double dose of shame today:
1) because i watched the Aus innings last night (my boy was very excited to have cricket back- that is the ONLY reason i watched).
2) the Aus innings itself last night!
My shame in watching will wane.
The team's shame should be very acute today! what a poor performance! Apart from some crisp hitting by Haddin and Smith we can take nothing from what i saw.
to their credit, Sri Lanka bowled realy good line and length allowing little to be put away, but if T-20 is a batsmans game, why did ours fail to make runs?
not having watched the SL innings i can't comment on how our bowlers looked more than just going by their scorecard...
Twenty 20, meh.
ReplyDeleteWatching that form of cricket makes you as much a cricket fan as standing in a garage makes you a car.
Top observation Nospmas! Well said.
ReplyDeletethanks guys!
ReplyDeletemy grommet liked it though! ...but he didn't see the SL innings!
MPA, did you want your clubs logo/link on the margin too?
ReplyDeletelet me know the club and i'll put it on for you.
Sounds like Razzaq smashed South Africa in an ODI the other day. It's innings like that that 50 over cricket needs. This split innings crap is a joke. The only thing going for it is that both teams bat and bowl in the same conditions.
ReplyDeleteI know you'll educate the young on what real cricket is Stoph! Can't say I watched a single ball though. Believe me when I say I couldn't possibly care less about 20/20 or how Aus goes in it. If a test player gets injured playing that rubbish I'll storm the CA headquarters. Real cricketers shouldn't be playing it. Leave it to Hopes and co.
22 Days to go...
ReplyDeletethe grommet is mad for all forms Lefty.
ReplyDeletei haven't seen a split innings yet.... but something needs to happen to validate ODI, i'll reserve my judgement on that one!
I still think that making each match played meaningful in some way will validate far more than gimmicks. You can understand with the world cup relatively soon that countries will play more ODIs not connected to a test series. World rankings don't really seem to matter to anyone (except whoever is number 1 at the time perhaps) so in between world cups there's a champions trophy and that's it. Too often the other ODI series played lack exciting cricket which is supposed to be the hallmark of the form. It's become so formulaic with spread fields and singles that you wonder what happened to the Sri Lanka way of 1996 that transformed how you bat in ODIs. The powerplay things has actually brought the game back to attrition from overs 20 to 45 so unless the side batting first goes for it and makes 300 (which they rarely do compared to yesteryear) the side batting second 'budgets' their innings so it becomes drawn out. Last night was 'old school' in that even with 8 wickets down Sri Lanka had a run rate they could manage but they hit out - controlled mind you - and this brought the game back to life.
ReplyDeletethank you Lefty for being the foil to my rantings and raves.
ReplyDeleteyour observations are spot on and you make your point so well it just seems so obvious.... except to CA!