Upsets and underdogs - your opinion?

[NZTailender]

Inspired by the best and worst tournaments thread, how do you feel about underdogs and upsets? For example, Ireland beating Pakistan, Bangladesh beating India, RSA and Aus, Zimbabwe beating Aus at the T20 champs, and England winning the Aussie tri-tournament ()

While Bangladesh beating Australia in the English tri-series was possibly one of the more 'acceptable' upsets, apparently Ireland beating Pakistan in a serious tournament is not on.


What are your thoughts on the subject?

 

[pup11]

Inspired by the best and worst tournaments thread, how do you feel about underdogs and upsets? For example, Ireland beating Pakistan, Bangladesh beating India, RSA and Aus, Zimbabwe beating Aus at the T20 champs, and England winning the Aussie tri-tournament ()

While Bangladesh beating Australia in the English tri-series was possibly one of the more 'acceptable' upsets, apparently Ireland beating Pakistan in a serious tournament is not on.


What are your thoughts on the subject?

I think its great for the game, it helps the the inferior side gain confidence and it also helps in raising the popularity of the game in that particular nation that has caused the upset, i think such upsets also underline the uncertainity of the game , that no matter how good or bad a side might be on paper, the team that plays better cricket on a given day (almost) always comes on top.
I believe in the first option of the poll, but still went on to pick the last option of the poll because i loved it!!

 

[andyc]

So tempted to go for the horses, but decided against it at the last minute.

 

[Uppercut]

I love seeing an exciting match when you expected to see a walkover, knowing that cricket still hasn't lost the ability to surprise you, and watching one of the PE teachers at the school round the corner from you take on a huge cricketing nation and come out on top. Players that aren't world famous are always easier to identify with, too.

 

[pasag]

While Bangladesh beating Australia in the English tri-series was possibly one of the more 'acceptable' upsets, apparently Ireland beating Pakistan in a serious tournament is not on.

Upsets are one of the best things about sport. However what that particular upset lead to was a bunch of one-sided matches which was why a heap of people, myself included, were not too happy about the situation. Yes their win was brilliant, yes they deserved to be there, but it also lead to a bunch of dire matches which wasn't so brilliant.

 

[Craig]

Ireland out played Pakistan, full stop so yes they deserved to win. Sorry but if Pakistan cbf to play as a team and play to their full potential then they got their just deserts in that game. So congratulations Ireland.

 

[BoyBrumby]

They're clearly a bigger threat to humanity than AIDS, cancer, global warming, the credit crunch & Simon Cowell combined.

 

[Craig]

They're clearly a bigger threat to humanity than AIDS, cancer, global warming, the credit crunch & Simon Cowell combined.

It keeps me awake more at night then what is going in Burma, Zimbabwe, and Tibet.

 

[Richard]

I don't remotely enjoy a serious upset (and I'm not talking about Sri Lanka or India winning an away Test series - I'm talking about a substandard side beating a ODI\Test-standard side - the sort of stuff that happens once in a blue-moon). I wouldn't, quite, go so far as to say it makes a mockery of the sport, because anomalaic things happen wherever you go. But there are times when it puts the quality of a tournament down. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. When it does, like WC2007, it's just bad luck.

This doesn't mean that if a team who perform an upset (eg Ireland in WC2007) don't deserve credit for their victory if they genuinely outplayed the team on the day. But that they deserved the victory doesn't make the victory any less disappointing to me.

Similarly I really don't enjoy FA Cup upsets, with the odd rare exception. Whereas practically the entire rest of the country loves them (other, obviously, than when their team's the one that's lost).

 

[Richard]

And as an aside, no, I don't for a second believe substandard teams should play ODI-standard teams. For all the odd upset (whether you enjoy the upset or not) might happen, mostly it's just utter rubbish-quality cricket that no-one in their right mind wants to watch. IE, it's something that does the game more harm than good.

A mismatch benefits absolutely no-one, and in all bar a tiny number of cases that's what ODI-standard-side-vs-substandard-side produces.

 

[GIMH]

I love the underdog. I've been a Tranmere fan since I knew what cricket was, exceeding expectations if something I find to be thrilling. As such, in any sport I love to see the underdog win unless it's my favourite teams on the losing side (that being Tranmere in footy and England in cricket, we've been pretty fortunate so far). Love upsets, they're great.

 

[Richard]

Remarkably given England's weakness compared to other ODI-standard teams, they're one of only two (along with New Zealand) never to lose a ODI to a substandard side.

 

[Flem274*]

Keep the little guys in their place eh Richard? (wrt your "I don't want minnows winning")

Go Ireland. If Pakistan are going to play poorly then they deserve it. And yes I'd say that if it was NZ being beaten by a minnow too (now I've said that Bangladesh will snatch an ODI from us).

 

[Richard]

No-one is saying anything other than that if the ODI-standard team plays less well than the substandard side on the day that the substandard side deserves the victory and the ODI-standard side deserves the loss.

What I say is, I don't like it when a ODI-standard team plays poorly enough to be bettered by a substandard team. I prefer it when they live-up to their capabilities and as a result the expected result happens.

 

[NZTailender]

What I say is, I don't like it when a ODI-standard team plays poorly enough to be bettered by a substandard team. I prefer it when they live-up to their capabilities and as a result the expected result happens.

...that's the whole point of upsets.

 

[Richard]

Preee-cisely. And it's that that I don't like. I don't begrudge a team which has earned an upset their result - I simply prefer that it doesn't happen.

 

[Burgey]

You weren't complaining when England upset Andorra over the weekend.....

 

[Chemosit]

If every game went according to seeding, sport would not be worth watching.

 

[Richard]

You weren't complaining when England upset Andorra over the weekend.....

How d'you know?

 

[Richard]

If every game went according to seeding, sport would not be worth watching.

That's true. But there's a hell of a difference between a mild surprise (eg, England managing a draw in India) and a massive shock (eg, Kenya beating West Indies).

If results like the latter never happened, the game would lose nothing whatsoever, precisely because no-one has any expectation of them to happen. The reason sport is worth watching is because there are games which have an expectation but a hope on the part of those supporting the slightly lesser side that a reversal may happen.