Ridiculous ICC World Twenty20 Squad
Well, the preliminary squad for the Twenty20 World Cup was announced yesterday, and as I predicted yesterday there are some names in there that shouldn’t be anywhere near the England side. I don’t really know where to start, but I’m going to try and not get too worked up about it as half of the squad will be discarded before the tournament starts.
I think I also have such a problem that this squad resembles nothing like the team that played against the West Indies a couple of weeks ago in a Twenty20 game. Their argument then was that the one day players are good enough to adapt to the shorter game and they were the best players then – so what exactly has changed now?!
I suppose batsmen is as good a place as any to start, and a player of recent times who has been in and out of the side – Vikram Solanki. Its not really been his fault as he’s been chucked in and out of the side without much thought, but when he has been there he has done nothing – so why pick him now? Mal Loye seems to be the new Solanki as well, he’s back in now but will probably dropped like a stone again soon! I’m unsure as well about Mark Pettini as I havn’t seen or heard much about him, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt until I do so! Apart from Loye though I can’t see any of these scoring the runs needed to set and chase big targets.
Moving to All Rounders – and there’s a ton of them in this squad. We’ve had bit-part players in the England team before without much success, and players such as Glen Chapple, Darren Maddy, Jeremy Snape and Michael Yardy are hardly going to change that success ratio. The other thing the first three of those mentioned have in common is their age – they’re no spring chickens. I don’t understand how these three players get in the side; ok they’ve had a bit of success in the domestic competition, but the international scene is a completely different kettle of fish. I am pleased to see young players such as Luke Wright included – he is a real prospect and Bopara and Bresnan have some potential as well.
Onto bowlers and possibly the most ridiculous decision so far – choosing Chris Schofield in the squad. He was actually the top wicket taker this season in Twenty20 domestic cricket, but that’s because half of the games weren’t played and better bowlers didn’t bowl enough overs! Schofield was released by Lancashire and played minor counties cricket for a couple of seasons, but half a season playing for Surrey and he’s back in the England side! Ludicrous! Saj Mahmood has got to feel a bit unlucky as well – he’s a better batsman and bowler than Chris Tremlett but doesn’t get a look in, while two other England in and out players Kirtley and Lewis are there as well.
So its fair to say I don’t really agree with the squad but then it is only a preliminary squad and I promised myself I wouldn’t get too worked up about it!
Tresco To Return?
With the announcement due of a preliminary 30 man squad to take to the Twenty20 World Cup, the talk yet again is whether Marcus Trescothick will return to the England fold. He’s ruled himself out of being in squads previous this year, but he seems in better mental nick, and would surely love to get back into the international scene.
The whole “Should we bring him back or shouldn’t we?” debate is one which we havn’t really had the chance to have yet. He wanted to de-stress and play some county cricket, the latter of which he’s done pretty successfully so far this season. We don’t know the full facts about his stress related issue which saw him leave Australia before the first test last November, and probably as punters we don’t need to. As long as those that need to know – the team coach, selectors etc – do know, then their decision is good enough for me. If he says he’s ready to go to South Africa for the couple of weeks tournament then fine, let him go. If he gets there and finds “stress” again, then it will be cheerio to Tresco’s international career. But he deserves the chance to do that, and he’d be an asset at the top of the order. Imagine him and Prior opening the batting – it’d be fun to watch that’s for sure!
And if he does go to South Africa, does that then mean that he’s ready to tour with England this winter? And as a fully fledged test player or one day player? There is no doubt in my mind that the strongest England team is one with him in it. Worry about who to drop if you get that far, but Tresco’s powerful play is the perfect thing at the start of an innings a la Hayden has done for the past couple of years.
I’m not sure why, in July, we even need to announce a 30 man squad for the Twenty20 World Cup. As the tournament is quite a way away in September and you have to halve the squad by then, what is going to help by naming 30 players now? Especially as some of the players announced won’t have a hope of travelling to South Africa, injuries or not.
Our best players will hardly have played any Twenty20 cricket this year thanks to the awful weather we’ve had over the past couple of weeks. It won’t make a difference though as we will still turn up and roll over at the first tough game. I did think about going at one stage but I think money can be spent better elsewhere unless someone out there would like to comp me a trip to let me report on it?! You can get in touch using the contact form but I won’t hold my breath…
International Cricket Captain 3
Despite my moaning, it is summer! And the computer games marketing departments recognise that, so it’s time for another release of a game connected to cricket!
I’m still enjoying beating my mates at Brian Lara - especially this weekend…. (sorry, private joke!), but that is on the XBox 360. When it come to PC games, there is only one game that makes it onto the radar. That game is Football Manager (the evolution of the super successful championship manager games) , but of course that has nothing at all to do with cricket! There is a similar kind of game based around cricket though, and there is a new version out, and it is called International Cricket Captain III.
It is released tomorrow, and I havn’t had the chance to play a demo of it, but at only 20 quid from Game it doesn’t cost much and may help releive the boredom of a Saturday afternoon when cricket gets rained off! The previous versions weren’t bad games, and the previews I have read suggest it has improved on them, so it could be worth a bash. This game has been endorsed by KP, who says without any marketing spin at all “The games are made by cricket fans for cricket fans. They love the game and it shows.” ….hmm!
If you get the game leave me a comment and let me know what you think of it. I don’t get much time to play games on the PC anymore, but if I hear good reviews from some of you I’ll give it a go!
New International One Day Regulations
Apologies for the delay between posts, but its been a busy time. Not playing cricket though, as the past two weeks have seen my games called off and things look rubbish this week as well. And this is supposed to be summer!
Since the last post, the ICC have been tinkering with the One Day game even more, although the new regulations didn’t make many headlines. They are as follows:
ICC management instructed to draw up an international programme which limits the number of Tests, one-dayers and Twenty20 games sides may play in any one series; no team to play more than seven Twenty20 internationals per year
One extra fielder to be allowed outside the circle in the second or third powerplay of limited overs internationals.
Ball to be mandatorily changed after 35 overs of each innings in limited overs internationals
If a player bowls a front-foot no-ball in a one-dayer, the next one will be deemed a free hit
Minimum boundary sizes for one-dayers to be increased to at least 150 yards square of the wicket and 70 yards straight, instead of 140 and 65.
They make a bit of sense, and they aren’t making big changes that we haven’t seen trialled in UK cricket such as the “free hit”. My problem is with the new ball after 35 overs rule. We often see farcical situations where the batting side try to get the ball changed at about this period at the moment, the reasoning being that a different ball will be harder and come off the bat better. But a brand new ball? So the spinners will be bowling with what could be a brand new ball, and after 35 overs the ball won’t be scuffed enough to create reverse swing for the quickies. So there’s a skill not worth the international players learning then..
I’m not sure how long this will last and I imagine the first game that takes place with these rules will create discussion around the point I’ve raised as I’ve not heard anyone mention it yet.
Oh, and despite my previous post loving twenty20, this year its rubbish thanks to the weather! We’ve had 5 over a side joke games and none of the late summer cricket watching with a beer in hand.. roll on summer…
