T20 World Cup: Australia Edge Out South Africa On Better Net Run-Rate To Enter Semi Final In Group-1, India Await The Afghani Verdict!

Australia beat the West Indies by 8 wickets and ensuring a better net run-rate ousted South Africa even as the latter beat England, ending their unbeaten streak. In the crucial last match in Group-1 for Australia in Abu Dhabi today, the defending Champions West Indies, for whom the match was of no consequence after being eliminated owing to their loss against the already-ousted Sri Lanka, came out with the right intentions of playing for respect put into bat; but after a few lusty shots by Gayle the same old story unfolded as three wickets fell in quick succession. Chris Gayle, the oldest playing international cricketer at 42 years of age, made only 15 in probably his last appearance in international cricket. A partnership promised to grow between Evin Lewis and Hetmyer, but Lewis getting out for 29 at the team score of 70 ended that. A partnership again seemed to bloom between Pollard and Bravo, but it happened to be only a brief one. Captain Pollard (44), this time, stuck on and helping his team post a respectable total, and Andre Russell remaining not out at 18 off 7 balls hit two lusty sixes in the last two balls as his team crossed the 150-run mark and posted a target of 158 runs for Australia which is a fighting one, but fell short of perhaps by at least 20 more runs. Russell finally seemed to find his touch, but unfortunately he was sent in this time a tad too late. For Australia, fast bowler Josh Hazelwood captured 4 wickets for 39 runs with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa taking one each.

 

The key to the disastrous performance of the West Indies in this ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 is the consistent failures with the bat of their all-time greats like Gayle, Pollard, Russell and Bravo, the latter coming out of his announced retirement to play for repeating national glory. Almost in every innings, it fell on the shoulders of Hetmyer to do some repairs to the nearly irreparable damage done by the top order. Their bowlers too did nothing in particular to put the oppositions under pressure and were freely hit around most of the time. The once-mighty West Indies, known for their fiery fast bowlers in particular, managed to beat only the down-and-out Bangladesh who lost all their matches.

 

Dwayne John Bravo got out after making only 10 runs and perhaps we had seen the last time he came in to bat; he also made emphatic goodbye signs as Christopher Henry Gayle did earlier to the viewers. Bravo remains as the highest wicket taker in T20 internationals at 553 wickets. For a rather ironical goodbye Gayle took the wicket of Marsh when Australia were just one run away from victory. At the end of the match every player on the field embraced Gayle and Bravo warmly. Sad moments indeed! Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi recorded these moments forever as a live witness.

 

Australia with 6 points, after a deadly blow from England, bounced back strongly routing Bangladesh completely and knew their job well against the West Indies: to win the match with a good margin of victory so that it becomes impossible for South Africa, also with 6 points, to overcome the former’s net run-rate even if even they win against England in their last encounter later today. With today’s win Australia made it sure that they occupy the second spot indeed. The total of 157/7 finally offered by the West Indies was not intimidating enough for the professional Aussies. David Warner (89 not out off 56 balls) clicked for the second time in the tournament, and he along with Mitchell Marsh (53 off 32 balls) put up a 124-run partnership taking the match away from the West Indies, and more importantly kept up the run-rate momentum despite the relatively early loss of Captain Finch at the team score of 33 runs. And Australia won by 8 wickets at 161/2 with 20 balls to spare, further improving their net run-rate.

 

Now, over to Sharjah for the second crucial match. South Africa was desperate for a semi-final berth facing perhaps the impossible task having not only to win against England but win by a significant margin to overcome Australia’s net run-rate (for example, if SA score 200 runs, they’ll have to win by a margin of 67 runs), and as a dampener their captain Temba Bavuma lost the toss to Eoin Morgan and was, expectedly put into bat. South Africa fielded an unchanged team while England replaced an injured left-arm fast bowler Tymal Mills with right-arm fast bowler Mark Wood. South Arica needed to post a huge total on board and indeed had a splendid start despite the early loss of Hendricks thanks to a blooming partnership between the now-knee-taking de Kock and Van Der Dussen. But it was cut short when de Kock fell to Adil Rashid at the team score of 86/2 in the 12th over. Moeen Ali consumed the first wicket. A definitive  rollicking partnership between a brilliant Dussen (94 not out off 60 balls) and Aiden Markram (52 not out in 25 balls) helped South Africa post a challenging total of 189/2, their highest of the tournament and the highest by any team against England in the round-robin stage. However, the margin of victory that has to be at least 60 runs if they win was the point of concern. For the first time England showed chinks in their armor through too many loose deliveries and rare misfields.  

Chasing the highest target of 190 runs so far in the tournament England got off to a solid start putting up 50 in 5 overs with Jason Roy retiring hurt after scoring 20 quick runs even as South Africa started the attack with Spinner Maharaj straightaway. South Africa tasted the first blood as Buttler, fresh from his century in the previous match against Sri Lanka, fell to Nortje for 26 in 15 balls. Shortly after South Africa got a huge wicket as Bairstow was out LBW to spinner Shamsi, England reduced to 59/2 in the 7th over. With good contributions by Moeen Ali (37), Dawid Malan (33)  and Livingstone (28) England crossed the magic figure of 131 runs thus ousting South Africa from the World Cup, and the latter's frustration could be felt in their body language as Rabada who, unfortunately, could not pose any threat to England batsmen was hit for three consecutive sixes by Livingstone in the 16th over. As England wickets fell in quick succession at the death South Africa finally won the match by 10 runs with none other than Rabada achieving a hat-trick. Brave South Africa gave a tremendous fight, but finally lost out on the net run-rate race with all three teams of England, Australia and South Africa ending with 8 points each. 

England have retained their top spot, but this defeat and the probable loss of Jason Roy due to injury may hurt them just before the elimination stage starting 10th of November. Australia is most likely to meet Pakistan in the semi-final unless the latter lose to Scotland tomorrow. Whom England is going to meet in the semi-final will also be decided tomorrow unless New Zealand lose to Afghanistan. 

 

For India in Group-2, everything depends on Afghanistan spinners delivering a death blow to New Zealand in the encounter tomorrow. In the improbable scenario of New Zealand losing, if the little tottering displayed by them against Namibia was any indication, India would exactly know what to do as they’ll be playing the last Gropu-2 match on Monday against Namibia, because in that case they’ll be locked with New Zealand in terms of points and the net run-rate would come into consideration. As per the requirements India have demonstrated glorious cricket in the last two matches against Afghanistan and Scotland, routing them in incredibly one-sided encounters, as if finally abandoning their ‘death wish’ after being struck with the two near-fatal death-blows in their first two matches by Pakistan and New Zealand. At the moment India is the top team in Group-2 in terms of net run-rate. Whatever happens finally, the NZ Vs Afg match is set to generate one of the highest TRPs, perhaps after the India-Pakistan match, tomorrow. Hope the rampant betting, a usual occurrence particularly during the IPL tournaments, does not come out victorious.

T20 World Cup: England and Pakistan Enter Semi Finals!

England and Pakistan, the unbeaten teams so far in Group-1 and Group-2 respectively, have earned 8 points each with one match each remaining and have sealed their places in the semi-finals. England is probably the best team of the tournament defeating all tough rivals easily and busting the myth that teams winning the toss and bowling first go on to win the matches which, in fact, have been a trend in the sluggish pitches and the dew factor later in the night at Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai. However, England in particular and also Pakistan have proved that any good team can always win under any circumstances. It had been really tough for England to bat first against Sri Lanka, particularly handling the Lankan good spinners; but their in-form batsmen took up the   challenge and Buttler went on to hit the first century of the tournament remaining unbeaten thus helping the team to put up a healthy total of 163 runs. And then, their bowlers and fieldsmen delivered as in all previous matches to restrain Sri Lanka to 137 runs. This win took their points to 8 and ensured a semi-final, and in all probability to be the top team of the group, of course subject to their last match result against the tough South Africa.

 

Pakistan has been the unbeaten team in Group-2 so far beating all the tough contenders including India, Afghanistan and New Zealand, and then negating the myth of the toss too by beating Namibia, although a weaker side, when Pakistan lost the toss and were put into bat, and notching up 8 points ensuring a semi-final berth. Pakistan is most likely to be to be the yet-to-be-beaten top side in Group-2 considering the fact they have their last match against a listless Scotland.

 

The picture is still not clear as to which two teams from their respective groups would fill the other two semi-final berths. In Group-1 it is most likely to be either of South Africa with 6 points and one match to go and Australia having 4 points, but with two matches left. In a possible scenario of South Africa winning against England and Australia winning against both Bangladesh and the West Indies there would be a deadlock of three teams with 8 points each; but in that case too England is likely to seal its top position thanks to their almost insurmountable net run-rate. The second team would also be decided then based on their net run-rate with both teams, particularly Australia, needing to improve theirs drastically. While Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are out of contention the West Indies still have a fighting chance with only 2 points, but two matches are left for them, one against Sri Lanka and the second against Australia; if they win both they will have 6 points reducing Australia too to 6 provided they beat Bangladesh and if South Africa lose to England there would be a three-team deadlock of 6 points each.

 

Afghan Captain Nabi

We have already analyzed the situation in Group-2 in an earlier post which needs to be adjusted a little now with New Zealand crushing India and getting their first 2 precious points. New Zealand is likely to move rather easily to 6 points in their matches against Scotland and Namibia. The game-changer match for them, on Sunday, the 7^thof November, would be against Afghanistan who already has 4 points with two matches to go. If New Zealand lose that match Afghanistan will have 6 points and an extremely formidable net run-rate, and in that scenario India too will have a chance technically provided they beat all three including Afghanistan with huge margins. If New Zealand win they will have 8 points and will be through to either top or the second position depending on the result of Pakistan’s last encounter with Scotland and respective net run-rates. Therefore, it is still wide open in Group-2 for the second semi-final berth.

 

In all likelihood, considering all the scenarios, the first semi-final should be between England Vs New Zealand or Afghanistan and the second semi-final should be between Pakistan Vs South Arica or Australia. Negative body language of the Indians complaining all the time about the toss or pitches or dew, poor team selection cum horrible changes in the batting order and the commerce involved in placing them in the second slot all the time and a huge gap between their first and second match so that both matches get played on Sundays while all other teams were playing every alternate days in either of the slots. For the latter factor the BCCI is squarely responsible, because they shouldn’t have treated the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 in the same way as their money-spinning IPL-2021. The cricket board must be ruing the fact that the IPL-2021 could not continue in the huge stadiums of India with raving crowds and the same for the World Cup as it was shifted to India earlier this year.

Cricket New Normal: England Triumph In Closed-Door Tests!

Cricket in COVID-19 times started in England from the 8^th of July 2020 in empty stadiums and with the strictest of norms and measures. The first 3-Test Series since the outbreak of the pandemic was played against the visiting West Indies. The visitors won the first test by 4 wickets on the fifth and last day of the closely fought encounter. However, the hosts came back stronger in the second and the third test matches, winning the second match by 113 runs and then routing the unpredictable, as ever, West Indies by 269 runs in the concluding match, thus winning the Test Series 2-1. In Test cricket, English seamer Stuart Broad became the 2^nd seam bowler from England, the fourth fast bowler of the world and the seventh bowler overall of the world, to capture 500 wickets in the last encounter that concluded on the 28^thof July 2020. Pity, no home supporters or any other supporters were there to cheer him and the team win! The most promising aspect of the New Normal Cricket was that no health-related issues daunted the efforts. And, cricket in empty stadiums continued.

Next came the team of Pakistan for a 3-match Test Series and a 3-match T20I Series against the hosts England. The first test match between England and Pakistan was played from the 5^th of August, and England, keeping up the winning streak, won the match by 3 wickets. The match, played at the Emirates Old Trafford ground in Manchester, was a cliffhanger, and England managed eventually to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat on the final day, the hosts going 1-0 up in the series. Rains and bad light continuously interrupted proceedings of the second test at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, allowing only 150 overs to be bowled overall, and the match ended in a frustrating draw for both teams, particularly for Pakistan smarting under the shock defeat in the first match. The third and the final match of the series, a much-awaited showdown, started from 21^st August 2020 at the same venue. England sealed the deal by putting up a mammoth score of 583 for 8 declared, and then going on to rout Pakistan for 273 in the first innings forcing them to follow on. Thanks to rain interruptions England could not go on to win, and Pakistan saved the match at 187 for 4 wickets. However, history was created in that Test match.

38-year-old English fast bowling stalwart, James Anderson, took his 29^thfive-wicket haul in Pakistan’s first innings and then captured two more scalps in the second innings to complete a record-breaking 600 wickets. The right-arm fast bowler became the first pace-bowler in international Test cricket to achieve the feat of 600 wickets leaving Glen McGrath of Australia in the second place with 563 scalps , and the fourth bowler overall, Sri Lanka’s Muralitharan sitting at the top with incredible 800 wickets, followed by Australia’s SK Warne with 708 in the second position and India’s  Anil Kumble with 619 wickets in the third position. James Anderson made his ODI debut in 2002 and earned a place in the 2003 ICC World Cup squad, and he stamped his mark in international cricket. His Test debut came in 2003, and from then onward he played in 156 test matches for England till history was made on the 25^th of August 2020. The tall pacer has often been criticized as ‘English-conditions-only’ seamer, and his career was interrupted often as he was either ‘rested’ or dropped due to external factors. However, he proved all his critics wrong, finally, and emerged as one of the finest bowlers of world cricket. Pity again, English fans or any other spectators could not be present at the Rose Bowl to cherish the historical moment. Anyway, the hosts won the series 1-0.

Pakistan is also scheduled to figure in a 3-match T20 international series against the hosts England. The first match on 28^th of August, the second on 30^th of August and the final match on 1^stof September 2020.

Now to come in England’s arch-rivals Australia, for a 3-Match T20I Series and a 3-match ODI Series. The T20 matches will be played on the 4^th, 6^th and 8^th of September while the one-day international matches are scheduled on the 11^th, 13^th and 16^thof September 2020.

In a most likely extension of the New Normal Cricket India is set to begin their Tour of Australia 2020-21 from the month of October 2020. Cricket Australia has recently announced the full schedule of the matches between the two teams: the first of the 3-match T20I would take place on the 11^th of October, followed by a 4-match Test Series from 3^rd December and the 3-match ODI Series would begin from the 12^th of January 2021. As per the discussion between the two Boards the second test starting from the 11^thof December at the Adelaide Oval would be a day and night affair with the pink ball. Continue enjoying cricket from home!  

ICC Cricket World Cup-2019: New World Champions to Emerge Tomorrow!

Photo: espncricinfo.com

A new World Champions emerges tomorrow at Lord’s in the ICC Cricket World Cup-2019 Final match to be played between England and New Zealand. Neither England nor NZ ever became Champions before, although both coming close several times. England had been playing semi finals in the first five versions of the World Cup since 1975, and they had been runners-ups three times of those five occasions, never able to win the final. They played a semi final last in 1992 and lost it, never able to make to the last four stage since then. 

On the other hand New Zealand played 7 semi finals including the present one and the first two in 1975 and 1979, and had been runners-up only once in the 2015 version when they lost to their big brother Australia. They had been playing good cricket in several world cups, but mostly they had been facing an inconsistent run of wins/losses. In this version they looked the dominant team, but eventually lost badly to Pakistan, Australia and England. Their surprise win over India in the semi final ultimately saw them through. 

Therefore, both the teams would be desperate not to let go of this golden opportunity. More so, England on their home ground and looking to end a bad spell running more than 27 years. On paper, England looks the favorite on the basis of their batting and bowling. However, they also had to account for inconsistencies in terms of losses to Pakistan, Australia and a lowly Sri Lanka. Of course their last three wins over India, New Zealand in the league stage and over Australia in the second semi final were resoundingly convincing. In fact, in the second semi final Australia were so thoroughly outplayed that I cannot recall another occasion when the fighting Aussies gave up so meekly. We expect a cracker of a Final on Sunday, the 14th of July, 2019. 

Meanwhile in India, the pain-induced speculations ruled the roost. Nobody really expected such a poor show by arguably the best team in the tournament, so close to winning it the third time. However, to me the result was not entirely unexpected; in a warm-up match they beat India convincingly; their league match got washed out depriving India of  a real opportunity to assess their seam bowlers and the India batsmen failed to expect and prepare for the ‘three Bumrahs’ in New Zealand. Further for me, the single biggest setback for India was the loss of injured opener Shikhar Dhawan at the very outset thus throwing the gates open for ‘experimentation’ that went on relentlessly for more than two years prior to the tournament. As I feared in another piece of mine here assessment on the basis of IPL records proved to be the only course, and not ODI records of players like Ambati Rayudu who had been India’s no. 4 in the last two years in most of the ODI matches. 

I think the no.4 ‘crisis’ was created artificially; I won’t go into reasons why. The team management could easily have made MS Dhoni as the ideal no.4 batsman, thus avoiding the unnecessary ‘slow batting’ controversy putting the veteran as a misplaced ‘finisher’ instead of the natural pinch hitters like Pant and Pandiya who got, horrifyingly, promoted ahead of Dhoni. Then, they should’ve gone for a sixth bowler option preferring Shami in lieu of Dinesh Karthik who is definitely now at the end of the road, not able to take advantage of the opportunities offered including the biggest one at the semi final. The matches against England and New Zealand we had been watching helplessly as Chahal or Kuldeep had to be bowled their full quota despite the rains of runs yielded by them. One more fact is that the Indian top four invariably failed in knockout matches in recent years; this was more pronounced in the absence of Dhawan at the first semi final against NZ. 

This will never end as far as India is concerned. So, better concentrate on enjoying an engaging final tomorrow. 

Cricket: South Africa No.1, England Busy Fighting KP, India Ready!

South Africa No.1!

If you thought star-ego wars were restricted only to Indian teams—be it in cricket or tennis—you were proved wrong by what happened or rather still happening in England. Interestingly, this gives you another chance to strengthen the synthesis that basically we Indians inherit most of our negative mindsets from our past colonial masters—England! Whatever be the legacy of the once ‘masters’ and once ‘slaves’ both of these countries show the ominous tendency to sacrifice national interests or pride in the rampant inability of their respective sports managers to handle their star players judiciously. 

South Africa had just become the No.1 Test team in International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings by toppling England with a 2-0 win in the recent Test cricket series played between the two countries in England. The winning margin of greater than 1-0 came for South Africa after long sixty years. Gary Kristen shines as maybe the first ever coach to take two different teams to No.1 position—India being the first beneficiary. 

Hashim Amla!

Incidentally, England became the No.1 team by drubbing India 4-0 in the Test series played in England in 2011. South Africa won the first Test played in July, 2012 riding high on an incredible unbeaten triple century by Hashim Amla and thus routing England by an innings and 12 runs. The second Test was drawn due mostly to rains, and therefore the third Test became very crucial for England as they faced losing their No.1 position if they did not manage to win it. But by then, the star-ego war between Kevin Pietersen (KP) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was raging. 

All was not well with Kevin Pietersensince he returned from playing in the Indian Premiere League-5 during April-May, 2012. It was likely that he must have fought with the ECB over adjusting his schedules considering his high stakes in the IPL. To bring matters to a head KP announced his retirement from one day international cricket and expressed his willingness to continue in T20 cricket. The ECB rebutted by saying that he had to retire wholly from limited overs cricket and not just from one-dayers. KP had to retract his announcement later. 

Kevin Pietersen!

After the England rout in the first Test of the South Africa-England Test Series-2012 all hell broke loose on the suspicion that KP had sent some mobile text messages to South African players criticizing his own teammates and the cricket board. Text messages normally imply very private communication between individuals and no third party is supposed to know or debate them. But maybe due to KP’s South Africa-born background and his past temperamental history the woes increased manifold for him and the ego war showed no signs of abating. Either party did not want to yield an inch. 

Eventually KP was dropped from the England team for the all-important third Test and apparently there was no consideration for the possible loss of national pride if England failed to win it. A key player figuring in his team’s many wins was thrown out for petty ego hassles. That England lost the exciting third Test on the last day by 51 runs and got dethroned to No.2 position in ICC Test rankings was history. 

The ego buck refused to stop even then. Kevin Pietersen was dropped too from the T20 World Cup coming up in Sri Lanka from September, 18, 2012. This decision was taken despite knowing the facts that England’s triumph in T20 World Cup-2010 was its first ever in ICC tournaments and KP was instrumental in the team’s wins in the crucial later matches leading up to the final. The Indian Tennis story was a recent similar case when the nation’s prospects in London Olympics-2012 got compromised due to endless ego wars and pathetic mismanagement. 

A nationalist mindset would serve sports better than the master-servant one! 

 Meanwhile, the India-New Zealand Test cricket series starts from tomorrow, August 23, 2012 and Team India is definitely going to exploit home conditions to win the Series in an effort to improve its ICC Test rankings too. For the first time in 16 years India will be playing a Test without the services of both Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. The focus will be ruthlessly on the youngsters for whom skipper Dhoni has been batting so intensely over the recent years. India will also be playing a Test after nearly 8 months with the painful memory of 8 straight away losses. And, this is going to be only the beginning a packed domestic season for months ahead.

The Wonder That Is...England!

They nearly lost to minnows Netherlands. Chased a target of 339 runs against favorites India successfully--resulting in a tie. They set a target of 328 against minnows Ireland...and LOST! They set a pathetic target of 172 against mighty South Africa...and WON!

England is living dangerously and so they could be immensely dangerous to any side--particularly in the knockout stage. If they happen to meet Australia in the quarters I would bet they win! Basically or potentially they are a very strong side and now is fast accumulating the Pakistanish unpredictability! This is a deadly combination. Beware, all team captains! They have nothing to lose, but everything to win the World Cup..once!

Meantime the saga of ineffectual matches continue. Barring a few rather debilitating possible upsets by the minnows everybody knows which four top teams of each group go to the quarters. By the time you have all the top teams together it will be over in a whiff. Then why suffer the ordeal!

For cricket crazy Indians, Team India will play minnows Netherlands on 9th. Then the big one against South Africa on 12th. After an excruciating break of over a week they play the last big match against West Indies on 20th. And then the knockout begins.