And the world cup goes to....

A post after a long time...

Rest the ideas of ODI being a competition of the past and that which is to be forgotten in the near future...
The world cup 2011 in the heart of cricket has given us more than one reason to feel so. The ODI world cup which started with a belief that this well could be the tournament which decides the fate of One-Day cricket in general..

The format which has undergone many changes after the advent of T20 and the cash rich IPL, survived one of the biggest scares that it faced.. People, fans, commentators and "big wigs" of the cricket control , each having their own reason, felt that three forms of cricket cannot stand together; whereas Test cricket being the pinnacle of cricket and no questions of replacing or fine tuning that while T20 presenting a formidable cash flow meant that the tour calendars and FTP accommodated more and more of T20 and less of test matches.. ICC stepped in with regulations on number of T20 matches to be played in a bi-lateral series ensuring the delay of the inevitable - the death of ODI.

Empty stands greets the players. Low TRP for television channels broadcasting cricket.. ODI went through a litmus test of sorts and hasn't it come out victorious at the end of it all..
To summarize what has been, an eventful start in Bangladesh leading to a series of close matches , minnows showing why they indeed deserve a place in the tournament and to top it all India going all the way through ensured that many still tuned into the channel unlike 2007.

The English angle: 
  As the pioneers of cricket and as a country who invented cricket, it was on their shoulders to ensure that ODI stayed. And thats exactly what they did.. Provided a series of close, nail biting finishes which infused life into the "dying" form of cricket.. Not a single match of England was decided before the final death overs.. Every match provided so much enthusiasm and encouraged people to watch the game more and more. Surely, a master stroke from the English to help their brainchild from dying.

Irish and Dutch:

    Questioning the presence of associates and a never ending debate on their presence in ICC tournaments could (or well atleast should) have been put to rest seeing the way Dutch and Irish performed. Dutch, an one man show riding on ten Doescharter , though less confident than what they should have been put up a brave fight in tough situations. A little bit more of experience in handling pressure situations and definitely much more help from the ICC, could have seen them upset one of the test playing nation's hope of qualifying for the Super8. Irish on the other hand, were a bunch of highly confident players who always believed that they could beat the best.. Probably, fans and critics are a bit more biased in rating them after the Kevin O'Brien blitzkrieg. What stands out in their performance more than their victories/losses in the 6 matches that they played is the confidence in the captain's eyes right from the toss and the way they carry themselves on the field. A team that should be given more and more opportunities to perform at the big stages. (Also poaching to be stopped/restricted/whatever!!!)

The top teams:
    Performances of the top teams/ the teams at the top of the ICC rankings were though convincing not authoritative. Unlike the previous editions of the world cup where we had teams whom we would pick as favorites on any given day and in the particular tournament atleast we would guess with utmost surety that they are going to win, this world cup was different. Though people would have called Aus vs Pak as an easy Aus win or a tough Pak win, nobody would have even thought of Aussies having to face their first loss in world cup history since the super8 of 1999 world cup (Phew!! That itself quite proves my point on lob-sided matches in the past). Who would have predicted India vs England to be a tie!! or England lose to Irish  and the same England win against the mighty SouthAfrica..

The hype:
    Quarter Finals was the most talked of across the nation (India).. India vs Australia.... The build up to that was humongous, monstrous.. The media hype around the match and the fan frenzy almost as though it was the world cup finals thats being played.. Calls for 2003 revenge went around... (I never understood revenges dating back to almost a decade, insane...!!!) The victory to India at the end of was hailed and talked across the length and the breadth of the nation that people started believing that nothing could get bigger than this... (On a personal note, it was a great run chase showing the character of the teams involved and worthy of being a finals!) ....
 

What next!!
   The mother of all battles !!! Border lines weakened. Visa frenzy... Name a celebrity and he would be in Mohali kind of frenzy... Govt involved.. People who would not even know cricket came to the stadium (at the cost of few thousands of tickets not being sold to the fans, a sorry tale that was re-told in the finals too).. Govts wanted to use this as an opportunity to hold peace talks... Phew!!

Lanka again..........
India and SriLanka are so used to watching these two countries play, something that calls for earth day akin to earth hour from the cricket fans, who would rather switch of the television sets than to watch these two battle it out for the nth time (n -> infinity)... Got bored of it....
And so to cut short, we shall go to the last ball... MSD whacks the ball in his trademark style and Sanga watches that from behind with his head hung down...

And so the world cup goes to................ India......

the year that was

2009 was an eventful year for many reasons.

ICC Champions trophy held after a long gap.
ICC T20 world cup second edition.
The "death" of ODI or the prediction of it.
Rise of India
Fall of Australia
Windies Fiasco
ASHES

The year started of with back to back SA-AUS series. SA won the edition in Australia and Australia won in SA.. 6 matches stood 3-3 at the end. Rather than saying Australia won in SA, it would not be incorrect if we say Mitchell Johnson won in SA.. He was the lone performer with ball and bat in the series and announced himself as the next all-rounder. Dale Steyn's performance with the bat will also be remembered for a long time..

There was a back to back ENG vs WI series too. Windies winning the home series and England in their home series. Windies showed no interest in the England tour that prompted the greats to withdraw them from the T20 world cup that was to follow their English summer.

Pakistan played back to back series against Lankans.. The home series in Pakistan saw the worst ever terrorist attack on the visiting Lankan team that injured many players. A torrid time to go through for those involved.. The return tour after the attacks, went Lanka's way..

New Zealand showcased an one-man show- Daniel Vettori.. He scored a test 100 in Sri Lankan soil and showed great determination. They came close to winning but never won a single match in the series.

A year of back to back series- Bangladesh and Zimbabwe competed fiercely in 5 ODI series.. The series saw Hamilton Mazakadza score heavily and create a record for highest aggregate in a 5 match series. Charles Coventry almost broke the record for the highest individual score in ODIs. 194* is rated higher than 194 out, so officially Coventry is the highest run scorer.

India won a series in Newzealand after ages.. 1-0 was the result and India completed the tour with some amazing play in the ODIs as well...

Windies lost to Bangladesh handing the latter their first ever test series win.. Windies lost a majority of their players to a ongoing contract crisis.. A 2nd string Windies side was captained by a hopeless player and they dint even look like posing a threat to Bangladesh who gleefully went away with a win..


ICC T20 was a bitter experience for India, who were bounced out.. Windies showed remarkable enthusiasm and courage and went all the way to semis.. They lost the semis- a total team effort... Lanka went to finals on the back of Dilshan's amazing knocks and good bowling.. Pakistan was immensely impressive, a dynamic leader in Younus Khan stepped up and Pak lifted the T20 world cup much deservedly..

ICC Champions trophy revived the concept of ODIs.. High TV ratings proved that if the quality of cricket is good then people do tune into ODI cricket.. Quite a lot of matches went to the wire.. The catch Younus Khan dropped made a big news and the dirty match fixing came into picture again.. Pakistan in the wrong side of things once again, unfortunately.. An exhibition of reverse swing from Rana Naved saw Aussie struggle to win and that made India exit from the Champions trophy too..

ASHES was the next big highlight this year, England won it.. Monty Panesar and James Anderson dug it out in Cardiff, the 1st match. ENG never looked back.. Johnson was not in good form and that hurt them a lot. Though, statistically Aussies were far better yet bizarre thing was they never capitulated on the big moments and Ponting had lost the Ashes twice on England soil..

40 odd tests and 250 ODIs and quite a few T20s made up this year..

Wait !! something is missing..

IPL and CL T20 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Modi never makes anything without creating sufficient noise. (sufficient??!!) General elections in India meant that IPL had to be rescheduled and revised but the govt did not seem to agree with Modi. And what does Modi do? Shift INDIAN premier league to SA.. "SA have embraced the concept of IPL and its a huge success", this was a signature statement that either prefixed or was a post fix to any answer that Modi gave to a question that did not even require him to say that. A dull IPL..

CL T20 opened avenues. Many fringe players get noticed but the response wasn't encouraging enough.. The people being unaware of the players and teams was a major reason. It meant that they couldn't associate themselves with a team apart from the IPL ones.. Trinidad and Tobago showed that cricket is still alive in Windies and it needs a professional management to improve standards..

boring draw

Draw.............. Dreaded word in test matches..

Dead Pitch, slow poison to test matches.. Why bother supporting the idea of a Test championship when you're doing your best to kill off the oldest form of the game?

DRAW is a special feature of the tests.. A team must lose all wickets to give an outright win to the opposition.. 99-9 chasing 400 for win is also a draw..

Some of the most remembered test matches have been great drawn games.. The most recent being the nail biting finish at Cardiff in Ashes.. Panesar and Anderson had batted out almost an hour to ensure a draw in the 1st test match against Aussies which was considered equal to a win with the crowd roaring when the umpires called off play at the end of the stipulated time..

As far as I can remember, in Australia India has drawn a game in Gabba 2003, Sydney 2004, Sydney 2008.. I think those are the only 3 drawn games, or SAF may have drawn a game sometime.. Such is the result oriented pitches they have been producing over the past 5-6 years..

In England and New Zealand, the draws are mostly decided by wet conditions and rains..

Astonishingly, England since Jan 01,2004 has played in 42 tests and in the same time the busiest country India has featured in 27 home tests only.. 11 of the 42 tests have been a draw in England..  7 of those have been due to time wasted by bad light or rain or wet out field.. 2 instances of close calls, when India had lost 9 wickets and MS Dhoni helped India save the Lord's test match, the famous Ashes match where Lee and McGrath saw off the final few overs..

Ironically, majority of the draws have been in the tour opener at Lord's, London - 6 ..

West Indies also have 12 draws in their home..

one due to Lara's mammoth 400*..

double centuries from chanderpaul and Hinds and rain stoppage ended a match in draw..

Gayle storm of 317, 3 more from WI; 4 centuries from SA and they still had time to play 30 overs in 2nd innings.. Ironically, for SA all 11 players bowled in the match..

last wicket was not dislodged on 2 occasions.. rain on 3 occasions.

Largely, West Indies has been a batting paradise.. Scores of 580s, 600s, 750s have been the culprits in draws.. 5 of the draws has been against England..

12 draws in INDIA too, adding the draw in Ahmedabad test against Lanka 2 days back..

7 of those have been on dead pitches.. Centuries galore.. No holding back..
2 no play possible on 2-3days due to rains in Chennai.. Dead wickets assisted by bad light in the remaining 3 cases..
These 12 draws have been among the worst games ever played, mindless batting exhibitions on surfaces where the bowlers were neutered the moment the new ball lost its shine.
The pitch looked good enough to last another week- was a common comment..  Ganguly in his article has written that another test match could be played on the Motera wicket ,Ahmedabad after Murali could do no damage on the 5th day too..

There's nothing wrong with a surface being batsman-friendly initially, as long as it deteriorates over the course of a game.. There's nothing wrong in a pitch being spinner friendly either, but the match referees take it the other way that the pitch is a minefield.. What if all wickets were taken by the faster bowlers, is the pitch to bouncy ?? Why not call off then!!

This is a series where the No. 1 ranking is at stake. You'd think that results mattered. India are content with being world leaders: at signing TV deals and producing sub-standard pitches..

world cup 2011 fixtures

Group A -                Group B -

Australia,                    India,

Pakistan,                    South Africa,

New Zealand,            England,

Sri Lanka,                  West Indies,

Zimbabwe,                 Bangladesh,

Canada,                     Ireland,

Kenya.                       Netherlands.

FIXTURES - 

INDIA

Feb 19     1st match -   India v Bangladesh    Mirpur

Feb 27     11th match - India v England          Kolkata  

Mar 6      21st match - India v Ireland            Bangalore 

Mar 9      25th match - India v Netherlands   Delhi 

Mar 12    29th match - India v South Africa   Nagpur

Mar 20    42nd match -India v West Indies    Chennai

SRI LANKA

Feb 20      3rd match -   Sri Lanka v Canada (Hambantota)

Feb 26      10th match - Pakistan v Sri Lanka (Colombo)

Mar 1       14th match - Kenya v Sri Lanka (Colombo) 

Mar 5       20th match - Australia v Sri Lanka (Colombo)

Mar 10     26th match - Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe (Pallekele)

Mar 18     37th match - New Zealand v Sri Lanka Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

NEW ZEALAND

Feb 20   2nd match -   Kenya v New Zealand          ,Chennai 

Feb 25   8th match -    Australia v New Zealand      ,Nagpur

Mar 4    18th match -  New Zealand v Zimbabwe    ,Ahmedabad 

Mar 8    24th match -  New Zealand v Pakistan (Pallekele) 

Mar 13  30th match -  Canada v New Zealand ,Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Mar 18  37th match -  New Zealand v Sri Lanka ,Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

AUSTRALIA

Feb 21   4th match -   Australia v Zimbabwe           Ahmedabad   

Feb 25   8th match -   Australia v New Zealand      Nagpur

Mar 5   20th match -  Australia v Sri Lanka           Colombo
Mar 13  31st match - Australia v Kenya                 Bangalore 

Mar 16  35th match - Australia v Canada               Bangalore 

Mar 19 39th match -  Australia v Pakistan             Colombo

ENGLAND

Feb 22    5th match -   England v Netherlands    Nagpur 

Feb 27    11th match - India v England                Kolkata 

Mar 2     15th match - England v Ireland            Bangalore 

Mar 6     22nd match -England v South Africa   Chennai

Mar 11   28th match - Bangladesh v England    Chittagong  

Mar 17   36th match - England v West Indies   Chennai 

PAKISTAN

Feb 23    6th match -   Kenya v Pakistan                (Hambantota)
Feb 26   10th match -  Pakistan v Sri Lanka         (Colombo)
Mar 3    17th match -  Canada v Pakistan             (Colombo)
Mar 8    24th match -  New Zealand v Pakistan    (Pallekele)
Mar 14  32nd match - Pakistan v Zimbabwe       (Pallekele)
Mar 19  39th match -  Australia v Pakistan         (Colombo)

WEST INDIES

Feb 24   7th match -    South Africa v West Indies     Delhi  

Feb 28   12th match -  Netherlands v West Indies     Delhi

Mar 4    19th match -  Bangladesh v West Indies      Mirpur 

Mar 11  27th match -  Ireland v West Indies,            Chandigarh  

Mar 17  36th match -  England v West Indies            Chennai

Mar 20  42nd match - India v West Indies                 Chennai

SOUTH AFRICA 

Feb 24   7th match -    South Africa v West Indies ,     Delhi 

Mar 3    16th match -  Netherlands v South Africa      Chandigarh

Mar 6    22nd match - England v South Africa             Chennai

Mar 12  29th match -  India v South Africa  ,               Nagpur

Mar 15  34th match -  Ireland v South Africa,              Kolkata

Mar 19  40th match -  Bangladesh v South Africa,       Mirpur 

BANGLADESH

Feb 19   1st match -   Bangladesh v India                     Mirpur

Feb 25   9th match   - Bangladesh v Ireland                 Mirpur  

Mar 4    19th match - Bangladesh v West Indies         Mirpur  

Mar 11  28th match - Bangladesh v England               Chittagong  

Mar 14  33rd match - Bangladesh v Netherlands        Chittagong  

Mar 19  40th match - Bangladesh v South Africa,       Mirpur

Feb 28    13th match -  Canada v Zimbabwe,                 Nagpur  

Mar 7     23rd match - Canada v Kenya,                       Delhi

Mar 18   38th match -  Ireland v Netherlands,              Kolkata

Mar 20   41st match -  Kenya v Zimbabwe,                   Kolkata

Mar 23	Quarter Final - TBC v TBC,    Mirpur
Mar 24	Quarter Final - TBC v TBC    (Colombo)
Mar 25	Quarter Final - TBC v TBC,    Mirpur
Mar 26	Quarter Final - TBC v TBC,   Ahmedabad

Tue Mar 29	Semi Final - TBC v TBC      (Colombo)
Wed Mar 30	Semi Final - TBC v TBC      Chandigarh

Apr 2

Final - TBC v TBC Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

another injury

Yet another player has left the Australian squad on illness or injury.. WHAT is happening to Aussies ? A side that boasts of extreme fitness and talent is now losing them all of a sudden..

Michael Clarke was the first casualty who withdrew from the Champions Trophy, which Aussies eventually won, with a lower back pain.. The work load was blamed..

Brad Haddin injured his finger in the ASHES series and missed a test, giving Graham Manou the back up keeper his maiden game.. Haddin went on to miss ODI series against England and then the Champions trophy with a broken finger..

Callum Fergusson, not a big name but has been vital in Australia winning many matches and has been very consistent at no.6 averaging 46.07 in 25 ODIs that he has played.. Ferguson tripped in the field and injured his right knee in the Champions Trophy finals.. It was later decided through tests that he needs a re-construction of right knee after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament.. (he suffered similar injury in the u-19 wc that he played)..

Soon after the champions trophy, the inaugural Champions League T20 took place where 2 Australian teams in Victoria and NSW took part.. Victoria reached semi-final while NSW went on to beat Trinidad in the finals.. Led by Katich, the side had Hughes and Warner at the top with Lee, Clark and Hauritz forming the core of bowling.. Victoria was captained by Cameron White and Siddle was the other member who also featured in the national side..

NSW members landed in the team hotel barely 24hrs before 1st ODI..

Brett Lee, who was instrumental in NSW winning the CL T20, suffered an elbow strain and was forced out of 2nd ODI but eventually was sent back home as they felt he could not have recovered in time. Lee has had ankle and side problems before the latest setback.. Lee was out of the ASHES too for injury woes..

James hopes also suffered a hamstring injury in the 1st ODI and was ruled out of the next 2 ODIs and eventually out of the entire series..Hopes bowled just two overs in the first ODI in Vadodara before leaving the field after pulling his right hamstring.


The next to go was Tim Paine, wicket keeper who injured his finger while keeping wickets in the Nagpur ODI.. He injured his finger while attempting to take a bouncer of  Siddle..

The latest addition to that is Peter Siddle.. Siddle will return home after suffering stiffness in his left side during Monday's win in Mohali..

So, the replacements Manou, Henriques and Clint McKay are already here and now the selectors are scouting for another replacement..

Already, the pace attack is without Lee.. Now, the next best player Siddle too is going to miss.. Johnson hasn't been in good form either..

Where's Stuart Clark ? Military medium , McGrath like with line and length... Very much needed in the middle overs with Johnson leaking hell a lot of runs he may just be the right replacement..

Dirk Nannes, who played for Netherlands is available to play for Australia.. He is one pace bowler who can be a definite replacement for Lee.. He bowls at 150+ kph..

Brad Hodge, technically may not be so sound but is certainly a good replacement.. I would seen him as the 1st replacement to Clarke.. Donno why he is not favored..

Dont the Aussies boast of a great training facility and highly strong players who play injury free for a long long time !! This just shows that whatever be the facility provided, over kill or continuous cricket will take a toll on players..

The only solution would be if each of the high profile teams have enough bench strength who can come to the International arena and perform from the word go.. A pool of 20-25 players are needed and the final squad of 14-15 must be picked from the pool on a rotation basis so that no player plays too much cricket and also to ensure that the others are match fit and ready to go.. That just takes care of stress related injuries..

Technologies-Bowling machine

What is a bowling machine, and how does it work? A bowling machine is a device that functions as a nets bowler, firing balls at batsmen, providing them with practice. The machine can simulate various types of pace, swing, and spin bowling accurately. The main mechanism in a mechanical bowling machine (the most common kind) consists of two spinning wheels, each driven by its own motor, between which the balls are fed via a chute. The device is mounted on a tripod or similar, at such a height as to simulate the delivery of a bowler of average height. The machine runs on rechargeable batteries; each charge provides between two and six hours of running time. swing and spin-- Swing is produced by varying the speeds of the wheels independently using a manual controller - i.e., speeding one wheel up and slowing the other one down, which produces an effect similar to that caused when a football is kicked with the outer part of the foot. The ball swerves away from the faster wheel. To impart spin, in addition to having the wheels move at different speeds, the machine head is tilted and then swing rotation is put on the ball. The ball turns because the rotation is at an angle when it hits the ground. The length of deliveries can be adjusted by tilting the head of the machine as required. The speed can be varied from 20mph to 95mph. The bowling machine is most accurate with a round object, and cricket balls are not perfectly round. Moreover, cricket balls are made of leather, which is prone to tearing when squeezed between the spinning wheels. This is why hard polyurethane balls - dimpled for swing - are used. An advance over the mechanical version is the programmable bowling machine, which can be configured to bowl different types of deliveries in sequence. A programmable bowling machine called Merlyn, which it was claimed could bowl any ball known to man, including Shane Warne's legbreaks, was in the news when it was used by England in the run-up to their successful 2005 Ashes campaign. More common are pneumatic bowling machines, which use a pump to provide a flow of air that propels the ball through a tube at varying speeds.

Champions league CLT20 stage round recap

What happened thus far, a look back..

• Great inauguration, amazing choreography by Shaolin Monks and others.
• Boring speech which was booed by the audience; started clapping before he could finish. (Mr.Modi)

• MATCH1 - JP's great innings of 99, deserved a century.. An innings punctuated by traditional drives and pulls, no slogging.. A 105m hit for SIX that landed above the big screen.. RCB went down to this brilliant knock..

• AUSSIE might - Victoria and NSW impress with big wins that could put them in the next stage.. Thumping win against Delhi and Eagles respectively.. Showed their class and the strong domestic set up at display..
  

• IPL teams go down - 3 losses in as many matches.. RCB lost to JP's knock, Delhi to pitch and Deccan to Alfonso Thomas. A last ball thriller, from being 99 for 7 to chase down 153 speaks of Deccan's bowling strength...
  

• Empty stands await matches involving non-IPL teams.. Provokes Gavaskar to question the future of CL T20 in the absence of IPL teams in the 2nd round.. 
  

• Cape Cobras and NSW through.. Cobras went past Otago to become the 1st team to enter league stage.. NSW showed their might over Sussex Sharks a day later to qualify to the next round.. 2 champions are through.. 
  

• Amidst all questions and speculations, Delhi put up 170 on board, on a pitch where 120 is a par score thanks to Viru and Karthik.. Qualify for the league stage by gaining an unassailable Net Run Rate..
  

• RCB follow suit.. 2 IPL teams get through.. 
  

• The lesser teams bow out, Otago from Newzealand and Wayamba from SriLanka bid good bye to CLT20 earning USD200,000 each..
  

• Trinidad and Tobago surprise the world with back to back wins.. Deccan had to listen to their team music/ theme music - 'GO chargers GO chargers'.. The IPL champions GO out of the tournament.. 
  

• A super 'SUPER' over, 9/1 from Eagles and 0/2 from Sussex.. Cj De Villiers picks up 2 in 2..  Reason given from sussex- we are new to super over and have never played in it before.. ( do we give them practice matches for this too? Ridiculous)..

But what has left an impact,

 JP Duminy's brilliant 99 will be talked for sometime to come.. Unforgettable innings.. No slogging.. This gives the message that players need not change their stroke play but only change their mindsets in T20..

Laxman's knock of 40 odd has left not only Harsha Bhogle dumbfounded but also many of the cricket fans.. Laxman stepping down the wicket or playing a cross bat shot/slog was definitely not a treat to watch but leads us to say please save them from T20 gimmicks.. We would rather watch him score 20 in a test match than to see him slog his way to 50s in T20..

Where's the hype ? Where are the sponsors ? We never heard a ***** Maximum, or ******* 4s... 6s were plain sixes and 4s were plain fours.. Refreshing.. (Yes, Modi is still the man behind the tournament, no changes there)

Empty stadiums for matches not involving IPL teams.. That is a  worrying sign for the future of CL.. We can just brush away the thought saying this is the first year and people would take time to understand and identify with the teams involved..

STAR.. An anthem 'yeh cup kahin nahi jayega' (this cup will not go anywhere) and India bounced out of T20 World cup.. 'All the best India' campaign and India crash out of Champions trophy.. 'Diwali hogi cup wali' campaign, Rangoli (colours) to depict trophy from RCB, sweets stacked one above other for Delhi and a rocket firecracker turning into a cup for Deccan.. The most unrealistic campaign that of DC has ended.. As RCB and DD don't carry points they need to win all their matches to get into semis.. So, will STAR make it 3 out of 3..

Focusing on League stage, A1, A2, B1, B2 form League A and C1,C2,D1,D2 form League B..

                        LEAGUE A                           LEAGUE B
                     Trinidad and Tobago                     RCB
                      Somerset CCC                            Cape Cobras
                      NSW blues                                  Delhi Daredevils
                      Diamond Eagles                           Victoria Bushrangers

Beware !!!!!!!!!

Somerset County cricket club have qualified for the inaugural Champions League to be held in India from the 8th of October..

Champions League T20 is also in short CL T20..

To add the title sponsors in the name, it is now widely called as AIRTEL Champions League or ACL-T20..

Somerset website has gone a step higher and has christened another name to it..

Guess what !!!!!!!!!

As it is gonna be held in India, it is called Indian Champions League T20..

And what is its short form ???????

ICL T20.............

Now, thats inviting trouble.. That is one dreaded short form that BCCI fought against with all its might and wealth.. Yes, ICL or Indian Cricket League which was started by the Zee group was under the scanner right from its inaugural season 3 years back.. BCCI have played all tricks to get rid of ICL, and have almost succeeded..

The last thing Mr.Modi would like to see is his league being called ICL T20..

Beware of some action taken against those who have published that name..

English teams at CL T20

Kent's 145 was not enough to stop Somerset from reaching the finals..
Northants 136 almost proved to be enough to gain access to CL T20 but Murray Goodwin's steady and calm innings took Sussex past 136 with 2 balls to spare..

Sussex Sharks and Somerset Sabres entered the Final of Twenty-20 cup thereby earning a place in the Champions League T20..

A $6million jackpot is up for grabs - read the news.. The focus from the finals was slowly shifting to CL T20..
2 semis and a final on the same day was some treat to the fans.. But all three matches on the same day robs us of the fun too.. If its played on 2 days or even 3 days, it keeps the excitement and thrill that much longer and makes it a great weekend..

After play started at 11.30 in the morning with the 1st semi final, the action shifted to the final at 7.30pm..

No show from Goodwin this time around, but a late flurry of boundaries from Yasir Arafat and explosive knock from Dwyane Smith ensured a total of 172 for 7.. Chasing 172 itself is a big task, added to it is the pressure of finals.. So, 172, could look like 190.. Somerset saw 2 contrasting innings Marcus Trescothick  33 from 15 deliveries and de Bruyn 22 of 32 deliveries and eventually slumped to 109 all out, losing their last six wickets for just five runs.

IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE :

Somerset Sabres

Placed in group A with Deccan Chargers and Trinidad..

The first game is on Saturday 10th October when the Sabres will take on Deccan Chargers in Hyderbad and the Sabres second game is against Trinidad and Tobago which will be played at Bangalore on Monday October 12th..

Langer would captain the side, Trescothick whose mental and physical condition forced him out of international tours and has  kept him out of the England squad despite being a prolific run getter in the domestic tournaments is lured  by the ????? (money or whatever) to tour India, de Bruyn except for the dismal finals is in good form..Batsman Jos Buttler, who also keeps wicket and who at just 19 is the youngest member of the party. Arul Suppaiah, Malaysian born has been impressive..

TEAM ::: 

Justin Langer (capt),

Marcus Trescothick,

Zander de Bruyn,

Omari Banks,

James Hildreth,

Craig Kieswetter,

Pete Trego,

Arul Suppiah,

Alfonso Thomas,

Max Waller,

Charl Willoughby,

Wes Durston,

Mark Turner,

Jos Buttler,

Ben Phillips.

Sussex Sharks
Placed in a non-IPL group, Group B, with Diamond Eagles and NSW Blues.. 


Led by Michael Yardy, the team has a lot of all rounders and players with experience at the international level too.. This might well be the group to look out for as all the teams are evenly matched.. 

Dwyane Smith has opted to play for Sussex ahead of the Chargers.. Luke Wright, Martin-Jenkins, Yasir Arafat are excellent all round talents.. Chawla has been impressive in both the IPLs, Ed Joyce needs to introduction.. James Kirtley will be remembered for both his swing bowling and for his one handed catch of Ganguly in Natwest ODIs 2001.. A young side, with many players in their early 20s.. 



Michael Yardy (capt),
Dwayne Smith, 
Luke Wright, 
James Kirtley, 
Piyush Chawla, 
Ed Joyce, 
Joe Gatting, 
Robin Martin-Jenkins, 
William Beer, 
Andrew Hodd, 
Christopher Nash, 
Ben Brown, 
Rory Hamilton-Brown, 
Yasir Arafat, 
Chad Keegan.

Champions League - CL T20

Champions League is yet another brain child of IPL boss Lalit Modi.. This T20 venture is true to its name, that it features the champions of  domestic T20 tournaments in 7 countries and 3 founder countries also have their runner-up in place for the tournament.. So, indeed, it is a league of the champions..

Champions trophy was conceived a year ago by BCCI, CA and CSA..  The BCCI is a founding partner of the tournament, along with Cricket South Africa (CSA) and Cricket Australia (CA), with all three countries enjoying joint decision-making control over the multi-nation, multi-club event.. The first edition which was to take place in December, 2008 in India was postponed following terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November as a mark of solidarity with the victims. It was later canceled. The revised dates that were announced was October 8 - 23, 2009.

The inaugural  edition of the CL T20 will be held across 3 venues in India- Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi.. The prize money for the event is a staggering 6million USD with the winners taking USD 2.5 million...

The teams that will compete in the inaugural contest are:

Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils (India);
New South Wales Blues and VB Victorian Bushrangers (Australia);
Cape Cobras and Diamond Eagles (South Africa);
Sussex and  Somerset County Cricket Club (England)
Otago Volts (New Zealand);
Wayamba (Sri Lanka);
Trinidad & Tobago (West Indies) ..

 Two hundred and thirty four players have been named by the dozen participating teams, out of which as many as 110 have played international cricket for their respective nations.Players who represent two teams in CL T20 competitions got to choose which team they will want to play for.. As many as nine cricketers came under this category and the ‘away’ team had to pay a whooping USD200,000 to a player’s home team to actually retain the player’s services.

The format......

The 12 teams have been divided into 4 groups of 3 each.. The top 2 teams from each group move into 2 groups.. the top 4 of these groups play the semi finals..

                

Group Stage

Group A: Deccan Chargers, Somerset, Trinidad & Tobago

Group B: New South Wales, Eagles , Sussex Sharks

Group C: Royal Challengers Bangalore, Cape Cobras and Otago

Group D: Delhi Daredevils, Victoria and Wayamba

Round Robin League Stage

League A: A1, A2, B1, B2

League B: C1, C2, D1, D2

TIME	MATCH	Venue
Thu Oct 8 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group C - Royal Challengers Bangalore v Cape Cobras	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Fri Oct 9 16:00 IST	Group B - Eagles v New South Wales	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Fri Oct 9 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group D - Delhi Daredevils v Victoria	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Sat Oct 10 16:00 IST	Group C - Cape Cobras v Otago	Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Sat Oct 10 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group A - Deccan Chargers v Somerset Sabres	Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Sun Oct 11 16:00 IST	Group B - New South Wales v Sussex Sharks	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Sun Oct 11 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group D - Delhi Daredevils v Wayamba	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Mon Oct 12 16:00 IST	Group A -  Somerset Sabres v Trinidad & Tobago	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Mon Oct 12 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group C - Royal Challengers Bangalore v Otago	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Tue Oct 13 16:00 IST	Group D - Victoria v Wayamba	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Tue Oct 13 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group B - Eagles v Sussex Sharks	Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi
Wed Oct 14 (D/N) 20:00 IST	Group A - Deccan Chargers v Trinidad & Tobago	Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad

 The teams and their road to CL T20 in the subsequent posts..

Warm up to the Champions trophy

ODIs are dying, T20s are emerging to be best entertainers and the tv channels with broadcasting rights for the tournaments are partly responsible for that..

We all remember that the warm up games leading into the T20 world cup was telecast and an Indo-Pak match was organized just to pull the crowds to the stadium and it was well received..

Here we are, at the mini World cup a 50 over tournament of 8 test playing nations, 15matches and is regarded as a tool to gauge the relevance of the 50 over format and the warm up matches are not being aired.. Not even a live scorecard or news ticker on star cricket, who hold the rights to broadcast ICC events.. And wats making the headlines- 'save ODI'..

New Zealand vs Warriors-  NZ never got going, except for a partnership of 95 between Taylor and Guptill. From being at 210 for 3, they were bowled out for 237.. The Warriors chase also suffered from the lack of substantial partnerships but all their batsmen chipped in with useful contributions. Warriors eventually won in the penultimate over by 2 wickets..

South Africa vs West Indies - Long time since such a one sided affair was seen.. If in the previous game, many got into double figures, in this game, SA top order batsmen all got into 80s..Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and JP Duminy all reached the 80s.. Duminy was the stand-out batsman with 80 off 49 deliveries and Mark Boucher also gave a reminder of his big-hitting skills by smashing 55 off 27 balls; Posted a mammoth 388 that showed how weak Windies are who later were bowled out for 200..

Pakistan vs Srilanka- As if 2 back to back series weren't enough, these 2 teams locked horns once again.. Pakistan were outplayed in the Lankan islands earlier losing both tests and ODIs had a point to prove and they came with a bang, scored 306 after a jittery start, Akmal, Misbah and Umar Akmal scored 50s, and Naved-ul-Hassan picked up 5wickets to bundle the Lankans out for 198..

ALL ON SEPT 18.

Srilanka vs West Indies- Dale Richards and Devon Smith notched up 50s but the M&M of Lanka spun a web around Windies and all they could manage was a paltry 201.. Sri-lanka were steered to victory by a good knock from Jyawardene..

Pakistan vs Warriors- Pakistan, Sri lanka and West Indies had 2 practice matches a piece.. Pakistan came up with another convincing performance.. An unbeaten 130 from Shoaib Malik guided Pakistan to a six-wicket victory against Warriors.. Chasing 262 for victory, Pakis got there with 19 balls to spare.


India vs New Zealand- Neil Broom, Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill scored 50s and NZ scored 301.. Pacers were torn apart and it was the spinners who put on the brakes. 3 wickets to Yusuf Pathan somewhat restricted NZ to just 301.. India had rested Sachin and Harbhajan, so it was upto the make shift opening pair of Karthik and Dravid to start the innings, Dravid was on fire scoring a quick fire 37 of 34 balls but soon the openers were back in the hut.. MSD was (un)characteristically slow, Yuvraj tried to smash the bowling apart but all in vain.. bhishek Nayar provided some fight, scoring a quick 41, which included six fours. New Zealand shared the wickets around with Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond taking two apiece, as India were bowled out in the 41st over..

8 teams, 15 matches, 1 cup.. Let the games begin.. For schedule,see previous post ..

Champions Trophy- 2009 schedule

ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Warm-up Games

Timing	Teams	Venue
Fri 18 Sep 13:00 IST	Warm-up Games – New Zealand v Warriors	LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria
Fri 18 Sep (D/N) 18:00 IST	Warm-up Games – Pakistan v Sri Lanka	Willowmoore Park, Benoni
Fri 18 Sep (D/N) 18:00 IST	Warm-up Games – South Africa v West Indies	Senwes Park, Potchefstroom
Sun 20 Sep 13:00 IST	Warm-up Games – Sri Lanka v West Indies	LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria
Sun 20 Sep (D/N) 18:00 IST	Warm-up Games – India v New Zealand	Senwes Park, Potchefstroom
Sun 20 Sep (D/N) 18:00 IST	Warm-up Games – Pakistan v Warriors	Willowmoore Park, Benoni

ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Fixtures

Timing	Teams	Venue
Tue 22 Sep (D/N) 18:00 IST	Group B – Sri Lanka v South Africa	SuperSport Park, Centurion
Wed 23 Sep (D/N) 18:00IST	Group A – Pakistan v West Indies	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Thu 24 Sep 13:00 IST	Group B – South Africa v New Zealand	SuperSport Park, Centurion
Fri 25 Sep (D/N) 18:00 IST	Group B – England v Sri Lanka	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Sat 26 Sep 13:00 IST	Group A – Australia v West Indies	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Sat 26 Sep (D/N) 18:00 IST	Group A – India v Pakistan	SuperSport Park, Centurion
Sun 27 Sep 13:00 IST	Group B – New Zealand v Sri Lanka	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Sun 27 Sep (S/N) 18:00 IST	Group B – England v South Africa	SuperSport Park, Centurion
Mon 28 Sep (D/N) 18:00 IST	Group A – India v Australia	SuperSport Park, Centurion
Tue 29 Sep (D/N) 18:00 IST	Group B – England v New Zealand	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Wed 30 Sep 13:00 IST	Group A – Pakistan v Australia	SuperSport Park, Centurion
Wed 30 Sep (D/N) 18:00 IST	Group A – India v West Indies	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Fri 2 Oct (D/N) 18:00 IST	1st Semi Final – A1 v B2	SuperSport Park, Centurion
Sat Oct 3 (D/N) 18:00 IST	2nd Semi Final – A2 v B1	New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
Mon 5 Oct (D/N) 18:00 IST	Final – 1st Semi Final winner v 2nd Semi Final inner	SuperSport Park, Centurion