Cricket Tournaments

Sessions, test matches and the ongoing test series was completely dominated by England till the 2^nd test match. As the practice game started, a positive outlook was taken with all the top players including Sehwag, Gambhir and Zaheer Khan into the game.

The practice game was over and India already had a sad news to deal with, with Zaheer Khan already injured and doesn’t look like getting into the team till next 4 months atleast.

A series which is very unfortunate for India, with number of Indian players getting injured at the same time. As the 3^rd test match started, India was forced to go in to bat but with the best batting line-up they’ve used in this series so far. But unfortunately India has a disappointing start with Sehwag out for a duck with a ball which is short and bounced unevenly and sharply. Though umpire wasn’t convinced and the DRS came into play. And the result was out.

A partnership was building up between Gambhir and Dravid, though Bresnan soon played the spoilsport and Gambhir was bowled with ball hitting the stumps after getting an inside edge of his bat. Soon the other batsmen also followed him up to the pavilion including the in-form batsman Dravid whose went flying in the air because of an excellent delivery by Bresnan. India’s top order was destroyed because of some supreme bowling performances by Bresnan and Broad. Though Swann as usual wasn’t visible with his mediocre performances totally overshadowed because of magnificent performances by other English bowlers.

Even the apparent Vaseline user, VVS Laxman was set to the pavilion after playing a lazy pull-shot straight into the hands of the fielder. Now, with Dhoni being the only batsman left in the middle, with no form on his side, a score of 150 looked good enough.

But Dhoni fought and how! With a partnership of around 84 runs, the plan to counter-attack worked wonders for the Indian team. A score of 25 and PK got back into the pavilion. Soon Dhoni followed after scoring a magnificent 77, which wasn’t expected from him since he has been looking out of touch since a long time. Not like he wasn’t expected to, but obviously the expectations went down after multiple failures. Soon India was out and out with the score of 224 in their kitty.

With just half the day over, entire Indian team was back into the pavilion. There were things going around about what would the England team do if there were similar kinds of riots in Mumbai and they were playing in India. Since, England had already pulled out of the series which was in the playing mode when the Mumbai terrorist attacks happened in 2008.

England comes out to bat, and Indians come out to field. As a routine for this series, Praveen Kumar starts things off. Slowly the English batsmen start building their innings. Slowly and steadily the fours start flourishing as still there are no teeth in the Indian bowling line-up. As the day gets over, India is already struggling against 2 of the players in the England side who haven’t scored heavily as the rest of the batting line-up has. At 84/0 they were quite in contention to level the scores in no time.

As day 2 started, India was still in search for a wicket. English batsmen were in no mood to give away their wicket that easily. Indian bowlers were trying hard, but not to the impact they would have liked it to be. England was 186/0 already and in no time. Mishra bowling from one of the end, bowled a beautiful ball which sharply turned and went on to hit Strauss’s pads but the appeal was turned down. Patience was rewarded. Again the ball turned sharply and this time it goes right to just clear the stumps. English captain was out after playing a brilliant innings.

Ian Bell soon came in and played his natural shots. Scoring in no time and he was off with a flying start. Scoring boundaries all over, there was a traumatic situation for the Indian bowlers. What has Indian players done right in this test match?

Batting? No! Bowling? No! And now fielding too? Ian Bell was dropped at the slips by Dravid after a superb out-swinger just cut through Bell’s bat. A low catch which should have been taken. Even the fact that Dhoni’s captaincy skills have gone for a toss is true. Commentators have wondered a number of times since the start of the test series whether why do the slips and the wicket-keeper himself stands so away from the stumps that the ball doesn’t even carry properly? Even there have been problems to whether why doesn’t the third-man be in his position for some players and when it is necessary?

Ian Bell was finally out because of a cracking delivery which went past him right to help the stumps flutter in the air. But right before that, Alaistar Cook scored a well-deserved century applauded by everyone. Building up his innings slowly and with all the composure he didn’t give any chance to the Indian bowlers. With Pieterson already in, the platform for India in this test match was already lost.

Scoring at the speed of bullet, Indian bowlers were thrashed all around. Except Praveen Kumar all the bowlers went for runs. While Sreesanth was struggling against the left-handers, Ishant Sharma was struggling against right-handers.

Praveen Kumar again strikes as he gets Pieterson trapped in front of the stumps. Though Pieterson looked thoroughly dejected, hawk-eye showed he was clearly out. But these wickets never made a difference as the other English batsmen just came out and continued to score at a brisk rate. Eoin Morgan another English player who’s already on the verge of scoring a half-century. A life-line was given to him though en-route his knock as Sreesanth dropped a simple catch. The fielding looked as dull as the players, since even Tendulkar couldn’t see the ball coming right towards him which was chipped off in the air by Cook and if he would have just attempted it would have been in his hands.

England at 455/3 are at the top of the game and doesn’t look to declare their innings nor do they give any indication to get destroyed by the Indian bowlers. But with India having a batting line-up as such, you can never under-estimate them even though they haven’t reached a single score of above 300 in the entire series till now.

The result of the two-Test series between England and Bangladesh was least surprising, with the home side overcoming a stubborn challenge from the least-pedigreed Asian Test team.

However, while the 2-0 scoreline seems impressive, it doesn’t reflect the underlying story, that of England’s struggles in between moments of domination. That Tamim Iqbal managed to register hundreds in both the Tests tells a tale in itself.

At the same time, England fought back well against the rest, and came out of the series with their reputation in tact. Still, keeping the next Ashes in mind, it is very much clear now that England have plenty to work on before taking on the Aussie challenge.

First and foremost, the English bowlers needed the help of murky conditions to unsettle the Bangladesh batting line-up. This has to be a major cause of worry for Andrew Strauss and co.

It is a given that Bangladesh’s batting is among the weakest in Test cricket. Despite this, there were a number of occasions when England just had no answer to Bangladesh’s onslaught, when they went on the offensive. On the contrary, they just sat back and let the drama unfold. Iqbal’s innings in the first Test left a scathing impact on the Englishmen. He batted with supremely authority in both Test.

It was only when the sun hid behind the clouds that their fortunes changed, and the wickets started tumbling. Suddenly, Steven Finn became unplayable, and James Anderson joined him in the second Test.

While it was great for England that they captured 20 wickets in consecutive days in the concluding Test of the series, it is also a fact that they wouldn’t be greeted by any such helpful conditions in Australia. And, that is when the true worth of Finn and Anderson will be tested.

The series also gave England a chance to test a couple of their other fringe players, and see how ready they are for the five-day game. Both Ajmal Shahzad and Eoin Morgan, who was a surprise selection considering his unorthodox game, did reasonably well.

Also, Jonathan Trott’s double hundred was a memorable effort. Of late, the batsman has been in the news for some wrong reasons, and it was good for English cricket that he silenced some murmurs with the bat.

England need him to be among the runs as, in his short international stint, he has shown the maturity of a proper Test cricketer, on more than one occasion. It also helped that skipper Andrew Strauss and the rest got among the runs. And, with Graeme Swann too returning to his wicket-taking ways, England had further cause to celebrate.

At the end of the day, though, one needs to keep in mind that this was Bangladesh, and so their performances can only be viewed as tiny indicators of their capability. It is all the more important that this same yardstick is applied to Finn.

One shouldn’t put too much pressure on the tall fast-bowler so early, hailing him as a prospective Ashes hero. After all, he is yet to achieve anything substantial against a decent side yet. It is the series against Pakistan in late July that will give us all a better idea of what to expect from England and co in the near future.

Eoin Morgan is Irish-born who currently plays for England. He has this reputation of creating strokes rather than playing text-book shots. And to add to that, his strokes are indeed as powerful as his team-mate Kevin Pietersen’s.

Last year, when he became 23, he shot to fame with two outstanding, match-winning knocks against South Africa. First, he hit a crucial 67 of just 34 balls in the Champions Trophy in September 2009 followed by unbeaten 45-ball 85 in the first of the two Twenty20s of England’s tour of South Africa, two months later.

Morgan looks like a born ‘finisher’ who is apt to be known as England’s Bevan or Michael Hussey. England needed finishers in their ODI team and Morgan’s resurgence has helped end the search for that position.

A solid and sedate left-hand bat, Morgan grew up playing hurling and with his change-up sweeps and pulls, he has clearly taken aspects of the Irish sport into his cricket. He first played for Ireland in the World Cricket League in 2006, averaging 52.20.

In the tournament, he scored his first ODI century, a top-notch 115 from 106 balls against Canada. However, in the 2007 World Cup, it was proved that Morgan was a huge hype. As his team-mates impressed, he underperformed with 91 runs from nine matches.

He joined his countryman, Ed Joyce, at Middlesex in 2006, where he helped them to the Twenty20 Cup in 2008 and caught the eye of the England selectors.

As he has played for England over the last one year or so, his stature has kept increasing which was proved when he was the only England player to play in the IPL 2010. He was signed for $220,000 by Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he joined Kevin Pietersen.

Yet again, he failed to make an impression when it was the most expected and was soon left to sit on the substitutes bench by a no non-sense captain Anil Kumble and coach Ray Jennings.

However, he was back giving it his best for England in the World Twenty20 that followed, as his powerful shot-making and coolness under pressure helped him score 183 runs and England won a global event in the form of the championship for the first time since 35 years.

As Paul Collingwood, the winning captain was rested ahead of the first Test against Bangladesh at Lords, Eoin Morgan got a surprise call-up to the squad of 15, much like Pietersen in 2005 Ashes.

The English selectors certainly had enough faith in him as he had proved his mettle. He has a bright future ahead of him and he might be the next Pietersen, who could put England on the top of the world map in all the three formats of the game in the next five years, at least.

The result surprised many, but none can deny that England deserved to emerge triumphant. This year’s tournament has emphasized that, like in the other two versions of cricket, consistency has a major part to play. True, luck is a big factor as well in T20 – how else can one explain Pakistan making it to the semis on the basis of one decent performance in the Super Eights?

However, the bottom line was that the two most consistent sides made it into the grand finals, and the team which was better on the day eventually won, and rather handsomely at that.

As everyone is aware by now, this was England’s maiden triumph in an ICC final. Prior to this, they made it to three 50-over World Cup finals and the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy summit clash, where they eventually went down to West Indies. This time, however, they were determined to set the record straight, and went about their task in a highly impressive professional manner.

For England to clinch the World Cup, a hell of a lot had to go right. After all, they were nowhere near in contention for the title compared to favourites Australia, India and, to an extent, Sri Lanka. Also, apart from Kevin Pietersen, they did not have a star name, who could be termed as a potential match-winner, at least at the start of the tournament. But, it all turned around for England, and how.

Among the major contributors to the win was undoubtedly the man himself, and now daddy, Pietersen. It was his aggression at the start of the series that set things off on a positive note, and the Englishmen never looked back from there. Often in the past, Pietersen has been guilty of getting only half the job done, and at most other side, has run out of support.

However, during the course of the last two weeks, both of these follies were rectified. If it was Craig Kieswetter who took most of the pressure off Pietersen in the finals, earlier in the tournament, the likes of Michael Lumb, Eoin Morgan and the rest also came good.

This was the difference between England and some of the other teams. Sri Lanka had Mahela Jayawardene, India had Suresh Raina and Pakistan had Salman Butt, who were among the top-run getters in the series, yet their teams could not make it all th way.

In contrast, the strong back up he received allowed Pietersen to play freely, which is when he is at his best, and most dangerous. Still, one cannot to take anything away from the tall lad, who batted that number three for England during this World Cup, as he was at his mature best.

It wasn’t enough just for the batsmen to click though. The bowlers also needed to chip in. They did a lot more than that. Most importantly, they were positive as opposed to some other sides. Ryan Sidebottom was lethal at the start with his accurate swingers and deadly at the end overs, with his nagging yorkers, a combination that strangled most batsmen.

Everyone from Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan to Michael Yardy made a noteworthy contribution. But the performance that stood out was that of off-spinner Graeme Swann’s. As seen in the IPL, the tweakers have a significant role to play in the T20 format. And Swann’s showing in this World Cup adds further credence to the theory.

Instead of looking to contain the runs, (hope Harbhajan Singh was watching) Swann was prepared to toss the ball and invite what could have been a lot of trouble in the form of runs. Instead, the confidence-personified Swann defeated most batsmen, in the air as well as in the mind.

As the result, the runs were also kept down to a premium. Swann’s striking efforts only reiterates that, irrespective of the form of the game, attack in the best form of defence.

His performance with the bat notwithstanding, skipper Paul Collingwood also enacted his role as a leader of the side as per the demands of the script. He was inspirational in the field, pulling off some spectacular catches at key moments, and rarely let the heads drop in the field.

Never in the recent past has an English side so effervescent on a cricket field, and it wouldn’t be unfair to grant an acknowledgement to the captain of the ship for making it happen.

It is too early to predict whether this win will open a fresh chapter in English cricket. But, for the moment at least, they have proved to one and all, who are the kings of T20.

England batsman Craig Kieswetter’s slammed his maiden ODI hundred as the Englishmen trounced Bangladesh by 45-runs in the third ODI at Chittagong. In the process, the visitors also completed a convincing 3-0 whitewash in the series. Kieswetter, who had struggled earlier on in the series, scored a highly impressive 107, which was chiefly responsible for England ending up with a formidable 284 for 5, batting first on a slowish wicket.

Kieswetter’s ton was well supported by quickfire cameos from Eoin Morgan and Luke Wright. In reply, Bangladesh were never in the hunt, ending up with a disappointing 239 for 9. Only Mushfiqur Rahim and Aftab Ahmed, who scored 40 and 46 respectively, put up some resistance.

Kieswetter began his match-winning knock in a rather sedate manner, looking determined to make up for his earlier failures. He just stood at the wicket during the initial phase and allowed skipper Alastair Cook to do most of the scoring. Cook reached 32 with the help of three boundaries and was looking set for a big knock when he departed, getting caught behind the wickets off the ever-impressive Shakib Al Hasan.

Following the captain’s dismissal, Kieswetter continued to struggle for a while, but did not throw his wicket away and over time began finding his feet.

Mind you, this wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on. Even the aggressive Kevin Pietersen struggled, especially against the spinners. Like Cook, he also got a start, but was trapped in front by Abdur Razzak when on 22. The story was no different for the tenacious Paul Collingwood. As expected though, he hung around with Kieswetter and helped him build a resurrecting partnership.

Even though he departed for 36, which included a solitary boundary, his presence seemed to have been the tonic that was needed to boost Kieswetter’s confidence. The opener reached a hard-earned fifty and from thereon he was a different man altogether. Runs flowed from his bat as he cut and drove his way swiftly towards his maiden ton.

Kieswetter eventually fell for a superbly-constructed 107, when an attempted cut off Razzak found his stumps disturbed. But, not before he and Morgan added a blitzkrieg 67 in the slog overs. Morgan gathered a lucky 36 from 29 balls, an innings during which he was dropped on more than one occasion.

And when was finally dismissed, Wright continued the destruction job. If anything, he was even more deadly, powering his way to 32 in mere 13 deliveries.

If Bangladesh hoped to chase down the total, they needed a solid start. However, that wasn’t to be. The home team lost the talented Tamim Iqbal in the very first over. Debutant Ajmal Shahzad had him caught by Tim Bresnan in the third man region. Imrul Kayes got a start and threw it away.

The only piece de résistance of the Bangladesh innings came in the form of a partnership between Mushfiqur Rahim and Aftab Ahmed. The duo looked comfortable out in the middle during their 56-run partnership. Unfortunately, just as the innings seemed to be coming on track, Ahmed was run-out for 46 in a frivolous manner and Bangladesh never recovered.

Tim Bresnan took full advantage of the hapless Bangladeshi batsmen, ending with a career-best haul of 4 for 28 as the match headed towards a dull, predictable finish.