Cricket: International Discussion Thread

[Neoprod]

Jadeja to Warner, OUT, wide on the crease, and Jadeja produces a beauty. Uses the angle, pitches this smack in the rough, Warner plays back when he should be forward. Perhaps it is the flat trajectory. There is an explosion in the rough, the ball turns past the inside edge, stays a touch low too. Cleans him up

Jadeja to Lyon, OUT, Jadeja ends the day with a sign of things to come. The pitch is turning, so bowl a line and length that hits the stumps. Some drift, pitches middle and off, Lyon defends the line, the ball takes a piece of the pitch and turns past the edge to knock back the off stump

2 down, 1 day to bat...odds? I'd say 80-20 India.

 

[skotelbraai]

Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka (in Sri Lanka) by 4 wickets
Sri Lanka 338 & 319 v Bangladesh 467 & 191/6 (57.5 ov, target 191)
Player of the match - Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh)
Player of the series - Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)

They squared the Series 1-1.

This was Bangladesh's 100th Test match. What a way to celebrate it!

 

[skotelbraai]

With Afghanistan thumping Zimbabwe and Ireland at will, it's inevitable that they will be the next Full Member. Will happen before 2020.

So it will be 5 Asian sides
India
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Bangladesh
Afghanistan

Contrast that with the "English" teams (ENG, AUS, SA, NZ, ZIM & WI), and you can already see the ramifications. ENG, AUS & SA will be forced to tour the other 3 more often in order to win their favour when it comes to voting and influence in the ICC. Factor in India's generosity to WI&ZIM, then all of a sudden it could be 7-4.

The sheer passion for cricket and numbers in Nepal, plus they impressive rise across junior&senior international cricekt, mean they will most likely be next after Afganistan...ahead of teh regressing Ireland & Netherlands. That could be the case before 2024.

Sport has a way of evolving from elitist to mas participation. So much that it defies those fiercely resisting this. It happened swiftly in the case of soccer/football and soon we'll have a huge FIFA WC. Same is fast happening in cricket (which has the potential to rope China in before 2030). Rugby was clever in pushing 7s (something cricket could have done with T20s) to try and maintain a niche in XV(and Test+ODIs). But it won't be long with the likes of Japan&Georgia gradually turning up. Being weak in Asia&Africa will "help" rugby though.

 

[Neoprod]

Australia 451 & 188/5 (92.4 ov)
India 603/9d

Min overs remaining 9.2

Can't underestimate what an effort this has been by the Aussie batsmen...I've watched a few overs and the bowling has been good (not spectacular like Vernon on day 3 of our game) but good enough and the pitch has produced the odd unplayable ball. Great effort to last out there.

 

[Baxteen]

Good effort by the Ausies to force the draw here.

even if IND bowl them out now, they cannot score the runs needed.

and for the first time in what feels like forever (even though ENG did it not too long ago at all) we have a Day 5 in a test match in India!

I know it actually happens often, but it just feels like Indian wickets are made to last 60 overs then simply feel like day 5 for the other 2 days of the test.

 

[Creag]

Hat Trick!!!

Bangladesh tour of Sri Lanka, 2nd ODI: Sri Lanka v Bangladesh at Dambulla, Mar 28, 2017

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-bangladesh-2016-17/engine/match/1083447.html

---

49.3 Taskin Ahmed to Gunaratne, OUT, Asela holes out to mid-off. Really full and outside off, Asela drives it in the air. Mid-off is inside the circle, Sarkar times his jump well and hangs onto a overhead catch
DAS Gunaratne c Soumya Sarkar b Taskin Ahmed 39 (28b 4x4 1x6) SR: 139.28

49.4 Taskin Ahmed to Lakmal, OUT, two wickets in two balls. Taskin is on a hat-trick. Full-toss on middle, Lakmal swats it away in the air, midwicket dives full-length to his left and grabs a smart catch
RAS Lakmal c Mustafizur Rahman b Taskin Ahmed 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

49.5 Taskin Ahmed to Pradeep, OUT, Taskin does it. He claims a hat-trick and sets off on a celebratory sprint. Pinpoint yorker, squeezes under the bat and clatters middle and off
N Pradeep b Taskin Ahmed 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

 

[skotelbraai]

Younis Khan to retire after West Indies
http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/story/1091091.html

Younis Khan has joined Misbah-ul-Haq in retiring from international cricket at the end of the tour of the West Indies in April and May. He announced his decision in Karachi on Saturday, two days after Misbah did likewise in Lahore, bringing an end to a 17-year Test career.

"People are calling me and asking me not to make any announcement to leave but now is the time," Younis, 39, said in Karachi. "A time comes in every player's life when he has to decide and I always tried my best to serve my county with my head high. No player always remains fit, the motivation never remains the same, so this is the time when Younis should leave the field after the upcoming series in West Indies."

Younis heads into the series 23 runs short of becoming the first Pakistan batsman to score 10,000 Test runs.

"I always tried to be a good ambassador and serve my country to take it one step forward," Younis said. "If I've ever made a mistake in my career, if I've forgotten something, or done something wrong, please think of me as one of your own and forgive me, ignore me and let's move on.

Younis has played 115 Tests, having made his debut in 2000, and has 9977 runs at an average of 53.06 with 34 hundreds, the most for a Pakistan batsman. His best Test score - 313 against Sri Lanka in 2009 - is the third highest for Pakistan, after Hanif Mohammad's 337 and Inzamam-ul-Haq's 329. He was recently named one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year, following his contribution in Pakistan's 2-2 drawn series in England last summer.

 

[skotelbraai]

Younis Khan the last true giant of the game from that previous era of fellow is greats is retiring. Unbelievable! I didn't expect this. Hope he has a good last series.

Only Don Bradman has a better ratio of centuries to fifties than Younis Khan.

Earlier this year he became the first batsman to score a 100 in all 11 countries that have hosted Test cricket.

In Test cricket he also has the most centuries in the 4th innings.

The likes of Clarke, KP, Amla and Cook have been very unfortunate in that their careers overlapped with a number of world class Test greats, and have also coincided with the likes of Kohli, Smith, Root and Williamson who have all been world class.

Young Steve Smith has the same number of centuries as AB, but in half the number of Tests. How does one remember a Michael Clarke when he's sandwiched between a Kumar Sangakkara and a Virat Kohli? Test cricket can be very cruel. They'll suffer from the same fate of a Justin Langer.

 

[WaxLyrical]

Would've been greater had it not been for the messed up country he resides in.

 

[Creag]

He has been a legend in his country and this era. Still scoring runs and hundreds this late in his career has been remarkable.

 

[Neoprod]

Lots of 50+ averages coinciding with a shortage of world class bowlers...this modern era isn't a level contest between bat and ball. Hasn't been for a decade or two.

 

[skotelbraai]

Would've been greater had it not been for the messed up country he resides in.

Not only that, but the friction between players and administrators have deprived him of even more Tests. He really would have been the one batsmen who could've have gotten closer to Sachin's runs record if he hadn't spent so much time away from the team for reasons other thanpoor form.

Lots of 50+ averages coinciding with a shortage of world class bowlers...this modern era isn't a level contest between bat and ball. Hasn't been for a decade or two.

Not a fair comment on the likes of Root, Smith, Williamson and Kohli. They either open or bat top 3 across all formats and all Tests countries' conditions they've delivered. So they've been tested enough, even though the quality of bowlers isn't like the era before. Likes of Ponting, Kallis, Dravid, Lara & Sangakkara batted in the top 3. One could argue that at a lowly 4, Sachin had it a bit easier in Tests(then again someone could argue that Sachin did open in LOIs).

These kids have performed against decent bowlers though - Philander, Broad, Jimmy, Ashwin, Jadeja, Herath, Ryan Harris, Mitch, Steyn, Ajmal, Boult, Southee. If they were batting mostly 4-6 I'd understand. Broad & Boult would have troubled any of the legends with a new ball in their hand.

 

[sox63]

Anybody else following the ICC vs BCCI situation? Personally I am glad the BCCI got put in their place by the other Full members. I guess now it's left to be seen if the BCCI follows through with their threat to not send a team for the Champions Trophy. They already don't want to name a squad, so I think they may actually not send a team

 

[skotelbraai]

Anybody else following the ICC vs BCCI situation? Personally I am glad the BCCI got put in their place by the other Full members. I guess now it's left to be seen if the BCCI follows through with their threat to not send a team for the Champions Trophy. They already don't want to name a squad, so I think they may actually not send a team

This is a typical case of double standards. India(BCCI) are entitled to not just the $600m they're demanding but even more. What's ironic is that in this case capitalists are advocating for socialism in the ICC which is laughable. I don't understand why the Western world inclined axis never practices what it preaches.

I really wish the BCCI would pull out of this CT and the following T20(2018) & ODI(2019) World Cups until they get their way. England County cricket Division Two will be dead by 2020, and all those kolpaks will come crawling back to SA or fall out of cricket completely. Only then will people finally get it.

The only issue with pulling out is again India's superior standards of transparency and corporate governance. Only one person has the authority to sign the mandate to pull out(not one of the big bosses), and he gets that mandate from a committee. Elsewhere I pointed out how our RamSlam matchfixing is being handled. Even the BCCI set an example thorugh the most transparent, robust, and fair way that all other Full Members would do well to follow in handling these same matters.(On corporate governance SARU is a joke compared to the BCCI)

If you pay close attention to India you will realise that even India Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a strong part of India cricket structures not so long ago, while a lot of the BCCI high office-bearers are part of the BJP party. They would need to explain why they are subsidising other nations to their constituencies. It's affects their political fortunes and that is part of how they won the last election by a big margin. Cricket plays a huge role in the country's social(crime + youth) and economic(cricket salaries) makeup. In terms of numbers and budget, all other Full Mumbers, Associates and Affiliates pale in comparison. Like it or not, India(BCCI) have a point.

 

[Creag]

India subsiding cricket sounds similar to South Africa subsiding rugby in SANZAAR.

 

[skotelbraai]

Great hashtag for the last Test match for Misbah ul Haq and Younis Khan #MisYou. I think I find the departure of these two harder to take than Mahela & Sanga.

 

[sox63]

An interesting game of chicken developing here. Ultimately if sanity prevails, I think the players will get the current MOU carried through IMO

Australia vice-captain David Warner has declared the players are prepared to forego a home Ashes series to preserve the fixed revenue-percentage model at the heart of the dispute between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers' Association. He also said players would turn to domestic Twenty20 tournaments if pushed out of contract.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/1097963.html

 

[Creag]

I think it's a little more than chicken. The little I have read seems to indicate that the CA are trying to cut the potential revenue of players; possibly unfairly so? Warner is quite adamant that they can generate income elsewhere if there isn't fair agreement. If you consider that the BCCI is mulling over the idea of more T20 to replace the income that they are losing from the ICC, it is conceivable that top players that would've benefited from earnings from the CA, could easily be replacing it elsewhere.

 

[sox63]

I think it's a little more than chicken. The little I have read seems to indicate that the CA are trying to cut the potential revenue of players; possibly unfairly so? Warner is quite adamant that they can generate income elsewhere if there isn't fair agreement. If you consider that the BCCI is mulling over the idea of more T20 to replace the income that they are losing from the ICC, it is conceivable that top players that would've benefited from earnings from the CA, could easily be replacing it elsewhere.

I also have not read all that much into it, but the multi year deal in place of not playing in IPL would extend to all T20 tournaments?

 

[Creag]

I also have not read all that much into it, but the multi year deal in place of not playing in IPL would extend to all T20 tournaments?

I think the sentiment of contact and forgoing the IPL would probably apply to other similar tournaments. The thinking is to preserve players from injury and fatigue in anything not related to the domestic cricket and international commitments. The sweetner of longer contracts loses its appeal against the income they can earn in, say, the IPL and the English T20 tournaments. Also, I think it's possibly too late to try close off the revenue stream.