The Twenty20 World Cup has begun in the West Indies with early victories to New Zealand (over Sri Lanka), the West Indies (over Ireland), Pakistan (over Bangladesh) and India (over Afghanistan).
Highlights can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CricketLinks
The Twenty20 Website:
I have to confess firstly to being an avid West Indian cricket supporter. It was a lot easier being one when the Windies were the top team for so many years. Now that they are a mere shadow (if that) of their former greatness, it is more difficult, but the recent series showed the West Indian team to once again have many fine qualities – including a fighting spirit. Though the Windies lost the series 2 – 0, it could easily have been 2 – 1 or even 1 – 2 to the Windies.
However, I believe there is a need for more respect in cricket these days and being an Australian, I believe it is the Australian team that needs to show this far more than any other country. Australia is a team full of sledgers and they are probably the best at it in world cricket. I don’t think it is necessary at all, though I wouldn’t be against the odd funny comment being made when the situation presents itself.
Sadly, the recent brilliant series between the West Indies and Australia was marred in my opinion by poor sportsmanship, such as in the very disappointing scenes shown below. The last test in particular featured several disappointing displays, not just by Australia (though they certainly led the way), but by the West Indies also – especially Sulieman Benn. I don’t think we need any of this in cricket.
I do recall the very amusing scene of Benn coming in to bowl without the ball, when it was just assumed he had it. He didn’t and had no idea where it was. It was quite comical and this sort of thing is what will draw people back to the game – apart from the action itself.
Congratulations are in order for the Netherlands Twenty20 cricket team at the Twenty20 World Cup in England. The Netherlands have defeated hosts England in a boilover. The World Cup of Twenty20 cricket kicked off at Lords between the lowly regarded Netherlands and hosts of the World Cup, England.
The English side batted first, scoring 5/162. After a 102 run opening partnership between Ravi Bopara (46 from 34 balls) and Luke Wright (71 from 49 balls), England slumped to 5/162 from their allotted 20 overs.
The Netherlands reached the required total of 163 for a win on the final ball of the match, with four wickets in hand. Top scorer for the Netherlands was Tom de Grooth with 49 from 30 balls faced.
In the match between Australia and the West Indies, Australia managed 7/169, with David Warner top scoring with 63 from 53 balls faced. The West Indies easily chased this total down, scoring 3/172, with Chris Gayle (88 from 50 balls) and Andre Fletcher (53 from 32 balls faced) setting up the win in the 16th of their 20 allotted overs.
In other matches, New Zealand defeated Scotland and India defeated Bangladesh.
See also:
http://cricket.yahoo.com/
http://www.cricket20.com/
The West Indies have humiliated England in the test match at Sabina Park by an innings and 23 runs. England was all out for 51 in their second innings. Jerome Taylor took 5 for 11, as he destroyed the English batting line up. West Indian skipper Chris Gayle scored 104 in the West Indian innings.
The West Indies have a 1 – 0 lead in the test series with 3 matches still to play.
ABOVE: A report on the match
The latest International Cricket Council World Bowling Ratings list has Muttiah Muralitharan at number one and Dale Steyn moving closer to the number one spot after a very good 2008 for the South African quick.
Being out with injury you would expect both Stuart Clark and Brett Lee to drop out of the top ten in the coming months, as Mitchell Johnson continues his climb up the rankings.
Sadly, there are no West Indian quicks in the top ten.
The top 10 are:
1. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) 897
2. Dale Steyn (South Africa) 858
3. Makhaya Ntini (South Africa) 796
4. Stuart Clark (Australia) 790
5. Mitchell Johnson (Australia) 741
6. Ryan Sidebottom (England) 723
7. Harbhajan Singh (India) 686
8. Shoaib Akhtar (Pakistan) 684
10. Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka) 676
BELOW: Footage of Muttiah Muralitharan taking 9 for 65 against England at The Oval in 1998.
BELOW: Footage of Muttiah Muralitharan getting his 65th (6 for 26) 5 wickets in an innings against India in 2008.
The latest International Cricket Council World Batting Ratings list has West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul at the top, which quite ironic given the current status (7th out of 9 test playing teams) of the once great West Indian cricket team. However, Chanderpaul has been a standout batsman for the Windies for quite some time and is most certainly one of cricket’s most reliable batsmen.
Sliding just out of the top ten at 11 is ‘Mr Cricket’ or Michael Hussey (753). The once reliable Hussey has been in something of a form slump just lately and this has also seen his batting average (61.56) come down to earth and be more representative of Hussey’s true batting potential. Matthew Hayden’s (678) fall has continued and he now rests at number 18 in the ratings. Sachin Tendulkar (683) is at 16 with V. V. S. Laxman.
The top 10 are:
1. Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies) 900
2. Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan) 880
2. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) 880
4. Mahela Jayawardena (Sri Lanka) 854
5. Kevin Pietersen (England) 832
6. Ricky Ponting (Australia) 827
7. Graeme Smith (South Africa) 810
8. Younus Khan (Pakistan) 799
9. Michael Clarke (Australia) 772
10. Gautum Gambhir (India) 771
BELOW: Footage of Shivnarine Chanderpaul reaching 100 in the 3rd test against England at Old Trafford on the 11th June 2007.
I have been saying it for some time now – both on and off this Blog – the Australian test cricket team is in decline and coming back to the field. The recent test series results against India, New Zealand and now South Africa seem to show that it is indeed so. It had to happen – just as it happened to the world dominating West Indian team of yesteryear. Teams rise to the top and come back to the mix as another rises to the top.
Which is the top team now? Is it South Africa or is it India? England pretended to make a claim for the top ranking a little while back, but these two teams seem far more serious in their respective attempts. A test series between these two teams will perhaps show us the answer.
In the mean time it is likely that South Africa will defeat Australia in the current test series in Australia to the tune of 3 – 0. That is my prediction.
The ridiculous inclusion of Andrew Symonds while injured in the last test match came home to bite Australia when Brett Lee went down injured. Lee now appears to be out injured for some time and will join Stuart Clark on the sidelines – as will Andrew Symonds belatedly. Shane Watson will also be on the sidelines and his inclusion in the last team is as bewildering as that of Symonds, given that Watson was also injured and requires surgery.
It seems incredible to me that the replacements coming into the Australian team are simply those replacing injured players. The inclusion of Doug Bollinger is one that I have thought logical for some time, while Ben Hilfenhaus and Andrew McDonald are unexpected in my view.
If the selectors are going to keep Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle (which I suspect is a given), then I would also include Bollinger and Hilfenhaus, as well as McDonald. Who would go to make room for these three? Lee and Symonds (as well as Watson) have already been forced out due to injury. I would put Hilfenhaus in ahead of Nathan Hauritz. We just don’t have a spinner that currently cuts it at international level.
The selection that really bothers me is that of keeping Matthew Hayden in the side – if the selectors don’t know that it is time for him to go then surely Matthew Hayden must know! Even if he scores a reasonable or big score in the final test it is time for Hayden to make way for Phillip Hughes. Hayden has done little to justify his continual selection in the test team for some time and it is now becoming a sad tragedy to see this former great test opener heap embarrassment upon himself and the national team with each failure. It seems any big scores are now punctuated by a plethora of insignificant contributions with the bat from Hayden.
And one other thing – the attempt by Mike Hussey to take that skier in the last test – if you can’t see it in the sun there is little he can do about it. It looked embarrassing but there was little Hussey could do to change what was. The bigger concern for Hussey is his own poor form in the batting department. He must begin to contribute more soon too or he also could face the chop.
BELOW: The Michael Hussey attempted catch
BELOW: Graeme Smith speaks to Mark Taylor after South Africa won the second test and the series
Random Thoughts 