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Two Winters and One Summer of English Cricket and Continued Adventures
Logie66:
It"s congratulations to Ireland who have qualified for the next stage of the 20/20 World Cup. This follows on from the great showing at the World Cup in the West Indies in 2007.
Being in a group with two other Test playing nations this is another great feather in the hat for the Irish team and demonstrates that with the right management structure teams can progress and develop.
Great result and well done !! A few more Guiness will be drunk tonight I"m sure ;D
Logie66:
So, Monday evening turns into an enjoyable part of the day as I sit in front of the TV and watch the Aussies get dispatched by the Sri Lankans ;D Suffering the embarrassment of not making it past the first qualifying stage of the 20/20 tournament.
We"re not laughing Ricky honest ;D
A much deserved defeat following the disparaging remarks about Leicester before the game as well, I"m sure there are a lot worse places you could spend two weeks preparing for the Ashes series, Australia comes to mind ;D
The camera close up of Ricky Ponting was the best for me, putting his head in his hands as Brett Lee was hit for another four, which basically made the final over a non event for Sri Lanka, I"llbe searching for that on the Internet to post for everyone if I can find it !!
Mentally this could play into the hands of England, the last Ashes series started with a shocking performance in a 20/20 game, are we going to experience some deja vu for the series in 2009, I certainly hope so ;D
Logie66:
A poor batting performance yesterday against South Africa, early wickets and tight bowling made it difficult for the England batsmen to set a good base in the first six overs. The pressure to increase the run rate resulted in more risks being taken and some poor shot selection by the batsmen. All in all a deserved victory for Graeme Smith and his men, they certainly look to be one of the favourites for the tournament, and I believe both finalists will come from this group.
England"s next game is a must win against India, will be difficult against a one day specialist team who have all developed their short games further with the IPL running for two years. I expect England to bow out, but the 20/20 game is so unpredictable you never know, a couple of good overs and a game can be put out of sight for one team.
Logie66:
Have enjoyed the 20/20 matches over the last few days with some good performances from South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies and England. A surprise that India have effectively gone out of the competition, with all the experience from the IPL they were being billed as favourites.
I"m now trawling the internet to see if I can come across any tickets for the final, have found a few sites although it"s disappointing to see people charging more than the face value of the ticket.
I will see, may decide to pay slightly over the odds for a ticket just to attend what has been a great competition so far, I have been looking at the "Seatwave" website, has anyone had any experience of this ??
Would be good to get a good live match report with actions shots on the blog once more ;D
Logie66:
So the next stage of the summer is nearly upon us, the home Ashes series against the Aussies and the England 13 man squad has been picked:
Strauss, Cook, Bopara, Pietersen, Collingwood, Bell, Prior, Flintoff, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Panesar and Onions.
Bell selected as cover for any of the batsmen over the next few days and expect him to be left out on Wednesday morning. With Flintoff back in the fold, England will have the luxury of another bowler who can bat a bit, this will sway the selectors on the final selection place for the starting eleven. With the Cardiff pitch expected to take spin according to all the experts, I feel that two spinners will be picked, this will give England an advantage over the Aussies and with more right handers in the Aussie side now, I think this will swing it for Monty.
So my England eleven for the first test is:
Strauss, Cook, Bopara, Pietersen, Collingwood, Prior, Flintoff, Broad, Swann, Anderson and Panesar.
A bit more batting strength with Flintoff and Broad going in 7th and 8th.
Will be interesting to see what bowling attack the Aussies go with, their spinner doesn"t look up to much, which means he"ll probably take a hat load of wickets ;D
But the big debate is whether Ponting is as bad a Captain as Aussie Legend Jeff Thomson says he is, apparently everyone at home thinks the same, great player poor Captain.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR7_KtW3Is[/youtube]
It"s going to be a close series and the first test could be key in deciding the series winner, not always important as don"t forget the Aussies won the first test in 2005. I do feel though that the batting line-up and bowling attack that England have could swing it our way with a narrow victory of 2-1 again.
Let"s hope that the weather holds in Wales !!
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