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 :)
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
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.
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.
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