what happens. Or put another way I once paid quite a lot of actual money to watch England open with Wright and Bopara in an important World Cup match. We really have moved on a lot from those days

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sat 23 Oct 2021, 8:13 pm

Goes without saying that was an unbelievable victory for England - obviously the bowling isn't going to come off like that everytime, but encouraging that Moeen bowled so well in his matchups with the left handers, if he can just do that consistently it will allow them to use that batting heavy approach they went with today. Concerning that Wood is hurt already (both for this tournament and beyond), I don't think you'd want both Woakes and Jordan bowling 4 overs each in an ideal world...

Batting wise - a bit sloppy but not too concerned. Mixing the order up to go for the NRR makes sense to me, with it being +3.97 already that could be a crucial factor (providing they aren't on the end of one of these thumpings!). It's essentially an extra win! On the flip side, extremely tough to see how West Indies would qualify if they only win 3 games because of the NRR...

Malan with a big thanks for coming - pay your match fees, do a bit of scoring...enjoy the win Dawid! Actually quite encouraged England are showing some flexibility with their batting lineup, it's not really been something they've done in recent years but on these wickets, they may be able to influence matchups by surprising the opposition by promoting a Moeen/Livingstone up the order in a pinch.

As a note for the tournament as a whole - I do hope the pitches improve a bit...in my opinion pitches where 120 is a legitimately good score isn't really great for the entertainment product. That coupled with sparse crowds could suck the juice out of some of these games...
Not saying they should be 220 plays 210 wickets, but if they can get them to the 140-150 is par, 130 is defendable and anything 160+ is excellent that would be good. Do fear they're only going to get worse tho...

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sat 23 Oct 2021, 11:46 pm

Just seen it written about, but wasn’t picked up on the broadcast - England had a long off, long on and a straight fielder out deep behind the bowler when Rashid was bowling to Pollard. They’d seen he likes to hit straight and wanted to try and make him drag his hit wider…interesting quirk!

by Duty281 Sun 24 Oct 2021, 11:33 am

Mad scenes as Liton Das and Kumara square up after the former's dismissal and have to be separated.

That isn't very cricket.

by Duty281 Sun 24 Oct 2021, 12:49 pm

171/4. Superb from Mushfiqur and Naim. Sri Lanka's bowling was ill-discliplined, couldn't build up any consistent pressure. Kumara bowled disgracefully, Hasaranga wasn't even trusted for the full four overs.

Very short boundaries on one side for this game which aids the batsmen - more fours on one side, more twos on the other - but this is likely beyond Sri Lanka.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 24 Oct 2021, 1:34 pm

Duty281 wrote:Mad scenes as Liton Das and Kumara square up after the former's dismissal and have to be separated.

That isn't very cricket.

Exactly the type of scenes we secretly love to see. Little bit of needle between these two!

Sri Lanka off to a very good start in this chase - 71-1 off 8 overs. Still need 101 off 12 overs, but they have given themselves a sniff

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 24 Oct 2021, 1:34 pm

Ha one ball after I post, Shakib bowls Nissanka! He really is a wonderful bowler

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 24 Oct 2021, 2:08 pm

Why Bangladesh took Shakib off is beyond me…

by alfie Sun 24 Oct 2021, 2:15 pm

Bangladesh might be forced to regret these dropped catches...

Still need nine per over but the way these two are going Sri Lanka are right in it. Still a couple of Shakib overs to come though.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 24 Oct 2021, 2:18 pm

Two drops, but quite frankly embarrassing captaincy that Shakib was taken off and has only bowled the same amount of overs as Mahmudullah himself. What on earth were they thinking??

30 off 27 now, Sri Lanka firm favourites

by Duty281 Sun 24 Oct 2021, 2:19 pm

Yep, can't understand Bangladesh's bowling choices here, Saifuddin has just been destroyed even though Shakib has a couple left. Ultimately the dropped catches have cost them.

Need some magic from Mustafizur and/or Shakib to rescue it.

by alfie Sun 24 Oct 2021, 2:21 pm

In fact Shakib might not have time to bowl his remaining overs as Rajapaske has gone ballistic here and absolutely destroyed Saifuddin...

Only need another 24 off four and this is basically all over.

They should have listened to Olly and kept Shakib on Smile

Here he is now. But surely too late ?

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 24 Oct 2021, 2:26 pm

Not exactly rocket science to keep the world class spinner on who’s bowled two overs for 6 runs and 2 wickets, rather than bowling two pie chucking part time spinners in his place when you have the opposition on the ropes!

by Soul Requiem Sun 24 Oct 2021, 2:26 pm

Another example of a T20 captain not being able to think on the fly and following the agreed plan even though it's not working?

by Duty281 Sun 24 Oct 2021, 2:35 pm

Shakib didn't even bowl the full quota in the end. Some ludicrous captaincy and poor fielding in the deep has cost Bangladesh, they lost a game which was in the bag.

by alfie Sun 24 Oct 2021, 2:35 pm

One thing we can take from this game : scoring runs here is a lot easier than the other venues !

Sri Lanka home with an over to spare and I see them as a bit of a dark horse in this group. Excellent partnership for the fifth wicket to take that away from the Tigers...

by KP_fan Sun 24 Oct 2021, 2:57 pm

Bloody Kohli loses toss......AGAIN
Batting is think with Pandya at 6...Kohli out of form and No shardul
Indians have taken Pak too lightly

by guildfordbat Sun 24 Oct 2021, 2:58 pm

alfie wrote:One thing we can take from this game : scoring runs here is a lot easier than the other venues !

Sri Lanka home with an over to spare and I see them as a bit of a dark horse in this group. Excellent partnership for the fifth wicket to take that away from the Tigers...

Hi Alfie - I realise you're not putting the family savings on Sri Lanka but I'm still more doubtful. Their bowling seemed pretty ordinary and, as Duty and Olly have rightly emphasised, their win owed more to Bangladesh's failings (dreadful drops and even worse captaincy as to bowling options) than their own strengths.

by KP_fan Sun 24 Oct 2021, 3:01 pm

what is this hand on heart and taking Knee about

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 24 Oct 2021, 3:11 pm

Shaheen is a superstar

by KP_fan Sun 24 Oct 2021, 3:12 pm

Imad is bowling well and looking difficult to get off......getting big dip

by KP_fan Sun 24 Oct 2021, 3:14 pm

We need to bat out 20 overs

by Soul Requiem Sun 24 Oct 2021, 3:16 pm

Left arm pace is so so important in T20.

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