Yay for the Black Caps!

So it is the Black Caps vs. Australia in the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy and I think it is fair to say that the two best teams have come through a busy two weeks.

I was at the Wanderers last night and I had to admire how well the New Zealand team performed considering how little support they had! I kid you not - 90% of the support was for the Pakistani team - great atmosphere considering the home team wasn't playing.

Big kudos to the New Zealand side - they came through a tough tournament and a tricky total to chase down and they did it to perfection. Some of you will remember that I backed Grant Elliot (pictured) to score runs in the last game and he promptly delivered a duck but he came good last night in spectacular style.

One performance which I thought didn't get enough credit was that of Daniel Vettori - batting at six for New Zealand shows there are some shortcomings in that batting line-up but boy oh boy did he deliver the goods last night! It needed somebody to take the responsibility of sticking with Elliot to the end.

On current form - Vettori must be one of the best one-day international players in the game at the moment.

Considering the love-hate relationship South Africans have with Australia, I have to wonder how partizan the crowd are going to be when the two teams clash in the final!

Justice!

I have been following a couple of the big international cricket blogs and a number of people have come out bluntly saying that England intentionally lost that game against New Zealand.

The motivation being that if you lost to New Zealand, you don't have to playoff against the Sri Lankans who on paper can be a really difficult ODI side.

Have to be honest and say that the idea doesn't seem that far fetched considering how they were able to set a score of 300+ two days before against South Africa and then get skittled a few days later. Anyway the sheep shaggers give the Poms absolute carrots on Friday and then the poor boys from New Zealand win the Champions Trophy final as some JUSTICE!

Madness!

An absolutely bizarre game of cricket going on between England and New Zealand...

A few days ago England comfortably beat a star-studded South African side and bumped them out of the Champions Trophy and now suddenly they have been bundled out for 146.

New Zealand looked like they were easily going to overhaul the target and suddenly Stuart Broad has ripped through their batting lineup and they've slipped from needing 35 runs with 8 wickets in hand to suddenly needing 6 runs with 4 wickets in hand.

Crazy stuff!

ICC Champions Trophy - Sunday betting

Two big clashes for Sunday and two fixtures that should ultimately decide one of the groups.

New Zealand vs. Sri Lanka
After losing to England earlier in the week, Sri Lanka will be looking to wrap up their semi-final spot with a victory over the Black Caps.

I can't see Sri Lanka losing this one and neither can the bookies.

Bets taken:

Dilshan to top score for Sri Lanka
Grant Elliot to top score for New Zealand

South Africa vs. England
A critical fixture for both teams with the winner pretty much assured of going into the semis having each picked up a win.

The pressure itself is piled on the South African team as both the home team and pre-tournament favourites. After stumbling in their first game against Sri Lanka they are left in a "must-win" situation.

In contrast England have very little to lose - they've come off a drubbing from Australia and then surprised Sri Lanka the other day. If they beat the local team the English press will have an absolute field day....

My picks:

South Africa to win
Graeme Smith to top score for South Africa
Paul Collingwood to top score for England

C'mon SA!

Mixed feelings on the West Indies

I had some serious mixed feelings on the West Indies side after their match-up against Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy last night.

On one hand - the fact that they had been bowled out for 133 at the Wanderers and fielded what was effectively a "B" or more likely a "C" side I felt was unfair to international cricket fans as well as the tournament organisers.

Personally I think the tournament would have been better off inviting Bangladesh to participate in their place.

On the other hand - Maybe this player revolt and whinge about money is just the thing to bring some new blood into West Indies cricket at senior level and maybe help them rebuild a more committed core of cricketers.

It is not my place to criticise the West Indian players for deciding not to play when it is not commercially viable for them, but the reality is that their cricket has been in the doldrums for many years now and something has to give. Either new players need to come through that can turn their cricket around and make it a competitive side which can be backed by commercial sponsors or the West Indies cricket board needs to draw a line in the sand and say it is not their intention to in the long run try and develop their talent beyond a certain level - i.e. you get what you get.

Pakistan vs. West Indies last night
I personally thought the West Indies gave a pretty good account of themselves last night.

Yes Gavin Tonge (pictured) bowled particularly well, but go and have a look at how little "spray and pray" bowling was dished up by their guys last night. They consistently bowled a good line outside off-stump and they kept the Pakistani batsman working for every run.

That's important because the one thing that the West Indian bowlers have not been able to do in recent years is deliver a consistent and disciplined bowling performance. A BIG positive for the side.

As well as the bowlers bowled, the batters batted badly. You cannot win a cricket match with 133 runs on the board and even THAT was helped by some big-hitting from Miller at the end. Interesting statistic is that Mohammad Yousuf on his own has nearly six times as many career ODI runs as the entire West Indian side put together.

Like I said - mixed feelings.

I have said it before and I will say it again - the world needs a strong West Indian cricket base.

As a parting shot
Just my own humble response to the West Indian players who are on "strike" at the moment. I appreciate that this remuneration issue with the West Indies Cricket Board is a long standing one, but economic reality is that you need to be in front of cricket fans all the time if you want to make the most of your short careers.

Somebody like Gavin Tonge has emerged from last night as a name to be considered for things like the IPL when contract time rolls around. If you are not out playing in front of people you are unlikely to be picked.

The real money for these guys is in the likes of the IPL and the other big money domestic tournaments and that is where you want to be playing.

Sri Lanka get the ICC Champions Trophy off to a colourful start

Say what you like about Sri Lanka, they are pound for pound one of the toughest One Day International sides you'll ever come up against and they showed what they are capable of in the opening match-up of the ICC Champions Trophy.

At the time I am making this post the game has been delayed due to rain, but the performance they put on in the batting front will certainly have caught the eye of the other teams in the pool.

I think South Africa was quite lucky to restrict them to 319 - it could have been a lot worse. Maybe the Proteas were a little ring rusty having not had any top-level cricket for the last three months, but the team looked a little out of sorts in their first big match of the season.

Hopefully the South African boys are simply going to need to shake off the cob-webs and will be out all guns firing in the next fixture.

Clouds hover over England

By: Tom Mallows

England travel to South Africa with great heart……………..oops sorry wrong sport.

While Fabio Capello’s England football squad will arrive in South Africa next summer confident of making an impact, the same cannot be said of the England cricket team ahead of the Champions trophy in the same country.

The long home summer, stretching from the start of May till end of September, came to a close in the Durham sunshine on Sunday, where England took a crumb of comfort from what was a miserable one-day series. Though even after skittling out the tourists for 176 they nearly contrived to throw it away as once again a middle order collapse gave the Australians the scent of victory. Thankfully Prior and Bresnan finished the job to seal a four wicket win.

With little time to draw breath the squad are on their way to Africa themselves for the Champions Trophy which begins this week.

With issues in the upper order and problems in the bowling attack even the most optimistic of England attack would foresee any other than early elimination. But we also carry with us a foolish optimism that things maybe different, perhaps the win in the North East can inspire the side to a Lazarus style comeback – I’m not holding my breath though.

Elsewhere the hosts South Africa will once again look to shake off their chokers tag, though Graeme Smith’s men clearly have the talent, they maybe hampered by a lack of competitive action since the Twenty/20 World Cup (in June. They begin against Kumar Sangakkara's talented Sri Lankan side. I consider them the two favourites alongside the old enemy Australia, who regained the number one spot during their series with England.

I can’t help but feeling an exciting tournament is needed to breathe new life into the 50 over format. The growth of Twenty/20, the arduous 2007 World Cup and the planned scrapping of the English domestic 50 over game has left many people scratching their heads as to the future of this form of cricket. A few swashbuckling batting performances and some spectacular bowling could inspire new interest in the game.

Sadly, if the past few weeks are anything to go by, that inspiration is not going to come from England.

Champions Trophy Picks

Right - the ICC Champions Trophy is around the corner and if you read the media reports it is nothing but a two horse race between the usual suspects South Africa and Australia.

South Africa has the homeground advantage and a pretty settled side, while Australia is in the process of thrashing the English side left, right and centre.

Before I continue I must tell you a joke I heard on the radio - it's a bit lame but I'm going to tell it anyway. (Bearing in mind that half the English side are South Africans by birth):

- Where is the English side going to stay when they are here for the Champions Trophy? At their moms' houses!

Ok it was lame but I told it anyway.

Anyway the teams I have backed to win the ICC Champions Trophy are South Africa (15/10), India (3/1) and Sri Lanka (6/1).

Personally I think the Aussies may regret the long series against the English and may wish they'd had a chance to recharge some of their batteries. India are good in these kind of tournaments and Sri Lanka also tend to fire when it counts so I think it is a nice mix of bets.

Nobody else really seems to feature for me - anyone else got thoughts on the tournament?

Ashes Day 1 musings...

A solid enough performance from the South African B side (AKA England) today against the Aussies but I get the sense that they are batting for / will be content with a draw?

I thought Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus were the pick of the bowlers which is quite ironic considering that 8 months ago I was slating Siddle and not exactly complimentary of Hilfenhaus. This Ashes tour seems to have been a really important stepping stone for Hilfy in that he now knows what is expected of him.

As much as I would like to see the South Africans trump the Aussies to win the Ashes I don't think that they have the desire to win it which is disappointing considering the spirit they showed in the second test match.

Other thoughts

• I was obviously being a bit tongue-in-cheek around the "South African B" side nickname for England but surely it is a sign when Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss, Matt Prior and now Jonathan Trott are likely to make-up the England batting line-up for the forseeable future - where exactly is the ENGLISH talent coming through?
• I wasn't joking when I said that in 10 years time Bangladesh cricket would have surpassed the English in test rankings.
• On the subject of Bangladesh, I see that they have thumped Zimbabwe comfortably in an ODI series and I say good for them. Beating the current Zimbabwe and the West Indian sides isn't going to set the world alight but they must be given opportunities to play against the top sides and maybe host a few international matches as well to make sure that Bangladesh cricket thrives
• The West Indies and their ICC Champions Trophy antics I just shake my head at.... not sure what there is to be made from this anymore
  

SA cricket gearing up

It is a quiet weekend cricket wise and I thought I would use some of this time to take a look at the South African cricket diary and highlight why the Ashes is important for local cricket viewers.

We kick off with the Champions Trophy and that includes round-robin matches against Sri Lanka, England and New Zealand in September. It's probably a good way to kick off our international calendar playing some top-class ODI cricket in our back yard.

After that November rolls around and we play two T20 games, five ODIs and four Test matches against the Poms.

Looking at our side I don't see too many problems as things stand.

• Test spinner - Harris - CHECK
• ODI spinners (Two) - Botha and VD Merwe - CHECK!
• Decent seam attack - yes - going to be interesting to see what role Parnell plays this year. Would be nice to see him pushing for a spot in the test side from a variation perspective.
  

Things I think we could improve on:

• Backup keeper plan - Boucher still has plenty to offer us but who is coming through next?
  
• A lower order allrounder could be nice to identify. Albie is there but the competition with his brother makes it tricky

Otherwise I think we can look forward to this English tour. Flintoff has been the differentiator between the two teams and he's going into retirement. The poms have a decent top-order but I cant think that their bowling attack holds any great shakes for us on the hard South African pitches.

Could be an interesting match up if the English come into the tour with some momentum from a successful Ashes campaign... but I won't be holding my breath.

SA secures ICC Champions Trophy

In the middle of the global financial crisis, it is hugely important from an economic perspective to secure high profile tours and tournaments.

The ICC Champions Trophy, which was originally scheduled to be played in Pakistan will now be played between September 24th and October 5th.

The ICC Champions Trophy will be contested for by eight teams;

Group A: Australia, India, Pakistan and West Indies

Group B: South Africa, New Zealand, England and Sri Lanka

Should be a cracking tournament especially if the West Indies can get their ODI form on the up and India and New Zealand fire....