Its the 1980’s and 1990’s again when Pakistan DNGAF about bilaterals and came to the party in Tournaments. (Proof, two ICC Finals, three Austral-Asia Cups and an ODI tournament with all Test Playng nations won).
It was very clear the intent was to get some practice to the middle order guys
They lost two games chasing low scores against an attack missing its best bowler(s).
Good win for Scotland over Windies in the T20 World Cup preliminary stage. This line from the BBC write-up intrigued me: “They particularly struggled against the left-arm spin of Mark Watt, who regularly bowled from 24 yards instead of 22” - presumably he isn’t the first bowler to do this, but why? Is it a relatively new tactic, to try and surprise the batter (perhaps to try and counteract batters moving across the crease)? I find it hard to see how it could confer any advantage to the bowler, apart from as an occasional surprise tactic (like the underarm serve in tennis).
paints face blue, runs through thread screaming FREEDOM before breaking into “Yes sir, I can boogie”
Not too sure about the length business but from reading Cricinfo it seems the Scots were generally very canny about denying the Windies the option to play to the short boundaries, so this may have been part of that strategy. I suspect it generally puts the batter off their length, especially if you do bowl the odd one from 22 yds.
I know you don’t need to be told this, but don’t get too excited - this is a Scottish sports team, they are bound to somehow stuff it up!
Ian Johnston, right arm straight breaker, probably the slowest bowler ever to play for Australian, captain for 17 Tests in the 50s and Melbourne Cricket Club secretary for over a quarter of a century main advice to bowlers of his type was “use the crease”.
If you are bowling spinners or even just slow the ideal delivery goes up above the batsman’s eye line during flight. Bowling from behind the popping crease mean the delivery can be flighted higher and while it may appear to be a rank full toss might actually land on a good length or even short of a length.
If the first rule of taking wickets is deliveries which hit the stumps, the second is getting batters with their feet in the wrong place for the shot they are playing.
Thanks, I thought you would have some good insight on that. Seems tough for the bowler to pull off, given how much difficulty bowlers often have with hitting the right length from one spot. Good on anyone who can do it. Removes any risk of a front foot no-ball, too!
I feel like I’ve quite a few spin bowlers that are significantly behind the line when they toss, although these seem mostly to be part-timers. I know that when spin bowlers overstep the line, they are much more likely to be scolded by the announcers than if a fast bowler oversteps.
An example of the opposite strategy to achieve the same result was Nathan Hauritz who took 63 wickets in 17 Tests .
Hauritz got his wickets by achieving more bounce than expected by releasing the ball at almost his full height. For most bowlers, a lot of their height is lost during the delivery stride with the back foot behind the stumps and the front on the popping crease and sliding forward.
To achieve this extra height Hauritz landed his back foot in front of the stumps. His front foot landed well in front of the popping crease but was not called a no-ball because in the bodies natural rotation through the delivery stride the heel of his foot rotated to be back over the edge of the crease, though it wasn’t grounded.
This action would be physically impossible for even a slow medium pace bowler to achieve but because his feet were so close together, and he “stood tall in his action”, his ball release was almost 30cm higher than you’d expect.
So a batter would drive at a delivery that their assessment of the flight would indicate a half volley when it was actually a fraction too short to drive. This would bring into play the chance of a catch at cover to mid-on if the batter didn’t compensate for the fraction more bounce. Or the batter might go back to pull a delivery which was thought to be short when it was actually a good length and bring LBW into play if the shot was missed.
So, the T20 World Cup Group A 1st Round is in the books. Sri Lanka and the Netherlands are through to the Group stage. Sri Lanka will be in Group 1 with Afghanistan, Australia, England, and New Zealand.
Netherlands will go to Group 2 with Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and South Africa.
Group B (Scotland, Zimbabwe, West Indies, and Ireland) finishes up tomorrow with a wide-open table - everyone is 1-1.
IIRC, when looking at the favorites, the groups look pretty close to the last T20 WC, particularly if you were to swap SA and NZ.
West Indies beat Zimbabwe. We beat West Indies.
On the other hand, Zimbabwe beat Ireland. Ireland beat us.
The game, as always, is in the mind.
Scotland now at 91/3 after 15 overs, and need to quite literally go big or go home.
Decent recovery to post 132, and their defence has got off to a good start - Zimbabwe 17/2 after 4 overs. Anybody’s game.
Well, they finished decently. 132/6. Drinks now for Zimbabwe at 56/3. Need 76 off 58. Unfortunately, unless Scotland can come up big here, I’m afraid this one is Zimbabwe’s to lose.
Got distracted and failed to hit reply. It’s now 76/3 (12 overs), so down to 56 off 47. Scotland needs to start taking some wickets pronto.
@Dead_Cat - I swear your post wasn’t there when I hit reply!
Yeah, Zimbabwe are hitting boundaries now, which were not a feature of Scotland’s last 10 overs. (Possibly last 13 or 14). Wickets definitely needed.
Raza just wore one on the helmet which I thought might slow him down a bit, but he then hit 6, 2, and 4 off the next 3 balls. Sorry to see Scotland go out after playing some good cricket but looks like they will just come up short. Great to see so many countries competing at such a high level.
So, that’s that.
Scotland 132/6
Zimbabwe 133/5 (18.3 Overs)
Very nice stand by Ervine for ZIM - 58 off 54. Scotland, in the end, just couldn’t overcome the poor start to their batting.
Zimbabwe edges Ireland on NRR (.2 to .105) to take the group.
On to Group play!
Group 1
Group 2
Tomorrow we have:
Sunday would be:
Yes, well done Zimbabwe. Scotland just didn’t do enough with the bat, and Rafa and Ervine delivered for Zim.
FYI, just for fun:
TILAC* how to calculate NRR!
* Today I Learned About Cricket…
Little brother thrashes big brother in group stage. They will not be able to repeat it when it really counts.