The Twenty20 Cup in England

[luckyeddie]

What? No Derbyshire match? You'll miss Mohammed Kaif. Shame, that.

I'm quite looking forward to seeing Bassano, di Venuto, Kaif and Corky in the shorter version. They can all give it some SERIOUS tap.

 

[luckyeddie]

Beware of imitations.

The motorised duck who is set to ****** players from the field after they score a blob is NOT Devil Ducky or even his cousin, Vasbert's Drake.

 

[Langeveldt]

Beware of imitations.

The motorised duck who is set to ****** players from the field after they score a blob is NOT Devil Ducky or even his cousin, Vasbert's Drake.

I hear the somerset version has had its engine upgraded to cope with the strain during their innings....

 

[luckyeddie]

I hear the somerset version has had its engine upgraded to cope with the strain during their innings....

Could be.

I did have some seriously witty vision flash through my mind when I saw the above - and I posted the details here. Those of you who were quick enough may have seen it. If so, shhhhhhh, it's gone.

It's gone straight into DD's next column (something for the weekend, sir?).

 

[Rich2001]

I dont see the point in it. It will creat unnessacary injuries and can cause bad habits. It will be good for attracting fans but that is only what it will be good for.

To be fair the above could happen, but theres two things you need to remember here

1/ It's not a new Comp, it's replacing the B&H Cup so players would be playing anyway therfore could have got injuries.

2/ With the need to score quickly and consistantly, therefore the English players will qain much needed pratcie in uping the scoring rate which they struggle in the ODI and it was said England had one of the worse 4/6's % in the game, so this will help. But probley the major point is that the guys will lean new shots / deliveries (in effort to score / prevent runs) which can only be a good thing if they take them onto International level.

 

[luckyeddie]

Hampshire : Way to not play a twenty over innings. All out 153 - amazing stuff. Great to see spinners having a real effect in this kind of a game.

 

[Rich2001]

Yep it was a good start to the new comp... Hamps lost their way slightly in the middle order... But looking at the other scores, it looks about par, however a certian Mr W Akram is making that look better and better (2 overs 2 Runs 2 wickets)

In other games though I notice Warwicks are using I Bell to open the bowling, why?

Also alot of non-regular players are having a run out in the opening matches and a few doing rather well.

 

[Langeveldt]

Well just got back from the somerset match where they were predictably beaten by Warwickshire, 2 ducks lol..

Great fun seemed to be had by everyone, the ground was almost full, and although the weather was pretty foul, it was the most intense period of cricket i have seen...

Fielding should be taken to new heights, as well as running between the wickets.

I somehow get the feeling a number of "traditionalists" were converted today, and there were huge numbers of young children and families watching....

Definitly better than a B+H Zonal match in mid april watched by one man and a dog!

 

[chris.hinton]

Well Worcestershire won BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!

 

[Rich2001]

Does anyone know if the times for 20/20 are ment to be different for weekends?

I thought the whole promotion was evening cricket etc etc, yet two of tomorrows games are ment to start at 10:30 - Which would have been fantastic watch one in the morning on C4 then one on Sky at 5:30... In fact due to work iam missing both

Also next saturday I blieve Sky just said that the live match was 12:30, so going from what was said as 5:30 - 8:15 matches, suddendly theres already 3 different start times.

However iam on holiday for a week (starting Sunday) and theres a live match on every day

 

[Neil Pickup]

I think I was about right about scoring

I reckon 180 ought to win games, that 140-150's par, and we'll see a couple of 200+.

Maybe even an under-estimate

 

[Langeveldt]

I think I was about right about scoring



Maybe even an under-estimate

Very heavily weighted depending on which ground... For Example a number of sweeps went for six in Taunton which is tiny which probably would have been caught elsewhere..

I think the scores will be restricted once the opposition learn that two class bowlers can really dry the runs up... For Example Waqar Younis was impossible to get away tonight, especially as it was very dark towards the end...

 

[Rich2001]

Very heavily weighted depending on which ground... For Example a number of sweeps went for six in Taunton which is tiny which probably would have been caught elsewhere..

I think the scores will be restricted once the opposition learn that two class bowlers can really dry the runs up... For Example Waqar Younis was impossible to get away tonight, especially as it was very dark towards the end...

I totally agree, there are so many factors that could sway one of these games.

As you say ground size, today at The Rose Bowl and in the Surrey match a combined total of 4 6's were hit, yet in the Somerset game there were loads.

Again like you say the weather could prove a big factor for a team batting 2nd in the setting sun and fading light etc. However the light was fantastic in sunny Hampshire and play could have easy have gone on for at least another 30 mins.

I think like you say about Waqar being hard to get away, I think there will always be at least one or two bowlers who keep things rather tight, in the Hampshire game 4 bowlers (both inngs) who conceded less runs than balls bowled, yet a total of 150+ was still achieved... and like I say that was without having to hit loads of 6's - in fact just under half of the final total of both sides (301 runs) only 146 runs come in boundaries, which shows hard running and finding the gaps still are a massive part of the game, it's not trying to hit the ball out the ground on every shot like alot of people thought it would be.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Ahh, condensed cricket...

 

[Rik]

Ahh, condensed cricket...

And like the milk it will probably end up with a nasty taste in the mouth...

 

[luckyeddie]

Ahh, condensed cricket...

Dead right. The early blast with the fielding restrictions blends nicely in to the frantic flaying at the end.


My first impression was that it was hectic fun (and the players seemed to be enjoying themselves too - a bit).

Bouncy Castles and cricket - what more do you want?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

How elegantly stated.

 

[marc71178]

In other games though I notice Warwicks are using I Bell to open the bowling, why?

I think the idea was take the pace off the ball? I notice Burns opened for Somerset.

 

[luckyeddie]

I should like to congratulate Worcestershire on a performance of glorious ineptitude today - 122 all out.

Hurriedly checks Derbyshire's score, sees that Yorkshire have made 186, shuts mouth quickly

 

[Rik]

Twenty20 looks a decent idea...just too short. You can't value your wicket and players are often out quickly because they have to score straight off. Also a run a ball often isn't good enough! I'm watching Worcestershire vs Gloustershire and the number of poor shots being played because of the pressure of scoring reminds me of watching bowling pins just as the bowler releases the bowling ball. They really don't have much of a chance...