Archive for the ‘Graeme Smith’ Category
West Indies vs South Africa
- Spin bowling especially Johan Botha opening
- Imran Tahir’s promising debut
- Dale Steyn’s late overs burst
- AB Devilliers form
- Darren Bravo’s batting
- Suleiman Benn opening the attack and getting the turn
- Kemar Roach
Team Preview : South Africa
THings around Durban Win
Response to Graeme Smith ‘s questioning India’s # 1 status
Coach captain fiasco in Saffa
England vs SA : Preview
- KP
- Strauss
- Trott
- Swann : can he spin in fast conditions ?
- Graeme Smith : Best test player and the man to lead. How he plays in 4th innings would be a big factor when Saffa chase. He has been the best in the 4th innings in last few years.
- Ntini : Only the 7th fast bowler to play 100 Tests and 3rd Saffer fast bowler. How he plays would be a big factor cos he hasnt been that effective off late.
- AB : Bloggers’ favorite and supposedly the “cutest” one.
Man of the hour
Let me tell you who is not.
No Samarweera or Bug bear…
No Mendis who was huge last year this tem.
No Younis Khan or Boom Boom womanizer.
No Fab Four group member. No Indian either.
Its somebody unfamiliar. Somebody who won the Ashes yet wasnt given the credit. Who was disgraced by every blogger all over the world.
I bet my 10 cents on his team and his team is in the semi finals.
He is Andrew Strauss.
One day he recalls a loser when he was out.
Second day he denies a real hero a runner when he needed the most.
Graeme Smith is second. Angelo Matthews is first.
I would beat the heat out of Strauss for denying Smith a runner.
Smith is a real hero. Forgot his heroics in Sydney last innings ? Out with bat in a broken hand ? Time and again he has been the lone ranger in his team’s wins and defeats.
So the man of the moment is Gream C Smith. Poorna wont like it. But she has to. Real heroes are liked by everybody.
And I noticed my blog isnt so popular in Sri Lanka. I have noticed in google that they say something about me in their local language.
What do i say ? Something which Dancing baby adores :
‘Naan oru thadava sonna nooru thadava sonna mathiri” Sri Lanka s a boring team to watch and so is their cricket in the backyard where no body cheers on boundaries but just a boring band keeps playing….
Raj and Prabhu can decode wot i wrote in the quotes above. Rajanikanth dialouge which says If i say it once, its like saying it 100 times. Lol. That I think would be my punch line of the blog.
Btw, the man of the hour is Graeme Smith for his heroics yet again.
Dhakkan vs Dhakkan
Dhakkan gets a Dhakkan. RP gets his IPL team mate Gibbsie. Time for Zaks to get his bunny Smithie 🙂
World T20 thus far.
I was away from the world of cricket and internet travelling to a distant land. So missed the LIVE action of World T20. However, the excitement is just about unfolding with the 7 games being over and results being a mixed bag. 4 teams have almost made it to the Super 8 stage and 2 would be decided almost today. Not an open format though, the IPL was more closer than this when the final 4 were decided in the last league game. The minnows have had it, the stronger teams have been punched hard on their face, the world champs have began emphatically and the runners up are in the dangers of being knocked out in the first round itself.
The world t20 began with a very exciting result when Netherlands beat England by 4/6 wkts in the tourney opener. English media was quick to rub the loss as the worst ever and blackest day in the history of 195 years of Lord’s. Too quick though, when in their next do – or – die league game, England thumped Pakistan by 48 runs, which is a big margin in T20. This result means England are through to the super 8s. And today Pakistan would need to win big against Netherlands. So that’s two fold a task. Win and win big.
SA and NZ had no difficulty in brushing aside Scotland who began well surprisingly in the rain shortened game on Saturday. This 2 sides are through to the next round and the winner of the tie between this 2 teams would decide the groups, the teams go in. SA have looked the most convincing team in the tournament thus far, though they played against a weak side. That has been the SA story. Start well, win all the games and then choke when it matters the most. Hope that this time, Graeme Smith would have different script for his team.
India beat Bangladesh convincingly by 25 runs though the critics would have their share of Dhoni bashing when he struggled to hit the ball. Ojha looked strong and Bhajan deceived. Zaheer was rusty. The way India played as a team sounds warning to the other teams in Super 8 stage that it would be very tough to beat this team. The only matter of concern is when Sehwag returns, who goes out?
Australia have suffered a great deal with the loss of Roy and perhaps they should have thought if sending back Roy was a wise move or it was an battle of egos between Roy and Pups. They face a do or die situation tonight and if they lose, they would be out for the first time in 17 years in the first round itself in any ICC tournament. (1992 World cup being the last). Ponting and Watson disappointed in the batting, Lee was treated like a school kid by Gayle during his 50 ball 88. Australia still might get through the Super 8 stage given they play SL who have been lackluster in the run up to the tournament. Australia have very little time in their hands to turn around the things. If SL lose, they still have a game to go against WI to make up for the loss.
One word on Pakistan. You cannot expect a team which has not won a single game in the tour to scamper through and go to the finals. Be it for cricketing reason or be it the emotional reasons. Pakistan have been simply rubbish over the tour. They have had no plans, they have had no will to play through. Emotional outbursts over Lahore wont always buy them a cover for their shabby performance. If they have to show their might, they have to show in the cricketing paradigms. “I have no idea why our fielders are unable to field properly. Maybe they are under certain pressure. It is not as if we are not working hard but we are not just getting it right for reasons unknown to me.” This kind of answers are lamentable. And then this one “”Even if Butt scored 28 as an opener we’ll have to think about him [for the next game] because of his fielding,“. Public outcry no no. He has demotivated the opener. And then this one “Kamran Akmal is a senior batsman but he can’t somehow take the responsibility. We need a senior guy in the top order who can play the anchor role”. Rustiness and lack of cricket won’t be an excuse to cover their below par performances for long. Another loss and the entire Pakistan team could be renewed including the ouster of selection committee and the PCB management. That’s how it’s always been across the border. For me they were never the side who looked good to go to semis. Why doesn’t Younis Khan go up the order at 3 and anchor the innings. # 5 is bit too low for this man, who is unfortunately the best batsman of the team. Will he take the leads ?
I fancy Ireland beat Bangladesh and Australia beat Sri Lanka.
Captains speak
Captains speak. Here is what the captains of prominent teams got to speak on their chances on the World T20 trophy :
Paul Collingwood, England:
We’ve got to be brave to win a tournament like this,” Collingwood told reporters at Lord’s. “We have to have the belief that we can win as a team, but we also have to have belief in our own ability in the middle. Twenty20 cricket is not an exact science, so you have to think on your feet in the middle. Sometimes it only takes one person, and we’ve got a lot of match winners, so I really do believe we can surprise a few people. I’m not going to say we are going to win it, but we have to believe we can win it.” A lot of our momentum comes from results, because when you’re winning things are very easy,” Playing at home could be an added pressure but we’re not taking it like that,” said Collingwood. “We’ve got an advantage in many ways, we know what the wickets are all about here, and we’re very excited about playing in front of our own crowds. No England cricket team has won an ICC tournament before so we have a three-week period here for us as a team to hopefully put that right.”
My verdict: Long hopes to win the ICC T20 tourney, but that won’t come with half an eye on Ashes and one fourth of the other on T20. I fail to understand the obsession of England with Ashes time and again. They don’t win it too often. They used to win 2 odd tests in an Ashes series in 90s, in 2000s except for 2005, they have never won 2 tests in a single Ashes series and yet they speak so high. Even today they speak of momentum and results after beating a reluctant West Indies in home in 2 Tests and 2 ODIs. Not to forget that the same team had failed to win a single test in tour to West Indies.
Happy to make it to the Super Eights as second team from the group. They have Holland and Pakistan in their group, good for their tendency to self destruct.
Younis Khan, Pakistan
It is special to be back on the world stage. Especially in Twenty20s, and especially in England. We are suffering from not playing regularly, and no-one is coming to Pakistan, but all the time in the last few months I have been talking to the boys, and telling them to do well [in this tournament]. There are a lot of media here, and [if we succeed] we’ll be well on our way to our mission, so to speak. It’s very important for us. If you don’t play regularly, you don’t have that match fitness. But the beauty of international cricket is that it is changing all the time in different conditions, so we feel fresh and will do well in England, ins’hallah. That’s the main reason I’m happy to be in England. Our fans are fantastic back home, they are lovers of T20, and now it’s dependent on us to prove ourselves. If we play good cricket it will be good for our nation. These days the whole nation is depressed, and only cricket [can lift it]. If we play good and win something, they will cheer. To finish in the top four, my nation will come again and start cheering. But it was fantastic to be a part of that team in the final. Some guys were crying at the end, but in T20 everything can change. My confidence is that I’ll take this trophy to Pakistan, but if the plan works ins’hallah it’ll be an achievement for us to finish in the top four.
Yeah, nobody wants to play in Pakistan. But citing that so many times to provide a root cause for the team to play for is weak. It’s just a big tournament and doesn’t matter where the Pak team is coming from. Fans, home, England, situations, prove, play well, all are jargons. Nothing matters when you step on to the field mate. It’s just the bat, ball and mind games that matter in the rub of the green. No emotions, no distraction. Emotional reasons would never help Pakistan win the tournament. Fans back home and across world would anyway cheer for Pakistan for their reputation and not for what happens to them in the tournament. Does Younis want to say that his fans won’t cheer his team in league games and Super 8s ? (Line in red). Downgrading the chances. From being a finalist to a somehow semi-finalist this year in order to cheer up the fans.
My verdict : Not sure how would they perform. Too many distractions for the lads. Rants of JM, IB and coming home of ICL rebels might affect the motivation of lesser and debutants players who have replaced Rana, Razzaq and MoYo. As a result the performance couldn’t be up to the expected levels. Yet they are Pakistan. Can do anything on their day. Score 300 in a game or get dismissed for 30. Watch out their games with a pinch of salt.
Md Asharful, Bangladesh
In this form of the game any side can beat the other,” Asharful told reporters at Lord’s. “We defeated the West Indies in the last World T20 in South Africa and progressed to the Super Eight. Our main goal is to repeat that and if we beat India, who are the world champions, in the first match then we will fancy our chances of doing well against the top sides and making the semi-finals even. We have come here one week early, had three games against New Zealand, Holland and Scotland and the boys have done well,” he said. “We are confident and there are two tough games against Australia tomorrow and Sri Lanka the day after. So that’s a nice build-up to the main tournament. It was only in the last over that MM did badly. Otherwise I thought he was okay. But I know he’ll be back. He is that type of a player. He always does well against India”
My verdict: Play out 20 overs in batting first mate and then hope to beat India. It’s not every day an Indian team has a 16 March 2007 as its match day. So just relax and look out to play for 20 full overs of batting and bowling. Once you do that, we would look to what you want to say. A semi-final berth looks a ginger for monkey like dream. So mate, dream on.
Graeme Smith, South Africa
It would be lovely if we could be successful in this tournament or any ICC tournament that is coming up, “We have had an incredible period in the last 16 months and the team has achieved so much. The confidence is good and we are excited about playing this tournament with the chance to go out and express ourselves. I think there is a lot more talent, flair and confidence among this team than ever before. It would be lovely if we could be successful in this tournament or any ICC tournament that is coming up,”. “We have had an incredible period in the last 16 months and the team has achieved so much. The confidence is good and we are excited about playing this tournament with the chance to go out and express ourselves. I think there is a lot more talent, flair and confidence among this team than ever before.
My verdict: Choking is one issue Saffers have infamously carried on from ICC tournaments across years. 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007 World Cups and 2007 World T20 are prime examples. That’s something which would always lower Saffers reputation as world beaters. They have had an incredible success in Tests and Odis over last 2 years, but their failure to win a World Cup rankles and perhaps this is a chance they can do it. But the form of captain would be a worry which also led to the loss of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.
Next stage: Australia, India, New Zealand captains.