Rest of the World

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Big partnership in the context of the game. If they can add another 20-odd, the lead becomes noteworthy in a low scoring slug fest. As is Jansen showing he may well become a #7, while Keshav is playing with the poise of a man who has 3 Test 50s. Very organised. He probably has done himself a disservice, especially in a South African side both devoid of batsmen and obsessed with pace, in not working a little harder on his batting to be a #7.

Ind's mauling of WI in T20 was comprehensive......they had 3 world class spinners on a pitch offering assistance and leaving no chance for WI

Ind's conveyor belt keeps moving and they play 3 ODIs in Zim
and few more Reserves come in to replace reserves
Dhawan is being groomed as a back up captain for ODIs to Rohit

India squad, ins and outs
IN: Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav
OUT: Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

The pitch has bounce But the Indians kept going......and this keep going from ball-1 regardless of fall of wickets is a hit or miss and did not work today
WI has good raw pacers and batting most suited to this format

But you never know Ind might still fend off 7RPO
Obed McCoy is good, lifts off a length, good pace and left arm angle makes it very hard to connect

10 needed off the final over, then the bowler oversteps on the first delivery. Unforgivable and cost India whatever chance they had.

Duty281 wrote:10 needed off the final over, then the bowler oversteps on the first delivery. Unforgivable and cost India whatever chance they had.

W.t.eff did Rohit not bowl Bhuvi at the end
A niggle could be the only excusable reason

Ind did well to bring the smallish totals within the realms of successful defense, only for Avesh to blow it up the first delivery

A walk in the park for India, inspite of giving 10 runs too many and inspite of Rohit retiring seemingly holding his back in 2nd over.
The more they play Avesh Khan, the kore he is playing himself out......he is no Siraj_v2
Arshdeep is a cool kid......a left handed all format Bumrah in the making in coming 2 to 3 years

Duty281 wrote:Women's T20 cricket is in the Commonwealth games this year. Looks like India are going to give Australia a shock in the first game.

Actually Australia came back to win. Brilliant comeback from 49/5 to chase 155 and a good game to kick off the competition.

Rematch of this for the final today.

Extremely disappointing tournament for England. Upset by India yesterday, now humbled by NZ in the third-place game, so not even a medal.

Indians spinner wreak havoc again against WI
they have Jadeja, Ashwin, Axar and Washington as spin bowling all rounders all finger spinners
And Bishnoi, Kuldeep, Chahal and Rahul Chahar as wrist spinners

I am particular excited about Bishnoi.....he has the makings of Rashid Khan.


In CWG finals, Indian women choke again...like the world cup final 4 years or so back.
They freeze like rabbits in headlight...when in sight of victory...and start holding out, running themselves out and failing to slogs falling plumb.

The CWG cricket was a bit underwhelming (not that I watched a great deal of it with other more relevant sports on). Wonder if the players regarded it as a bit less important than World Cups etc , whatever they said in public ?)

England totally messed up their semi final with some very poor batting tactics in the last few overs and a couple of daft run outs. But India topped that with their melt down in the final : though you have to give credit to the Aussies for not losing their heads - and getting their throws from the outfield spot on at the death

alfie wrote:The CWG cricket was a bit underwhelming (not that I watched a great deal of it with other more relevant sports on). Wonder if the players regarded it as a bit less important than World Cups etc , whatever they said in public ?)

England totally messed up their semi final with some very poor batting tactics in the last few overs and a couple of daft run outs. But India topped that with their melt down in the final : though you have to give credit to the Aussies for not losing their heads - and getting their throws from the outfield spot on at the death

Thought that was strange letting Tahlia MCcGrath play when she had tested covid positive. After all the isolation and quarantining over the last few years and then all of sudden she gets an exemption for the CWG final. Glad the Aussies won of course but I thought it was all rather a bit odd... the social distancing celebrations on the field.

Sad news that former umpire Rudi Koertzen has died in a car crash. He umpired just over 200 ODIs and 108 tests, most famously perhaps the 2001 Chennai game and the 2005 Edgbaston test.

How we all feeling about these T20 leagues then? The cricket calendar is more congested than a London rush hour, and international cricket may be forced to the periphery due to the money on offer by these soulless T20 leagues.

The latest T20 league is the International League T20, based in the UAE, which will begin in January. It has serious financial weight to it and is second only to the IPL in terms of money offered. Whilst there are only six teams, the league is a game-changer in that nine overseas players are allowed on each team in a starting XI, a sharp increase from other T20 leagues which generally have a maximum of four/five overseas players (the IPL limit is four overseas players in a starting XI). This essentially means the ILT20 is no holds barred and everything and anyone is up for grabs.

There is a clash between the ILT20 and Australia's Big Bash, which means the Aussie cricketing authorities are worried about their own league going down the swanee. A similar clash also exists between the ILT20 and Bangladesh's own slogathon league, which has picked up momentum in recent years.

Not to be outdone by the Arabs, the South Africans are also launching (*sigh*) a new six-team franchise T20 league to replace their old domestic competition. This league will also run between January and February, bringing it into direct competition with the ILT20. There appears to be serious financial weight behind the South African competition as Buttler, Moeen, Holder, Topley, Rashid Khan, Livingstone are some of the headline overseas players signed up for it.

The Americans are also trying to muscle in with 'Major League Cricket' scheduled for next year. The T20 calendar looks like this at the moment:

31st August-30th September 2022 - Caribbean Premier League
Nov 2022-late January 2023 - NZ Super Smash
Early Dec. 2022-late January 2023 - Aussie Big Bash
December 2022 - Sri Lanka Premier League
5 Jan-16th February 2023 - Bangladesh Premier League
6 Jan-12th February 2023 - UAE's ILT20
Jan-March 2023 - SA's new T20 league (somewhere around this time frame)
15 Feb-31st March 2023 - Pakistan Super League
March-May 2023 - IPL
May-July 2023 - English T20 Blast
August 2023 - The Hundred.
Sometime in 2023 - USA's Major League Cricket, supposed to be serious money behind it.

With all these leagues, all these soulless franchises, and all this money, does pure international cricket stand a chance?

I think we have to accept its the way its going, reason being international cricket is not a big earner for players of most countries.

Sporting careers are short, and can be unexpectedly very short, so who can blame the players. We can bemoan the death of Test cricket etc, but if there's not really an appetite for say a New Zealand vs Sri Lanka Test series I don't see what the solution is. I will certainly be less of a follower of the game than I have been, but it's change and I don't see it being reversed

VTR wrote:I think we have to accept its the way its going, reason being international cricket is not a big earner for players of most countries.

Sporting careers are short, and can be unexpectedly very short, so who can blame the players. We can bemoan the death of Test cricket etc, but if there's not really an appetite for say a New Zealand vs Sri Lanka Test series I don't see what the solution is. I will certainly be less of a follower of the game than I have been, but it's change and I don't see it being reversed

Unfortunately since the ECB/BCCI/ACB basically became "the big three" in circa 2014, this was the path international cricket was heading down (despite some window dressing by the ICC in 2017) - as we've noted on this board many times, it costs these countries huge amounts of money to put on a test match/series, and they make huge huge losses by hosting them! The only ones which may make some money are against the so called "big three", but they only want to play against each other more and more...because they then take home more revenue, and the cycle continues. Unfortunately the ICC seems set on doing sweet bugger all bar trying to cram as many of their events in as possible to fill their own coffers enough - and this is why a lot of these T20 leagues are popping up across the world - these boards need them to make some money, to try and keep the international sides going!

And you are right - as a player it's becoming more of a simple decision if you can get big money in T20 leagues, and you play for a NZ/SA/SL/WI etc. Be centrally contracted to the cricket board for not very much money, not be in control of much of your schedule, play endless pointless bilateral series....or go and make a load of cash in some T20 leagues, be in control of your own schedule, and still be able to play some international cricket as an when it is a proper tournament or big series? It won't be long before some players from the ECB/ACB do similar I am sure...

The only real solution I can see would be the ICC and all the countries boards coming together to agree some sort of fair shared revenue model that ensures the future of these so called "lesser nations", but there's far too many greedy players at play for that to happen anytime soon.

And to backup the above - 20 of Englands 43 tests in the next set of future tour programme will be against India and Australia.

Won’t play Zimbabwe or Afghanistan, play Bangladesh and Sri Lanka only twice and South Africa/West Indies only three times

And we wonder why test cricket is on its deathbed…

Yeah, just seen the FTP for 2023-2027. My main concern is there's simply too much cricket. 777 international matches in this cycle compared to the 694 games in the present cycle, allied with a global ICC event every year - 2022 T20 World Cup, 2023 ODI World Cup, 2024 T20 World Cup, 2025 Champions Trophy, 2026 T20 World Cup, 2027 ODI World Cup - and then there's all the T20 leagues and regular domestic stuff. It's simply too much.

I do like, however, that smaller nations are getting more tests. Zimbabwe getting 20 tests, Ireland 12, Afghanistan 21 over a four year period. That's good. Bangladesh are playing the most international games of anyone, with a high number of 34 tests included, which is only behind the big three. But most of the financially middle nations - Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies - have a disappointing number of tests.

I think the huge amount of ODIs and T20s needs to be cut back on. T20 at international level should be abolished and left for the franchises. ODIs should be slimmed down. At least the re-introduction of tri-series in ODIs will mean more variety than the current constant bilaterals.

And I do agree that England should be playing Australia, India and New Zealand less.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:And to backup the above - 20 of Englands 43 tests in the next set of future tour programme will be against India and Australia.

Won’t play Zimbabwe or Afghanistan, play Bangladesh and Sri Lanka only twice and South Africa/West Indies only three times

And we wonder why test cricket is on its deathbed…

Can't wait for us to get pummeled 5-0 in 2 or 3 day Tests on rank turners in India. If anyone is actually entertained by that, then good luck to them

I've said a few times but Test cricket wont die or thrive for the same reason. As it currently operates Tests are too important to the financial models of the big three to let them die, hence they will keep going. The big three are predominantly interested in endless series against one another though so this will be the norm.

Bilateral series as a whole are absolute rubbish yet it is the structure cricket clings too.

In a way this is all a return to the "old days". Even in my lifetime , I can look back to a time when "Tests" were mainly between the "big" countries (and even India wasn't so "big" then ; England went seven years between meetings in the fifties). Visits to the newly created Pakistan or NZ tended to be tacked on to tours of India or Australia . Pakistan never even visited Australia until 1964. And Australia only ever played one Test against NZ before 1973 !

The whole Test business expanded with the general tide of globalisation through the latter part of the last century...and arguably over reached itself with the addition of the likes of Zimbabwe , Bangladesh : economic forces were always likely to be a bit of a ticking time bomb ; and the proliferation of franchise leagues along with TV companies' preference for short limited over contests has just hastened things along. I don't welcome it ; but I can see this trend continuing - though hopefully it won't get like the women's game in which the rare Tests are exclusively Anglo-Australian with the odd India game thrown in (ironically the women are trying to expand their Test schedule even as the men's game totters...

WTC was I suppose intended to redress the problem but arguably is making things worse. Might actually be better to let the big money contests dominate ; but with some kind of revenue sharing deal that subsidises other tours and enables less wealthy boards to continue hosting each other while settling for a few less games against the heavyweights ? Not saying this is ideal , mind (or even possible !) but would be better than having the five day game basically die out in all but three countries and leave everyone else just playing white ball stuff - when their players can get a release from their private league owners

In an ODI between West Indies and NZ, where 22 sixes were hit in the game, Shai Hope took his anchoring role rather seriously with a 90s style 51 off 100 balls. West Indies still made 301, but NZ chased it down pretty easily to win the series 2-1.

It also means the WI are first to conclude their 24 games in the one and only ODI Super League, and they almost certainly don't have enough points to finish in the top eight qualification places, meaning they'll have to go through the Cricket World Cup qualifier, held next summer in Zimbabwe, to reach the actual World Cup.

They barely qualified for 2019, so the pressure will be on.

Seems SA and SL will also be in a desperate scramble to reach the top eight, with one spot remaining. England/Bangladesh/Pakistan/NZ/Afghanistan/India/Australia all look secure. SA probably the most likely to complete the top eight, but they haven't helped themselves by forfeiting the Australian series 3-0.

It was the day of the greatest sporting spectacles on the planet
Had to rub my eyes to see India not include a fully fit Pant in the 11.....that aught to be the first name even if he does not take on gloves.

Folly of over analysis and too much stargazing

And Horrified to see Ind carrying Rohit, Rahul & Kohli 3 out of form guys as their top-3......of which Kohli is done ....was just too slow reacting for most of his 35 ball inning to express pacers

Criminal to keep Pant, Kishan, Iyer,Gill, Samson and Hooda out

Pandya's brilliance saw us scamper thru.....but your don't win a T20 tournament with 3 lame ducks

and btw Bishnoi is far better a wrist spinner than Chahl
That said the seamers bowled well for India...even in the absence of Bumrah and Siraj who I belie are our top-3 along with Bhuvi
Except in last 2 overs where India ended up giving 15 runs too man to Pak's no. 11

Duty281 wrote:In an ODI between West Indies and NZ, where 22 sixes were hit in the game, Shai Hope took his anchoring role rather seriously with a 90s style 51 off 100 balls. West Indies still made 301, but NZ chased it down pretty easily to win the series 2-1.

It also means the WI are first to conclude their 24 games in the one and only ODI Super League, and they almost certainly don't have enough points to finish in the top eight qualification places, meaning they'll have to go through the Cricket World Cup qualifier, held next summer in Zimbabwe, to reach the actual World Cup.

They barely qualified for 2019, so the pressure will be on.

Seems SA and SL will also be in a desperate scramble to reach the top eight, with one spot remaining. England/Bangladesh/Pakistan/NZ/Afghanistan/India/Australia all look secure. SA probably the most likely to complete the top eight, but they haven't helped themselves by forfeiting the Australian series 3-0.

Afghanistan have had a pretty soft touch, but they've got series left against Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and India so it's probably more likely than not that they go winless from here. The bonus for them, of course is that even if they go 0/12, South Africa would need to win six of their remaining eight matches overake them. SL meanwhile have NZ and Afghanistan left. Assuming a winless Afghanistan, SL need one win against NZ to eclipse Afghanistan (a winless Afghanistan = SL beating them 3-0). If Afghanistan can avoid defeat just once in their next 12 games, even just a point split no result (especially if they got it vs SL) , they almost certainly qualify for the World Cup outright.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/62735289

The demise of NZ part...whatever we're on now. Colin De Grandhomme has retired from internationals. He added crucial balance to their side and I always felt he was a very underrated part of their machine. He bowled an excellent spell of 1/25 from 10 overs in the World Cup Final, removing Root and choking England's scoring.

Boult was recently released from his central contract as he's winding down his international career.

Latham's 30, Williamson's 32, Southee's 33, Wagner's 36...it's all coming to a conclusion for NZ's greatest ever side.

It's such a shame how Williamson's elbow is hampering him as well. One of my favourite batters to watch when at his best.

It's a sneakily old side now the NZ one. CdG and Wagner both being 36 took me by suprise for instance. I wouldn't have guessed Boult was 33 either.

Zimbabwe with a historic win over Australia in the final ODI of their three match series - bowled the Aussies out for 141 (Warner made 94 of them!) and chased it 7 down in the end.

A rare great day in their recent cricketing history

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Zimbabwe with a historic win over Australia in the final ODI of their three match series - bowled the Aussies out for 141 (Warner made 94 of them!) and chased it 7 down in the end.

A rare great day in their recent cricketing history

Have to admit this one shocked me. Tuned in to see them chasing a very modest target - but once a few wickets fell I rather assumed they would collapse. But no ; fast start and so they were always ahead of the -pretty easy - RRR ... and ended up collecting the win without much drama.  Big day for Zimbabwe and a bit of a wake up call for the home team. Did Australia get a bit overconfident ?

A truly astonishing result. Zimbabwe were about 25/1 pre-match. Zimbabwe aren't going to be in the top eight of the Super League, but this should give them confidence for the next stage and the upcoming T20 World Cup.

It's a shame there will be no Super League after 2023, meaning that teams such as Zimbabwe will find their chances to play against the likes of Australia to be very limited.

Duty281 wrote:A truly astonishing result. Zimbabwe were about 25/1 pre-match. Zimbabwe aren't going to be in the top eight of the Super League, but this should give them confidence for the next stage and the upcoming T20 World Cup.

It's a shame there will be no Super League after 2023, meaning that teams such as Zimbabwe will find their chances to play against the likes of Australia to be very limited.

Yep no games for Zimbabwe against England/India/Australia currently scheduled in any format for the next round of future tours programme. That'll take England well beyond 20 years since they last played them (unless we're drawn against them in an ICC comp)

Haven't been able to watch any of this Australia/NZ ODI in Cairns...but am wondering what has got into the pitch...

NZ collapsed from 180/4 to end up 232/9 - and now the Aussies are 29/4 after eight overs. Finch continues his awful form , out for 5 - and apparently wasted a review too on a pointless attempt to overturn a plumb lbw.

Now 44/5. Saw that one...Henry straight through a Stoinis not-very-effective static defence...

Have seen the Australian innings expecting it to be a stroll for them, but Boult and Henry have bowled superbly. Wouldn't say the pitch is a minefield, either.

Yes, superb bowling from Boult and Henry. Right on the mark with deadly late in-swing.

The pitch itself looks quite good (at least it did during the day) but perhaps the Australians underestimated how the ball would behave in the hands of Boult and Henry as evening fell after a warm day with high humidity. It's more like Indian than Australian conditions out there.

The pitch is slightly slower than the one in Townsville... awkward boundary dimensions in Cairns too (82m one side; 62m the other) but the Zimbabwe series was played during the day. It seems to be a little more tricky for batting in Cairns at night (another thing for Finch to consider) and earlier talk of a 240-250 run total was constantly being revised down as the NZ innings came to an end.

In retrospect; 230 odd runs was a decent score. The slower bowlers made the breakthroughs for Australia during the day, whilst at night the ground and pitch conditions seem to be helping the NZ quicks with their line and length, swing and skid through.

Batting deep helps though...Green and Carey have turned this around nicely , as NZ seem to have been almost "waiting" for wickets. Not the same threat without Boult and the new ball.

128/5 in the 28th ; and with Maxwell still to come Australia appear to have this back under control.

Only takes a couple of balls though so we will have to wait and see...

Come down to quite a tight finish after that clatter of late wickets...223/8

Ferguson has given away too many runs but I guess the two wickets were vital. Australia should make 10 more now - but a wicket would make it a bit hairy.

Rain stops play ? Really ?

They need four to win for heaven's sake...

Australia will win on D/L ; but still. Silly way to end it , if they don't get back on. But even if they do , it seems an unnecessary way to mess around.

Fun game to watch. Carey and Green's efforts were superb, but I feel NZ lost it after they got Aus 44/5 - Williamson took his main strike bowlers off and we didn't see Boult or Henry for about 14 overs, allowing the Aussies to settle against the gentle stuff of Santner and Bracewell.

Not sure the umpires got it right on the rain or the Green injury. I thought Green should have been retired hurt as he took around ten minutes for medical treatment. Not a luxury the bowling side would ever get!

Bit of a tame finish as NZ seemed to almost give up at the end. But a great performance from Cam Green to steer the home side to the win

Unbelievably painful to watch in more ways than one. Cameron Green is obviously struggling but he's taken longer time outs than Rafael Nadal.
Then a tropical shower with only 4 runs needed... surely just get it over with.

A very strange match. At 44/5 I thought it was all done and dusted. Then a 6th wicket record partnership between Carey and Green. Then the wheels started falling off again and the Kiwis seemed to have the ascendancy before Australia eventually managed to limp across the line.

And more cruelty for poor Ian Smith. First the guy right in front of the commentary box wearing a "Trevor Chappell" shirt this morning "Of all the shirts to wear!!!"  (he said) and then this agonising finish. Australia were very lucky to win this one. Finch is in terrible form but the top order also looked pretty ordinary against some great bowling early on.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Zimbabwe with a historic win over Australia in the final ODI of their three match series - bowled the Aussies out for 141 (Warner made 94 of them!) and chased it 7 down in the end.

A rare great day in their recent cricketing history

Just got round to watching the highlights of this, Ryan Burl’s 5-10 off 3 overs is incredible. Two slogged straight up in the air, a full toss chipped to mid wicket and Starc playing over a straight one. A truly special batting collapse that a village side would be proud of to loopy leg spin.

JDizzle wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Zimbabwe with a historic win over Australia in the final ODI of their three match series - bowled the Aussies out for 141 (Warner made 94 of them!) and chased it 7 down in the end.

A rare great day in their recent cricketing history

Just got round to watching the highlights of this, Ryan Burl’s 5-10 off 3 overs is incredible. Two slogged straight up in the air, a full toss chipped to mid wicket and Starc playing over a straight one. A truly special batting collapse that a village side would be proud of to loopy leg spin.

You should have seen his post match interview, JD. He's a very humble guy.

Given the praises heaped upon him by Megan Barnard (wearing a tight-fitting top and carrying an oversized microphone) "Burlo" was looking equally bewildered. He said something about it being a little unexpected and that there was no "real plan" when he was brought on to bowl and just tossed a few up there to see what might happen. It turned out very well for him. Luckily the series was already done and dusted but Australia really threw that match away.

Match two of Aus/NZ sees similar woes for the Australian top order...

Finch running out of time ? Second ball duck - and not a smart stroke to play either. No runs to speak of for Warner , Marnus , or Marcus...and with Carey coming out too and no Green today , a lot left now for Smith and Maxwell to achieve a rescue : 62/5 after 21 overs.

Bit of a recovery ; but it seems NZ have learned from game one and this time Boult came back earlier and did for Maxwell...and with Abbott not staying long and Smith getting himself out with a wild shot they are deep in trouble at 120/8.

Still twelve overs left but can Zampa and Starc survive to bat them ? Aussies have a good record of getting out of trouble in ODIs but this is looking difficult...

It is certainly interesting re: Finch - he's had a Jason Roy-esque run of form recently, but Aus have stuck by him whereas England went away from Roy.

195/9 was a handy bit of tail wagging...and now NZ are in disarray at 19/3 off 13 overs !

Are they playing this series in the 1980s? 21/3 from 15 overs!

Abbott's bowling is as tight as a shrew's ringhole... maybe even tighter. Only 1 run off him in 30 balls plus 2 wickets.

Stoinis on now. Surely he'll undo all the good work!

A freak dismissal for Kane courtesy of Zampa.
He clean misses a dipping full toss and gets hit on the thigh. Just hitting the base of the stumps according to DRS.

Now 45/6 at a run rate of 2 per over. The pitch is clearly unsuitable for a modern day ODI

VTR wrote:Now 45/6 at a run rate of 2 per over. The pitch is clearly unsuitable for a modern day ODI

It looks so benign and inviting but the batters are obviously struggling today. Except for Carey and Green yesterday... and Smith today. Also Conway, Williamson and Latham all got off to good starts yesterday and looked comfortable before all falling in the 40s. There's been some very good bowling by both sides too.

It probably is a 250+ run pitch - but for some reason most players are showing perhaps too much respect... maybe thinking runs will come easier later on when the pitch wears on a bit more and some dew settles on the outfield. I think runs can be made (as shown) but you need to be sensible, watch the ball (of course) and pick your shots. But not too watchful (or tentative) to the point you stop scoring or forget to keep the scoreboard ticking over with ones and twos. There's plenty of room out there to score runs.

Easy for Australia then...didn't look like it when they were batting but once NZ came in it all went one way...slowly ! Throwback to the Old Days of ODI ?

Didn't look like a minefield but obviously wasn't the best for strokeplay so kind of glad they don't play Test Matches in Cairns

Kohli's hit his first international century in an age, against Afghanistan in a T20.

The King lives...