KP’s “Cross Hand” Shot
Over the weekend we were entertained by KP, and you will have no doubt heard about his cross hand shot which he hit maximum’s with twice, but there are mumblings that the MCC will be looking at the shot, and commentators such as Michael Holding saying it isn’t a fair shot.
I understand the need for debate, but the main thing I can’t get over is the people who want to stop this type of innovation. Why call it unfair just because the batsman has the skill to hit a great shot with his wrong hands - it is entertaining and makes for a more intriguing game. Yes, we need to clarify the rules of lbw etc for everyone’s benefit, but don’t stop players trying new things or the game won’t move forward which it obviously is at the moment. Bowlers don’t have to tell the batsman when they are about to bowl a slower ball, bouncer, yorker etc, so why shouldn’t the batsman be able to change his approach at the same time?
I’m off to Edgbaston tomorrow and (weather permitting), I hope the shot makes an appearance - with KP currently in good form there is every chance!
The Annual 08 from the MCC and Lords
I was kindly sent a copy of “The Annual” last week - the launch copy of a magazine written on behalf of MCC and Lords, and as it isn’t the sort of thing you might not know about I thought it would be of interest to give it a bit of publicity.
Available from Lords itself or their shop at www.lords.org, it is an interesting publication which reads a bit like an in depth program you might buy at an international game - and it is the same sort of size which is pretty handy - means it doesn’t take up much room in my cricket bag! It is entirely based (unsurprisingly) around Lords, and through things like interviews with players and ground workers it helps give a real insight as to how the “home of cricket” is felt by players (Sidebottom, Broad, Dimi etc), and how it all functions on the big days.
One part I really liked was “How to play Lords” which gave tips on how to react to the slope etc. Now, given that I’m never likely to play at Lords I don’t know why I found this interesting but I think as it has such a mystique about it, it is nice to know how sportsmen and women approach it!
There are good previews of the England, Kiwi and South African squads for the summer’s cricket - which if you pick it up later in the summer will be a bit out of date, but it gives enough info without boring you if this was the case. It is difficult to try and put up to date info in annual publications like this, but they seem to do it quite well and you don’t get the feeling that its particularly lacking in this area.
Along with some commentary on England’s preparation towards next year’s Ashes and a review and preview of the games at Lords for this year and last, and a couple of other stories there is also a promotional bit for their shop and conference facilities, which is fair enough - it might make me visit their shop over a lunch break in the cricket if I was there watching a game!
I think overall this is a decent publication, well written and with a ‘quality’ feel, it is something I could definitely see myself buying if I was at Lords on a match day for something to pass the quieter periods of a game. I don’t know if it holds as much appeal for someone who isn’t there - it isn’t quite “deep” enough to keep you busy for hours, but as something to drift in and out of it was perfect. In fact I read some of it whilst i was waiting to bat at the weekend, it is perfect for that situation. At 5 quid it might seem expensive compared to a magazine such as All Out Cricket, but compared to match programmes I think it’s acceptable and well worth a shout if you find yourself at Lords this year, or if reading about the greatest cricket ground in England is up your street! Buy from the Lords online shop here.
Busy Week Ahead
I’ve a feeling this might be quite a busy week, what with England doing quite well, the Twenty20 starting and all this talk of a cricket “Champions League”. Where to start?!
A quick review of the test is probably a good starting point, which we won convincingly thanks to a number of good performances from the team. When “good” Jimmy A turns up I think we can see what he can do, and for that reason he can be a match winner against the South Africans later this summer. But is he a luxury in a four man seam attack? Something from the Kiwi’s stirred up Sideshow Ryan in the second innings which made his follow throughs and signs to the batsmen he got out quite aggressive which was fun to see, we’ll see plenty of that from Andre Nel and co later in the summer so hopefully he’ll keep it up! Broad showed his talent and potential on a number of occasions and he could turn into a properly good number 8 in the future.
Strauss was named man of the series which is a stunning comeback having been dropped last winter. My hope is that this is a start of a fantastic run of form which will continue through to next summer’s Ashes series, and him and Cook seems a decent opening partnership. Bell and Colly have been a concern, Bell less so in my eyes, but the signs are they are going to be given the time to get it right. I think the one day games have come at the right time for them, more chance to get out there and hit themselves into form hopefully! And Ambrose seems to have done a decent job behind the stumps and has had some good performances with the bat as well, here’s hoping we’ve got a settled player here for a while!
Onto the “Champions League” idea.. I won’t repeat what has been said about the idea, you can read it better on the BBC Sport site. It sounds like a decent idea in principle, and it adds a lot of extra spice to the domestic Twenty20 competition starting this Wednesday, but I’m just worried that it seems to have come in a bit quickly and I’m worried the idea has been a bit rushed. If we had a year to think about it, questions such as who will play in the teams, who should get the money and how the prize money is distributed could be thought about properly rather than what will probably be a rushed decision that no doubt some won’t be happy with. However, it is a good idea and will create International interest, so lets give it a chance and refine it over the next few years.
Twenty20 can wait until another day, it starts on Wednesday - and with good weather expected this week it should be better than last year’s washout! And come Friday we have England and the Kiwi’s battling in Twenty20 of their own, which should be good viewing with a couple of beers and a pizza!
News Snippets
Severe lack of posting this week - busy-ness finishing off an online cricket shop for a friend and the lack of cricket on tv to get me excited meant not much action here, but seeing as twenty20 time is around the corner expect more to happen now!
Despite my recommendations in my last post about making some changes to my Telegraph Fantasy Cricket Team, I never got round to it and my position is being affected badly because of it. I thought in the end I might as well hold off and make the changes next week once all the twenty20 players have turned up and I can get some specialists into the side!
Speaking of Twenty20, it starts on the 11th June (next weds), and I’m looking forward to seeing some hopefully dry weather and good cricket. Last year’s tournament was decimated by the rain, and the way things have been recently I think we’re going to have to cross our fingers for some good weather. I havn’t had a chance to find a decent preview of the competition yet, no doubt they’ll appear in the weekend papers and I’ll link to one when I find it.
One player who might take Twenty20 by storm this year is Ravi Bopara. He’s in England’s one day squad so he might not play that much for Essex in the competition, but Ravi Bop scored an incredible 201* in the Friends Provident Trophy yesterday in 150 something balls I think it was. Well played Ravi, but you better watch out as that type of form might get you picked for England!
Over the the WIndies, Australia are continuing their good run of Test victories, but not quite as convincingly on the pitch as they used to. Things that have happened over there - ‘Punter’ Ponting recently passed 10,00 runs which is a hell of an achievement, and Stuart MacGill announced his retirement after taking a bit of stick from the WIndies batsmen and realising that he couldn’t continue. He was unlucky in the sense he was born in the Shane Warne era and never had the chance to properly stake his claim, but he was always prone to bowling a long hop an over, but boy he could turn the ball a bloody mile! It’ll be interesting to see the replacement for MacGill, as with the Ashes starting next summer the spinner won’t have that much time to get used to the international scene before taking us on. He’ll be rubbish of course and we’ll claim back the Ashes! Hmm…
Right, I’m off to watch the highlights of us attempt to screw up the first day of the Test Match against NZ. Until next time..
Top 10 (or so..) players so far in Telegraph Fantasy Cricket
We’re a month or two in to this season’s fantasy cricket season, and it’s time to take a look and see how I’m doing, and which players we should have chosen!
I started off the season like a rocket, miles ahead for a good few weeks, but then I stopped paying attention and things quickly went downhill. I think 3 of my 4 bowlers were out injured, and coupled with other team’s players coming into form I’ve hit mid table mediocrity very quickly! So time for a bit of surgery, although not as much as one of my mates who’s used more than half of his transfers in the first month!
Top Batsmen (at time of writing)
U Afzaal - a player I have! woohoo!
HD Ackerman - always seems to do well, no different this year but wasn’t on my list for this season, maybe i need to re-think.
M Di Venuto - ditto.
M Butcher - a bit of a surprise to me, but a double ton helped! Not playing for Surrey today so maybe pacing himself for the season?
J Gallian - a special mention seeing as he was only rated a 2, he’s had a storming season so far.
Keepers
hmmm.. Luke Sutton has done nothing so far for my team, so looks pretty close to the chop, but for who?
P Nixon - the old man continues to score well (but he’s expensive!)
C Read - the young man continues to score well (but he’s expensive!)
N O’Brien - A surprise from Northants where he wasn’t even first choice but seems to be doing well
M Prior - Scoring a lot in the Championship but just called into the one day squad will hurt his points here.
All Rounders
Sickeningly, the top two so far are two players I talked about before the season but didn’t choose, how stupid am I?!
P Trego - taking good wickets so far this season
R McLaren - I really should have picked him
N Boje - Finally, another player in my team (time to make him captain I think)
R Ten Doeschate - another player I talked about pre-season, I hope somebody took my tips as I didn’t!
Bowlers
T Bresnan - has found wickets and runs a plenty so far in the season, will it continue?
J Allenby - Who?! Seriously, I have no idea who this is…
Y Arafat - Woohoo, another player of mine from the start, class!
D Pattinson - making the most of a starting spot at Notts with Broad and Sidebottom out of the equation
C Langeveldt - I brought him in for Mahmood a week or two back as his stats were looking pretty good.
So how am I going to get out of my mid table position having looked at the stats above? I think I need to cut some dead wood in M North (Batsman, Skipper), L Sutton (mentioned above), A Mahmood (seems to take wickets but the points aren’t enough), S Mushtaq (maybe I’ll hold on to him), and look at bringing possibly a name or two from above. Then hopefully see myself return back to the position I deserve at the top of the tree!!
That’s Why We Love Test Cricket
The second test between Eng and NZ shows why Test Cricket still keeps our attention in the ever increasing seas of Twenty20 and the like. Those games provide a quick hit of interest, but none of the intrigue and see-sawing of momentum that we saw over the past few days at Old Trafford.
Innings 1 - NZ hold the power despite some stupid running between the wickets (what were Oram and Vettori thinking?!), with England then forgetting how to bat with any intention of scoring runs in reply. The Kiwi’s almost force the follow on, but we scrape through thanks to Broad and put them back in.
At this point it looks like it can only go one way - an NZ win. However, the balance shifts throughout the second innings as Monty puts huge pressure on the Kiwi’s and we knock them out with a chase able target to get with the bat. At this point the game could go either way - the pitch could play a part and we could bat like we did in the first innings, or we can be positive and go and win the game. We all know now that the latter is what happened, but it was such an intriguing day that you wanted to watch it all.
How many games of Twenty20 change during the game like that? There won’t be many that’s for sure, and that is why we still love test cricket.
We now have just over a week until the final test match - and during that time the England side will still be up for debate, with Collingwood looking on the dodgiest ground at the moment. The problem is I can’t see anyone in better form with international quality to bring in in his place. We shall see…
