2015 Cricket World Cup

Joy And Pain

LordCanisLupus28 Comments

I don’t, as a rule, get into politics, because I know the vast majority of you want to talk cricket. But on a night where a respected, if an opposite side of the fence, reporter leaves the Telegraph and burn his bridges with past and future potential employers, you need to reflect on the world we live in. A world dominated by the bottom line, the buying of influence, the protection of the corporate over the individual, the all pervading interference of the business model over the need for fairness and openness. All run by an entitled elite, not willing to countenance those who don’t conform, toe the line or reflect on dissent.

But enough about cricket.

All those charges can be laid at the door of the ICC. I did not take much joy from the Irish victory over the West Indies, because, let’s face it, the ICC doesn’t give a flying one about the West Indies. Those of us of a certain age remember that 1980s juggernaut, the regular flayer of all before them, the complete misrepresentation of that team (calypso cricket my arse – they were professional, brilliant in their fundamentals, and ruthless in their implementation of their considerable ability) to make it seem as this was just a matter of luck. The current team is a joke, a pale shadow of the teams of even 10 years ago. It’s easy to pin it at the door of Chris Gayle and other players, but the mere fact that the IPL plonked their competition in peak West Indies test season said what the power brokers thought of their future. That it was them beaten by Ireland, despite the usual game performance by Darren Sammy and a hundred by Lendl Simmons, saddens me. This needs to happen to India. To Australia. To England again. Even then, no-one gives a stuff.

We live in a rigged world, and we try to get along. We live in a world where people who attack India’s influence on all things cricket are pilloried because we want a return to the old Empire, which is just mad. We don’t. The “Associate” countries are getting a bit closer each World Cup, and they have stirred up each of the last three competitions. This World Cup is designed to make money, the next one as well, and the one after that…. developing the game only matters in major markets, rather than the fairy story of Afghanistan, the Netherlands who are capable of bloodying our nose, and that Kenya have not really come on should be a sense of shame, not a shrug of the shoulders. Ireland are showing an exciting verve, have a pool of players, and are being told to sod off. Business. Money. TV contracts. Tail wags dog. Sport loses its soul.

I don’t feel like I’m watching a Cricket World Cup. I feel like I’m watching a business convention. A profit line rather than a celebration of the sport. A rigged game.

There’s a massive post on this in me, but I’m too worn out this evening.

World Cup Day 1 Statistical Stuff

LordCanisLupus10 Comments

The previous incarnation of this blog had Century Watch. So let’s go through some of this for the Cricket World Cup.

Aaron Finch – 135 at Melbourne

The 185th ODI hundred by an Australian, and the first score of 135 in ODI cricket by an Australian. The third highest ODI score by an Australian at the MCG. 27th highest overall by an Aussie.

In terms of the World Cup, this is the 23rd century by an Aussie in the competition, the fifth highest overall, and the second by an Australian at that venue. The other century was made by David Boon (100) v West Indies in 1992. It is the highest World Cup score at the MCG and the third hundred overall (Boon and Rameez Raja (102), both against the West Indies).

This was the second highest individual innings against England in the World Cup, trailing Viv Richards who made 138* in the 1979 World Cup Final. Somewhat surprisingly this was only the 9th century against England in the World Cup.

98 and all that

James Taylor’s 98* was the second instance of a man being undefeated on that score at the end of an innings in the World Cup. The other was Kenyan Collins Obuya against Australia in Bangalore in 2011. Two players have been dismissed on 98 in the World Cup – Sachin Tendulkar and Tatenda Taibu are the others. England have four scores of 98 in ODI cricket. Trott scored an unbeaten 98 in Mohali in 2011 against India (not the World Cup), while Andrew Strauss and Owais Shah have been dismissed on that number, the latter in a Champions Trophy game.

300+

Australia’s 342 is currently the 16th best score in World Cup cricket. It is the highest against England, beating the 338 India made against them in Bangalore in 2011. Australia have four scores higher than 342, with the record being 377/6 against South Africa in St. Kitts in 2007. New Zealand’s 331 is the equal 25th best score in the World Cup and their equal 3rd best total, but the best against a full test nation in the World Cup. Their record is 363/5 against Canada at Gros Islet in 2007.

World Cup Hat-tricks…

Steven Finn’s was the 8th hat-trick in World Cup cricket. There’s a whole article on them. It’s the sort a statto loves.

World Cup Game 4 – India v Pakistan

LordCanisLupus5 Comments

This is the game thread for this much trailed match. Please feel free to jot down what you like, when you like.

So the hype has been incessant, as if this has been something special at World Cups. As alwayst the truth is somewhat different – there’s some shocking old figures from the very few times these two have met in this competition. Did you know it has produced just one century in the history of their meetings, and that by Saeed Anwar is just 101 (made at Centurion)? Games appear to suffer from the pressure of the occasion.

Sachin Tendulkar has two of the four highest scores in their World Cup meetings, with a 98 in the same game at Centurion, and an 85 in the 2011 Semi-Final. The other score over 80 was by Navjot Singh Sidhu at Bangalore in 1996.

In their previous World Cup meeting in Australia, in 1992, India won in the early stages of the competition. This game was played at Sydney. If ever a game represented a bye-gone era, this was it. Pakistan were 40 runs short with one over left. Miandad batted for an age for 40.

The last meeting was the Semi-Final in Mohali in 2011. Wahab Riaz produced Pakistan’s best figures against India in the World Cup in that fixture, but the best in the series at the main ODI competition is held by Venkatesh Prasad, who took 5/27 at Old Trafford in 1999.

This match is played at Adelaide. Peter Kirsten (84) holds the World Cup record at this venue, made against India in 1992. Azharuddin holds India’s best score in the World Cup at that ground with 79. Pakistan played there against England in 1992, when they were bowled out for 74. Salim Malik and Mushtaq Ahmed both made 17, so the Pakistan record had better go!

World Cup records:

Sourav Ganguly – 183 v Sri Lanka at Taunton in 1999. India have 20 World Cup centuries.

Imran Nazir – 160 v Sri Lanka at Kingston in 2007. Pakistan have 13 World Cup centuries.

World Cup Game 3 – South Africa v Zimbabwe

LordCanisLupus8 Comments

Game thread for this match being played at Hamilton.

These two have met twice in World Cups, with this one being the first meeting since 1999 at Chelmsford, when Zimbabwe shocked South Africa, and in the process eliminated England from their own tournament when the hosts completed their loss to India the following day. The other meeting was in 1992 when the two teams met at Canberra.

Given the paucity of meetings, World Cup records for this fixture look ripe for beating. The highest individual score is 76 by Neil Johnson at Chelmsford, while South Africa’s highest score is the 70 made by Kepler Wessels in Canberra.

Peter Kirsten, Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener are the only other players to make half centuries in this fixture.

Neil Johnson has the best bowling figures as well, with 3/27.

South Africa are my choices for the competition, and Zimbabwe are not expected to put up much of a contest. Let’s see….

Post-Match Moan Special

LordCanisLupus23 Comments

Comment here, but as this is more their bag, go over to the Full Toss.

I’ll have the reactions of my own later.

And here they are.

First of all, you have to have belief. I really don’t think they believed they could win today. They felt that they had to play Australia in an opening game in front of their largest crowd, and they just didn’t think it was on. Sure, they will tell you that they had this belief, but it is, as we are increasingly finding out, not a guide to future performance in listening to these media-trained automatons. Australia are in our heads. Just 18 months or so ago we scored around 270 in a Champions Trophy game in our backyard and we won it at a canter. That team had a good number of the players we met today, but we had mental strength over them. I still maintain we are the only team to win a test series 3-0 and come out of it believing we might have lost! We gave up our mental hold over them, and that’s the biggest crime of the end of Flower’s reign.

We had them at 70/3 and still allowed them to make 342. Good grief. There’s a lot said about our garbage death bowling, and I have to say I was sleeping and then tending to my sick border collie so unable to watch the game in this period. But it takes an innings long debacle to allow a score like that on the board. Then our batting subsided meekly. This was a performance that lacked heart and belief. James Taylor showed what could be done if you got in and picked your spots, and although a lot of the congoscenti are saying that it was easy pickings because Australia had taken their feet off the gas, this doesn’t ring true with me. Australia want to humiliate us, it is in their DNA. They want us buried, because, unlike us, they don’t feel any sorrow for losers. Just five or so years ago we sat here lording over the Aussies wondering when they’d next give us a contest. That arrogance is coming home to roost.

But in the end, this doesn’t really matter. As so many say, the format means that losing these games do not mean the competition is over. We need to win against those we are favoured against and perhaps nick one against Sri Lanka or New Zealand, and we’ll be safely in the Quarter Finals. Then it’s that puncher’s chance old crap. Our clearing of the decks, our minute, detailed preparation under the greatest coach of his generation, has come to this. Praying we might get lucky in three fights in a row. I weep. I truly weep.

This game taught us little, other than confirmation that our coaching and selectoral staff have the propensity to drop WTF decisions on us. Taylor has done really decently at number 3, but this brains trust thought the better option might be to drop Taylor to 6 to accommodate a test number 3 who has played one full ODI since June. It’s just mind-numbing. Others will go into it in much greater detail than I, but this should be one nail in Moores’ coffin should we go down that route.

Morgan’s lack of form is also a concern. This is also something the anti-KP lobby (I refuse to believe there is much of a pro-Cook one) are throwing at us refuseniks. “Look at Morgan, he’s not getting the stick that Cook is” is the lamentable, pathetic, mind-numbingly tedious drivel coming from these people who don’t quite reach “clown” status when it comes to debating this. This sort of thinking makes me want to poke needles in my eyes, pull them out of my socket and stick them in acid.

By any measure, and by the way he actually plays, Cook is not an ODI player now. There’s a great piece on Tim Sherwood by Spurs fans saying why Villa shouldn’t hire him. “He played Kyle Walker as a #10” is repeated ad nauseam. Persisting with Cook, who could not make a run, nor make them at any great pace when he did, and the circus surrounding him was a crushing error and akin to playing Walker behind the striker. This is our coaching brains trust trying to be too damn clever.

Morgan has a century amongst all these ducks, had one in Australia last year as well, and when he makes runs, he makes them at an electric pace. He is in shocking form, but he has more likelihood of getting it back than Cook, who was never really suited for ODI cricket in the first place. Stop using your anti-KP blindness to avoid the truth. Yes, Morgan isn’t doing well. But Cook never would have. We tried for so long that even these clowns in the ECB realised it. There are plenty of this apologists on the Guardian, but some absolute sockpuppet on the Telegraph who trolls incessantly is being wilfully obtuse. You’ll know him if you read below Boycott’s article today.

The KP appearances on BTL are now as tiresome as they are inevitable. Again, no doubt, people will be saying I want him in the team instead of someone else. Again, these people will just pass on their ignorance and not be bothered with what I am saying. That’s increasingly their problem, not mine. KP’s points need addressing, deny it if you want, but he’s not exactly being proved wrong on much at the moment (and hold your gums on Taylor – plenty of others agreed with him given he didn’t play for ages). It’s tiresome he does a Q&A on this evening, but he’s right about Downton, and deep down, you all know it. Admit it.

I also tried to get a fight like cornered… meme going on Twitter this morning, but no-one was biting. They were supposed to be English related, as we don’t have many tigers. Here’s some examples…

Be interested in your own suggestions.

UPDATE:

David on the comments on The Full Toss pretty much nails it for me…

The big thing to me between Aus and Eng is look at Finch, Maxwell & Warner, then look at Hales, Stokes & Roy. If Finch, Maxwell & Warner were English they’d be looked at with suspicion, not trusted, criticised in the press and be kept at a distance from the international side, they don’t play like the establishment men want, they don’t follow the MCC, Eton & Harrow coaching manuals, yet all match winners for Australia. Hales & Stokes, 2 players gone backwards big time under Moores, and Roy wouldn’t be trusted by the current management.

World Cup Match 1 – New Zealand v Sri Lanka

LordCanisLupus11 Comments

Opening match of the tournament. Remember the opening game from 1992, anyone…

A pretty nonsense copy, if truth be told.

The World Cup kicks off at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.

Some stats. New Zealand record score by an individual in a World Cup match.. 171 not out by Glenn Turner v East Africa in 1975. No Old Man Pringle in that opposition.

Highest NZ score v Full Test Nations in World Cup cricket – 141 by Scott Styris v Sri Lanka at Bloemfontein in 2003.

Here’s this game in 1992…

Some more stats. Sri Lanka record in the the World Cup is 145 by Aravinda de Silva v Kenya in Kandy in 1996. Against full test nations it is 144 by Tillakaratne Dilshan against Zimbabwe in Pallakele in the last World Cup. The highest score outside Asia is 124 by Marvan Atapattu in Durban. Yes. THAT game, Shaun Pollock….

Comments please when the game commences (all non-match related comments to go on my piece below). More will be added here in the run-up to the game.

Definitely Not A World Cup Preview

LordCanisLupus15 Comments

This is the pattern folks. You lot get to comment all day (or at least until I get a mobile data package, or a wi-fi internet worth a light in the daytime) and I get to write something in the evening. Or if I’m really keen I might do something first thing. It also means that Simon or Arron get to break the world exclusives…

And by that I mean Derek Pringle, getting to tell us the story of how he had Javed Miandad stone dead AGAIN, in the Daily Mail. Now I know that one of their other main writers has a bit of a job on to get our favourite Yellow Book in on time, so there was/is a vacancy at the Mail for all the games our main man Newman can’t cover. So they’ve got Derek in to do his thing, we hope. Indeed, I pray…. This is like Christmas to me. Imagine, I thought I’d never get to fisk an article ever again with his brilliant prose in full effect, but not only might he be back, he might be forming an amazing double act with everyone’s favourite leak repository. This can’t get any better.

Yes, I saw Selfey doing what he does – that wonderful “I’ve heard this rumour” and then admonishing those who think this is pure gossip stirring into the bargain. Arron nicked my line – now Australia can experience what we have been for the last year or so.

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Give me strength. The ECB’s media campaign, which Tickers is going to town on, has this sort of effluent on my feed. It’s absolutely mind-boggling awful. In this one, Ian Bell pretends to catch Paul Newman out of a burning building for leaking that story about his managerial skills, while two other stooges laugh about “Cook’s strutting jawline”. Or some other old tossery.

Nick Knight gives us the insight we know we need…

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/cricket-world-cup-2015-if-england-are-to-shine-at-the-world-cup-they-must-start-winning-the-key-moments-in-games–nick-knight-10039665.html

Because losing the key moments is a major strategic plus.

By now England know they can compete against the best sides in the world but what remains uncertain is whether they have yet learned to do it when it really matters. It is a problem of which unfortunately I have first-hand knowledge, for it afflicted the England one-day side I played in. You would look around the dressing room and see all these world-class players, yet when it came to big global tournaments we hardly competed. We did not win regularly enough to engender a winning spirit and although it’s sad to say so, did not really understand how to win. The loss to Australia in Port Elizabeth in 2003 is a perfect example. It was match England were winning, should have won, yet lost.

Because Knight is a one-day guru.

As always, I’ll remind you to fill in your competition entries before the teams are named for tomorrow’s opening game.

Keep the comments coming. At last, some proper cricket to look forward to.

Phoney Baloney

LordCanisLupus16 Comments

It’s been a tedious couple of days. We’ve got Steve James in the Telegraph bemoaning the format of this World Cup tournament, when they can’t actually come up with a decent format of their own (and no, the everyone plays each other route isn’t the answer either – as I’ve said in a previous post. It has major flaws). The Rugby World Cup has similar mismatches and no-one wibbles on about that, but James isn’t going to go down that avenue. We play a few weeks on end, and then get to a QF stage which has only been livened up because Group A was constructed by evil beings (two out of Australia, Wales and England – didn’t two of these three make the SFs last time around, or is my memory that crap?). Oh, I don’t know. It seems fashionable to knock it. Maybe Journos and TV comms people don’t want the horror of an all-expenses paid month and a half’s work watching a great sport in some great locations. Yeah. walk a mile in my shoes and moan about that!

Talking of moans, Bob Willis has dropped the disruptive dressing room line, and the Delhi Daredevil failure trump on Kevin Pietersen. Hands up, I like Willis as a pundit – I know I’m in a minority – but come on sir, this is pure laziness. What KP has done to put people’s backs really up is the muppet line about county cricketers. Because he’s more blunt than the likes of Atherton and in his own day, Willis, about it, and uses an insulting term, he’s the devil incarnate. Please spare me the hypocrisy. Once the vast majority of established test players make the international circuit, they treat county cricket with contempt. Don’t pretend KP is the first one to say it. Stop playing the man, and play the ball. But they can’t, because deep down, he’s saying what they think. It’s much easier to scream “look at him” than address why we can’t have a competition to rival the Big Bash, or to come up with any other ideas.

A reminder to all to complete the World Cup competition. 30 questions, points to be earned, abighead to be crowned at the end. Come on, have a go, it won’t hurt.

For the World Cup I intend having a game thread for as many games as possible. I hope to do a bit of statto work, and also some comment at the no doubt stupidity of some of the comms and the press. We’ve seen it today, with Mitchell Johnson, who really gives off the impression of not being present with all lights functioning, reacting angrily to some phoney baloney stuff from Mr #stayhumble. I can’t be arsed. Life is too short.

There’s not a lot to add really. I’m a little more calm after the events of last weekend, and the dismantling of past works, but still not confident enough to say why and how. I did like Zephirine’s attempt a joining the dots on TFT. In fact, one of my main worries was that the baseball player who I named the character after, and is the face in the pictures, might one day sue for using his image for commercial gain (no, made no money out of it). It was meant as respect and admiration (although one of the pics was his police mug shot) for a man I saw in Vermont trying to get back to the top. He hasn’t. Good try.

Here’s a number for you. 1. The number of players for England who have made a century in a winning cause while chasing a total in World Cup history. Name him.