yes! very happy about that.
So that’s the white-ball game sorted, what’s next?
Deserved champions England.
Better team all around.
Proud of the boys.
Never gave up. Shaheen’s injury was devastating, and desisive, but to be fair, had we won it even then, it would have been a smash and grab.
The lads are all young. They will only get better from here.
As to England, Stokes gets redemption, and they truly are a revolutionary white ball team, like 70’s Windies and 90’s Sri Lanka.
See you in a few weeks for the test series, where I hope Shaheen is fit.
This is just based on my observation, but it seems that England has the least overlap of starting players in the 3 formats of the game, and have also been very successful in all of them. While this demonstrates the depth of talent, is it also a key to success? While the white ball vs. red ball games are obviously different enough, are there also enough differences between the T20 and One Day games that the lineups will eventually be specialized for each; i.e. having completely distinct teams?
There may be something in that but I will say that the test team has had the least success of all formats in recent series, the form dropped precipitously from 2020 to 2022 and only really improved with a real change of approach and mentality this year.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a continuing trend of picking specific teams for specific formats though I don’t know how much England are an outlier in their degree of differentiation. Of course some small subset of players are going to figure across all formats (at least until age catches up with them) e.g. Ben Stokes.
There are overlaps in all three and white ball cricket is sufficient
similar that most countries teams are functionally the same in both formats, with a few differences dictated by tactics.
The reason England has little overlap has all to do with the fact they are currently in a golden generation and they have lots of depth.
On the ODI/T20 issue, please note. T20 revolves around the leagues and T20I and the ODI around the World Cup cycle. Teams will be getting into that in earnest now, since the ODI CWC is in less than a year. On the other hands the leagues are very lucrative for top and mid level players. Going into a CWC year, players will have to prioritise one of the other. The big three, the BBL, PSL and IPL will be played tolerably far from the tournaments not to be an issue, but certainly national team coaches won’t’ want the focus to slip.
I think Stokes quit ODI since he didn’t want to commit to another CWC cycle. Same reason Finch did. Both have a trophy so they won’t care.
I would not be terribly surprised if Stokes calls time on his T20I career after this win. He will be 34 at the next event.
Great game in the finish, Pakistan showed that they really do have one of, if not the, best bowling attacks in world cricket.
Few points.
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Curran getting Player of the Tournament despite not being in the Team of the Tournament is a bit naff, really, although I grant he deserved the Player of the Match award.
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Adil Rashid really came into his own in the knockout games, two stellar performances including a wicket maiden in the Power Play in this game
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Stokes finally turned up, with his first International T20 50. He did ok against Sri Lanka as well, but generally has had a quiet Cup until now
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Buttler has had a ‘Captain’s Tournament’, the duck against Ireland being the only blemish as he’s averaged 45 at a strike rate of 144. Curiously, either the statsguru engine is borked in some way or his SR for this tournament is identical to 2 sig fig to his Career SR - 144.23
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His opening partner, Hales, has been just as good, justifying his selection and then some. He averaged 42 at 147, and shows why the aforementioned Team of the Tournament has both English openers. I still can’t quite shake the feeling that he’s a bit of a knob though.
England the first side to hold both the ODI and T20 cups simultaneously, and only the second side to win the T20 cup twice (WI being the other).
Shaheen Afridi is out of the test series, which is a real shame for Pakistan
First day of the test is underway and England are blazing a trail:
Three centurions, including both openers, and there’s about to be a fourth.
It’s 460/3 at 6.57 an over.
The pitch is obviously a road, Shaheen Afridi is clearly badly missed, Pakistan are bowling two debutants and you should “never judge the score till both sides have batted” but… this is great from England and bad from Pakistan.
Root, who went out for 23, must be kicking himself.
Commentators curse - as I write, Pope goes out for 108 from 104 balls, lbw to Ali.
This same pitch saw 4 scores under 250 in a recent First class game.
They shaved the grass. And we have a damn road.
I took a day off to go watch this
Fuck.
If you’re England, when do you declare? Lunch tomorrow? Or would you do it based on score?
Following an over in which Stokes scored three 4s and a 6, the umpires have declared that the light is too bad to continue playing. Happily for England and neutral stats-fans, not before England set the record for most runs on the first day of a test, 506/4.
They’ve scored so quickly they’ve got plenty of time to score something ridiculous and still be confident of getting Pakistan out twice. Livingstone and Jacks are pretty handy T20 batters so there’s still plenty of runs to come.
If they keep scoring at this rate (6.7 an over) then they can put another 200 runs by lunch! The arithmetic bears no relation to test cricket as we know it.
On the other hand they have two seamers (Anderson and Robinson), two spinners (Leach and Livingstone) and Stokes. Feels a bit light for a road so have to expect to lose runs and tire out bowlers who have to take 20 wickets so yeah, declare at lunch for c.700, maybe more if you go full blast and give yourself plenty of time so you’re not relying on the pitch doing anything Day 5. Don’t follow on to let the bowlers at the ice bath but still aim to be bowling for best part of 2.5-3 days just because it will take time to get wickets.
Chanderpaul Mk II has made his test debut and is 47* so far. I’m pulling for him.
I’m for declaring around lunchtime - assuming we get the chance, losing 6 wickets in the morning session is not so far outside the bounds of possibility. But it’s a huge score for Pak to face having 4 days left.
In the T20 World Cup Final, after 14 overs, England were 89/4. This morning, after 14 overs, they were 103/0
When the test is over,Rameez gets tied to a stock in the middle of the pitch and the citizens of Rawalpindi and Islamabad get to throw rotten fruits at him.
For a week,
This is insane
As is this
Cheer up, it’s still entirely possible that England will splutter to something like 620-8 and Pakistan get 450+ in their first innings and ultimately draw the game comfortably.
In fact, on the off chance that England do get to lunch somewhere around 650 with batting left, I’d be sorely tempted to go on till tea, just for the morale impact of Pakistan having to come out to bat with 750 or even 800 on the board against them. If Pakistan bat for three days they will get 800 runs, so it’s not really costing any time.
Rawalpindi has traditionally been a pitch suited for seamers.
Fear of the Aussies in March and Jimmy here have made them make a road. Shaved all the grass.
The same pitch a few weeks ago
So England landed at 657 all out. Pakistan comes out blazing as well and is at 181/0 with both batters nearing their century marks (89 and 90).
Pakistan’s run rate is 3.54 currently so well behind the pace England set, but slogging it out for a draw certainly seems possible at this point.
I’m dreaming of Pakistan putting England back in at lunch on day 5 having put up 800/3.