ICC World Twenty20: Cricket rants

I’ve watched almost every game that has been played in the ICC World Twenty20 and have noticed a few things.

Don’t break the flow of the game

The IPL can learn from this competition, the introduction of the ‘strategic break’ in IPL 2 was absolutely ridiculous. The break did exactly that “break” the flow of the game; the commentators started talking about the effects of the eleventh over in the IPL.

In this ICC World Twenty20 there have been no breaks, the game has flowed and the scores have been much higher, which the cricket fans love.

There is still place for an elegant cover drive in Twenty20 cricket

My second observation that I’d like to discuss is that batsmen can still play a cover drive in Twenty20 cricket. Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis in particular have played good cricket strokes in this ICC World Twenty20, and it’s worked.  Jacques is currently the leading run scorer in the competition with 147 runs in four innings with a strike rate of 129.85.

It hasn’t been often that you’ve seen Jacques play a shot in anger over the past few weeks. And when he has played the big shot it’s been with control. The same can be said about AB de Villiers, this man is pure class and he’s managed to bring that class and batting elegance from test cricket into the Twenty20.

The players who have struggled have been the guys trying to smash the ball out the park from ball one, Albie Morkel, Herschelle Gibbs and Mark Boucher.

Taking the pace off the ball

Having the ability to take the pace off the ball without being hit out the park, is possibly the greatest asset any team can have. Seven of the ten most economical bowlers in the competition are spin bowlers.

If you have a decent pace attack that can be backed up by your spinners then you’re going to do very well in Twenty20 cricket. Look at the South African team, we have great opening bowlers in Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell, as soon as they come off we have Johan Botha and Roelof van der Merwe to build the pressure on the batsmen which then allows for the part timers to take wicket as the batsmen now need to up the run rate.

My last observation: if you have Wayne Parnell in your team, you are going to win the ICC World Twenty20

Statistic were taken from CricInfo, as of Monday June 15 @ 15H50

Johan Botha Cleared

Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to give Proteas spin bowler Johan Botha the green light to continue his career.

In terms of the decision of the ICC’s review process Botha has been asked not to bowl the doosra but will be able to continue his career normally in all other aspects.

The review process showed that the amount of elbow extension in Botha’s bowling action for both his off-break delivery and arm-ball was within the 15-degree level of tolerance. The mean elbow extension was 12.2 degrees for the off-break and 11.1 degrees for the arm-ball with no single delivery of those types proving to be illegal. None of his doosra deliveries fell within the legal limit.

“We welcome the positive outcome of the tests on Johan Botha after his citing by match officials towards the end of the recent tour by Australia,” commented CSA CEO Gerald Majola.

“CSA has the utmost confidence in Johan’s ability as a top-class off-spin bowler.

“The ICC tests have found fault with his doosra, and CSA and Johan will abide by this finding.

“But what is most important is that Johan remains available to play cricket at the highest level and continue to be an asset for the Proteas and his country.”

Botha said he was relieved and happy that the process had been completed. “I am looking forward to playing my next match for the Proteas and linking up with my team mates for the forthcoming ICC World T20 in England,” he commented.

“I have been bowling regularly in the nets and am happy with the way everything has been going.”

Proteas’ bowling coach Vinnie Barnes was also pleased that Botha had been cleared. “I don’ think the fact that he can no longer bowl the doosra will affect his career negatively. It is a delivery he does not bowl a great deal and, in fact, he only bowled it four times in the four home ODIs he played against Australia according to our research.

“We have an outstanding group of spin bowlers in our squad for the ICC World T20 and it is an exciting period for spin bowling in South African cricket.”

South Africa to host ICC Champions Trophy 2009

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that South Africa will host the ICC Champions Trophy for 2009.

The ICC Champions Trophy was scheduled to be played in Pakistan this year, but due to the unfortunate terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team the ICC opted to relocate the competition.

The ICC Champions Trophy will be played between September 24th and October 5th. The Two venues will be the Wanderers and SuperSport Park Centurion.

The ICC Champions Trophy will be contested for by eight teams;

Group A: Australia, India, Pakistan and West Indies

Group B: South Africa, New Zealand, England and Sri Lanka

The competition consists of a round robin stage, semi finals and a final.

The previous winners if the ICC Champions Trophy (also known as the knock out tournament pre 2002) is as follows:
1998: Won by South Africa, hosted in Bangladesh
2000: Won by New Zealand, hosted in Kenya
2002: Won by Sri Lanka, hosted in India
2004: Won by West Indies, hosted in England
2006: Won by Australia, hosted in India