CategoryWorld T20 2016

Morning all. I hope you had a good weekend. Did you enjoy the cricket? I’m by no means an avid T20 fan but this year’s tournament has been pretty entertaining so far. There have been a few upsets – as tends to happen in the shortest for of the game – and most importantly of all England are still alive after their hugely satisfying win over the Proteas. We just need Australia to lose to Bangladesh later today (yeah, as if) and we’ll have smiles wider and fuller than...

Just a few words about England’s incredible win in the World T20 today. It was one of those wins that will be remembered for a long time. At half-time it looked like we’d blown it. 229 is runs on the board and then some. First up, let’s talk about England’s bowling. Let’s ignore the bad stuff and focus on the positives ….   There. Did you enjoy them? Now on to the bit I’m sure everyone wants to talk about: a sensational batting performance that would’ve turned more than a few heads …...

Well that was thoroughly depressing. It was men against boys I’m afraid; or rather man against boys, man. Chris Gayle took one look at the likes of Topley, Willey and Jordan and thought “I’ve seen better bowlers on the beach”. He’s not wrong. Our attack didn’t look anything like international quality today. Although Gayle played insanely well – it was sporting brutality at its best – we didn’t half bowl some crap at him: long-hops, full tosses, leg-side wides, off-side wides. It was truly...

It’s time to wrap up our World T20 preview with a quick look at the Sri Lankans and Pakistanis. I’ve left these teams until last because they’re possibly the weakest of the major nations. Their build up to the tournament has been chaotic, with Pakistan initially refusing to travel to India due to security concerns, while Sri Lanka have changed captains and brought two new players into their squad at the eleventh hour. It’s all a bit of a soap opera really. Although Sri Lanka are the defending...

Today we continue with our World T20 preview. Thus far we’ve looked at the three favourites: India, Australia and South Africa. I’d like to examine some of the dark horses now. Are New Zealand, England and the West Indies genuine challengers or are they headed for apocalyptic doom? Let’s start with everyone’s second favourite team, the Kiwis. The bad news, of course, is that Brendon McCullum won’t be playing. He’ll be sitting at home supping pina coladas resting up for...

A few days ago I was waxing lyrical about India’s batsmen. Although their seam bowling isn’t the strongest, their batting experience, depth and flair make them big favourites for the World T20. But who are the nearest challengers? I’m afraid it’s not England – the mere suggestion that England might triumph is enough to give most people a laughter-induced hernia – but fortunately a couple of other sides look good enough to give India a run for their money. Today I’m going to look at these other...