Twenty20 WC

They're not going to be able to keep Morgan away from the test side at this rate, he always seems to come up big for England in clutch moments.
 
posted this on the Guardian blogs..

Most open tournament in awhile and this is the first time in a long while I'd count England as one of the favourites. Australia, England, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka. Anyone out of that could win. If it's all flat decks, count Australia out because their pace attack is awesome, but not on flat wickets in T20. Australia have been very silly in leaving Marsh, Hodge and Bollinger at home. Bizarre, really.

South Africa have a great side going into it, but bowling's a minor worry because of the absence of Parnell. Morkel's not shown anything to be deemed a good limited overs bowler yet, unless they play Theron as the replacement seamer who is OK.

India have the worst bowling attack out of the favourites, but if the bowling clicks(as it sometimes can with Zaheer and Nehra) I can see us going the distance because we have two excellent t20 spinners. Sehwag's absence will be felt big time. If he'd been fit, I'd have backed us to win the thing.

Sri Lanka are my dark horses. Malinga, Mendis, Muralitharan, Mathews and a 5th bowler, a good good attack backed up by some really good batsmen in Jayawardene, Sangakarra, Dilshan, Jayasuriya, Mathews, Perrera.

And I think Pakistan, West Indies will do badly.
 
I really thought Australia call up Bollinger as a replacement for Lee.. laughable to leave him out in the first place and now they've called up Ryan Harris.
 
How?

I'm curious. I don't like the IPL with all the razzmatazz but I like T20 as a format and I don't think it's taken anything away from test cricket, which is where the real deal is. Lots of good test matches over the past 18 months or so.
 
feck you zing, I feel like having a KFC zinger everytime I see your username.
 
Donadol said:
It's just not cricket.
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It's not but take away all the glamour that the IPL adds and you're left with something that's quite entertaining to watch, and some sport on TV is better than no sport on TV for me anytime.

zinger burger :drool:
 
Group A Group B Group C Group D

Pakistan (1) Sri Lanka (2) South Africa (3) West Indies (4)
Bangladesh (8) New Zealand (7) India (6) England (5)
Australia (9) Zimbabwe (10) Afghanistan (11) Ireland (12)


Fixtures:

Friday, 30 April 2010
ICC World Twenty20
New Zealand v Sri Lanka, Guyana, 18:00
West Indies v Ireland, Guyana, 22:00

Saturday, 01 May 2010
ICC World Twenty20
Afghanistan v India, St Lucia, 14:30
Bangladesh v Pakistan, St Lucia, 18:30

Sunday, 02 May 2010
ICC World Twenty20
Australia v Pakistan, St Lucia, 18:30
India v South Africa, St Lucia, 14:30

Monday, 03 May 2010
ICC World Twenty20
West Indies v England, Guyana, 18:30
Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe, Guyana, 14:30

Tuesday, 04 May 2010
ICC World Twenty20
England v Ireland, Guyana, 18:30
New Zealand v Zimbabwe, Guyana, 14:30

Wednesday, 05 May 2010
ICC World Twenty20
Afghanistan v South Africa, Barbados, 18:30
Australia v Bangladesh, Barbados, 14:30
 
The standings in the group do not matter after you have qualified. You are put into your respective super 8 groups according to your seed.

super 8 groups

Group E Group F
A1: B1:
B2: A2:
C1: C2:
D2: D1:

Means if England and WI qualify, England will always be D2. If Ireland and England qualify then they will be D1.
 
Same as the last World Cup and I think it's a stupid format. If the minnow gets beaten by both the teams, the other game is meaningless. And 80% of the time the minnows get beaten so no one cares about the other match.

Good thing for us going into this is most of our players can't complain of fatigue. They did feck all in the IPL. Yuvraj, Gambhir, Yusuf, Dhoni(barring 2 innings in the end), Nehra, Praveen Kumar and Jadeja didn't even play.

Prediction:
South Africa, India, England, Australia in the semis. India to win the thing. One of Pakistan or NZ out in the first round.
 
Get your arse over to the other thread and give me your threes Spoony, you cnut.
 
T20 World Cup

New Zealand beat Sri Lanka in the first game today. Was a great game. NZ needed 10 of the last over and got it with 1 ball to spare with McCullum hitting Chucker aka Malinga for a six :lol:
 
Good game. Was drab in the beginning but great finish.
 
I can see Pakistan going home on Sunday evening. Not a happy hunting ground, the Windies. Plus we're in the toughest group - as current champions should be!
 
One of the main (and arguably few) points of interest in this tournament is the performance of Afghanistan.

I've been keeping an eye on them for a few years now, ever since they went on their first tour of England a few years ago and proceeded to beat most of the minor counties they came up against, including a very impressive win over an MCC XI at Lord's. Cricket's been brought back over the border by the millions of Afghan refugees who were previously based in Pakistan, and it's a genuinely mainstream sport in their cities now.

Since that tour of England they've gone from strength to strength, putting together a line-up containing genuine talent and quality despite being mired in the most oppressive situation out of any of the cricket playing nations in the world. And with very little cricketing infrastructure to develop their players through, they've still managed to consistently hammer the top associate sides like Ireland and Kenya in every format of the game.

Their fast bowler Hamid Hassan supposedly bowls at 140kph and one of the Aussies who used to be involved in coaching the Afghan team has been in the paper this morning stating that he thinks he's a world class bowler who'd make a number of the present test teams.

I don't know whether that's an exaggeration, but he's one of a few players in this side who are well worth keeping tabs on and I'd jizz myself if they managed a win in this tournament. There's no reason why they shouldn't have enough firepower to pull a surprise in a T20 match against a top side, however a complete absence of experience at the top level will cost them. Unlike the Irelands and Kenyas of the world, they've never previously had the oppurtunity to make up the numbers at World Cups and that could prove telling.
 
Melbourne Red said:
One of the main (and arguably few) points of interest in this tournament is the performance of Afghanistan.

I've been keeping an eye on them for a few years now, ever since they went on their first tour of England a few years ago and proceeded to beat most of the minor counties they came up against, including a very impressive win over an MCC XI at Lord's. Cricket's been brought back over the border by the millions of Afghan refugees who were previously based in Pakistan, and it's a genuinely mainstream sport in their cities now.

Since that tour of England they've gone from strength to strength, putting together a line-up containing genuine talent and quality despite being mired in the most oppressive situation out of any of the cricket playing nations in the world. And with very little cricketing infrastructure to develop their players through, they've still managed to consistently hammer the top associate sides like Ireland and Kenya in every format of the game.

Their fast bowler Hamid Hassan supposedly bowls at 140kph and one of the Aussies who used to be involved in coaching the Afghan team has been in the paper this morning stating that he thinks he's a world class bowler who'd make a number of the present test teams.

I don't know whether that's an exaggeration, but he's one of a few players in this side who are well worth keeping tabs on and I'd jizz myself if they managed a win in this tournament. There's no reason why they shouldn't have enough firepower to pull a surprise in a T20 match against a top side, however a complete absence of experience at the top level will cost them. Unlike the Irelands and Kenyas of the world, they've never previously had the oppurtunity to make up the numbers at World Cups and that could prove telling.
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I have a bad feeling about us playing them today. I really hope I'm wrong.
 
Well you got through it but I was very impressed with the Afghanis. The two quick bowlers in Hamid Hassan and Shapoor the 6'5 beast looked comfortably up to international standard and would command a place in county first XIs if they had a bit of time to adjust to that level. The opener Dawlat was no slouch either, and just needs to shed 10kg or so in order to look the part.

Their spinners also looked like pretty decent limited overs options, especially the leg-spinner Samiullah who gave it a real rip at a high pace, and had a wicked straighter ball. He'd be a real handful on a fifth day pitch.

Their batting was rather less illustrious I'm afraid to say. Noor Ali played well for his half-century but his technique is too bottom hand to be of any use to him against quality bowling. Still, he's got good hand-eye co-ordination and there's plenty there for a coach to work with. The rest of them didn't inspire me with confidence.

If they just had 3-4 decent batsmen, they'd be a team that the elite sides would have to take very, very seriously. I'm very impressed with the bowling, and their fielding was largely of a high standard.

Frankly, they put the early 00s Bangladesh sides to shame.
 
I was thinking that. Compared to the other teams when they broke through, Afghanistan looked a lot more professional. Chappell got it right(during commentary) when he said they have their fundamentals down properly.
 
Can someone merge the two Twenty20 threads?
 
Too bloody much of of this t20 crap. fecks sake they've been playing the ipl for months and now this. When is India's next test series?
 
mehro said:
Too bloody much of of this t20 crap. fecks sake they've been playing the ipl for months and now this. When is India's next test series?
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India's going to struggle. I hate the IPL. It tires out players.

Happend at the last T20 WC as well. Next year is the 50-50 World Cup and watch India struggle again. IPL has been expanded for next season and now there will be 96 games instead of 60 :nervous:
 
wr8_utd said:
India's going to struggle. I hate the IPL. It tires out players.

Happend at the last T20 WC as well. Next year is the 50-50 World Cup and watch India struggle again. IPL has been expanded for next season and now there will be 96 games instead of 60 :nervous:
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Think the IPL would be after the world cup ( I refuse to accept this shenanigans as a world cup).

Hot Indian summer + More day matches= Murder on the pitch!
 
wr8_utd said:
India's going to struggle. I hate the IPL. It tires out players.

Happend at the last T20 WC as well. Next year is the 50-50 World Cup and watch India struggle again. IPL has been expanded for next season and now there will be 96 games instead of 60 :nervous:
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Next IPL's after the ODI world cup. ODI world cup's in February.
 
Pakistan looking solid. I thought their batting would be shit but their openers are playing really well and it's a long batting line-up. And a brilliant bowling(although Asif's benched today). They're going to win this thing again :|
 
mehro said:
Too bloody much of of this t20 crap. fecks sake they've been playing the ipl for months and now this. When is India's next test series?
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Probably a good thing Pakistanis didn't partake.

Don't think they'll win the tournament as its still a tough venue for them (and India). This tournament has Australia written all over it. Their first.
 
Between Aamer and Asif they've got 8 overs of conceding feck all between them, and some nice support after they're off. They've also got a batting order full of great hitters.

I don't know much about this T20 shit, but they've got to be a very good chance.

Tbh, I just want the Windies to win it. They've started producing world class teenagers again and will have a strong line-up again pretty soon. A T20 World Cup win would bring people through the gate and help accelerate the re-birth of cricket over there.
 
Melbourne Red said:
Between Aamer and Asif they've got 8 overs of conceding feck all between them, and some nice support after they're off. They've also got a batting order full of great hitters.

I don't know much about this T20 shit, but they've got to be a very good chance.

Tbh, I just want the Windies to win it. They've started producing world class teenagers again and will have a strong line-up again pretty soon. A T20 World Cup win would bring people through the gate and help accelerate the re-birth of cricket over there.
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They have a very good T20 Team on Paper. Pollard, Gayle, Bravo are probably three of the best T20 Players, their pace bowling attack is pretty good too with the Likes of Roach, Taylor who can bowl upto 150Km/h
 
What's happened to the WI pitches? The pitches are too slow judging from the last few matches.

I also happen to think the host country is not right for this tournament to make it a spectacle. West Indies is mostly done with cricket. India, South Africa, Australia and England are best hosting these events.
 
There's not much too choose between any of the top teams, besides fielding. Twenty20 is a bit of lottery and anyone can win the trophy with a bit of luck running in their direction for a few games.
 
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