While I sit my last university exams these posts will be a tad shorter than usual, today I will jump straight to the news and recent results (naturally if a big story breaks I will find a way to devote some time to it)
NEWS
- Alan Hunt (former 1980s player for Auckland) is the new coach of Central Districts and his career begins with the small task of preparing his charges for the Champions League
- Last week I talked about the A-list matches in AUS – well now they have confirmed splitting the innings into four lots of 20 overs! I do not like this at all because it might as well be 2020 cricket – just drop them and play another round of the Big Bash. What will this do to AUS ODI prowess? Will it weaken their ODI team just as Pro-40 did to England? This highlights the growing trend of cricket boards to be blinded by dollar signs involved with 2020 cricket (that is not a guarantee by the way) without thinking through the consequences
- Congrats to the creators of the Duckworth-Lewis system for their MBEs
- Andrew Miller of Cricinfo.com writes of the sudden interest in English ODI cricket and that it may just be in time for ODI cricket to die. Reading his article gave me a brain explosion of sorts. Now that 2020 World Cup appears to work well, is it time to get rid of the ODI World Cup? The format that hasn’t worked very well since 1992 – it’s too long, full of dead-rubbers and one-sided contests. This idea is nothing special but the seldom-mentioned advantage would be the removal of the cluster bomb of ODI cricket we have to endure in the 12 months preceding this event. This would free up the international schedule but in all likelihood kill ODI cricket altogether. With England, South Africa and Australia now considering/changing their domestic 50-over contests to shorter versions this may be inevitable anyway. However I hope ODI cricket can survive – there is still a big audience for it in the international context and perhaps most series need to be reduced to 3 matches instead of 5 (or the ridiculous 7). In a general sense I still find entertainment in a well constructed ODI hundred or last over thriller (neither scenario seems translate as well to 2020 cricket due to reduced overs). Getting rid of the ODI World Cup would simply remove the glut of this form in the year preceding it
RECENT RESULTS
- SRL are soundly beaten by ZIM but the win comfortably in the final of that series (Dilshan century)
- IND retrieve some dignity by overpowering ZIM in two 2020 matches
- SA thrashed WI in their first test. Funnily enough the scorecard resembles one from the 1980s except WI are on the receiving end. It just makes me sad to think that the best SA team every assembled (that of 1969-1970) never played WI at their peak. The contest would have been something (not to mention the racial tension thrown in). Do not mistake me for someone who would overlook Apartheid for cricket though, it’s just a regret
ARTICLE OF INTEREST
http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/459095.html
This article seems more relevant now than when it came out! It talks about the how the Head of Yorkshire Cricket (of all places) has been swept up in 2020 madness and the possible consequences of diving straight into that format
LOOKING BACK
June 7th (1975) – As 2020/ODI question continues it is the 35th anniversary of the first World Cup that started it all. Glenn Turner made 171 against East Africa in the first round while Sunil Gavaskar used as many balls to infamously make 34* in 60 overs. Australia beat Pakistan after Dennis Lillee took the first ODI 5-for (5-34)
Well that's if from here and I hope you join me again
It's good bye for now
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