Champions League T20

Yorkshire beats the stronger on paper Uva Next club from Lanka.
and not surprisingly.....a south african David Miller sees them throuhg......with an unlikely good not out score from Adil Rashid..who had a good game.

and a strong Aukland side beats a strong Sialkot club side.

Condtions ...the moment pitches are outside the subcontinent.....the Kiwi and English sides are getting the better of the super strong looking Pakistan and Lankan sides

there are two games today..

one i think starts 10:30 UK time

Yorkshire play in the later game against T AND T i believe.

Good win for Yorkshire yesterday considering we are having trouble balancing the side without Jonny Bairstow. Miller is not available today so Adam Lyth is likely to step in. He can consider himself unlucky not to be selected yesterday given his end of season form.

Auckland won the toss and chose to bowl

Hants 11-0 in the 3rd...Mills went for more in his first over today then he went for in 4 overs yesterday!

121 for Hampshire. Doesn't look too daunting a task for Auckland although cricinfo are reporting the wicket is playing quite slow.

Auckland cruising it.

Hampshire going home it seems.

its nearly all over for Hampshire...

90-1 from 11, just 32 needed now.

Mixed feelings there. I'm happy it's an NZ team doing well, I'm unhappy the jafas are doing well

Great start for Yorkshire, T&T 22-3 after 6 overs, Root, Sidebottom and Patterson with a wicket each.

Very good recovery from T&T, they finish with 148-9 with 59 from Ramdin and 45 from Bravo. Sidebottom with figures of 3-13 from his 4 overs.

Azhar produces as remarkable a T20 allround display....as anyone could....55* and a 5-fer with the ball and qualifies. Aukland for the next round.

Yorkshire are struggling a bit chasing a medium sized total .

great knock from Ballance there to see Yorkshire home. T&T pretty ordinary in the field and with the ball really (apart from Rampaul and Badree). Rashid also deserves a mention, he took the pressure off Ballance by scoring quickly when he first came in, which gave Ballance time to get his eye in.

And Ballance with Rashhid ( 2 times in 2 Days ) see Yorkshire through from a difficult position.

I think yorkshire is also through to the next round.
A few years back. When I heard of Adel Rashid, he was a deemed exciting leggie...now he bats at No. 6 and bowls as the 5th or 6th bowler. What's happened to him? Or is this another Rashid ?

Same Adil Rashid. Never quite developed as was hoped with the ball, and had a real confidence crisis last year. However, he is still young and could yet be a fine all-rounder, particularly in one-dayers. He needs to bat though because Azeem Rafiq is fast becoming one of the best limited-overs spinners in the country (and not a bad FC one), and also bats and fields well.

Ballance is England qualified now and is an outside shot for our T20 team. Not sure (rightly or wrongly) whether the ECB would be too keen to let somebody whose only just come on to the radar jump the likes of Bairstow and Buttler immediately though.

Pretty good effort from Yorkshire considering the players we don't have available to us for one reason or another.

Rashid is batting at 6 because of Bairstow's injury, although the higher he bats the better he seems to be. I still think he's the better spin option overall for Yorkshire, although in this format Rafiq probably just edges it.

What an awful tournament this is.

No proportional representation. Qualifiers that are an absolute joke - play 1 game and be out (i.e. Hampshire?). Utter nonsense.

Made even worse by the fact that nobody is attending the matches - so far.

If anyone's interested we have a SportsBru tipping comp up and running and you're all welcome to join.

http://www.superbru.com/clt20/pool_overview.asp?p=11027075

Pool: 606v2
Code: redopalp

37 punters so far....

Could be a good competition in the future but its a bit of a mess for a couple of reasons:

Why do the English (and other nations) teams have to qualify in a joke format? In the case of Hampshire they are out already even though they've only played one of their two games!

As the various leagues are played at different times of the year, players can then play in the CL for whichever one they choose (or a new on entirely if they want, or new signings can come in - not sure??). Not sure how they'd resolve this but you could easily get star player for Team A in their domestic tournament then facing his old team a few weeks later.

Fists of Fury wrote:What an awful tournament this is.

No proportional representation. Qualifiers that are an absolute joke - play 1 game and be out (i.e. Hampshire?). Utter nonsense.

Yep. The biggest issue for me is these three rules:

1. You can have 4 overseas players in your XI
2. You can only pick players who were registered during your qualifying tournament
3. You can choose who to play for if two of your teams qualify

This is farcical because in the English, SA, NZ, Australia, WI and Pakistan qualifying events you can only have two overseas (and WI and Pak sides tend to have none), whilst Indian and SL sides can play 4 and will frequently have considerably more than 4 registered.

Rule 3 means that the smaller number of stars that play for non-IPL teams will always abandon their home team to be one of 6 overseas players in the squad of an IPL franchise. I feel terribly sorry for T&T who not only didn't have any overseases, but had Bravo, Pollard and Narine go off to play as overseases for their IPL teams instead.

Really there either needs to be a universal 2 overseas player per side rule or players should at least have to play for their home team if they have more than one qualifying.

Fists of Fury wrote:What an awful tournament this is.

No proportional representation. Qualifiers that are an absolute joke - play 1 game and be out (i.e. Hampshire?). Utter nonsense.

The two matches today - Hampshire/Sialkot and UVA/T&T are completely meaningless now.

Thing is the competion is owned by India, SA & Australia - so their teams get direct entry. England were originally invited to have a 25% stake - but with the competition usually co-inciding with the climax of our domestic season chose not to. We are not entering teams next year at all.

The competition is about money and has little to do with sporting competition. At least T&T were paid $450,000 due to Narine, Pollard & Dwayne Bravo opting to take the money offered by their IPL franchises.

for yorkshire it is a chance to play against some World Class players, and show that despite missing some key players we are a pretty good team at this format. Bairstow and Bresnan would have added much needed balance to the side while Mitchell Starc (the most successful bowler in the domestic T20, and he developed so much with us he is now back in the aussie set-up) quite rightly is playing for his domestic team. My one worry is if players do too well, attract an IPL contract and then just sit warming the bench all season.

As to Rashid - after a good start to the 2011 season, he completely lost his mojo. It is quite possible that after a winter when he was a key element to south Australia winning the Big Bash (he tended to bowl 3 overs in the powerplay) he was bowling far too flat and quick. In T20 he had been concentrating on bowling flippers and googlies. Returning to 1st class cricket as soon as he tried to bowl the big leg break he dropped it short. His confidence departed completely. He is though a very talented cricketer and still young (24 i think).

I'd suggest that the CLT20 is on its last legs in any case. The crowds and viewers simply haven't been coming in, and the sponsors have been deserting. In essence its been a very weak product financially.

The franchises want another window in which they can promote their brands, but the CLT20 hasn't successfully offered that. They might prefer a form of 2nd IPL per year, as that reduces viewer switch off. The problem is that Indian viewers (who you're primarily appealing to) tend to be very partisan - during the WC they weren't interested in non-India matches and so the chances of them tuning in en masse for Auckland v Hampshire are slim.

Quite aside from the obvious issues with the format which have been raised (and are all skewed to favour the Indian teams of course), there is for me another issue:
it's not very interesting. Coming straight after the WT20 was terrible scheduling. but it's more than that. Unlike football, the international version of the game is still the one with most fans and crucially shows the better skills (whereas you could argue very strongly that Barcelona and Chelsea would beat most or even all international sides in football, you'd be hard pressed to argue that CSK could beat any top 5 country in cricket). I watch the IPL because it is mildly entertaining (if you can switch off Bhogle) and for the nostalgia of seeing past greats perform, but the standards are fairly low, and the CL is essentially a glorified IPL.

Frankly I'm not following this year's tournament at all.

I just made my Superbru predictions with absolutely no clue who is strong etc.

So my picks have all been in the dark.

VTR wrote:Could be a good competition in the future but its a bit of a mess for a couple of reasons:

Why do the English (and other nations) teams have to qualify in a joke format? In the case of Hampshire they are out already even though they've only played one of their two games!

As the various leagues are played at different times of the year, players can then play in the CL for whichever one they choose (or a new on entirely if they want, or new signings can come in - not sure??). Not sure how they'd resolve this but you could easily get star player for Team A in their domestic tournament then facing his old team a few weeks later.

The tournament is run like a Private Sector compnay would be.......representtaion is in proportion to the shareholding.

India gets to field 4 teams.....SA and Aus 2 each........and remaining two teams come playing qualifiers.
shareholding is in proportion to the support greanted to IPL.....by firstly not opposing amd decaling it an evil....secondly having soft / flexible approach to accomodate IPL...and 3rdly the market value as seen by the sponsors of nations that should field more teams....
So ECB...that sees IPL as devil reincarnate and BCCI an undisguided enemy ......has to play qualifiers.
The owners of the compnay can choose not to have a certain nation play even the qualifiers. It's a purely privatre enterprise

Pak for same reasons as not allowed in IPL didn't have a team......however BCCI has relented this year.
SL threw a rival league........WI, BD and NZ just not commerically big markets to sponsors

Please BCCI...do not oppose IPL ......and atleast a strong nation like Englnad could get one seat in the main round.

Shelsey93 wrote:I'd suggest that the CLT20 is on its last legs in any case. The crowds and viewers simply haven't been coming in, and the sponsors have been deserting. In essence its been a very weak product financially.

The franchises want another window in which they can promote their brands, but the CLT20 hasn't successfully offered that. They might prefer a form of 2nd IPL per year, as that reduces viewer switch off. The problem is that Indian viewers (who you're primarily appealing to) tend to be very partisan - during the WC they weren't interested in non-India matches and so the chances of them tuning in en masse for Auckland v Hampshire are slim.

It's a business venture......that it is in it's 4th season confirms that it is a commercially viable model.
How does the commercial viability of it comes ?

--It is a TV event........not dependent on gate monies.....for being profitable......actually none of cricekt in India runs on gate monies....that is like loose change.

--and although TRPs are not like IPL or international games....they are still enough to be profitbale....

--India games pull enough viewers.....and India-Aus and Ind-SA encounters( i.e against top nations)....are preferred by viewers........to not only pay back but lends profitablity to the entire show.

--and should India teams make iot to semis or finals.........there are undoubtedly IPL like viewrships. No wonder the organizers increased Indian teams from 2 to 3 to 4.

--remember for a business to be viable and succes full it doesn't always have to deliver 200% profits like IPL does.....even 40% profits that CLT20 might deliver....is still a commeically viable business

I believe CLT20 is past the point where it would collaspe. It can only get stronger when FC sides in strong nation like England under the lure of dollars.....will put presssure on ECB to take more active participation.

and if neighbours SL and Pak politically do not offend BCCI

Mike, I ask you again, what is wrong with Bhogle?

Shelsey93 wrote:

Fists of Fury wrote:What an awful tournament this is.

No proportional representation. Qualifiers that are an absolute joke - play 1 game and be out (i.e. Hampshire?). Utter nonsense.

Yep. The biggest issue for me is these three rules:

1. You can have 4 overseas players in your XI
2. You can only pick players who were registered during your qualifying tournament
3. You can choose who to play for if two of your teams qualify

This is farcical because in the English, SA, NZ, Australia, WI and Pakistan qualifying events you can only have two overseas (and WI and Pak sides tend to have none), whilst Indian and SL sides can play 4 and will frequently have considerably more than 4 registered.

Rule 3 means that the smaller number of stars that play for non-IPL teams will always abandon their home team to be one of 6 overseas players in the squad of an IPL franchise. I feel terribly sorry for T&T who not only didn't have any overseases, but had Bravo, Pollard and Narine go off to play as overseases for their IPL teams instead.

Really there either needs to be a universal 2 overseas player per side rule or players should at least have to play for their home team if they have more than one qualifying.

Amen to that.

Biltong wrote:I just made my Superbru predictions with absolutely no clue who is strong etc.

So my picks have all been in the dark.

Me too. I tipped against NSW last night; only to wake up to the news that they crunched Delhi Daredevils in a warm-up match.

KP out twice under some relaxed rules.

Biltong, where are the Titans based? Centurion? (I know 'Nashua' is not a town...)

Yes, Nashua is an office equipment company, talking about that I hate that every team and stadium now loses a hundred years of tradition with all this commercial nonsense.

nashua this
Chevrolet that

Come on Mumbai Indians!

ShankyCricket wrote:Mike, I ask you again, what is wrong with Bhogle?

He's like an Indian version of Bumble without any of the cricketing knowledge. I actually think Bumble became a caricature of himself in the recent T20 WC with his cry of "whallop!" but in years gone by he's usually brought his knowledge of the game (as a coach, player and umpire) with him. His "fun" side is also usually balanced out on Sky by having genuine experts around.

I honestly can't remember Bhogle ever saying anything insightful about the game. His commentary is basically "wow, what a shot!" when the batsman hits a 6 or "what a great delivery" if he doesn't. He's not helped by the fact that the IPL commentary is generally veered towards entertaining rather than informing. Simon Doull is just as bad TBH.

I used to quite like Bhogle. Probably depends what mood I'm in.

Completely agree with Mike on Bumble - often good, but can increasingly try to play up to the elements of his character which he thinks make him popular.

The tournament is a complete joke, we got knocked out all because of a toss of a coin. Ok maybe we weren't great as well, but the pitch was awful. Dimi + co weren't at all happy.

Why do we even need to qualify? We are English champions?

Nonsense stacking all the cards in India's favour yet again. Top 4 of the IPL? What total codswallop.

They need to think about the integrity and prestige of this tournament a hell of a lot before I even bother watching it.

Well, exactly.

I don't know if there is much mileage in this tournament to be honest - after all, its only really conceivable that viewers will tune in for matches involving their home teams and IPL franchies, and so without weighting it even further in favour of the IPL (which would destroy the integrity of the competition even further) I don't see how you're going to revive the TV audiences and sponsorship.

If we are to have a Champions League it needs to be only for the champions of India, SA, Australia, England, SL, WI, NZ, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. 2 groups of 5, and then semis and finals. Hosted in various countries around the world. And not after the World T20. Even then I must say I'm not sure it would succeed though.

The prospect of a 2nd IPL is certainly growing. Now that wouldn't be a good thing.

Shelsey93 wrote:
The prospect of a 2nd IPL is certainly growing. Now that wouldn't be a good thing.

Let's hope not. If the IPL starts to take over the cricketing calendar at the expense of other forms I'll probably stop watching cricket altogether.

Its not like the IPL is even good. A load of average Indians and 40 year old Aussies mistiming the ball for 6 over tiny boundaries with annoying commentators screaming about it. No thanks.

Fists of Fury wrote:Nonsense stacking all the cards in India's favour yet again. Top 4 of the IPL? What total codswallop.

They need to think about the integrity and prestige of this tournament a hell of a lot before I even bother watching it.

Now you know how us associates feel about all the global cricket tournaments Fists...

Agree entirely of course. I suspect no one at the ICC is that bothered about the integrity of the tournament as long as it keeps bringing in money. Which it may or may not do, thanks to Indian support essentially alone.

As I say, I don't watch it, it is like the IPL without the good bits.

was there no games today?

there is a lot of cricket for Indian viewers over the weekend....Delhi, Mumbain and calcutta play their games.........in CLT20
and both duleep semifinals involving all the remainder 4 zones start.

So we would see pretty much every Indian international and FC star in action this weekened somwhere

writers and pundits are complaining about the format.......and Aussie selector is moning about the difficulty in giving FC Parctise to their main team before the .
Ranji coaches are complaining too...
BUT
the show is going on in full force....why ...Read Below the Prize monies involved.
Sides like Yorkshire and Auckland have guaranteed themselves quarter Milion dollar each...and are now playing for the HALF MILLION Prize if they make it to the semis.
Pays out a lot of club expenses and provisions for additonal faciliites.

Prize money: The winner will get US $2.5 million, the runner-up US $1.3 million, with the two beaten semi-finalists earning US $500,000 and the other teams reaching the group stages to get US $200,000

Jacque Rudolph on fire for the SA Titans against Perth Scorchers......making claims for a place in the limited over sides also

But how do you keep offering that prize money if, as most reports suggest, sponsors keep dropping out and viewing figures aren't as good as expected?

Also, the benefits seem to be mostly to the players (exposure) and the teams (money). Is a professional tournament that doesn't offer much to the spectator really that viable?

Shelsey93 wrote:But how do you keep offering that prize money if, as most reports suggest, sponsors keep dropping out and viewing figures aren't as good as expected?

Also, the benefits seem to be mostly to the players (exposure) and the teams (money). Is a professional tournament that doesn't offer much to the spectator really that viable?

so if the sponsors keep pumping the money in than they are interested is THE REALITY...... reports misleading.

as is stated before the sponsors are interested because inspite of not being as profitable as IPL or international cricket.....sponsoring the CLT20 is still more lucrative in terms of TV ratings than putting sponsorship dollars in soaps and serials.

Merely the India games probably more than pay out the costs of the tournament with surplus profits.

Cricket Sells in India...and it sells when the quality is competitive.....and that is what the tournament offers....a variant diet of competitive cricket, which fills the slot of other TV soaps and serial dramas

to undertsand the economic of cricket.....in India....

--.be aware there are about 150 to 180 Million homes with TVs. That's a potential 600 to 700 Million viewrs

--On a Peak day such as a big world cup India game you could have upto half a billion viewers

--but for any TV event to be successful.......compared to soaps, serials, infontainement programs....a 5 to 20 Million viewers might be enough.....
Even a poorly viewed game of cricket by Indian standards sometimes is equal to the population of England

--going down even chllanger troph ( with India, A, B and C) are TV sponsored events.

The pot of cricket to deliver commercially viable returns is still quite deep yet

Perth is an almost an international quality batting line up with Herschel Gibbs, Shaun Marsh, North. Katich, Luke Ronchi....yet they are on the mat now

Perth is crushed

Sehwag always does well in initial rounds of IPL as a captain and is doing same here in CLT20.....cruishes KKR.

Delhi wins inspite of KP's relative failure today

Rudolph and Davids are an awesome opening partnership, Rudolph in particular must be pushing the SAffer t20 side now?