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.

Jeff Navarro wrote:The King lives...

Err…

JDizzle wrote:

Jeff Navarro wrote:The King lives...

Err…

Every post on reddit deems this geezer as 'King'

Duty281 wrote:Kohli's hit his first international century in an age, against Afghanistan in a T20.

*pivots to last test century was in 2019*

Finch is quitting as Australian ODI Captain after this last NZ match... but will continue in t20. So it seems Australia will have three different captains for the time being. Questions about who will take on the fifty over role though : might be a few candidates.

Anyway , for Finch probably sensible on his part - jumped before being pushed. His t20 form has been much better so we will see if he can get back in runs ahead of the coming WC...

Finch ends his career with 5 runs. I get that maybe mentally there's a difference in how a player plays between T20 and ODI, but its the same ball, on literally the same pitches. He averaged 56 in ODIs last year too, so it's not like he's struggled in the format. He just fallen all the way off.

I'm just worried that there's a distinct possibility that Finch has reached that point where he's just fell off a cliff.

South Africa's disintegration as a Test nation continues. Mark Boucher has quit as coach of the national team, ostensibly with an eye on a coaching gig at the newly formed SA20. Our results this year have actually been pretty good. A series win over India, draw in New Zealand and losing the odd-game vs England away. But off the field, there have been really concerning signs about the future of international cricket in South Africa. In order.

- Our IPL players foregoing a Test series vs Bangladesh to play in the IPL.
- Even the team physio skipped the aforementioned series vs Bangladesh to physio for the Mumbai Indians
- We cancelled the away series against Australia in January 2023 to focus on the upcoming SA20 tournament. This cancellation has almost certainly guaranteed we'd have to play in a qualifying tournament for the World Cup.
- We then cut our international inbound tours so as to have players available for the SA20, as evidence by the lack of home Tests.
- And now our coach has decided he'd rather coach a team in the SA20 then see out his contract to the 2023 World Cup, and I don't blame him.

I don't actually rate Boucher as a coach tbh, but I think him quitting is emblematic of our continued disintegration as a viable international cricket team.

Yes I am also a bit concerned about the effect of the expanding franchise league universe on SA Cricket.

Money talks ; and it seems the national body just doesn't have the financial muscle to compete with the private owners enough to protect the Test and even the ODI pool from predation. Going to take some smart footwork to ensure players can be both enabled to make a decent wage and be made available for the International fixtures that matter.

As you say , kingraf , recent results haven't been too bad - even if there are clearly weaknesses pointed up in the just completed tour of England : would be a huge pity to see things fall apart due to the clash of national and commercial interests.

The recently signed IPL rights deal has, and is, changing the sport - especially for these nations boards who have been struggling to keep their head above water in recent years.

The status quo, is long gone - what the new one will look like, I guess only time will tell (but it's veering directly towards franchise cricket with international cricket windows for a lot of nations...)

If only Pakistan had won the inaugural world T20 tournament.

The best solution for Test cricket as an entity is for it to be run as a genuine league by a controlling body. They sell the rights to Test cricket as a package - as this moves towards streaming this model could work fantastically. Players, coaches, umpires, groundsmen, etc, etc are then paid base salaries by the controlling body. Nations that bring in more income can still pay players, coaches, etc outside of those base salaries but it would ensure the basic income is there for all nations to survive and hopefully grow.

This wouldn't favour the BCCI, ECB and CA though so will never happen. The big three won't let Tests die as they are too important to their own financial models. They also wont let it thrive as all they want a huge proportion of their cricket to be played between each other. They'll support other nations just enough that they can play the limited Test cricket they care about that isn't India, England or India's men's teams endlessly playing each other. It's a sad status quo that big three carve up has created.

Green starring with the bat again for Australia today...52 off 21 balls !

Few other bats didn't do so well but at 140/6 after 17 they should still put up a decent target.

Yeah, they've moved Green up to opener for this series. An experimental move which seems to have worked.

After watching that Australian win over West Indies the other evening , I feel I almost owe Pakistan an apology for describing their fielding as "village". Australia , seven down after some careless late batting , needed 11 from the last over : Wade and Starc were both dropped off fairly straightforward up and under chances within four deliveries , so the unfortunate Cottrell conceded the winning runs off the penultimate ball...reckon his outfielders owed him a glass of rum or two.

In truth Australia seemed to have the game iced several overs out ; but after a couple of throwaways and that chaotic finish they were probably very lucky to prevail at the end. Perhaps West Indies were rusty but they'd better be a lot sharper in the field once the serious stuff starts.

Australia are still tinkering with their line-up so can't read a lot into these warm up performances. But I fancy they might be hoping for a convenient injury to someone in order to get Cam Green into the WC squad - for which he is only a reserve at this stage.

South Africa heading for heavy defeat in the third and final ODI v India, meaning India will take the series 2-1.

South Africa will need at least three wins from the remaining five games (two v the Netherlands; three v England) or they won't be qualifying automatically for the 2023 World Cup. They might need even more than that depending on how Sri Lanka do.

Weird to look at the table and see that Afghanistan currently have the best winning rate of any team (10 wins and 2 losses) but their fixture list has been quite simple, so far.

Different conditions and a different format ; but this isn't the sort of form SA would ideally want to take going into the WC !

They will carve up the Netherlands so I imagine they will just about qualify for the next event . But I reckon SA cricket has a few problems at the moment.

They should carve up the Netherlands, but rain has already cost SA five points in one of those games.

And if Sri Lanka get three wins from their remaining six (three v Afg; three v NZ), then South Africa will need four wins to qualify. if Sri Lanka get four, SA need five; if Sri Lanka get five or six then SA will be reliant on Afghanistan losing every single one of their remaining 12 games (which is possible).

Of course, even if SA miss out automatically, they should breeze through the Qualifier event and make it to the WC anyway, but it might be seen as a bit of a humiliation.

SA cricket isn't in a good place. They've essentially put all their chips on this new T20 franchise league, and given test and ODI cricket a bit of an elbow.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/west-indies-batter-john-campbell-banned-for-four-years-for-anti-doping-rule-violation-1338803

Missed this story a few days ago - John Campbell, the West Indies opener, has been banned for four years. But he might appeal. He'll be 33 by the time he comes back if the appeal is unsuccessful.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/63312593

Early rumblings that Pakistan may boycott the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Pakistan are set to host their first Asia Cup since 2008 next year, but India will not be going if it's held there due to political tension. And the secretary of the BCCI, who is also President of the Asian Cricket Council, is saying the Asia Cup should be moved away from Pakistan and put in a neutral venue.

The PCB in response have said that this whole palaver could impact on future Pakistani visits to India, including next year's ODI World Cup in India.

Surely the ICC would come down hard on Pakistan if they boycotted a flagship event on the calendar, especially as it could create future tit-for-tat withdrawals, with the rebooted Champions Trophy being held in Pakistan in 2025?

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/australia-news-glenn-maxwell-out-for-extended-period-after-breaking-leg-in-freak-accident-1344640

England no longer have a monopoly on freak injuries. Glenn Maxwell has broken his leg in a 'freak accident'. It happened at a birthday party but, Cricket Australia assure us, he wasn't Brahms and Liszt when it happened.

It means he'll miss the ODI series v England, probably miss the Big Bash, and may miss the tests v India in February.

Does seem extraordinary how often these relatively young and rather fit individuals manage to injure themselves so badly in seemingly innocuous pursuits ! Golf , cleaning fish tanks , shaving - or was it cleaning his teeth ? Have been quite a few...

Williamson with a 48 ball fifty chasing down 191 - this man is a t20 terrorist

Indian masses were angry after the "ignominious" exit in semis
BCCI got released headlines "the entire selection committee fired"
To give impression to the cricket crazy public something was done while in fact...selectors have significantly reduced powers these days......Captain & Coach call shots with the blessing of BCCI...and both have survived unscathed.
Rohit deserves some run in formats other than T20s......Dravid is useless perpetrator of
Follow the process, winning and losing doesn't matter type soft looser talk.....he is a consultant material, not fit to be a head coach.....and Shastri's boots appear too big to fill

India's issue was not batting but bowling and spin bowling in particular and formulaic captaincy of Rohit that wilted when under assault and situations  deviant from the script.

India showed today when spin bowling clicks....it's a different ball game...and for that they had a T20 specialist finger spinner and a writs spinner

It's also a different ball game when SKY clicks...much like the Tendulkar of 1990s in ODIs .....Indian sets a BIG score...well above par...depending on how much SKY clicked,

India needs to plan their game for days when SKY does not click and groom others who can bat a bit like him....and they are trying to do so...putting Pant on top...and his clone Ishan Kishan with him there


The common ( and correct) perception is that  Rohit is done as a captain and also player in T20s....will get to captain the ODI world cup which will be his last unless he wins it or makes it  a close shot final.
( Yup bar will be very high for him)

Tests....I think he will safely captain for a couple of years more......with more or less the team that was his team in T20 world-cup.

Pandya is the new T20 captain for good....but given his fragility the slot remains open for other contenders......which are basically NONE..except Pant
Iyer is good captaincy material, but needs to establish himself as a first choice pick in 11...  and the quickest way to kill SKY would be if selectors make him the captain when Pandya is unfit

Tied on D/L is rare.....India lucky though on a seaming pitch with no specialists batting to follow....needing 85 in 11 was not par
But D/L doesn't factor for pitch conditions

Good news for South Africa as Sri Lanka are going down to defeat v Afghanistan in the first of three ODIs. NZ earlier chased down 307 to beat India, which they did with seven wickets remaining, and it featured an unusually destructive innings of 145* from 104 balls by Tom Latham.

Duty281 wrote:Good news for South Africa as Sri Lanka are going down to defeat v Afghanistan in the first of three ODIs. NZ earlier chased down 307 to beat India, which they did with seven wickets remaining, and it featured an unusually destructive innings of 145* from 104 balls by Tom Latham.

India demonstrated the same
"Wilted & gave up when bowling is under assault for a few overs" today.....as they did in the semis

Barely 7 years after father played the last test
Son Chanderpaul could be making his debut and that too not as a teenager but as a 26 year old

As KP_fan mentions, test cricket returns tomorrow with the West Indies visiting Australia for two tests. Once upon a time this would have been a headline series, now it's merely a warm-up for Australia's main event of the summer, which is against South Africa. First home series for Australia since the Ashes.

According to Cricinfo the West Indies haven't beaten Australia in a test since 2003, when they chased down the 418 that still stands as a record successful chase in tests. There have been 17 tests between the two nations since then, with Australia winning 13 and some of those by monumental margins.

Expected teams show Australia are going in strong:

Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steven Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Cameron Green, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood

West Indies (possible): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), 2 Tagnarine Chanderpaul, 3 Nkrumah Bonner, 4 Kyle Mayers, 5 Jermaine Blackwood, 6 Roston Chase, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Joshua Da Silva (wk), 9 Alzarri Joseph, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Jayden Seales

If the pitches have some juice in them, like they did in the Ashes, that Windies bowling attack could do some damage. Seales looks a good prospect and Holder/Roach are seasoned pros - and it feels like Alzarri has kicked on this year. That batting line up though…

And indeed it didn't take long for Seales to do some damage...Warner trying an over ambitious cover drive and succeeding only in dragging it on to his stumps...9/1 after four overs after Cummins won the toss and chose to bat. Bit of life in the pitch though I gather both captains think it will be , overall , good for batting.

A debut for Chanderpaul the Second

In fact everything settled down after a few early overs...pitch playing pretty true and Khawaja and Labuschagne got on top and took it safely to lunch at 72/1.

Peculiar start time : 1.20 pm our time ? Must be some reason I've not picked up...was a standard two hour session.

Australia will be happy enough with that : platform to build on after lunch.

Had to go out so missed much of today but see Labuschagne and Smith have batted Australia into a strong position at 254/2 after 76. Both look pretty comfortable - as you would , I guess. Marnus 126 and Smith 48. Long way back for West Indies... Would need huge impact from the approaching new ball.

Looks as if the expected mis-match is indeed on.

293/2. Marnus has 150 and Smith already over fifty and on his way to a hundred...business as usual in Australia

Once Khawaja and Labuschagne weathered some testing early stuff it's all gone one way. I smell 550 and somehow doubt WI will be able to match it. But we will see...

Duty281 wrote:Good news for South Africa as Sri Lanka are going down to defeat v Afghanistan in the first of three ODIs. NZ earlier chased down 307 to beat India, which they did with seven wickets remaining, and it featured an unusually destructive innings of 145* from 104 balls by Tom Latham.

Had the pleasure of watching this at Eden Park with some Kiwi pals last week. Although NZ won with a bit to spare at the end, it didn't always look that way with ''the lead'' changing a few times throughout the game. The hosts certainly looked up against it at 88/3 before Latham dug in and then properly came to the party whilst Williamson played his more natural supporting role excellently.

alfie wrote:293/2.  Marnus has 150 and Smith already over fifty and on his way to a hundred...business as usual in Australia

Once Khawaja and Labuschagne weathered some testing early stuff it's all gone one way. I smell 550 and somehow doubt WI will be able to match it. But we will see...

Sounds like a very rough day for the West Indies, but they did get through 90 overs so well done to them for that. Helped by Mayers and Chase getting through 26 overs.

Labuschagne's highest test score currently reads 215, he'll be looking to eclipse that tomorrow.

A totally expected one sided day
Hope WI can produce some sparks and keep Aus under 500
And then themselves do 400 atleast
550 and 250 as first inning scores would suck any residual  interest out of the game
But it's quite an expected scenario

Finally a breakthrough for the West Indies at the stroke of lunch with Brathwaite claiming Marnus for 204... his 2nd double century in 29 Test innings.

There were a few chances not taken including an easy one for de Silva just before Marnus reached his 200.

Earlier Smith made his 29th Test 100 and he is 114* at lunch. Australia 402/3.

462/3 now ! Smith probably heading for a double too...

West Indies will be chasing rather a lot ; though I guess they might think the pitch is playing pretty well. Rather good Australian bowling attack will be a handful anyway but they might need a fair bit of time to take twenty wickets so it will be interesting to see how long and big Cummins wants to bat.

Checking back in Perth I see the 500 is up...Smith on 160 and Head on the brink of 50 .

Batsman's day , it seems. Chase the Spin Option has his own unwanted hundred already.

Crowd still looks a bit sparse. There is Head's fifty Warner must be feeling left out...

513/3 after 141 overs. Good toss to win ?

Tea in half a hour . I'm back to Pakistan...

alfie wrote:Checking back in Perth I see the 500 is up...Smith on 160 and Head on the brink of 50 .

Batsman's day , it seems. Chase the Spin Option has his own unwanted hundred already.

Crowd still looks a bit sparse. There is Head's fifty   Warner must be feeling left out...

513/3 after 141 overs. Good toss to win ?

Tea in half a hour .  I'm back to Pakistan...

Make sure you boil the water properly, alfie. And close your mouth when taking a shower!

Oh dear ! Head will be kicking himself ...out for 99 ; though no problem for Smith getting his 200th...and a timely declaration from Cap'n Pat

598 probably enough. Bowlers might find it a bit harder work but not sure WI have the batting quality to respond in kind these days...not quite Greenidge Haynes Richardson Richards Gomes etc...

Catching up with this one and credit to these West Indies openers as they raise a fifty opening stand in the face of some testing Australian bowling...

Chanderpaul 2 has already launched one into the stands (!) along with some solid defence , and is on to a handy start at 26 in the 17th.

Lyon being utilised fairly early I see. Important session.

alfie wrote:Oh dear ! Head will be kicking himself ...out for 99 ; though no problem for Smith getting his 200th...and a timely declaration from Cap'n Pat

598 probably enough.  Bowlers might find it a bit harder work but not sure WI have the batting quality to respond in kind these days...not quite Greenidge Haynes Richardson Richards Gomes etc...

Thank you.

It's been a battathon to get to 570-4....
The biggest excitement though is WI no Loss yet..and seen of the new ball.

WI should take session by session and aim bat out atelast 5 more sessions...and then a draw would be the most likely end
Hard fought draws are also exciting to follow

Was out this afternoon so didn't see the first session but West Indies went to lunch at 150/1 so it seems the pitch is not doing the Aussies any more favours than it did the tourists.

Too early to say "bore draw , done" as West Indies are capable of some spectacular collapses ; but the odds on a result are probably getting longer.

Maiden fifty for the young Chanderpaul , good start for him

...and Brathwaite has just got out so the collapse could well happen

Back in Perth , Jason Holder has just been given out lbw - but saved by a review , thin edge detected by the snicko gadget , though the hotspot thing didn't seem to have any marks. Aussies not happy : but I guess you either trust these gadgets or you don't. Would have been out otherwise.

West Indies still in a spot of trouble at 176/3. Bit of a tail to come.

227/4 now and a new ball due in five. Follow on target still a long way off.

Australia will be hoping to do some damage with that new cherry.

237/4 at tea. Watched the highlights and admired that fine catch by Warner to get Holder - who'd been playing rather nicely. Important wicket.

Confess I'd missed the fact that Bonner had been subbed out with concussion. Brooks taking up his spot and currently in a vital partnership with Blackwood.

The new ball will be crucial in three more overs.

after a promising start...wheels coming off WI's inning
The pressure of 600 runs is a huge pressure...even if the pitch is benign

West Indies collapsing as half expected. 267/7 and Australia should have plenty of time to bat again briefly and set them five hundred for a fourth innings target...