Australia

Our bowling lineup looks at it’s strongest so far in the series with Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson playing together at last. Mitchell’s troubled the Saffas more than any other bowler on this tour so having him back after a rest will be a big bonus.

Hilfenhaus has shown some of the potential that I keep talking up this series, and bowled a heap of garbage too. He and Ryan Harris have been dropped for tomorrow’s game to make room for Tait and Johnson. I’d really like to see ‘Dirty’ Dirk Nannes given a shot, preferably in a way that forces him to miss tomorrow night’s Twenty20 final at the SCG

Shaun Marsh has blasted off the cobwebs of his sub-par domestic season with 78 and 79, here’s to a century from the Son of Swampy. The only question remaining in our lineup is which Queenslander to not play at number 8. Here’s hoping my boy Dave Warner starts middling them again tonight, if not can we have him back for tomorrow?

South Africa

Johan Botha throws like a girl, and his action is dodgy as hell but at least the teams over rate is improving. AB ‘c’ DeVilliers should be be getting back on the horse that threw him, look for Ricky to bring Tait on as soon as he’s in. The overly hyped Vaughn van Jaarsveld has been dropped, much like the multiple chances that have fallen through his hands and snuck past his bat.

We’re still looking for a way to negate JP Duminy, hopefully Tait can maim him as I just can’t see us getting him out the old fashioned way.

Free Stuff

If you’re going to the match tonight, hold on to your ticket as it’ll work at Homebush for the Twenty20 final tomorrow as well. We’re hoping to take the record for highest attendance at a domestic Twenty20 game from the Vics in addition to the Big Bash Trophy, so giving tickets away seemed like a good plan. To be honest I reckon they should give all tickets away and make cash off food/drink/merchandise, or charge a token amount to get the bums on seats. Still, $20 aint too bad..

The Teams

Australia 1 Shaun Marsh, 2 David Warner, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 David Hussey, 6 Cameron White, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 James Hopes/Nathan Hauritz, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Shaun Tait.

South Africa (possible) 1 Herschelle Gibbs, 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 JP Duminy, 6 Neil McKenzie, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Albie Morkel, 9 Johan Botha (capt), 10 Dale Steyn/Morne Morkel, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

David Warner

This fucking rocks! David Warner, what a superb debut. There was only one Australian who didn’t enjoy that innings last night, and with 89 off 43 balls it’d be pretty tough for the selectors to not add Dave to the ODI squad now, as I suggested over at Well Pitched on Friday.

The highlight for me was his first ball facing Dale Steyn, knowing this guy is rated as the best quick on earth so he paddles a six over fine leg. Next ball, now that he’s got his eye in, he tonks him over mid wicket for another 6!

Warner faced just 1/4 of the balls bowled to Australia to score 1/2 the runs, this in a team of his childhood heros who he wanted to get autographs from in the changerooms.

Well that’s enough gloating for now, I can’t wait till the second T20 on Tuesday in Brisbane – one scary thought for South Africans is the ball that Warner was eventually caught off in Melbourne at deep long on would have gone for another 6 at the Gabba!

One thing that could be interesting later this year is the IPL as Dave has signed with the Delhi Daredevils and will open the batting with Virender Sehwag – hopefully Sehwag can teach him some restraint!

Misbah Ul Huq would have been very happy to see this one after his special effort to lost a test a few months ago.

This One Day bizzo, it’s not tiddlywinks is it..

Consider the alternatives:

New Zealand Win, series is 1-1 and sets up a decider for the final match. Australia would go into game three treating it as a final, just ask India or Sri Lanka what happens when we apply ourselves in finals.

The third outcome of the match being rained out is by far the best option for enzed. That they looked hapless with the bat and crumbled to 3/f’uckall is even better.

They now go into the final game with the trophy still alive. To retain the trophy they had to win in Hobart regardless, now Australia will have their guard down, and despite talk of how much this series means to us we’ve gone and rested Gilly for the final.

The game is in Hobart which will probably suit the choice bro’s style, small boundaries and decent pitch for their plethora of medium pacers. Vettori will be a handfull, and if Flemming or McCullum choose this day to fire they’ll be saying “sweet as” for another 12 months as our cabinet is 1 from full.

Sure they’re down on momentum, but really what is that in a 50 over game anyway? For me it’s just a buzzword that Buchanan used to make the opposition feel inferior, and one he often used cause Australia always seem to have it!

]]> http://beerandsport.net/the-kiwis-are-singing-in-the-rain/feed/ 0 http://beerandsport.net/in-rememberance-of-one-day-cricket/ http://beerandsport.net/in-rememberance-of-one-day-cricket/#comments Fri, 28 Sep 2007 03:03:00 +0000 Moses http://beerandsport.net/?p=17 Continue reading →]]> 50 over cricket has been growing stale under the leadership of the ICC and it’s sub-continental powerbase for a long time, and never was this more evident than at the debacle that was the Cricket World Cup in the West Indies. What should have been the showpiece event was stripped of all character and then dragged on for far too long.

ODI’s have become predictable, formula driven and the consolidatory periods in the 15-40 over period is not giving the Gen Y crowd the constant stimulation they crave and get from competitors to the diet cricket format such as rugby, league, gayfl and soccer.

Crowd nazism from thought challenged security staff is reaching unprecedented levels and severely detracts from the experience. Light beer, outlawing of cameras with 10x zoom, petty restrictoins on bringing in soft drinks from sponsors’ competitors, evicting constructors of “beer snakes”, outlawing of the Mexican wave and criminalising trumpeters are hallmarks of the fun police.

Attempts at law changes have been drawn out and ill-conceived ; “Super”-sub’s and “Power”-play’s were a farcical attempt to Americanize [Sic] the ailing product. Australia’s complete and utter dominance of the format has done little to spark interest. The recent and rare 400+ games which have gone against the norm and provided dare I say, some entertainment.

The only remaining appeal is to executives who crave the bottom line boost from 8 hours of advertisments, predominately in India.

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Conversely, the T20 concept is fresh, innovating and exciting – all the things that ODI’s used to be. Perhaps this is due to the format being created in the UK, away from the greed and sub-continental influence of the ICC.

Some of the innovations really should have been bought into ODI’s long ago. The free hit is great and the distance measurement for biggest six makes for interesting viewing and facilitates nice highlights packages throughout the tournament, regardless of how dubious the actual measurement is..

I’m in favour of scrapping the pointless ODI tournaments in favour of T20 comps. Does anyone actually remember the results of last years three way series with the Poms and Kiwi’s? Is anyone honestly looking forward to the 7 match series we’re about to start in India? Surely they could have snuck a test in.

3 hours is a good span for an after work event with time for a few cleansing ales, and you never know, they might serve full strength beer! No doubt Cricket Australia will get their hooks into and suck the life out of it in the interest of “families”, so lets embrace it before they get a chance.
The concept of the champions trophy is brilliant, allowing state players to mix it on the International stage in their familiar state environment.

Baggy Green victories are not guaranteed in T20, and our losing to Zimbabwe provided a huge boost to the recent tournament. The fact that the team who play best on the day win is not the randomness that some journalists are suggesting, it’s a just reward for a diet format that with a standout performance from a few individuals a lesser ranked team can upset the giants. I might even get some decent odds betting on the Aussie juggernaut!

Of course test cricket is still the real deal, but if we must have a diet cricket format then I’d choose T20 any day. In terms of growing the game into new markets as well as getting more female supporters to the games. Is the Twenty20 here to stay? Most definately.

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