Proteas vs England 20/20 Centurion

So there is again some weather around in the Johannesburg, Pretoria area. The Duckworth / Lewis method of determining the eventual winner might be again come into play. South Africa has probably been the team most affected in this manner, but it is probably because they only have one game plan, and that is to chase a target rather than to set one. It has cost them two advances in world cup matches one against England in Australia and one against West Indies in South Africa. I sure don’t hope that DL will be used today to determine the winner of today’s match. The previous game has shown signs of being a cliff-hanger up to the point that the rain has intervened. If this first encounter has anything to go by the tour will be something else and the intricate matchups something to behold and to enjoy.

The ICC cricket final - What a prospect.

Congratulations to New Zealand cricket for beating Pakistan convincingly in the ICC champions trophy match at the Wanderers. New Zealand played exceptionally well and beat Pakistan against my expectations to setup a final at Centurion against Australia. This is going to be a magnificent day for both teams trying to win the ICC competition for a second time. I think New Zealand has an even chance of winning this competition but Australia will start as favourites in the match. As explained in a earlier post I think that Centurion has one of the most consistent pitches during both the innings. Australia does not have a huge advantage over New Zealand as New Zealand always seem to have some impact in New Zealand, Australia matches and Australia only had two players batting on the pitch that is going to be uses for the final where it was only Watson and Ponting getting the bulk of the runs in their semi final match against England. So if there players can be dismissed cheaply it will be game on. The strengths for New Zealand other then the opening bowlers will be the spin of Vitori in the middle over’s that always seem to get some purchase from the wicket and also a wicket or two during this spell. I think he is a better bowler than Haurits in the middle over’s that will narrow the margin of victory for Australia or swing the game New Zealand’s way. So this game is not a one horse race and I am looking forward to see what the final result will be. Good luck to both teams you deserved to be in the final.

Australia vs England in ICC champions trophy match (Prediction update)

So England has come up about 25 runs short because of some pretty tame dismissals and not batting out the overs. England has done got the runs on the board and Australia has to chase it now and the rest is history. The weather is quite fair with some cloud around so here is my prediction – Australia will find it quite challenging in the beginning of the innings due to the bowling conditions, but if they can preserve their wickets in the first ten to twelve over s they will be set to progress to the finals. My gut feel is that Australia will progress to the next round and win the match by four or five wickets with about 4 over’s in hand.

Australia vs England in ICC champions trophy match (Prediction)

So it is time to look into the crystal ball and yet another game between England and Australia but this time at Centurion in Pretoria. Centurion has one of the best batting pitches definitely in South Africa with true bounce and not deteriorating throughout the day. I think this pitch is probably the best one day “day game” pitches in the world but does benefit the team batting first in a “day night” game mainly to two factors. During the day the pitch is so flat and does not deteriorate a whole lot, but at night there is just a bit of nip around but does not moisten the ball sufficiently to detract from bowling and the second factor will play into the team bowling second will be that the ball will discolour quicker due to the moisture on the ball that makes it difficult to pick up from the pitch.
England posses a devastating team in suited swinging conditions for bowling, but I don’t think Centurion will have wet enough conditions and Australia has a hard working attack that will pick up wickets on a regular basis.
My Prediction Scenario one -- England wins the toss and elects to bat. England will score 287 to 293 for the loss of seven wickets. Australia should win with 4 wickets in the second last over.
My Prediction Scenario two – Australia wins the toss and elects to bat. Australia will score 310 to 320 with the loss of six wickets. England will fail to get the needed runs to win and lose by about 25 to 17 runs if there is no movement of the ball at night but will win by 45 it there is assistance.

Pakistan progress to next round of the ICC Champions trophy

So Pakistan also progressed to the next round of the ICC champion’s trophy due to the fact that the game between Australia and India was rained out and them being at the top of the pile. Meanwhile the rain looks set to continue today and might influence the outcome of today’s proceedings. It has been a great tournament so far that have produced interesting outcomes

Ajantha Mendis has flummoxed South African

Ajantha Mendis has flummoxed South African left handed batsmen. Only bowling two deliveries to South African left handed batsmen and clean bowling both in his first spell of five over’s. Also tying down the scoring rate during his spell and putting Sri Lanka in a position as firm favourites to beat South Africa and sending them to third on the table of one day international rankings.
South Africa only had Graeme Smith until he received the first ball from Mednis and totally misjudged it playing down the wrong line. It will be interesting to see haw Mendis perform in the competition with the tracks giving assistance to spin.
The new rankings will be at number one Australia by a narrow margin then in second position India. Both these teams are in action in the other section of the competition.

New Zealand VS Australia in Tri Nations

New Zealand have beat Australia convincingly in the last Tri Nations Rugby match in New Zealand. There were some brilliant moments during the match with Australia being beat to the breakdowns.
The final score was quite flattering for the New Zealand team with some soft tries being scored. The biggest bone of contention was the scrumming of both teams. The scrums had to be reset numerous times with valuable playing time going to waste. The administrators will have to look closely into this time wasting in test matches and the potential changing of some rules like One reset scrum and the second one in UNCONTESTED if there was no apparent problem with the scrumming of either team.
This is possibly why the time is stopped in NFL so that there cannot be a benefit from wasting time at scrum time.
What is your view on scrumming that falls apart and detracts from the spectacle of the game of Rugby?

ICC Champions trophy

Expectation is mounting as the warm-up matches for the Champions trophy is being played and some of the countries start to arrive in South Africa. The only teams still to arrive is Australia and England that is still in there closing match in England and Australia trying to white wash England it he current one day series.
The last match in England will start on the 20th September and will be flying out to South Africa soon after the completion of this match. It is indeed going to be a spectacle of a mini worldcup format with all the major strengths in Cricket being represented in South Africa. The first match will be between the hots South Africa and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka that have performed consistently during the past view years will probably be the favours to win, with South Africa that only had a warmup match that thy played against West Indies.
Although South Africa won the match convincingly it will be a difficult task to beat Sri Lanka. Time It normally takes some time in the centre in a competitive match to gain momentum and form. With the South African team that took some deserved time out of competing before a tough season it might be a bridge to far to expect of them to start firing from the get go.