World T20 discussion thread

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

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

[Duty281]

Baffling decision from Afghanistan to bat first. We saw yesterday how difficult it can be to bowl with the heavy dew in the second innings. Scotland have a chance in this one, I reckon, though they are the outsiders.

Same pitch as yesterday's Bangladesh-Sri Lanka game, so a very short boundary on one side.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Zazai gives it a proper whallop

[king_carlos]

So does Shahzad!

Scotland are going to need Watt, Leask and Greaves to bowl really well in the middle.

[Duty281]

Vital breakthrough just before the end of the PowerPlay, but Scotland need to follow it up otherwise they could be chasing 180+.

Zazai's six earlier made an astonishing sound.

[king_carlos]

Watty is such a good T20 bowler. Surprised he's not had more chances with counties. Vital quiet over for Scotland after the PP.

[king_carlos]

With Zazai smashing it I don't understand bowling the leggie in Greaves instead of Leask's offbreaks.

[king_carlos]

Watty is such a good T20 bowler. Surprised he's not had more chances with counties. Vital quiet over for Scotland after the PP.

And he gets the big wicket of Zazai just before the 10 over mark!

[Duty281]

This could get ugly for Scotland with Nabi and Rashid Khan still to bat.

[Duty281]

190 then. Some onslaught from the Afghan top order, only Watt bowled well for Scotland, the rest struggled to consistently hit the right lengths.

Good luck to Scotland to even get close to this one.

[Duty281]

Don't recall Afghanistan attempting any switch-hits in their innings, which is odd given the shortness of one side of the ground. Munsey tries two such switch-hits in the first over and gets 10 runs. Clever.

[king_carlos]

I don't know enough about the Afghan batting to know if any of them play the reverse as a strength. Munsey is very good at it though. May well just be a case of the batsman playing to their strengths.

Good start for Scotland. With the Afghan spinners to come they will need Munsey to do something very special to get close though I'd suspect.

If these two can bat through most the PP I'd be tempted to push MacLeod up the order to get him in ahead of Cross against the spinners during the middle overs.

[king_carlos]

Coetzer goes. Good bowling from Mujeeb. Good wrist spinners with really quick arms are tough to pick and Coetzer had no idea which way that was turning!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Afghan's didn't really need too? They had a right hand/left hand combo at the crease throughout, so could always target the short boundary with one bat

[king_carlos]

My MacLeod up the order idea went really well...

[king_carlos]

Some over from Mujeeb. One of many incredibly talented players in this Afghan side.

[Duty281]

Lovely to watch Mujeeb in good form. 36/5 and Rashid Khan hasn't yet been introduced.

[king_carlos]

I love Mohammad Shahzad

Built like a village 2nd XI keeper but has absolutely brilliant hands and can take attacks apart with the bat!

Munsey goes. It's all fallen apart very quickly for Scotland against a good Afghan side tonight.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Properly adore this Afghan side - wish they’d brought Qais as well and just gone full mental spin attack

[king_carlos]

Properly adore this Afghan side - wish they’d brought Qais as well and just gone full mental spin attack

They're a great story and cricket is definitely a more fun place for their rise as a side.

Qais is an entertaining player but also a very good one. It shows the depth their bowling has that they can leave a player like him out.

[Duty281]

Five for Mujeeb.

We'll get a better idea of Afghanistan's chances when they play Pakistan next, but they're certainly the most fun team at this tournament.

[king_carlos]

5-20 from Mujeebs 4 overs. Outstanding figures and how he's bowled deserves it.

[king_carlos]

60 all out. A hammering but as seen with the Windies on Saturday it can happen in this format.

Afghanistan bowled very well and could cause any side issues in these conditions. 8 overs of Rashid and Mujeeb with Nabi available for match-ups that suit offbreaks is truly a fantastic spin attack.

[guildfordbat]

As Olly might have said and probably still will , that'll do wonders for Afghanistan's net run rate.

Might create expectations for India, New Zealand and Pakistan to do the same against Scotland. Interesting to see what happens ....

[king_carlos]

Five for Mujeeb.

We'll get a better idea of Afghanistan's chances when they play Pakistan next, but they're certainly the most fun team at this tournament.

My only wonder is how their top order will fare against high pace. Shaheen and Rauf for Pakistan. Ferguson for NZ. Bumrah for India. Expect that they will attack their top order hard with quicks early on. A couple of PP wickets and suddenly they will be under a lot more pressure in the middle overs.

[CaledonianCraig]

Scotland hammered in their opening Super12 match. The Scotland bowlers were just too inconsistent with their lengths and the Afghanis took full advantage. The batting never got going and they wee blown away. Hopefully, better outcome for Scotland in their next match. Afghanistan look a real powerful outfit though.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Five for Mujeeb.

We'll get a better idea of Afghanistan's chances when they play Pakistan next, but they're certainly the most fun team at this tournament.

My only wonder is how their top order will fare against high pace. Shaheen and Rauf for Pakistan. Ferguson for NZ. Bumrah for India. Expect that they will attack their top order hard with quicks early on. A couple of PP wickets and suddenly they will be under a lot more pressure in the middle overs.

Do agree that high pace will cause them some issues, but would say that yesterday arguably two of their best bats/hitters in Nabi and Rashid Khan himself didn't barely get a go. Rashid was down to come in at 9 (albeit I'd have him above Naib and Janat myself!)

Do agree with Craig that Scotland's bowlers got their lengths wrong - they were far too full, and didn't use the middle of the wicket enough at all. Expect they will adjust, but do fear that might not be the only hammering in this phase for them (albeit do fancy they may run NZ close). Now the Afghan's have thumped them and improved their NRR to a ridiculous point, the likes of India/Pakistan will be wanting to do similar (India in particular, having lost a game already).

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Some interesting games today - particularly the first game. Would expect WI to beat SA, but both sides can't afford a second quick loss and WI have been sloppy in all warm up and of course the England game too.

[Pal Joey]

Just caught the end of what Pommie Mbangwa was saying about the decision to leave out QdK. Crincinfo says he's made himself unavailable for personal reasons but is there something more to it?

[Duty281]

It's a very good battle between South Africa and the West Indies. The strong bowling attack of South Africa v the batting line-up that has so much potential.

18/0 after 4.

Very bad news for South Africa about QdK, he's their only top-class batsman.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Just caught the end of what Pommie Mbangwa was saying about the decision to leave out QdK. Crincinfo says he's made himself unavailable for personal reasons but is there something more to it?

Not confirmed yet, but it seems far too much of a coincidence for it not to be linked as per the tweet and article here -  https://twitter.com/FirdoseM/status/1452936331194245120?s=20

[Soul Requiem]

Just caught the end of what Pommie Mbangwa was saying about the decision to leave out QdK. Crincinfo says he's made himself unavailable for personal reasons but is there something more to it?

Pommie is up there with Jeremy Coney as far as commentators go. I listened to rather than watched most of the 2019 world cup due to work and hearing different perspectives from round the world was refreshing.

[king_carlos]

Just caught the end of what Pommie Mbangwa was saying about the decision to leave out QdK. Crincinfo says he's made himself unavailable for personal reasons but is there something more to it?

CSA tell the players that they have to take a knee. de Kock was the only player who's not observed any of the gestures (taking a knee, raising a fist, standing to attention) that the SA players have used to acknowledge the movement previously. de Kock now unavailable for personal reasons. Feels there might be something more to it.

My tuppence:

1. Forcing players to take a knee feels like it diminishes any gesture made rather than adds to it

2. Whilst I fully expect many sportsmen haven't taken a knee for some pretty dubious reasons (Billy Vunipola cited seeing reports on social media that BLM protesters were burning churches - for cricket fans not in the know, Billy isn't expected to be a neurosurgeon after retirement) it is a layered issue as shown by SA rugby player Lood de Jager who didn't take a knee but has an adopted black son

[Duty281]

On the topic of good v bad wickets, Simmons needs to get out or hit out pronto.

[king_carlos]

It's a very good battle between South Africa and the West Indies. The strong bowling attack of South Africa v the batting line-up that has so much potential.

18/0 after 4.

Very bad news for South Africa about QdK, he's their only top-class batsman.

Agreed. He's such a consistent opener when it comes to getting away quickly in the PP. He sometimes gets criticised for getting a quick 30 or 40 then getting out rather than going on for massive scores. That consistent, fast 30 to 40 runs up to is gold dust in these conditions where PP runs are vital then middle over runs are hard to come by.

He's also an absolutely fantastic keeper.

SA now missing ABdV, Faf, de Kock, Miller and Tahir for various reasons. A shame.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

On the topic of good v bad wickets, Simmons needs to get out or hit out pronto.

A shameful innings from him so far - what on earth is he doing?

[Duty281]

This innings is a disgrace from Simmons - 13 off 30, still showing zero intent to get things moving. It's not an ODI!

Lewis at the other end was brilliant.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

The West Indies should 100% retire Simmons out here

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Think that is the worst t20 innings I have ever seen - a bad wicket for SA to take!

[Duty281]

I wouldn't celebrate that one, Rabada!

16 off 35, SR of 46. - good contender for worst innings of the tournament.

[Pal Joey]

Gayle's dismissal was like money for old rope.


Gone!

[Duty281]

Hetmyer in at 7. This whole innings has been a mess from the West Indies.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Love the field placement from SA! Looks like Pollard is out here to my eye

[Duty281]

It's certainly an interesting field placement, wonder if it'll become more common.

143, I think that's a decent score on a slow pitch. Don't rate South Africa's batting or the West Indies bowling highly, so I believe it's in the balance.

[AlciG]

Good job by the keeper to drop Simmons at the start. WI would probably have a bigger score if he'd gotten out

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Would agree in the balance Duty - that Simmons innings basically cancelled out the superb Lewis innings for West Indies, and also then meant they threw their batting order into the air too. Genuinely can't remember an innings quite that bad...I understand implementing an "anchor" but Simmons wasn't even looking for singles or to accelerate until literally the ball that bowled him!

SA are going to need one of Markram/Van Der Dussen to fire you'd think

[AlciG]

WIs need early wickets or this is going to be an easy chase for SA I feel

[AlciG]

Risky single, brilliant pickup and throw from Russell

[AlciG]

Risky time for WI's. Need to bowl better

[AlciG]

Just 1 wicket in the Powerplay, not enough for WIs. SA favorites from here

[Duty281]

Well done to the third umpire for overruling the soft signal.

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