This has gone well!
Just 628 to chase. Holder and Dowrich get 200 and 100 respectively. England will probably lose by about 400 runs. No wickets today - Root wound up bowling off and leg breaks, and giving Keaton Jennings a bowl.
SA win fairly easily on Duckworth Lewis.
And that’s the end of a rare day - no wickets fell, although both teams batted.
I’d like to think England can get themselves up into the 300s, and perhaps even get a century somewhere. There’s no way in hell they are either going to get the runs or bat out two days (unless the rain forecast on Sunday becomes much more significant than currently predicted, and even then), so it’s just for the pride, boys. Let’s see if we can take it to Sunday.
Not having watched any of the match, I took notice of the odd final score in the South Africa-Pakistan ODI today. South Africa won by 13 runs (D/L method). Based on the Pak 317 - SA 188 final score, Pak obviously batted first. But why would SA need to win by 13, when the match presumably would have ended once they were ahead by 6 or less? Doesn’t D/L simply establish a lower target for the team that isn’t able to complete its innings?
:mad:
When a team wins batting second by runs like that, it means that they were unable to complete their innings due to rain, so the D/L method figures out where they should be. The winning margin is how far ahead they are of that total.
Yes. It does not account for the fact that they would have faced a reversing ball on a wet outfield against Aamir and Hasan Ali.
It doesn’t, no.
I’m ambivalent about D/L. It has a tendency assume all batsmen and bowlers are equal (or, at least, that Pak bowlers are equal to SA bowlers, for instance). 13 runs is a fair amount, but SA had only lost 2 wickets so they did have a lot of resource, and the batsmen who were in were set.
I like that D/L exists, but it’s no substitute for a tight game of cricket, which this had the makings of.
Well, that was depressing
Hammered by 381 runs. Holder and Dowrich made exactly the same amount of runs in the game as England did (323), and they were not out in the second innings. Utter hammering.
India crushed New Zealand again as well.
India doing what you need to do when defending a par score - taking regular wickets and not letting the opposition get going at all.
So if there is any chance of rain, it behooves the chasing team to keep a running tab on its D/L total and make certain that it’s exceeded at all times, right?
It only needs to be exceeded at the conclusion of the game, but keeping it within reach is useful.
I score in Sydney Grade cricket and the app we use (MyCricket) and the others I’m aware of eg TSC, has D/L built and, once the game parameters are set then it can calculate the target on demand.
Each side has a scorer so both teams know the target.
The distinction is that the fielding team is a bit harder to convey the message to and the tactics of the fielding side don’t change that much. It’s still limit runs and take wickets.
There was a WIvsEng game a few years ago - long enough back that the batting team could still chose to come off or not for light rain - and it started raining and the batting team thought they were ahead so they came off, but they’d just lost a wicket and hadn’t recalculated so they lost. Good times.
In other news, Sarfraz Ahmed has been handed a 4 match suspension by the ICC and has been sent home - Shoaib Malik will cover in his absence. The PCC may well appeal, since they think that the incident had been settled amicably between the two teams.
Not international cricket, but the Australia women’s BBL concluded on Saturday.
The two semi-finals were absolutely cracking games.
The First came down to the Sydney Thunder needing 5 to win off last ball but the Brisbane Heat took the catch on the boundary
The second semi, Melbourne Renegades needed three to win off the final ball, but the Sydney Sixers performed a run-out any team would be proud of to send the game to a super over which they won.
The Final was also a cracking game with another last over win to the Heat.
Pakistan won easily yesterday. Shinwari and Afridi ran riot through the Saffer top order.
We are a better team sans Sarfraz. Bench the fucker and let Rizwan play. Who is just a better batsman and Keeper.
I also don’t know why they keep dropping Shinwari. He has to take a 4 or 5fer every match just to stay in, while Aamir gets half a dozen chances.
Afridi, Hasan Ali, Shinwari and Aamir. Thats an attack that can defeat any lineup.
This seems to be the reaction of the Pakistan supporters on the cricket reddit as well - that he’s an embarrassment and not a good a player as his replacement.
He’s out until the third T20 in this series. We’ll see if he comes back.
First I’ve seen Shinwari was in BBL for Renegades this season.
Thought he was more than serviceable.
I thought Pakistan were pretty awesome on Sunday. When their bowling attack is even halfway on song, they are hugely difficult to beat and I thought some of the captaincy in the field to press home the advantage was excellent. If I were a county side, I would be looking to emply any number of the Pakistan pace attack - apart from anything, none of them can play IPL, so they would be available for more of the season than some other international cricketers. Afridi, Shinwari and Amir would all rule up here - Abbas has already played for Leicestershire and was amazing as well.
England got the drubbing they so richly deserved. I love Moeen, but his play with the bat in this game was indefensible. I’d make 3 changes for the next game, dropping Mo, Rashid and Curran and bring in Woakes, Broad and Leach. I’d also have a serious think about dropping Jennings, who has never looked good enough to open the batting against a pace attack outside Asia - but the cupboard is bare in this particular squad of 16. Denly might well get a shot, even though I don’t think he’ll do much either.
Re: Duckworth Lewis - it’s not perfect, but it is better than what was there before. You basically need a maths doctorate to be capable of coming up with something better - if anyone has any ideas, I am sure that the ICC will be all ears.
India are in imperious (and ominous) ODI form at the moment. They’ve dealt with what is, I still maintain, a good NZ side very easily. 3-0 up in the ODI series there at the moment, wrapping up the series win, and since the end of their tour of England, hold a record of P17 W13 L2 Tied 2 in ODIs. Their bowling is better than good, their batsmen are very handy in this format, they’ve got the IPL in between now and the World Cup to further sharpen skills in an environment that will include many of the better players that they are likely to face in the World Cup. They look very good indeed, and I would imagine, given the format of the WC (the 1992 format - everyone plays everyone once in a big group, top 4 go through), they are nailed on to be a semi finalist.
I’d regard India in the World Cup akin to the All Blacks in the rugby .
The only probable way they don’t succeed is if ambushed through being bowled out cheaply.
Their batting strength is such that were their opposition able to post an unlikely 400, I’d back them to chase it down. But a couple of poor shots, a couple of dodgy dismissals, a couple of outrageous catches and they get rolled for 150, like anybody can, and they might be good things beaten.
A bit like RWC and France, Pakistan are always likely to play one spellbinding match and if they make the top 4 you would prefer to watch them rather than play them.