The 2009 T20 World Cup - quite eventful

Yesterday, England and Pakistan won the women's and men's T20 World Cup titles.

Both teams played excellently throughout the tournament, and really peaked when it mattered - in the semi and the final. The England women's team was unbeaten in the tournament (and in fact set a record for the highest successful chase in Women's T20 internationals) while Pakistan's men lost 2 games (against England [men] & Sri Lanka). While Sri Lanka seemed to have run short of motivation yesterday, Pakistan's short-pitched bowling ploy early on was wonderfully executed.

It is so ironic that players from the current World T20 championship winning team will not be part of the Champions Twenty20 League. Oh, have you ever seen a more 'broken' official site?

Aside from Australia's early journey to Leicester, the other stories that captured everyone's attention were (in no specific order):

• India's exit at the Super Eight stage following losses to England (!!!) and West Indies. As is usual, multiple theories started doing the rounds, such as player fatigue, infighting, lack of skills and overly focussed on ad-shoots, to name a few. The truth, as usual, probably lies in-between everything else.
  
  Fatigue is an ever-present reality in modern sport, especially when new forms of the game keep getting invented and commercialized. Players are supposed to know when their minds and bodies can't take it any longer. If India's players want a break, they always have the option of opting out, preferably an entire series/tournament so that there's some stability in the squad. If they believed that the IPL was far too lucrative to miss out on, then they could have opted out from the ODIs in Sri Lanka or the games in New Zealand. They could have also opted out of the upcoming [pointless] ODIs in West Indies.
  
  The fact that they chose to not do any of the above indicates one of three things:
  1. They are not fatigued
     
  2. They are fatigued but fear that they'll lose their place to someone who steps in while they're away
     
  3. They are fatigued but are in a 'will play for money' mode
  
  Last May, when Pieter$en revealed that he was almost certainly signing up for an IPL team a few months after complaining about burnout, I wrote

  My take on there being too much cricket is that players always have the option of opting out of series. Typically the only players you'll see complaining about too much cricket are those that play the most often, and hence are the 'star' players. Surely they've performed well enough to risk skipping a game or a series and not face a piquant situation where they won't be included next time around. Also, if a sufficiently large number of players keep opting out of tournaments, cricket administrators will realize that they may be doing a lot of damage to the golden geese.

  Gary Kirsten, India's coach, had already voiced his excuse warning prior to the tournament that fatigue would be India's biggest challenge.
  
  He was only partly right. I don't think India failed to make it to the semi-finals because of fatigue. They failed to make it to the semis because they couldn't cope with West Indies and England using the short ball to great effect. They had no plan-B. They failed to make it to the semis because the batting order bizarrely got revamped. In 'easy' games against Bangladesh and Ireland, Dhoni came in at #3. But when it was time to face the music, Raina was sent in. Where's the leadership?
  
  
• If its Pakistan in England, there must be some dark arts involved. Vettori's "informal approach" to the match officials (the umpires and the match referee, presumably) and his post-match interview comments after New Zealand got their arse whipped by Pakistan were totally unwarranted. Umpires, especially those standing in Pakistan games, will undoubtedly be examining the ball far more closely after the events at The Oval in August 2006.
  
  
• Messrs. Duckworth & Lewis made an entry during this tournament after West Indies were set a ridiculously easy target of 80 from 9 overs, with the luxury of all 11 batsmen available to have a hit, against England. Frank Duckworth, who along with Tony Lewis, devised the system, has revealed plans to rework the numbers by incorporating Twenty20's duration and far more frenetic pace.
  
  I'd really love the rules to be changed to allow only 6 players to bat and allow a maximum of 6 overs per bowler. I really don't see the possibility of this happening (because of the stupid sanctity around 11 players making up a cricket team). So I'll probably settle for the D/L method tweak restricting the [additional] number of wickets that can be lost by the chasing team. Just compare a team knowing at the start of the innings that it has 10 wickets in hand to chase down 80 in 9 overs with the team knowing it only has [say] 6 wickets to play with.

Labels: ball tampering, burnout, duckworth-lewis method, england, fatigue, india, pakistan, sri lanka, twenty20, twenty20 world cup, vettori, women

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:17 pm | Sledge/Read 2 sledge(s)
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Wisden announces cricketers of the year for 2008

The latest edition of the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack has the list of the cricketers of 2008. Remember that the names are primarily chosen based on the English cricket season, and no one can be a "Cricketer of the year" more than once.

This time around, for the first time, a woman has been selected in the list - England batsman Claire Taylor. The others are James Anderson, Dale Benkenstein, Mark Boucher and Neil McKenzie.

This would be such a huge boost for women's cricket in general and in particular in England, considering they won the Women's World Cup recently.

The identity of the "Leading Cricketer in the World" award is not yet known. If the performances from 1 Jan 2008 to 31 Dec 2008 were taken into account, the top 2 in each category are:

	Tests	ODIs	T20
Batting	Graeme Smith and Virender Sehwag	Gautam Gambhir and Mahendra Singh Dhoni	Hamilton Masakadza and Salman Butt
Bowling	Dale Steyn, Harbhajan Singh and Mitchell Johnson	Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan	Harvir Baidwan and Ajantha Mendis

Given the sensation he created last year with his bowling style and the effectiveness of his style, and considering he picked up the ICC award for Best Debutant, I wouldn't be surprised if Ajantha Mendis was announced as the "Leading Cricketer in the World".

Labels: almanack, awards, prediction, wisden, women

Thus spake Jagadish @ 1:27 pm | Sledge/Read 3 sledge(s)
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India win series

Anju Jain getting the Arjuna award isn't the only good news for the Indian women's team, currently the World Cup runners-up.

The team has beaten England in the two test series, winning at Taunton after the first test at Lord's was drawn. This is India's second ever series win.

Strangely though, India's first ever series, against West Indies nearly three decades ago, appears as a 1-0 win on Cricinfo StatsGuru as a 5 test series, India winning 1 and drawing 4 games. But, it apparently was a six test series, drawn 1-1. I wonder why there's an anomaly.

Today's win was built on the back of lovely batting by skipper Mithali Raj (65 & 22*) and ex-skipper Anjum Chopra (98) and, more importantly, some superb bowling by Jhulan Goswami in both innings (5/33 & 5/45).

Labels: women

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:27 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Women cricketers get awards too

In a significant move towards bringing women's cricket into the mainstream, the ICC announced today that a Women's Cricketer of the Year award was being instituted with effect from this year as part of the ICC's awards ceremony later this year.

Labels: icc awards, women

Thus spake Jagadish @ 7:02 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Australia thrash India to win World Cup final

No, we're not in a time warp here. This is the women's tournament. The result is still the same though. The Indian women's cricket team were unable to surpass the men's team's achievement of reaching the World Cup final. They emulated the men's team by being beaten by Australia in the final. The margin of victory for the girls was lesser than what the men achieved, but both were thrashings.

Of course, it is also unfair to compare the two since there is a world of a difference in the way the men's and women's teams are feted. We can only hope that the progress made by this team will be remembered for a while and not forgotten by the time the next one-dayer against Pakistan gets underway.

The Indian bowlers bowled very well early on and had Australia in trouble at 31/2 in the 11th over, with skipper Clark and Keightly dismissed. Karen Rolton, who held the individual score record for precisely three tests before Mithali Raj took over, chose the right stage to show why she is among the best in the game. Her first partnership with Melanie Jones steadied things before Jones was out in the 25th over with the score on 71. The clincher partnership for Australia was when Rolton and Lisa Sthalekar, born in Pune, put on 140 runs in 25 overs. India's bowlers and fielders were ineffectual from the time the two got together and when Amita Sharma dropped Rolton when she had only made 60, it was to prove to be a very costly miss. Err, or is that Ms.? Pun completely intended! Sthalekar only made 55 in that stand, but those runs were really crucial under the circumstances. Rolton reached her century, the first ever made in a world cup final, off just 126 deliveries and remained not out on 107. For India, the bowlers were all tidy without being threatening and Rolton superbly ensured that the spinners did not get too many wickets.

India's reply was a total disaster, with wickets falling too rapidly due to run-outs. Four out of the top six were dismissed in that manner and when Mithali Raj was ruled out lbw, the game was over. The opening stand was 14, made in 8 overs. The rest of the partnerships were also pitiful and the highest was 29 runs for the 7th wicket. By that time, obviously, the situation was beyond retrieval. Only Anju Jain and Amita Sharma got past 20. The Indian strategy had been to ensure that Fitzpatrick didnt get too many early wickets. They were successful in implementing it, except that they were still six down by the 25th over.

Karen Rolton was named player of the match and the tournament. Australia's victory could also mean an end to the careers of 35 year old skipper Belinda Clark and 37 year old quick Cathryn Fitzpatrick. Clark still holds the record for the highest individual score in men's and women's one-day internationals.

Labels: women, women's world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 3:34 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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India v Australia in Women's World Cup final

India will take on Australia in the final of the Women's World Cup on Sunday. I hope it will not be a repeat of the men's event, even if the countries playing are the same. India defeated defending champions New Zealand by 40 runs in what turned out to be a fairly one-sided game.

India set New Zealand a target of 205 primarily due to skipper Mithali Raj's unbeaten 91. Mithali had missed crucial games in the 2000 World Cup due to typhoid so her performance and India reaching the finals would have been really satisfying. She had a good partnership with Anjum Chopra but the rest of the batting card does not really look too good. Rachael Pullar took four wickets while the rest of the bowling did not make too much of an impact. New Zealand's fielding was also awful with several misfields and dropped catches.

New Zealand's reply got off to an awful start with the score reading 37/4 in the 14th over and the entire top order dismissed cheaply. They continued to lose wickets with Maria Fahey playing the lone hand with 73. Amita Sharma and Al Khader took three wickets each and Jhulan Goswami took the final wicket to seal the win. Mithali Raj, who had hobbled off the field after spraining her knee while attempting to field early on in New Zealand's innings, was the obvious pick for player of the match. She is determined to play in the final, even if she is half-fit.

Labels: women, women's world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 6:43 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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India beat England at the Women's World Cup

While it would be impossible for the Indian women's team to avenge the defeat of the men's team against Pakistan, since Pakistan is not even participating, they are on course for a spot in the last four at the Women's World Cup in South Africa. They beat England convincingly.

Labels: women, women's world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 2:55 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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England feels they have a definite chance against Australia

England's captain claims they are ready to show Australia how far they've come. This is in spite of a score of 169/7.

If you thought this was a headline after the first day of the Ashes, you may not be too far off the mark. Except that this bravado is by England's women's cricket team, playing in the World Cup in South Africa. Must be a national sport, this false bravado thingy!

Labels: women, women's world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 11:43 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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Indian eves get a boost through Sahara sponsorship

The Indian women's cricket team, which choked in the semi-final of the 2000 edition, got a shot in the arm before they departed for the World Cup in South Africa, starting on March 21. Sahara India Pariwar (sponsors of the men's team) today announced that they would officially sponsor the Indian women's cricket team for the next three years. Will the women also sport 'Amby Valley' instead of 'Sahara'?

Labels: women

Thus spake Ganesh @ 10:10 am | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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India at the Women's World Cup

With the Women's World Cup starting in South Africa in a couple of months, India's captain talks about India's chances and what ails womens' cricket in India.

Labels: women, women's world cup

Thus spake Jagadish @ 4:36 pm | Sledge/Read 0 sledge(s)
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