Minnow words

'Minnow' is a term used to refer to small fish. In sport, it also refers to small/underdog teams who're competing with established giants.

At this World Cup, although Geoff had England in his list of ODI 'minnows', the minnow teams are (in alphabetical order): Bangladesh (despite wins against Sri Lanka, Australia and India in the last 2.5 years), Bermuda, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands, Scotland and Zimbabwe.

Ergo, half of the teams in this World Cup count as minnows. Australia's thrashing of Scotland and Sri Lanka doing the same to Bermuda will undoubtedly get people asking the ICC more questions about why these countries are playing at the World Cup. Like Stuart pointed out, a close game between the minnow was realistically the only way there could be some interest in a game, say between Ireland and Zimbabwe.

This discussion on minnow teams is interesting and it comes at a time when Tasmania, who topped the points table in this season's Pura Cup, find themselves in the Pura Cup final, against New South Wales, starting next week.

If Australia's cricket administrators had stuck to their stand and not included Tasmania in the domestic competition at all, or had included it say in the 1990s rather than in 1977/78, we may not have seen the emergence of the likes of David Boon or boring run-machine Ricky Ponting.

Ponting ought to realize that Tasmania was a minnow too. He spoke out against minnow teams for this World Cup and also during the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy. To be fair to him, he does have a point. The ICC gives these teams a series of big games once in a couple of years (at the ICC Champions Trophy and at the World Cup). There's no doubt that these minnow teams feel hopelessly out of depth in such events. The better way to get these teams to improve their standards are to first make them play more games with each other (which the ICC is doing) and to have them play against at least one major team on an annual basis, so that by the time they get to a major ICC tournament, they've played against at least some of the major teams at least once.

In other minnow news, there seems to be dissent in the English ranks. When England were 4-0 down against India last year, Hoggard commented that he'd rather take a 5-fer in an Ashes win than a 5-fer in a World Cup win. Of course, they were his views. Michael Vaughan though seemed to offer a different take now that the Ashes were lost 5-0. He said

I guess winning the tournament, with the relative inexperience of our bowling attack and where we've been in one-day cricket recently, would be a bigger achievement than winning the Ashes.

The general rule of thumb, by the way, is that England always have an inexperienced bowling attack. Find me one series in the last couple of years where England's captain/coach haven't been quoted as saying their bowling was inexperienced. I'm fairly sure they said it before the 2005 Ashes too.

Back to what Vaughan said though. He's obviously saying that he'd be happier with winning a World Cup (with this team) than the Ashes.

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, bangladesh, bermuda, canada, england, holland, kenya, minnows, netherlands, ponting, scotland, tasmania, vaughan, world cup, zimbabwe

Thus spake Jagadish @ 10:02 am | Sledge/Read 1 sledge(s)
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Merciless Australia destroy Scotland, Kenya win against Canada



In St. Kitts, Ricky Ponting's Australia fired a clear warning shot today, mercilessly destroying Scotland.

That Australia would beat Scotland was clear. It was also evident that they would win by a wide margin. That they won by such a margin was impressive, considering that the Scottish bowling had done a reasonable job for the first 45 overs of the match. A flurry of runs at the end and a dominant bowling performance led to the huge margin of 209 runs.

Ponting became the 2007 World Cup's first centurion in making 113 off 93 balls to lead Australia 334/6 and the big win, the second largest ever in the World Cup. Ponting also tied the World Cup record of 4 centuries and took sole position of second place in the all time World Cup runs scored list. Two things stand out in my mind about the Aussie performance (besides Ponting's ton):

1) Brad Hogg gives Australia some serious lower order depth. He blasted 24 today off the final over, in making 40 off 15 balls. Not bad for a number 8. The batting will be even deeper with Andrew Symonds' return.

2) The Aussies have to be concerned about Shaun Tait. Yes, he bowled at over 90 mph and yes he took a couple wickets. But to go at 5.62 runs an over against Scotland? I wonder what the Proteas will do to him. Retiring Glen McGrath will have to once again be the leader of the Aussie attack.

In St Lucia, Steve Tikolo's Kenya executed a clinical victory over Canada. They restricted the Canadians to 199 and then reached the target with 7 wickets in hand. Tikolo palyed a captain's knock of an almost run-a-ball undefeated 72. Kenya have a very real shot at making it to the next round and should not be overlooked by New Zealand or England. Former Bajan Andy Cummins played credibly for Canada, conceding 32 runs off his 8 overs. He becomes the second player, after Kepler Wessels to play for two countries in World Cups.

Tomorrow, look for carnage in Trinidad as Sri Lanka takes on Bermuda, and for an Irish upset in Jamaica as Ireland plays Zimbabwe.

Labels: 2007 world cup, australia, canada, cummins, kenya, ponting, scotland, world cup

Thus spake Sean @ 10:00 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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