England in South Africa

Well after the Christmas period was over all attention turned to South Africa vs England and Australia vs Pakistan with the traditional Boxing Day test matches. With England holding on to a draw in the first test just about everyone was waiting to see how they would react and what sort of team they would play when the 2 teams took to the pitch at Durban for the second test.

Graeme Smith won the toss and decided to have a bat and scored a decent 343 all out although when you win the toss and bat first then you should be expecting to make a few more than that although good bowling by Graeme Swann, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad (who shared 8 wickets between them) ensured that England stood a good chance of getting a first innings lead.

Coming in to the game many people were wary of the form of Alistair Cook and Ian Bell and as of writing this they have both scored hundreds in our first innings and we are getting ever closer to a lead of 150. However if you look back at the history of test matches in Durban then you will see that generally on the 4th or 5th day the pitch is a batting pitch and therefore many people are already saying that a draw is on the cards here and without a doubt even with a lead of 200 it probably isn't going to favour England too much.

However saying that there are signs that the pitch is turning and without a doubt Graeme Swann will have a good chance to rip through the South Africans on the 5th day of the test match and maybe just maybe if we can get 250-300 ahead then maybe we could use Graeme Swann from one end and rotating the seamers from the other then possibly they could try and get a win on the last day.

Australia on the other hand have Shane Watson to thank because in their test match against Pakistan he has scored over 200 runs in his 2 innings and this has put Australia firmly on top and looking as though they are going to win that game, however there is a young 19 year old Pakistani batsman called Umar Akmal who looks a very good player and without a doubt is a talent to look out for in the future.

It has not been all good news in the world of cricket though as there was some bad scenes in the final One Day International between India and Sri Lanka when the game had to be abandoned after quite a few of the Sri Lankan batsmen were hit by balls that bounced sharply from nowhere and it was definitely a dangerous proposition playing against an Indian attack like that on a pitch that was trying to take your head off.

So with 5 sessions left in the England test match all eyes will be waiting to see if we can get a lead and then bowl them out before the time runs out.

Another First Test Saved

With the first test finally starting last Wednesday everyone was keen to see just how England (after a fantastic ashes series win this summer) would shape up against a good South Africa team out in South Africa. It was much the same as ever unfortunately with England struggling for large periods of the test and then collapsing when it looked like we would get a draw easily before the final pair combined to see out the last few overs.

It started well getting by winning the toss and asking them to bat first and things were looking up when Stuart Broad got Graeme Smith early but thanks to a Jacques Kallis century they managed to reach a decent score of 418 all out (definitely not what you want when you've won the toss and asked them to bat first). The only good bit of note was 5 wickets for Graeme Swann and 3 for Graham Onions.

Then came the first collapse with which we have long associated English batting and at 242-8 things were looking very good for the hosts and it seemed that it would only be a matter of time before South Africa wrapped up the innings. Enter Graeme Swann and Jimmy Anderson who shared a 9th wicket stand of 106 and thanks to a brilliant innings of 85 from 81 balls meant that England could get up to 356 all out.

After a fine start for England in the South African second innings where they were 46-4 a century from Hashim Amla allowed them to get up to 301-7 declared meaning that England had just over a full day to bat out and a target of just over 350 needed if they were to win the game and in the penultimate over of day 4 horror struck when captain Andrew Strauss was caught behind meaning that England then only had 9 wickets left with which to bat out the final day of the test match.

Things were going well though with a large century stand between Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen meant that at one point England were coasting to a draw and were 172-3 but as per usual England batsmen collapsed and they went from 172-3 to 218-9 in the space of about an hour. This meant that the final pair of Paul Collingwood and Graham Onions had to bat out the last few overs to save the match when in fact they should have easily made it to a draw but thankfully Graham Onions managed to keep out all 6 balls of the last over and a draw was salvaged.

The worrying thing is that with the next test starting on Boxing Day there are a few worries throughout the team with both Alistair Cook and Ian Bell short of runs and Stuart Broad still looking like he is unsure of what type of bowler he is. So as we head off to Durban for the next game we can only hope that they get the balance of the team right on what is going to be a tough match because generally they are very flat pitches in Durban.

Test Match starts tomorrow and India hit 400

With the first test match starting tomorrow there has only been limited opportunities for the boys to get match practise but what little play they have been able to get has shown some good signs with 6 out of the top 7 batsmen making at least 40, and the 2 who didn't reach 50 were both retired out meaning that they couldn't get there half century.

The best thing was that the bowlers also got some good time out in the middle honing their skills as in the first warm up match Graeme Swann took an incredible 6-55 and then the forgotten hero of 18 months ago Ryan Sidebottom took 5-42 in the second match, both of which comfortably ended in draws, and as they were only 2 days long you have to wonder why they didn't merge the 2 to at least make a warm up match that was 4 days long.

So with the team not being announced until tomorrow many people have been speculating on how they are going to go in to this test match as in whether they will play 6 batsmen and the wicketkeeper or if they will play Matt Prior as the 6th batsmen meaning that they can then play 4 seamers and a spinner. The obvious thing that this means is that Stuart Broad will have to bat at number 7 and there are lots of people that are unsure whether or not he is ready for this.

The one other option that they have is to have Matt Prior bat at number 6 and use Luke Wright to bat at number 7 as he is a better batsmen than Stuart Broad and can also bowl some good medium pace seam bowling at around 85mph. This could be the option that they choose to go because obviously this will strengthen the batting whilst also maintaining that we have 5 bowlers that can be used.

Back to the here and now though and I was most surprised to turn on the TV this morning and see that in the One Day International series the Indians had batted first and made a fantastic 414-7 off their 50 overs with Sehwag, Dhoni and Tendulkar all making good runs and despite the fact that this is almost always good enough to be a winning score with 29 overs gone the Sri Lankans are 233-1 and well on course to chase down this large total.

So until next week when my blog will be about the first test and also whether or not Sri Lanka manage to chase down that mammoth total.

Indians become the number 1 team in the world

So with the first test between South Africa and England not starting until the 16th December and the last One Day International being rained off, giving England a 2-1 Series win, all eyes turned to the games between India and Sri Lanka and Australia vs West Indies.

If India won then they would become the top rated team in the world at Test Cricket and thanks to an innings of absolute brilliance from Sehwag where he scored an amazing 293 from just 254 balls (including 40 boundaries and 7 maximums). Combine that with a score of 100 not out from captain MS Dhoni and India posted a formidable first innings score of 726 for 9 declared in response to Sri Lankas first innings of 393.

So with Sri Lanka having to get 334 to make India bat again the odds were heavily stacked in the home teams favour and despite a battling 137 from Kumar Sangakarra they fell all out for 309 and lost by an innings and 24 runs. This means that India should end 2009 sitting on top of the rest as the number one team in the world, although that could all change after South Africa and England have played with a good win for South Africa will surely propel them back to the top of the rankings.

Elsewhere in Australia the West Indies were trying to prove that they were still a team to be reckoned with after losing the first test. It seemed to be going their way after a brilliant 104 from Dwayne Bravo and 92 from Brendan Nash meant they posted a competitive 451 but after an opening stand of 174 Australia fought back and ended their first innings just 12 runs behind on 439 all out, so it was over to the second innings to see if one team could strike a telling blow into the other.

Enter Chris Gayle who batted all the way through day 4 and by scoring a magnificent 165 not out set the Australians a target of 330 to win on the last day. They never looked likely to chase that down as they slipped to 139-5 but Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin added an unbeaten 73 to see the Australians safely to a draw. It was good to see that the West Indies weren't blown away as they were in the first test and hopefully they may be able to put forward a good team in the near future that can challenge the top teams out there.

England 2-1 Up and Indians on Fire

Over in South Africa the tour continues and after a heavy loss last Friday England bounced back in top fashion with a comfortable win in the 4th One Day International to lead the series 2-1 (1 game having been rained out) and now they cannot lose the series and only have to avoid defeat in the final game this Friday to ensure a series win in South Africa which will be very good especially as we won on home soil last time we played them as well.

The hero of the piece this time was James Anderson who took a fantastic 5-23 off his 10 overs and still insisted that he had bowled better before, but whether or not that was true England seemed to take heart in losing the toss and being asked to bowl on what was definitely a flat pitch and one where a good total should have been 240 or 260 runs whereas South Africa could only manage a pitiful 119, although credit must go to Alvaro Petersen who made his third half century in a row and was the only batsmen in green that could deal with the conditions.

Elsewhere out in India the hosts showed just how good test cricket should be played by racking up a score of 642 and then bowling Sri Lanka out for 229 and 269 to win by an innings and 144 runs, in an extraordinary match where the Indians were in total control with hundreds from Ghambir, Sehwag and Dravid added to with half centuries from Laxman and Yuvraj before a brilliant spell of 5-75 from Sreesanth really forced home the advantage before the Indian spinners came into their own on a pitch that was taking quite a bit of turn by the end of it and finished it off.

Out in Australia the hosts easily won their first test match against the West Indies where a team effort and 5 half centuries saw the team claw their way up to 480-8 declared including a maiden half century for spinner Nathan Hauritz before they bowled out their opponents for just 228 and 187 to win the test with an innings and 2 days to spare. The only good note for the West Indies was the emergence of opening batsmen Adrian Barath who at the age of 19 and on his debut managed to score 104 of his teams 187 runs and definitely offers hope for the future for the West Indies a team that is still trying to get back to their best after a strange few years.

Paul Collingwood: The Unspoken Hero

This past weekend Paul Collingwood became the highest capped England Player passing Alec Stewart's record of 170 caps and what a way to do it, by scoring an unbeaten century, taking a couple of wickets and an outstanding catch (although I suppose the last one was nothing new because he seems to have made a career out of breathtaking catches).

It was a weird kind of game with England bowling first and bowling well for a change and restricting South Africa to 250-9 with both Paul Collingwood and Jonathan Trott bowling brilliantly with a combined set of figures of 13-0-45-2. Unfortunately for Trott the skipper was on bad form with his catching mitts dropping 3 chances, including 2 of the easiest catches that I have ever seen which cost him his first International Wicket.

When it came to chasing down the total it was the same 2 of Collingwood and Trott combining for a 3rd wicket partnership of 162 with Paul Collingwood finishing unbeaten on 105 and Jonathan Trott just missing out on a maiden One Day International Century after falling for a composed 87 before Eoin Morgan came in and finished the job off.

So with the next game on Friday and England 1-0 up it will be interesting to see if they can keep this good run of form going or if they will go back to their usual of 1 good game followed by 1 poor game. However we can always hope that we will be able to challenge the South Africans not only in this series but also in the Test Match Series that follows after.

Elsewhere in India it's the second match of the Test Series between them and Sri Lanka, and after the first one petered out in to a draw where almost 1600 runs where scored for the loss of just 21 wickets over the 5 days we were hopeful that we would get a pitch where a result would be possible but shortly after tea on Day One India where 366-1 which doesn't hold out much hope for the next 4 days.

20/20 Cricket at its best

The 2 game Twenty/20 Series between South Africa and England didn't really tell us anything about who would be top dog come the One Day International Series or the Test Series but it was definitely fun, and it appeared to be raining 6's both at Johannesburg and Centurion.

First game and England posted a pretty good 202 with a sublime innings of 85 from Mr Morgan (he who used to play for Ireland you may remember) including an incredible shot where he flicked it over his head and over the keepers head for 6. Of course England largely have the rain to thank for their win as South Africa seemed to be well on their way to chasing that total down and were clearing the ropes enough times on their own, which of course meant the dancers never got a rest.

So England went into game 2 in the series confident but with Alistair Cook captaining the side as Paul Collingwood was out with a bad back, but we did have the returning Kevin Pietersen to boost our hopes. Those hopes soon vanished as the opening pair combined to put on 170 and in total they hit 17 maximums in their mammoth total of 241-6 and as Englands highest ever 20/20 score was the 202 they made in the previous game they never looked threatened. The only real positive note was a good half century from Jonathan Trott although at one point with Trott and Pietersen out batting together all 13 players on the field were born in South Africa.

So with Injuries running through the squad: Paul Collingwood (back), Stuart Broad (Shoulder) and James Anderson (Knee) and the One Day International Series starting on Friday, and the bowlers trying to recover from the pasting they received in the 20/20's (mahmood 4 overs for 61 and Rashid 1 over for 25) it's shaping up to be a good competitive series.

Elsewhere there were hundreds for Rahul Dravid, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Tillakaratne Dilshan in the match between India and Sri Lanka with Dravid playing a brilliant innings of 177 after his side had collapsed to 32-4.

Whingers, Whiners...oh and some cricket as well

I turned on the TV the other day to see that an interview with Stuart Broad was taking place and since he has always been someone that I have admired I figured that i'd check it out and see what he had to say, unfortunately he chose to use the interview as a place to moan, bitch and basically whinge about how much cricket they are playing and how much it was impacting on them.

Now usually I just turn the TV off if something like that happens to be on my screen but as Stuart Broad is someone that I admire I wanted to listen and see just what he was saying and it was along the lines of that if he was to continue playing the amount of cricket that they are playing now then in 5 years time (at the age of 28) he will be totally burnt out and his career will be over.

Now there are a few things that I don't agree with there, firstly he is currently 23 years old and between now and the time he reaches 30 he is supposed to be in peak condition and at the height of his fitness, throw in all of the money he makes from playing for England, including all of his sponsorship deals and various outings that earn him money then I don't see what he's whinging about.

Compare that and the amount of work he has to undertake compared to someone that works a full 40-50 hour week on minimum wage and we see exactly where the professional cricketers have it so hard (note the sarcasm). I mean i work a 45 hour week and I for one would give my right arm to be in the England Cricket Team no matter how much that meant I had to practise and play cricket and fulfill duties to the team and sponsors and stuff (I mean it might be hard for me to bat or bowl without my right arm but I'd still give it a go haha)

Elsewhere there was an Indian collapse of English proportions when they slipped to 170 all out in the 6th One Day International and ended up losing the game and the series as the Aussies took an unassailable 4-2 lead. In other action there was heartbreak for Pakistan players as chasing a total of 211 they slumped to 101-9 before a last wicket stand of 103 got them just 7 runs away from the New Zealand total before they lost their last wicket, and you have to wonder whether they would have rather lost by 100 runs than to get so close and then lose.

With the England vs South Africa series starting Friday with the first 20/20 Internationals there was wins for both teams in their warm up games with Andrew Strauss in particular looking in fantastic form with 189 runs under his belt in just the 2 warm up games. So lets hope that he carries that form on and gives the Saffers a taste of their own medicine in the upcoming battle.

The squad has arrived in South Africa

The England squad has arrived in South Africa ahead of their winter tour and the days are now counting down before the first clash on the 13th November and with England taking 2 players that were born in South Africa along with them we could be in for a feisty series with all eyes on how Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott will handle themselves.

The talk has already started with former England Captain Michael Vaughan stating that he saw Jonathan Trott celebrating the South Africans win in their Test Series against England just last year despite the fact that the week before up at Headingley Trott had been the England 12th man, of course this prompted Mr Trott to come out and defend himself by saying that he only said well played to Paul Harris as they were old friends and at no point did he celebrate with the South African players but merely congratulated Paul Harris on his performance as he was leaving England after that game and Trott knew that he wouldn't see him again in a long time.

So with South Africa being the number 1 test side in the world (although they don't want to try to ram that down our throat too much, apart from all the advertisments on sky) and at home it seems that it will be a tough test for England but I believe that they do have a good chance and with odds of 7/2 at some bookmakers (for an England Test Series win) something that i've already put a £10 bet on because England are a good side and I think that we have the talent to go there and do well.

Elsewhere in the world of cricket a good One Day International Series is currently taking place in India between them and Australia and is currently deadlocked 2-2 after the first 4 games (a far cry from a few months ago when Australia were 4-0 up against England). The series has also produced one of the best Batting performances in a long time when Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored a brilliant 124 off just 107 balls as India posted a record total of 354 against Australia in the 3rd game of the series. So with all to play for in the last 3 games of the series i'm very much looking forward to the cricket still to be played in that one.

Finally, news just in that Zimbabwe have been bowled out for just 44 in their game vs Bangladesh and then proceeeded to take 4 wickets themselves before Bangladesh limped over the line to win by 6 wickets. With games of this magnitude going on you have to wonder why there aren't more games for the likes of The Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland who could certainly perform well enough against the likes of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

The Week in Cricket

Well this week has been quite a quiet one in the world of cricket with only a few things to talk about but they are exciting things that are to be talked about including the return home of Marcus Trescothick, the big question of who is going to sign Matthew Hoggard up for next Season and of course the Champions League Twenty/20 is reaching its conclusion.

Firstly it was no surprise when I turned on my TV and saw that Marcus Trescothick had succumbed to the same mental injury that had forced him to retire from International Cricket and unfortunately he has now said that he will never go abroad again to tour with cricket. This really was no surprise as if he couldn't do it for his Country why did they think he would be able to leave his family here and go back to India with his county? although in the end it didn't matter much as Somerset won just once and were soon knocked out of the competition as their batsmen failed game after game.

Next came the departure, from Yorkshire, of Matthew Hoggard (former Ashes winning England Bowler) and after a bitter battle of words between both the player and his former county all yes have now turned to see just which county is going to stump up the wages and the length of contract that Matthew wants, with Leicestershire already said to have offered him a 3 year deal. This is a shame for both Hoggard and Yorkshire though as he had previously played for only them throughout his whole career but it appears that they just did not have the financial means to offer him a good enough contract.

Finally the inaugural Twenty20 Cricket Champions League is beginning to draw to a close with one of the finalists already decided and the other one being decided today and then progressing to tomorrows final. Already in the final are the New South Wales Blues (who have the likes of Simon Katich, David Warner, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Phil Hughes in their side) and they will surely be favourites to win the title, but should face some stiff competition in the final where they will meet the winners of today's clash between Trinidad and Tobago Vs Cape Cobras.

So until next week lets hope that the Aussies don't win the Champions League and i know that I for one am hoping that Trinidad and Tobago can upset the odds :)

England Tour to South Africa

So after a long summer of cricket that included the Ashes Test Series, the Hectic 7 match One Day Series between Australia and England and then the ICC Champions Trophy tournament England will be hopping on a plane and jetting off to South Africa for a long tour that will last from the 1st November to the 18th January.

The squads were announced back earlier this month and there were a few surprises in both squads with Liam Plunkett and Luke Wright being included in the Test Squad and also Sajid Mahmood and Alastair Cook being included again in the One Day format of the game, the full squads are below:

Test squad: Andrew Strauss (Middlesex - captain), Alastair Cook (Essex - vice captain), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Steven Davies (Surrey), Graham Onions (Durham), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Liam Plunkett (Durham), Matt Prior (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex).

One-day squad: Andrew Strauss (Middlesex - captain), James Anderson (Lancashire), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Alastair Cook (Essex), Joe Denly (Kent), Sajid Mahmood (Lancashire), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Graham Onions (Durham), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Matt Prior (Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex).

So what i'm going to look at is my 2 sides that would play from these squads if they all remain fit and explain why I have chosen the 2 sides.

Test Team
1 - Andrew Strauss
2 - Alastair Cook
3 - Ian Bell
4 - Kevin Pietersen
5 - Jonathan Trott
6 - Matthew Prior
7 - Luke Wright
8 - Stuart Broad
9 - Graeme Swann
10 - Jimmy Anderson
11 - Graham Onions

The reason I have gone with the above team is because I think that Ian Bell although not always performed at his best is easily one of the technically best batsmen in the world and let us not forget the magical 199 he got last time he played the South Africans and for me Trott is a better pick than Paul collingwood who has barely scored any runs in the Ashes and can no longer do a good enough job at number 5. The only other place in dispute is the number 7 spot and I would go for Luke Wright as he is young, a good striker of the cricket ball and bowls at a brisk pace and can be a handy back up for the other 3 main seamers.

One Day Team
1 - Andrew Strauss
2 - Joe Denly
3 - Ian Bell
4 - Kevin Pietersen
5 - Paul Collingwood
6 - Eoin Morgan
7 - Matthew Prior
8 - Luke Wright
9 - Stuart Broad
10 - Graeme Swann
11 - Jimmy Anderson

I have gone for the above team as you have the longer batting order and if you were worried about the bowling you could exchange Luke Wright for Tim Bresnan however i think that in the One Day format then you should have enough bowlers especially if you were willing to use Kevin Pietersen as a part time spinner as he does turn the ball a lot.

I am sure that these above teams will not be the ones that walk out to the middle to start the series but in my opinion if the England management want to be seen to be making a go at competing in the One Day arena as well as the Test arena then they have to make changes from the past series that have gone and the above team could well do that.

Australia Retain their Trophy and England Fluff it Again

Well the England cricket team seems to enjoy making us think that they could actually become a good One Day team, just to then throw in a ridiculously poor performance and get knocked out of the competition despite beating both the pre-tournament favourites of Sri Lanka and South Africa.

It all started badly against New Zealand as we lost the last group game which meant that we would have to face the Winners of the other group and after Australia beat Pakistan in their last group match it meant that after a 7 match series, which we lost 6-1, again we had to face Australia.

On a pitch that was supposed to be the best batting pitch of the whole tournament England won the toss and batted first and after a poor start reached 100 for the loss of 6 wickets, only Tim Bresnan and Luke Wright managed to get any runs and in the end we could only muster a score of 257 All Out, Bresnan the highest scorer with a composed knock of 80 of 76 balls.

Hope was there as Graeme Onions removed Tim Paine in the first over but from then on it was all Australia as both Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting hit centuries as they chased down the target finishing on 258-1 with over 8 overs to spare. In the other Semi Final things were a lot closer as New Zealand edged out Pakistan by 5 wickets to progress through and meet Australia in the final.

The final again was a one sided affair with New Zealand posting a meagre 200-9 off their 50 overs with Australia chasing it down whilst losing only 4 wickets, with Shane Watson again the hero hitting 4 maximums in a brilliant innings of 105 Not Out off 129 balls, although he was dropped by Wicket Keeper Brendan McCullum when he was on just 15 which could have made all the difference.

So that brings us to a break in the Cricket Season with the next England game being the tour to South Africa which starts on the 20th November with the First One Day International, but I will still be blogging and next week we will be looking at the winners and losers of the County Cricket Season 2009.

WOW: England show that they can play cricket

I may have to stop making predictions on England's cricket performances as for some reason whenever I say that they are going to lose they seem to respond. Firstly at 4-0 down to Australia I said that I thought they would lose every game and the series 7-0, they then went on and won the 7th game to lose the series 6-1, then just last week I said that they would lose every game at the ICC Champions Trophy before the promptly beat Sri Lanka and then knocked out the host South Africa just a few days later to qualify for the semi finals.

It is the game against South Africa that I want to focus on today as I thought it was a fantastic game and really underlines just how good 50 over cricket can be and why we as fans of the sport need it. So with Andrew Strauss and Graeme Smith walking out to the middle to do the toss in front of a large South African crowd and everyone was saying that whoever won the toss would have to bat first on a pitch that was full of runs.

So England won the toss and batted first and after a mediocre opening stand both the openers were back in the dressing room with the score on 59-2 and it looked as if we could once again fail to use a brilliant batting wicket, until Owais Shah was joined in the middle by Paul Collingwood and the 2 combined to put on a stand of 163 at just over a run per ball. What was good about this was not the amount of runs that were scored but the manner in which they were scored. One of the main criticisms of England over the past few years is that they haven't cleared the boundary enough but within this partnership was 7 maximums of which Shah hit 6 of them and it was unfortunate for all of us when he departed for a brilliant 98.

That dismissal however only bought Eoin Morgan to the crease and what happened next was the stuff of legend as he elevated the score from 222-3 to 323-8 at the end of the innings with himself clearing the rope 5 times in a brilliant 67 off just 34 balls, although it was a shame that his strike rate fell just under the 200 mark. But with his late impetus, especially in the powerplay overs we were able to post a score of over 300, a score that England had never before been able to defend.

so with 323 on the board England came out feeling pretty confident but a fantastic innings of 141 from Graeme Smith almost threatened to snatch the victory from England but with wickets falling regularly at the other end (the next highest South African score was 36 from AB De Villiers) and 3 wickets each for both Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson South Africa eventually finished on 301-9 and they were out of the competition.

So with England qualifying for the semi finals thanks to New Zealands win against Sri Lanka it means the last game of the group, England vs New Zealand, will only determine who joins them in the Semi Finals with both New Zealand and Sri Lanka still able to make it. So with England already through and both Pakistan and Australia looking as if they will qualify from the other group I hereby predict that England will not win another game in the competition and definitely will not make it through to the final (lets hope I'm wrong again).

The Champions Trophy in South Africa

I want to first start this blog with an admission that I was wrong, get used to it I don't admit that I was wrong often, last week I predicted that England would lose the One-Day series to Australia 7-0, however in the last game of the series they managed to scrape a win and eventually only lost the series 6-1 (a huge comfort to all England supporters I am sure)

So back to business, yesterday I settled down in front of the TV to watch the first game of the 2009 Champions Trophy and I was hoping for a classic match, full of entertainment and between the 2 big favourites to win the competition outright: South Africa (the hosts) and Sri Lanka. On paper they both have very good sides but what we actually saw was a one-sided encounter that was oddly reminiscent of England getting thrashed by Australia just a few days ago.

Firstly Sri Lankas batting was magnificent to behold with Tillekeratne Dilshan continuing his fine International form with a quickfire 106 off just 92 balls. The other 2 main contributors were Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jayawardene who both hit 50's in a huge total of 319 - 8 off 50 overs which amazingly only included two 6's. Unfortunately where there is a lot of runs and individual high scores there is always a bowler whose figures look very bad and yesterday was a bad day for young Wayne Parnell who took 10-0-79-3, with all 3 of his wickets coming in his last 2 overs.

So with such a huge total to chase down all eyes turned to the South African batting line up and what a good line up it was full of quality players such as Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, AB De Villiers and Mark Boucher. This was one batting line up that you thought might actually have a chance of chasing down such a total, however it wasn't to be with Graeme Smith making the only 50 in their innings and a batting collapse seeing them go from 90-1 to 113-4. A lot has to be said about Ajantha Mendis's spin bowling as even though he has been around 18 months now people still cannot pick him and are still unsure of what ball he is bowling which is why he finished with such good figures of 7-0-30-3.

However in the end it was the rain that had the final say as Sri Lanka won by 55 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method and Sri Lanka registered the first win of the tournament. Unfortunately for England these 2 are definitely the best teams in the competition and as they are both in our group I don't see us winning a game unless we can sneak one against New Zealand who themselves are a very good One-Day International team.

So with 1 game down and another 14 to go, and the prospect of Pakistan vs West Indies later today, I must bid you goodbye.

Mid September with Rain Around

So with 2 weeks left to go of the English Cricket Season pretty much every competition would have been settled by now with the exception of who is going to top the Pro 40 Championship of course and Durham having wrapped up back to back County Championship titles for the first time in their history mainly without Paul Collingwood and Graham Onions for long periods of the year as they were both away on international duty with England.

And talking of England, with 3 games to play in their One Day International Series against Australia they are already 4-0 down and don't look as if they could beat Kenya convincingly at the moment. Which is exactly what everyone else seemed to think would happen when both Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff came down with injuries, and the fact that England have already won the ashes can't be helping them put in their best performances.

But with the darkness of winter coming and the rain already flooding my local pitch my attention is turning to the champions trophy which starts in 7 days time and will feature the best 8 sides in the world (so i don't know how England are playing in it) as they do battle to become the champions of 50 over cricket. With England having to play South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in their group they must be wondering how on earth a team that has looked so outclassed against Australia can face 2 of the best 3 teams in the country and be expected to take at least 2 wins out of those 3 games to get through to the Semi Finals.

So in about a months time i predict that we would not have won a single One Day international against Australia (I won't predict 7-0 because of the weather that is currently around with the 5th match starting later today) and also that we lose all 3 games in the Champions Trophy. Maybe once this has happened and people begin to realise that we are far far away from being a top side in International One Day cricket.

Until then I've just bought a new cricket bat (Newbery Gt335) so that I have plenty of time to knock it in before next season comes around and I really must get back to hitting it with the ball on a stick I got with it, I can't really be bothered to do it but maybe if I teach myself to spend 2 minutes on it every time England face a dot ball in their remaining One Day matches then it will soon be sufficiently knocked in.

Winter is coming and the bails are off

After a long summer, and definitely not a barbecue one, the cricket season has entered its final month and after winning the ashes back from the Australians the England team have put in some lacklustre performances in the One-Day arena and now find themselves 2-0 down with 5 more to play. Yes I know what you are saying, 7 One-Day Internationals at the end of a long summer when we've already won the ashes, yes even my thoughts are not entirely on this series.

What I cannot understand is that we appear to have a world class One-Day squad and yet we consistently find ourselves struggling to compete with the top teams from around the world and I believe that it shows up just how much of a gap there is between One-Day Internationals and One Day County Cricket. We have what is regarded as the second best County Set-Up in the world (second only to Australia) and yet the people we are producing and bringing through seem to struggle to step up when they are up against really class teams such as Australia, South Africa, India and Sri Lanka (currently the 4 teams above us in the ICC One-Day Rankings.)

Players such as Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright have been outstanding for their counties this year, both in County Championship and One-Day games, and yet they seem to find the step up to the international arena a big one with Ravi failing in the Ashes Series and Luke Wright having some problems with his batting when faced with the likes of Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson running in hard. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of pure pace bowlers in County Standard Cricket, apart from Saj Mahmood at Lancashire and a few of the Durham Bowlers there are not enough bowlers that can get the ball up to the magic 90mph mark and even less people that can do it consistently meaning that when the step up is taken the players end up facing quicker than they have done before and maybe just being found out a bit by the world class bowlers bowling to them.

So my plan would be to crank up the bowling machines and get the boys used to facing extreme pace of 90mph or more because they are definitely going to need it this winter when they are out in South Africa for their 4 Test Match and 5 One-Day International tour later this year, and with people like Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell bowling at 90+ the boys that want to be on that touring party had better get used to facing this and get used to batting normally against it and more importantly scoring big runs. If they can do that then just maybe we can continue the good work in the Test Arena and maybe start to become a good One-Day Team.

For now I have about 4 hours to kill until the 3rd One-Dayer between England and Australia and I may just go and take a nap before the start. Come on England!!

All hail Sir Freddie!!

What a morning, what a spell and more importantly what a test match. After a nail biting draw in Cardiff where last pair Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar managed to survive 10 overs to hang on all the momentum seemed to be with Australia and it all came down to the toss and who would get first use of a very good lords pitch with no cloud cover and the ball not doing anything.

Well thankfully for us Andrew Strauss won the toss and at 196-0 midway through the first day it seemed that England were All over their counterparts however after a usual England batting collapse it was left to the England last pair to put on 47 and manage to get England up to a respectable but nowhere near enough 425, or so the pundits where saying that it wasn't enough.

Come the end of the Australian first innings though and even the most pessimistic of English cricket fans could have been forgiven for getting their hopes up as we lead by over 200 runs and could have enforced the follow on but of course Straussy chose to bat again and that looked to be a good choice as the England openers raced onto 57-0 at lunch on day 3 and the lead was increasing. What followed was one of the strangest bits of test match cricket I have ever seen where Ravi Bopara (27 runs off 93 balls) and Kevin Peitersen (44 off 101) really struggled against some fairly average bowling and almost handed all momentum back to Australia. Enter Prior, Collingwood and Flintoff who with a quick 145 runs between them set Australia a mammoth total of over 500 to chase down.

Things were going swimmingly when Australia were reduced to 128-5 and thoughts turned to the win and maybe even having the final day off, yeah not likely. Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin proceeded to put on 185 runs to get them up to 313-5 at the start of the last day. They say cometh the hour and cometh the man and this hour was Freddie Flintoff's and his hostile, accurate and rapid spell that accounted for the wickets of Haddin, Hauritz and Siddle soon saw the Australians bowled out for 206 and England had beaten the Australians by 115 runs.

So with this being Andrew Flintoff's final test match series what a better way for him to depart than with his first 5 wicket haul at lords for England and a place forever on the honour boards for that magnificent spell of bowling late Sunday and early Monday morning. So with 2 tests down England lead 1-0 and with 3 more to play can Ricky ponting become known as the captain that lost the ashes twice to England in 2 away ashes tours? We shall see.

The Ashes Approaches

Ok so we are finally here, just 1 sleep away from the ashes and the cricketing world has received a shock with Brett Lee being ruled out for the 1st test definitely and possibly even the 2nd test aswell with a rib injury.

England on the other hand go into the series with a fit group of 13 players where it has already been assumed that Ian Bell is a backup batsman and will only play should any of the other batsmen get injured or possibly later on in the series if Paul Collingwood or Ravi Bopara have a bad run of games and they need replacing.

Which means that the only contention in the England ranks is who will take to the field for the 1st test tomorrow morning at Cardiff between Graham Onions and Monty Panesar. With the everybody that has been interviewed about the pitch over the last week seemingly not having a clue as to what the pitch will actually do it looks like being a very last minute decision, however surely with Australia only having a mediocre spin bowler in Nathan Hauritz then the way to go would have been to prepare a turning pitch and then pick 2 spinners and spin the Australians out.

With Brett Lee injured it looks like the pace attack from Australia could become Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Stuart Clark however if they choose to go for an all out pace attack and leave Nathan Hauritz on the bench then Ben Hilfenhaus could also play.

So with the weather settling into sunshine and showers across the UK and with both teams already in Cardiff this series is almost here, now we just have to hope that its as good as the 2005 Ashes and that England can win them back after a poor showing in Australia when we lost them 5-0. So until next time come on England lets teach those Aussies a lesson in test matches in English conditions and reverse swing them out!! :)

Pakistan World Champions and Ashes Taining Squad Announced

So a week can be a long time in the sporting world and I must first start with my apologies as last week in my blog I stated that it would definitely be either Sri Lanka or South Africa that won the Twenty/20 World Cup and of course as cricket followers will know it was the mighty Pakistan that beat both of the tournament favourites to lift the trophy.

Pakistan, who of course were beaten by England in the Group Stages, beat South Africa in the Semi Finals and then Sri Lanka in the final with both games. Shahid Afridi was the star of both matches for Pakistan scoring over 100 runs and taking 3 key wickets in the two games. A player that definitely peaked at exactly the right time and allowed the Pakistanis to win the trophy and dedicate it to their former coach Bob Woolmer who sadly died during the 2007 World Cup.

Elsewhere there was better news for England in the women's game as they England Ladies team beat New Zealand in the final of the Women's World Twenty20 competition to make them double world champions after capturing the 50 over World Cup earlier this year. They did not have it all their own way though as in the Semi Finals Australia made a formidable 163 from their 20 overs only to see England knock the runs off, whilst losing only 2 wickets, with 3 balls to spare. Following those 2 big cup wins they are surely now a candidate for Sports Personality Team of the Year.

Elsewhere the Ashes Training Squad was announced yesterday and there weren't really any surprises this time, unlike 4 years ago when England called up a young Kevin Pietersen to replace Graham Thorpe. This time both Michael Vaughan and Steve Harmison were left out of the squad, as Michael Vaughan has not scored big runs in the county game so far this year and Steve Harmison has been outclassed by his Durham colleague Graham Onions. There is still a lot of time and cricket to be played and we cannot rule out these two performers from playing some part in the ashes but as of right now they have a lot of work to do with their counties first.

The big talking point of the squad was the fact that Ian Bell was called back in to the reckoning after a solid start to the season with Warwickshire and has scored consistently well averaging 64.50 after 7 matches. Although with the number 3 spot supposedly wrapped up with Ravi Bopara maybe the best way that he can get into the Ashes 11 is by taking Paul Collingwoods place and moving back down the order to bat at number 5.

With the weather gorgeous and the Wimbledon coverage starting on the telly I must bid you goodbye and hope that you enjoyed this weeks blog, so until next week I bid you farewell.

England out of the World 20/20 Tournament

So it's that time again, the day after the night before. Yesterday evening saw England crash out of the World 20/20 championships at the hands of the West Indies, a team which over the last few months England have beaten repeatedly.

It all started in early May where England proceeded to beat the West Indies in 2 test matches, 2 One Day Internationals and even a 20/20 World Cup warm up match. So little then did we know that they would eventually be the team that saw us exit the World 20/20 tournament just one win short of a place in the semi finals.

So in my blog today i'm going to look at and try to explain just why England looked so out of their depth at times during this tournament. The opening partnership of Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright was a breath of fresh air and when it clicked we looked very good, unfortunately (especially in 20/20) this doesn't happen all the time and we are thankful that we have Kevin Pietersen coming in at number 3 to steady the ship when we do lose an early wicket.

However it is after this that the innings falls down and a 4/5/6 of Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood and either Dimitri Mascarenhas or James Foster was clearly not good enough. This was evident in our loss to the West Indies as for almost 9 overs we did not hit a boundary and it was only Stuart Broads 4 and 6 off the last 2 balls of the innings that propelled us to anything like a par score on that pitch. So when you have Eoin Morgan and Graham Napier sitting on the bench it is rather hard to understand just why we couldn't find the boundary.

The wicket keeping position should definately not be in question as anyone that watched James Fosters stumpings of either Yuvraj Singh or Dwayne Bravo can clearly testify that he is the best gloveman in the country and that is what you need when every run is vital. Both of those batsmen thought they were safe until they lifted their feet to help find their balances and by then James Foster had already whipped the bails off in the blink of an eye.

The bowling unit was a good one and after the pace of Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom (yes even he reached almost 90mph at times!) the spin of both Graeme Swann and Adil Rashid was introduced and this worked well for large periods with both guys getting good turn and showing good variations. The contribution of the part timers as well can not be underestimated here with people like Luke Wright, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Paul collingwood all bowling good effective overs at some point throughout the competition.

So the Twenty/20 cup is over for us English and our attentions now turn to the waiting Australians and the Ashes contest that faces us this summer, but the Twenty/20 Tournament is still rolling and with South Africa and Sri Lanka the 2 hot favourites all eyes in the cricketing world will turn towards Lords on the 21st June for the final of this short but sweet tournament.

Until then readers stay safe and remember you can't get fitter than a switch hit hitter!!

The Group Stages of the 20/20 World Cup

So with the group stages of the Twenty/20 World Cup finishing today and the final 8 teams already decided I bring to you a tale of shocks, sixes, poor fielding and Minnows beating cricketing nations.

One of the biggest shocks came on the opening day when the Netherlands (yes they do play cricket) beat hosts England on the final ball. After a poor batting display and average bowling display Netherlands were left needing 7 off the final over bowled by Stuart Broad, and with Broady missing the stumps with an attempted run out off the final ball, the dutch scraped the 2 that they needed to win and hosts England were left humiliated.

Not long after Chris Gayle blazed 88 from just 50-odd balls to ensure that the West Indies beat Australia and with Sri Lanka also beating Australia fairly comfortably it means that the Australians are out at the first hurdle and Ricky Ponting and his men must now face 2 weeks in Leicester before the summers main event of the ashes can begin, well they do say any holiday is better than no holiday.

So attention turned to The Oval last Sunday and England needing a good win against Pakistan to ensure that they were into the final eight. Well good news straight away with Kevin Pietersen being declared fit and the England management taking the brave step of playing 2 spinners. After a good batting display which saw Luke Wright, Owais Shah and KP all make at least 30 England clawed their way to 185-5 off their 20 overs, and in reply Pakistan never got going with Stuart Broad taking 3-17 and they eventually limped to 137-7, ensuring that England were through to the super eight stage, a big relief to all concerned. Pakistan however did manage to beat The Netherlands convincingly and will join England in the final 8.

Elsewhere there was another shock in the group containg India, Bangladesh and Ireland. Bangladesh and Ireland both lost to India to ensure that the Defending Champions go through but then the sahock occurred as Ireland turned over a dismal Bangladesh side to ensure that they were the only associate side to make it through and with the big hitting O'Brien batsmen seemingly on form could they make any more shocks in the next part of the tournament?

Things ran a lot more smoothly elsewhere though as in the group between South Africa, New Zealand and Scotland the associated side lost both their games despite one of them being reduced to just 7 overs per side (a game which really could go either way). Special mention must be made here of South Africa who have looked a very good side batting, bowling and fielding and are worthy of the favourites tag that they have been given.

With the final 8 teams now decided: England, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India and West Indies, there is everything to play for and in just over a week one of these teams will be crowned the World Champions of Twenty/20 Cricket (and for the record my money is on South Africa).

The 20/20 World Cup

So this Friday, England and Netherlands meet at Lords to open the World Twenty/20 and with the loveliest of weather that we have been having lately and the warm up games that have been going on lately the countries cricket fans are turning towards this tournament featuring the World's best and greatest teams.

Between the 5th and 21st June 16 teams will battle it out, firstly to win their group and then to move on to face the other group winners for a place in the final and hopefully the term "World Champions".

Group A: India, Bangladesh, Ireland
Group B: Pakistan, England, Netherlands
Group C: Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies
Group D: New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland

With the groups looking like they do (above) we can see that India should have the easiest passage out of their groups whereas "New Zealand vs South Africa" and "Australia vs Sri Lanka" are going to be fascinating group stage games with the winners going a step closer to the Super Eights stage and the losers maybe not making them.

After the last World Twenty/20 where India beat Pakistan in the final to become World Champions i'm sure that we can all lookg forward to a brilliant tournament and lets hope that the home team England can progress further than they were able to go last time now they are on their own soil.

Australia Ashes Squad Announce

So its back to that time again when every England and Australian cricket fan start biting their nails in anticipation of the battle ahead that will lead to the victors gaining crickets most prestigious prize: The Ashes.

Australia has announced a surprising squad in some ways, with All Rounder Andrew McDonald being preferred over Andrew Symonds. This has been debated for a long time now whether or not a person who has repeatedly violated the Cricket Australia code of conduct should be given the honour of playing for his country and now it appears his previous misdemeanours may have counted against him in his race for the ashes squad.

In 2008 Symonds was sent back to Queensland after missing a team meeting before a game to go fishing and was also fined heavily and reprimanded after calling New Zealand Wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum “a piece of s**t” and said that he loved to have dinner with team mate Matthew Hayden because he could look at Hayden’s wife.

It also appears that Cricket Australia has decided to go in a new younger direction than in previous years as this squad will feature 11 players who will be making their first ashes tour and one uncapped player in Wicketkeeper Graham Manou who will be providing the cover for first choice keeper Brad Haddin.

One player for Australia who everybody’s eye will be on is young Australian opening batsman Phillip Hughes who burst onto the scenes with over 400 runs in 3 test matches against South Africa and has been playing for Middlesex since the county season began and has scored almost 900 runs in 13 innings, and from an English perspective lets hope he doesn’t keep that up throughout the ashes.

So with the rain beginning to stop and the summer rolling on cricket fans everywhere are turning their attention to the debuting stadium in Cardiff that will not only hold its first Ashes Test Match but its first Test Match ever. So bring on the sun and bring on the Australians as all eyes focus on the SWALEC Stadium and the opening day of the 2009 Ashes Series on the 8th July 2009.