Kemar Roach

Does anybody know much about this West Indian cricketer that's apparently making a bit of a name for himself at the Deccan Chargers?

Apparently he is quite quick!

Just looked him up on CricInfo - full profile here - I like this bit though: "He won admirers in Australia for his hostile pace and in one Test, forced Ricky Ponting to retire hurt. He was one of the top draws in the third IPL auction and was bought by Deccan Chargers for $720000"

I'm a fan of anybody who roughs up the odd Australian!

Some odd SA selections to say the least!

Earlier this week South Africa named a number of its shortlists for touring teams to do duty in some up-coming tours:

ICC World Twenty20 Squad (prov)
Graeme Smith (Cape Cobras, captain)
Jacques Kallis (Warriors, vice-captain)
Loots Bosman (Dolphins)
Johan Botha (Warriors)
Mark Boucher (Warriors)
AB de Villiers (Titans)
JP Duminy (Cape Cobras)
Herschelle Gibbs (Cape Cobras)
Justin Kemp (Cape Cobras)
Charl Langeveldt (Cape Cobras)
Ryan McLaren (Diamond Eagles)
Albie Morkel (Titans)
Morne Morkel (Titans)
Wayne Parnell (Warriors)
Vernon Philander (Cape Cobras)
Dale Steyn (Titans)
Rusty Theron (Warriors)
Roelof van der Merwe (Titans)

I'd be a little surprised if either Kemp or Morne Morkel made the final cut here... Kemp's 33 now and while age shouldn't be grounds for exclusion I'm not sure he adds much. Why not take somebody like Thami Tsolekile and an up and coming "skiddy" type bowler like Francois Plaatjies along?

ODI Squad for West Indies Tour
Graeme Smith (Cape Cobras, captain)
Jacques Kallis (Warriors, vice-captain)
Hashim Amla (Dolphins)
Loots Bosman (Dolphins)
Johan Botha (Warriors)
Mark Boucher (Warriors)
AB de Villiers (Titans)
JP Duminy (Cape Cobras)
Charl Langeveldt (Cape Cobras)
Ryan McLaren (Diamond Eagles)
Morne Morkel (Titans)
Wayne Parnell (Warriors)
Alviro Petersen (Highveld Lions)
Dale Steyn (Titans)
Lonwabo Tsotsobe (Warriors)
Roelof van der Merwe (Titans)

Not much more you could have done with this side although I'm surprised that they are not giving more game time to a Mark Boucher backup of some description. I suspect the West Indies are going to get rolled again pretty much irrespective of what side we roll out - why not let some of the youngsters have a run? Should Duminy be there over a performing young batter like Vaughn van Jaarsveld or Steven Cook?

Test Squad for West Indies Tour
Graeme Smith (Cape Cobras, capt)
Jacques Kallis (Warriors, vice-capt)
Hashim Amla (Dolphins)
Johan Botha (Warriors)
Mark Boucher (Warriors)
AB de Villiers (Titans)
JP Duminy (Cape Cobras)
Paul Harris (Titans)
Ryan McLaren (Diamond Eagles)
Morne Morkel (Titans)
Wayne Parnell (Warriors)
Alviro Petersen (Highveld Lions)
Ashwell Prince (Warriors)
Dale Steyn (Titans)
Lonwabo Tsotsobe (Warriors)

Again a similar question about whether or not Duminy should be there (on current form). I don't like Ryan Mclaren as a test cricketer but I seem to be in the minority here so I'll just mumble quietly under my breath...

Trinidad and Tobago - A positive boost

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while - things have been a little hectic on the home-front!

As a Cape Cobras fan I was a bit disappointed to see them get knocked out at the semi-final stage but I was pretty impressed that they made it that far and had a good run in the tournament while entertaining fans.

T20 cricket by its nature is a bit of a lottery but it does capture the imagination of fans and players.

For that reason I thought it was quite encouraging to see Trinidad and Tobago making it to the finals of the competition. I have blogged on the subject before - West Indian cricket is in absolute turmoil at the moment and administrators and players will probably be pleased to have found a format of the game that suits their style of cricket -it would be nice to see them go on from here.

ICC Champions Trophy - Saturday betting

Two more games in the ICC Champions Trophy are here and after England blew Sri Lanka out of the water, Group A is looking for interesting - especially if you are a South African supporter!

Australia vs West Indies
In the first game of the day Australia and the West Indies clash at 9:30.

With all due respect to the West Indies (which isn't very much) I don't see how Australia could lose this game and the bookies don't either. I don't even think they have the firepower for an upset.

I've gone with:

• Ricky Ponting as the top Aussie batsman
• Devon Smith as the top West Indian batsman

India vs. Pakistan
Boy oh boy does this game have the potential to be a cracker...

The two old rivals are at it again and there is a lot riding on this fixture in terms of who goes through to the knockout rounds. There is nothing to choose between the two sides and I anticipate a tight game.

Bets I've placed:

• Rahul Dravid - top Indian batsman
• Shahid Afridi and Mohamad Youssuf - top Pakistan batsman

Helluva interesting tournament so far although I have to say I've been surprised by some very stilted batting performances.

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.

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
  

Mixed feelings

Is there any way that the England "leg" of the Ashes could be moved to somewhere that rain doesn't always cock up a good series?

Surely there is a case for it being moved to a more civilised cricket destination like India, Bangladesh or South Africa??!?!?!?!?! I wonder if there has been any research done into whether or not the mediocre standard of English cricket is directly related to the poor weather they experience?

Anyway enough about the Ashes - it (the weather aspect) has been disappointing to say the least.

What I actually wanted to blog about was this whole West Indies vs. Bangladesh series which has left me with some real mixed feelings about world cricket - even though it fits in with my expectations of the change in the global game. For those who don't know I expect world cricket to be dominated by the likes of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka with the likes of South Africa, Australia, Kenya and Zimbabwe fitting in amongst the top nations as the world becomes more focused on Asia and Africa.

Whether it goes the whole franchise route over international "country" route still remains to be seen.

I have previously blogged about how badly the world needs a strong West Indian cricket offering so watching this disaster of a series against Bangladesh has irritated me immensely.

On the flip side of that, I think some big pluses for the Bangladesh team. They've needed a decent international tour to build some momentum and irrespective of the quality of the West Indian side, the tourists got the job done.

Don't underestimate the value of that providing some incentive for the rest of their cricket population. The money that will keep flowing into Bangladesh cricket is likely to keep rising the more they start beating the bigger "name" sides and as the side matures and they develop a pipeline of quality players you will in turn find them becoming more and more competitive.

But still... it would be nice to see the West Indies not rolling over and becoming a drag on world cricket.

Hhhhmmmm

No Australia, No England and No India in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup.... That's a bit of a surprise there....

England I didn't expect to get there but India have surprised me - thought they were going to put in a more consistent showing....

As I posted a couple of weeks back I put money down on SA, New Zealand, the West Indies and Bangladesh to win the tournament.... Three out of the four semi-finalists is not too bad.

Again good quality spinners have shone in the tournament.... Not quite the IPL but it's great when you're winning!

T20 Day 2

So Holland came through for me and beat the Poms at Lords! Hahahahhaha what a great start to the T20 World Cup - nothing better than watching the English side self destruct and keep letting the underdogs back into the side.

Lots of cricket on today and here are the bets I have placed. Teams haven't been confirmed so check the betting

New Zealand vs Scotland

• Coetzer - Top Scottish batter
  
• Ross Taylor or Jacob Oram to top the New Zealand batting - although Oram would assume that the Scots take a few wickets
  

Australia vs West Indies

• West Indies to win the game
• Dwayne Bravo - West Indies top batter
• David Hussey - Top Aussie batter

India vs. Bangladesh

• Ashraful - Top Bangladesh batter
  
• Top indian batter I spread three bets across Sehwag, Pathan and Jadeja (if he plays)
  

Happy punting

T20 World Cup Picks

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while - I think after the IPL final I needed a bit of a break from cricket!

The T20 World Cup kicks off on the 5th of June in England and I guess I have to make some predictions here.

In terms of favourite to win the tournament I was a little surprised to see that the South African bookmakers have priced in India as the favourites followed by SA and then Australia.

Anyway I have placed a couple of bets here for outright winner. On current form I don't see how you can look beyond South Africa and with odds of 4-1 I think they're not a bad bet.

My next favourite was New Zealand - who I genuinely believe are going to be a handful in this tournament - and I got 8-1 on them.

The West Indies are one of those sides that blow hot and cold and bearing in mind that they've had some time in England, putting a few bucks down on them at 14-1 is a fair call I think.

Finally I got offered odds of 80-1 on Bangladesh so I put 5 bucks down on them. I don't have a huge amount of faith on them coming home but T20 is a lottery and might be a bit of fun to follow them and see what comes of it!

Sigh - the West Indies again...

Hahahahha the West Indies make me laugh - masters of self-destruction!

I put some bucks on them for the ODI against England this afternoon and I see that after a promising start from Chris Gayle, they are limping along at 150/7 after 35 overs....

Oh well - at least I got IPL final tickets.... Can't wait - got money on the Deccan Chargers - can't wait!

Bugger!

So far my punt on the West Indies is not looking that great. It didn't help that Day 2 was rained out but now if they can show a bit of back-bone they can at least bat out for the draw.... They've just gotta get a few runs on the board.

Locally we're going into the last week of the IPL and what a great tournament it has been for South Africa.

A couple of nice games on the board today:

• Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils
• Deccan Chargers vs Kings Punjab
  

Lots of fun and games and well done to everybody who brought this competition to South Africa!

West Indies to beat England in 2nd test...

Ok so I've been battling to sleep following the ill advised decision to partake in some Jager Bombs.

Anyway I was surfing around looking for some interesting bets and I realised that the West Indies take on England in the second test match starting today.

So knowing how the West Indies blow hot and cold, I've decided to back them to win the second test and put some money on the table having had some luck back guys in the IPL.

So my bets are here for some transparency:

Outright win - West Indies
Top batter 1st innings - West Indies - Shiv Chanderpaul
Top batter 1st innings - England - Andrew Strauss

Wish me luck!

Bloody hell - how was that Deccan Chargers collapse yesterday?!

Saturday mumblings

Ashes thoughts
I see Shane Warne has been quite critical of the English decision not to play the first Ashes test at Lords... Have to agree with him - this is supposed to be the greatest (traditional) cricket rivalry and you've got two sides playing in Wales?

I think the IPL - and to a lesser degree the SA vs. Aussie series - has shown just how important marketing is for cricket. As much as the purists would love things like the "Ashes brand" to try and carry on as is, the reality is that cricket needs to place marketing ahead of all else at the moment...

... I reead somewhere that the English didn't want to play the first match at Lords because the atmosphere was basically so hyped-up that it benefitted the touring sides.

To me that is really negative marketing for the game - If that were in South Africa or Australia the home marketing teams would be urging fans to come down in their droves to make sure that the home side "defied history"... and the fans would get into it and they would cheer every single wicket and run.

To me it doesn't make any sense and pushes cricket backward rather than forward.

West Indies
I see the West Indies once again collapsed in spectacular fashion yesterday to give a big win to the English.

Don't think you can read too much into this performance, simply because that is what the West Indies do - they simply switch-off when the tide is against them and decide to come back to the next test match and try again.

It would be nice to see them give the Poms a bit of a working over before the Ashes though!

Onions and Sidebottom

I don't mean to be completely facetious - ok yeah I do - can you really take a side seriously when their bowling attack comprises guys named Sidebottom and Onions...??

I mean what are you going to have:

C Cook B Onions....?!

On a more serious note though the English have got the West Indies against the ropes at Lords in the first test match. Have to give credit where credit is due - the English showed a bit of innovation opening their bowling with Swann.

Cricket is a funny old game!

T20 World Cup

The T20 World Cup 2009 is due to kick off on the 6th of June and I thought it might be a bit of fun to take a look at the various sides and their prospects.

Bearing in mind that T20 is a bit of a lottery and last time around Bangladesh knocked out India and the West Indies incredibly managed to qualify ahead of us on some technicality, the T20 should be a bit of fun.

Group A

• India
• Bangladesh
• Ireland
  

Group B

• Pakistan
• England
• Netherlands

Group C

• Australia
• Sri Lanka
• West Indies

Group D

• New Zealand
• South Africa
• Scotland

There is quite a lot of whingeing about the composition of Group C in particular for obvious reasons and its actually quite interesting because I've put a few bucks down on the West Indies winning the whole thing.... which means ODI specialists Sri Lanka or Australia get knocked out in the first round.

Put some money down on SA as well just to keep things interesting...

Of the sides I reckon those in with a reasonable shout have to be Australia, South Africa, India, New Zealand and the West Indies. I think the rest are really there to make up the numbers.... until Pakistan prove me wrong.

Anybody else out there got any favourites / thoughts for this competition?

Geez!

I obviously misread my predictions.... instead England have the West Indies on the back foot and our Australia are walking all over the South Africans today.

An AB Devilliers century gave our score a TINY level of respectability but we now have to depend on the weather to try and force the draw.

Mitchell Johnson again proved what a classy player he is. He got 96 not out with the bat and then bowled 18 overs for 25 runs and took 4 wickets to boot. Read that again - 18 overs for 25 runs... world class player.

In a lot of ways I think South Africa is regretting a tail that doesn't wag at the moment... Harris and Steyn's heroics in Australia aside, we basically bat to number 7 with Boucher and then the rest is a lottery.

The loss of Shaun Pollock was definately felt today....

At the end of the day the Aussies have gotten on top of us and its now going to take a combination of weather and batting application to make sure we don't go 0-1 down in this series.....

WI vs England - fourth test prediction

Been keeping half an eye on this series and I'd like to make a prediction here.... West Indies to win this fourth test by more than 100 runs....

What do I base it on ... ? The way England approached their friendly game against the West Indian BCA President's XI. They appeared to show no real urgency or enthusiasm for the task at hand.

Yeah yeah its a friendly and doesn't mean much - but the side just seems to lack the killer instinct or fight that other sides would have approached the game with....

C'mon West Indies!!!!

West Indies grow a backbone

I don't mean to be nasty to the West Indian cricket side but they haven't had a history of having much fight or "back-bone" in the last few years. That's why watching them bat out for the draw in the 3rd test match against England was so important.

They could quite easily have rolled over, played dead and patted themselves on the back for "managing" a 1-1 test series draw with England.

Instead Fidel Edwards (left) and Darren Powell showed some guts and batted through for the draw and ultimately a series win.

Maybe it is naivety but I get excited when I see performances like this... It is a side that WANTS to win and stick it out for eachother and to often in the last few years the West Indies have coasted on individual performances from the likes of Lara, Chanderpaul or Gayle.

This series was different - it was a team effort that paid off!

Why world cricket needs a strong West Indies

Watching the English batting order collapse is a bit like watching speedster Usain Bolt run the 100m... blink and you miss it...

Thought that it would be a good way to kick off this blog post, seeing as the West Indies cricket board has a picture (left) of Bolt partying it up after thumping the English...

It's good to see the Windies on form at the moment and it is helluva important for world cricket.

As for the Poms and their decline over the last decade, maybe they've just accepted the inevitable that their mud island is slowly slipping away into the sea and the empire will never return to its glory days.

It is so important for world cricket at this point to have a strong West Indian side. The Australians and South Africans have slogged it out over the last few months and India have been right in the mix with tough series against both these powerhouses.

But cricket cannot be about three sides at the moment... especially with the emergence of the big money IPL.

Pakistan can be explosive on their day but ill discipline continues to plague them and away from home tends to be one disaster after another.

Sri Lanka and the Black Caps are always there or there abouts without really threatening away from home conditions (current Aussie tour aside).

The English (AKA South Africa's B-side with KP and Strauss leading the charge) hold no real worries away from home.

Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Kenya simply lack a decent number of quality players to be of any real threat... but I do have high hopes for Bangladesh over the next 10 years or so.

Which leaves the West Indies as potentially the fourth quality touring side in the mix. These guys have no problem winning away from home - when it suits them - and they have quality fast bowlers and some serious firepower in the batting lineup... again when it suits them.

A quality West Indian side would be great for world cricket right now and a thumping of the English may just give them the confidence to step up their game.... In other words - Give the english CARROTS!