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.

England VS New Zealand in ICC Champions trophy

So New Zealand has bowled out England for a meagre total of 147 on a weather assisted Wanderers pitch. With the ball swinging nicely this will be a quite daunting target to achieve. If New Zealand can beat England convincingly they will go to the next round of the competition and the hopes of Sri Lanka dashed. New Zealand has done the basics well to ask the questions right from the start of the match and earned their right to be in this position. It is now up to the batsmen to show their skill and worth to see if they can progress in this years ICC champions trophy.

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

England on top in ICC match against South Africa

England has outplayed South Africa in their ICC champions match. It seems like South Africa will also fail to proceed to the next round of the competition. I would like to see only day matches played at Centurion as it has been shown that the team batting first in the

South Africa VS England in ICC 2009 Second innings

South Africa has made a good enough start to the run chase on Centurion in their match against England in the ICC champions trophy match to be in front 89 for the loss of two after 17 over’s of the scoring rate compared to rate of England at the same stage. The two batsmen out for South Africa are Herschel Gibbs and Jacques Kallis, both of whom were caught in a soft manner. At the crease at the moment are AB De Villiers and Graeme Smith

New Zealand beats Sri Lanka in ICC trophy.

With Sri Lanka losing against New Zealand today it seems that my prediction can still come true that New Zealand can reach the next round of the competition.

Eoin Morgan has played a gem of a innings.

Eoin Morgan has played a gem of a innings at the tailend of the South Africa, England game in the ICC trophy competition. The final score was England 323 for the lost of 8 wickets. Now we will have to wait and see if this is a bridge to far for the South African team to come back and score the runs to proceed to the next round of the competition or is this is wickets for them

England VS Sri Lanka Update

England has set South Africa firmly on the back foot in the ICC champions match with Shah eventually out for 98 well played runs. The only thing that is sure is that this is going to be one hell of a game if South Africa gets close to the target set. There was a incident that I saw where the backup runner has backed up about 5 meters. This brings to mind that mancad should be ruled legal dismissing a player as the benefit of backup is not fair to my mind.

Collingwood and Shah are playing the spinners quite comfortable

Collingwood and Shah are playing the spinners quite comfortable with no real spin as the other day against New Zealand. The lack of spin will bode well to the South African team trying to negate the spinning ball in their run chase. England has reached 100 for the loss of two wickets in the 22 over. I am certain that there is a big chance of a run out ending the partnership as the calling by both Collingwood and Shah is not the best

Parnell has bowled a maiden over

So Wayne Parnell has bowled a maiden over from the opposite side of the field that he started of. This will put some pressure on the England batting with the spinners coming on and probably bowling in unison

England undoing good start

England has undone some good work in the first few over’s by losing two quick wickets in succession. Boucher took a magnificent catch to dismiss Straus. Straus tried to play the ball fine to third man, but could only manage to find a thick edge. The new man at the crease is Shah and Collingwood. There was no sign of spin yet. By my thinking the spinners will come on as soon as the fifteenth over

South Africa VS England in ICC 2009 Update

So Joe Denly forced his hand once to often trying to clear the fence. Denly took on Jacques Kallis with a forcing shot down to square leg. The catch was held neatly in the deep by JP Duminy. Meanwhile Kallis left the field with a suspected side strain and we will have to wait and see if he will play any further part in the match bowling.

So England has won the toss and elected to bat.

So England has won the toss and elected to bat as expected and in the first few over’s proved to be a good decision with 17 on the board after only 3 over’s being bowled. They were out of the blocks in similar fashion as Sri Lanka in their day night match against South Africa. This is going to be a thriller of a match with South Africa having a good record at this venue. Gibbs is has been recalled for this game and we will have to see what influence he will have on the game

South Africa VS England in ICC 2009

It is wonderful weather in Pretoria today with a mouth watering game in prospect at Centurion. South Africa will be taking on England in a deciding match in the ICC trophy match. My suspicions will be that the captain winning the toss will use be batting first to take some advantage of the conditions and to set a total rather than chasing. We will have to see how this pans out and the result of this decision on the outcome of the match

Owais Shah has been playing the anchor role.

Owais Shah has been playing the anchor role in the 50 run partnership with Eoin Morgan fighting for every run and playing ultra defensive. It seems like the game plan was to button down the hatches at one end and trying to score the runs from the other. Shah has just demonstrated a majestic shot over square leg, the first shot of intent as the score moves closer to the Sri Lankan score.

England VS Sri Lanka Update

England is coping better with the Sri Lanka unorthodox bowler Mendis than South Africa a few days ago. Both the England players at the crease tried to play the bowler with a straight bat and also tried to play the ball well away form the pads.
Collingwood has played selectively attacking cricket with big over’s in between solid defensive cricket. The score have progressed to 63 for 2 wickets after 17 overs which should stand them in good stead in the latter overs. Murali have not started his bowling spell yet and I suspect he will do his complete spell without interruption from somewhere in the early 20th over

What is the scenario if England beats Sri Lanka in the Champions trophy?

The scenario will be that England , Sri Lanka and South Africa will have a victory each that will put England in poll position in the group because they only played one match in the competition. This will place extra pressure performing in Sunday’s match between England and South Africa as the winner will probably go to the next round. But the odds on three teams ending up with the same amount of points will be the favourite and it might boil down to run rate difference.
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England VS Sri Lanka Champions trophy match

The England cat is literally amongst the Sri Lankan pigeons in their Champions trophy match played on the Wanderers cricket stadium. The Wanderers gave more than expected assistance to the bowlers in the first few over’s and reduced the Sri Lankan team to four wickets down in the first few over’s that helped England to restrict Sri Lanka to 212. It is still going to be a tough ask for the England team to get the runs. The openers should be circumspect in the first few over’s and play each ball on its merit more than the olden day type cricket.
My view is that they should play save for the first 15 to 18 over’s and the number of runs scored then will make a big impact on the score chase scenario.