Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2016 18:41:48 GMT
Disappointing defeat for Scotland,although my heart always lifts when Afghanistan win, ever since that wonderful film about their 2011 world cup qualification, Out Of The Ashes (which I have on DVD if anyone wants to borrow it).
Machan played the longest innings for Scotland but could only find the boundary once in 31 balls, which pretty much doomed his team to defeat after they had got off to a flier in the power-play. Spinners came on and tied up Matt - and everyone else - in knots. Scotland hit 14 boundaries in the first nine overs and only one (Machan's six) in the next eleven - but they still lost with 5 wkts in hand.
I'd guess this was a good indicator of the way the tournament is going to go and spin is going to win games nine times out of ten. Key to whether England can make the semis will not be the firepower of the batting but whether Ali, Rashid and Dawson are good enough to squeeze the opposition in the middle overs. I'd be tempted to play all three of them because I have a feeling that all the hit-the-deck style of Jordan, Stokes, Willey and Plunkett will achieve - let alone the liability that is Reece Flopley - is to offer catching practice in row Z of the stands.
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Post by hhsussex on Mar 8, 2016 20:16:13 GMT
Disappointing defeat for Scotland,although my heart always lifts when Afghanistan win, ever since that wonderful film about their 2011 world cup qualification, Out Of The Ashes (which I have on DVD if anyone wants to borrow it). Machan played the longest innings for Scotland but could only find the boundary once in 31 balls, which pretty much doomed his team to defeat after they had got off to a flier in the power-play. Spinners came on and tied up Matt - and everyone else - in knots. Scotland hit 14 boundaries in the first nine overs and only one (Machan's six) in the next eleven - but they still lost with 5 wkts in hand. I'd guess this was a good indicator of the way the tournament is going to go and spin is going to win games nine times out of ten. Key to whether England can make the semis will not be the firepower of the batting but whether Ali, Rashid and Dawson are good enough to squeeze the opposition in the middle overs. I'd be tempted to play all three of them because I have a feeling that all the hit-the-deck style of Jordan, Stokes, Willey and Plunkett will achieve - let alone the liability that is Reece Flopley - is to offer catching practice in row Z of the stands. Last year Machan looked an effortless stroke player, but only against the faster bowlers. If he can make the step up to learn how to play spin - for which a batting coach would be quite a handy support - then he might become the mainstay of Sussex for a generation, and really help Scotland in their efforts to look something other than also-rans. Agreed too about the need for the English spinners to be effective. So far all the indications are low and slow pitches. |
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Post by leedsgull on Mar 9, 2016 19:00:08 GMT
Remarkable win by Oman over Ireland. Perhaps this will be a tournament too far for this ageing Ireland side? The ICC will be getting very annoyed if smaller associates start winning as it seems their desire not to expand the game.
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Post by Wicked Cricket on Mar 11, 2016 15:25:51 GMT
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Post by hhsussex on Mar 12, 2016 9:04:04 GMT
Today's Afghanistan v Zimbabwe match will be the last chance for an Associate nation to get through to the competition proper. If successful they will play in the group with England, South Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka. It should be a good match, perhaps heightened by the differently troubled political structure and cultural oppositions each team has had to face within their own countries. On recent results it looks as if Afghanistan have the edge, and in players like Stanikzai, fast bowler Dawlat Zadran, and the leg-spinner Rashid Khan (rumoured to be the oldest 17 year old in the world) they have potential stars on the world stage. www.espncricinfo.com/icc-world-twenty20-2016/content/story/981261.htmlRashid Khan  |
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Post by leedsgull on Mar 12, 2016 10:45:18 GMT
hh The Oman v Bangladesh match is also a final eliminator I believe. I am amazed that this board has not been deluged with happy Oman supporters.  |
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Post by hhsussex on Mar 12, 2016 13:49:21 GMT
hh The Oman v Bangladesh match is also a final eliminator I believe. I am amazed that this board has not been deluged with happy Oman supporters. I omitted the qualifier "realistic" between "last and "chance". Delighted to see the Afghanis win and I foresee trouble for at least one of their Super-10 stage opponents.  |
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nemmo
Captain 2nd XI
Posts: 285
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Post by nemmo on Mar 12, 2016 19:19:51 GMT
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Post by leedsgull on Mar 13, 2016 11:38:11 GMT
There seems to be an awful lot of rain affecting matches. Is this unusual or has the tournament been scheduled for the "rainy season"? The good thing about this World Cup is that it is short and sharp. However that leaves it open to being heavily influenced by the weather.
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Post by hhsussex on Mar 14, 2016 8:11:38 GMT
An interesting set of results to our highly scientific and of course statistically omniscient poll on where England will finish up in this tournament. None of our notoriously cynical and disbelieving members were so pessimistic as to vote for England finishing last in the group stage, and only 54% thought that England would leave the tournament at that point. The remaining 46% of voters thought that England would at least be semifinalists with one nomination each for Winner and Runner-up. Either there has been an unfortunate outbreak of starry-eyed idealism in Sussex, or these are people who, seeing the fraudster's admission, have decided toi out-dumb him. A dangerous move.  |
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Post by hhsussex on Mar 15, 2016 8:20:47 GMT
Praise for Jordan in the final warm-up game for the world T20 from Andrew Miller in his match report here ( www.espncricinfo.com/icc-world-twenty20-2016/content/story/982765.html) and a nicely-written and very complimentary comment that may yet be perceptive: "How well Jordan has evolved from a wayward bowler to a pinpoint bowler. He was straying the balls here and there couple of years back. But now he bowls yorkers at will with good pace. He should play in the XI. And excellent strategy by England to give all the players the chance to play in the warm up. Excellent preparation. England is surely the dark horse in this tournament." |
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Post by hhsussex on Mar 15, 2016 14:05:27 GMT
New Zealand epitomise the contest with their first two balls received from India in the opening game this year: 6 and out.
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nemmo
Captain 2nd XI
Posts: 285
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Post by nemmo on Mar 15, 2016 20:10:24 GMT
Praise for Jordan in the final warm-up game for the world T20 from Andrew Miller in his match report here ( www.espncricinfo.com/icc-world-twenty20-2016/content/story/982765.html) and a nicely-written and very complimentary comment that may yet be perceptive: "How well Jordan has evolved from a wayward bowler to a pinpoint bowler. He was straying the balls here and there couple of years back. But now he bowls yorkers at will with good pace. He should play in the XI. And excellent strategy by England to give all the players the chance to play in the warm up. Excellent preparation. England is surely the dark horse in this tournament." Sources inform me that after the New Zealand warm up match England stayed out with NZ to practice a super over. England scored 15 off theirs and CJ bowled the over for England which left NZ at 5/2. He's obviously turning into something of a specialist super over bowler! Also I'm really pleased that England are being proactive and intelligent in their warm ups and aren't just going through the motions. |
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Post by flashblade on Mar 15, 2016 20:25:40 GMT
Fantastic result for NZ today - and great for the neutrals as well, I think. Spinners' paradise, wasn't it?
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Post by hhsussex on Mar 16, 2016 8:22:52 GMT
Fantastic result for NZ today - and great for the neutrals as well, I think. Spinners' paradise, wasn't it? And it also emphasises that in this form of the game there are no absolutely dominant sides in all conditions: chance plays a much greater part in determining the outcome because there is so little playing time. That affects both a side losing wickets early, because there is less time to consolidate a recovery, and equally the side that takes on the challenge of an improbable scoring rate. It is exciting stuff because it is unpredictable, and also because it is such lousy cricket by any other measure. Santner, Sodhi and McCullum world-class spin bowlers? |
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