Piyush Chawla moved around the lobby, wearing an all-access pass. Greetings exchanged, he said, "Now, I'm a Shark," and pointed to the Sussex Sharks badge on his t-shirt. An Indian legspinner swearing allegiance to a foreign club. "People might have forgotten me as I don't play for India anymore, but I'm happy to represent Sussex," he said. Chawla's divided loyalties are a symbol of the cracks that are forming in the foundation of cricket.
Two years ago the IPL established a new order in cricket, introducing the franchise-based system to the game, and making cricketers a commercial commodity. Now the Champions League, conceived on the club-based model of the UEFA Champions League in football, has even greater potential to revolutionise the game: if it clicks, cricket's biggest prize-money event ($2.5 million to the winner) will undoubtedly place more pressure than there already is on players to give precedence to club ahead of country.
Show me the moneyCricket is the only mainstream team sport that survives on international competition. Every other sport lives off club-based or franchise-based competition. "There must be something in the model, for every other sport to follow club-based competition," Neil Maxwell, who was the CEO at Kings XI Punjab in the first IPL, says.
Maxwell, a former Australia A player, who was also once the marketing director at New Zealand Cricket, reckons the difference in the standards of play between the elite nations and the others, as a result of the FTP model, is hurting cricket more than anything else. "We are seeing the flaws in the country-versus-country model, where there is a huge disparity in the standard of teams. Some matches aren't competitive and some countries are choosing to play others more regularly, so you haven't got an even spread of the wealth generation."
Club-based cricket, on the other hand, provides regularity of competition and more balanced contests. That, Maxwell thinks, is the main reason why the Champions League is bound to change cricket.
A probable shot in the arm for events like the IPL and the Champions League is the increasing frustration on the part of players, and player associations, at the relentless international schedules designed by the administrators. Compare this to football, where countries play each other sparingly. Top footballers make US $5-10 million a season playing for their clubs, and though they get paid a pittance to represent their countries, it is the honour and prestige that motivates them to play.
"That is fine on a basis that it is less regular, unlike in cricket where players are called on to play [international cricket] 10-11 months in a year," Maxwell argues.
So has the time arrived where players pick club over country? Dirk Nannes, the Australian fast bowler, who now represents Delhi Daredevils in the Champions League, predicts the club-based model will definitely be a lucrative and viable option especially for some players. "It certainly becomes an attractive option for the older guys who are close to retiring," Nannes says.
Nannes says he would personally still rather play for his country, but "it certainly would be tempting if you are on a high-end IPL contract, where you earn millions of dollars. Then, of course, I would think twice."
It came as quite a shock for Nannes to be picked for Australia earlier this year; he wasn't in the original squad of 30 picked for the World Twenty20. "Without playing a single game of domestic cricket I've gone from being ranked at best 31st to, in the next Twenty20 game, being in the playing XI," he says. "So that has changed things a little bit."
At 33, Nannes says he has to start thinking about life after cricket and how best to prolong his career. How does he stretch his career to, say, the age of 38, he wonders. "Is that going to happen playing four-day cricket? Maybe I've got the chance to play Tests, but if I don't make the squad in another year, what purpose is there for someone my age to play four-day cricket? I don't get a very big wage and it is definitely going to limit my career at the back-end. This is the form of the game I'm good at, and I can play till I'm quite old."
Not all players agree. Justin Langer, the former Australia opener who is now captain of the Somerset Sabres, one of two English sides in the tournament, says the Champions League cannot radically alter the game of cricket, but it will certainly place an extra emphasis on the domestic competition. "For example, for Somerset, a smallish club in the south-west of England, to be thrust on the world stage is a great honour - a huge thrill for both the club and the players" Langer says.
Dean Kino, head of the Champions League governing council, echoes Langer's sentiments. "Contrary to the perception that players might give priority to the club, one of the great benefits of the tournament is, it is going to improve the next generation of international players," Kino says, pointing out how tournaments like the Champions League and the IPL provide opportunities for domestic crickerers to play against, and with, better quality players. "Dirk Nannes and David Warner are good examples of players who have come out of club championships in the past."
"Central contracts have lost their relevance. Ultimately the performers are the players. You will have to play by them" Amrit Mathur, Delhi Daredevils CEO
Freelancer, mercenary, what's wrong with it anyway?After years of being subdued by administrators, players, fuelled by the attractive pay packets in the IPL, are daring to make themselves heard. Kevin Pietersen's remark last week about central contracts not being lucrative anymore is a case in point. A few days after that, Dwayne Bravo said that if asked to choose between country and club, he would reflect first on the money on offer on either table. Unlike the two Andrews - Flintoff and Symonds - Pietersen and Bravo haven't yet publicly declared their freelance ambitions, but it seems only a matter of time before players of all calibres start charting independent paths, unshackling themselves from restrictive central contracts.
Amrit Mathur, Delhi Daredevils' chief operating officer, says the biggest challenge facing administrators, starting now, will be player management. "Central contracts have lost their relevance," he says. "Ultimately the performers are the players. You will have to play by them."
Nannes looks at it in practical terms. "People can call me a mercenary, but in five years' time I'm either going to be having a whopping big mortgage because I continued playing first-class cricket or I'm going to have no mortgage and stay comfortable for the rest of life. If you completely take emotions and loyalty out of it, you don't need to slog" he says
Langer, among the proudest upholders of the tradition of the baggy green during his playing days, is clearly a loyalist. "You've got to remember, we had to play a very tough competition in England as a team, as a club, and I'm not sure how this would encourage the freelance system," he points out. Langer thinks the number one priority for all young players is international cricket, and one of the responsibilities of domestic cricket is to accelerate the progress of young players to play international cricket. "IPL and such events are a bonus."
Maxwell isn't too keen on the term freelancer either. "At the end of the day every English Premier League footballer, every NFL player, every NBA player, every baseball player, is representing his club. They are only called freelancers because the model is changing," Maxwell says. Cricket follows an antiquated model, he says, and predicts an "evolution" in the next three to five years.
For Kino, the issue is moot: since the Champions League isn't going to clash with any international series, players don't need to make a choice, he points out. As for whether the new leagues will bring about a flood of premature retirements among established international players, he thinks it is too early to say.
Langer thinks the new leagues will hot up competition at the domestic level © Getty Images
Maxwell is confident that ultimately the club-based system will take over from the international model. "At some point you need to understand what the consumer wants. At this point unfortunately a lot of consumers don't want Test cricket - only the older generation wants Tests and I'm one of them. But a 10-year-old is going to want to play Twenty20 cricket."
The future is already here An indicator that the club-based model is here to stay can be found in the participation of sponsors for club events. ESPN Star Sports, which has the broadcast rights for the Champions League, stated in a media release that 95% of available advertising inventory has already been sold.
Kino stresses that sponsors have shown enough interest in the market to sustain both types of competition - international as well franchise-based. "Advertising revenues, sponsorship revenues and commercial support for the game is centred around quality of events. The events aren't marginalising each other. On the contrary, they are accommodating each other, from both a commercial and economic perspective.
Maxwell believes the Champions League owes much to the success of the IPL brand. "We opened doors for people to buy equity in cricket two years ago, so the floodgates are open now." An interesting illustration of the paradigm shift is how Indian corporates are now sponsoring most foreign teams that are competing in the Champions League.
Yet a major test for the game is just six months away, when the third season of the IPL will coincide with the latter part of the domestic season in the southern hemisphere. No doubt the club v country debate will come to the fore in very real terms.
It is Lalit Modi who has the last word. Asked if he is confident about the Champions League replicating the success of the IPL, Modi smiles widely and says, "You asked me the same question before the IPL too."
Thursday, October 8, 2009
India Blue hold nerve to clinch thriller
India Blue 250 for 9 (Suresh 87, Dinda 8*, Trivedi 4*) beat India Red 248 (Khadiwale 55, Jaggi 54, Harbhajan 3-40)
Suresh Kumar's 87 proved decisive, as India Blue held on for a thrilling one-wicket win against India Red at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur. Suresh was the lynchpin even as wickets kept falling around him, playing a big hand in ensuring victory. Ashok Dinda, though, had the final word. Having picked three wickets earlier, he hit the boundary which sealed the match in Blues' favour after they needed seven off the last over with just the one wicket in hand.
The chase was well-planned, as Suresh played the anchor's role to perfection, even as Ishant Sharma struck at either ends of the innings. Harbhajan Singh, promoted to No.3 after a good day with the ball, lent good support with a run-a-ball 36. When captain MS Dhoni departed for 37 with the score 161 for 5, the match was tantalisingly poised.
Suresh continued to graft away and soon brought up his fifty in style, clubbing Sudeep Tyagi over long-on for a six. With Jalaj Saxena and Yusuf Pathan departing soon, he was running fast out of partners, though the equation was firmly in Blues' favour. Two fours in Ishant's ninth over had them in sight of the finish line, yet a final sting in the tale remained. Looking for a quick finish, Suresh mishit a slower one from Ishant and Ravindra Jadeja made no mistake running in from mid-on. That was the end of the 47th over.
The task could not have looked more imposing, with 12 required off 18 and Dinda and Siddharth Trivedi to come. Munaf Patel, who otherwise had a day to forget, struck in his penultimate over, rearranging Sreesanth's stumps with the second ball. Ishant followed the act, giving away four in the 49th over.
The Red captain S Badrinath was a nervous man, as Munaf ran in for his final over. A full delivery first up was hit in the air over cover by Dinda, and the batsmen sneaked a couple. A short ball followed, which was pulled along the ground through midwicket for another two. Another terrible delivery from Munaf wa unpardonable, and Dinda pulled it in the air behind square leg to the fence to seal the win.
For close to 35 overs, Red held the reins and looked good to reach 300-plus. However, the Blue bowlers pulled things back to bowl them out for a sub-par 248 inside 45 overs on a good batting track. Harshad Khadiwale and Ishank Jaggi made brisk half-centuries but the lower order failed to build on that platform.
Red were powered by a solid start from their openers M Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan. Vijay scored at over a run a ball but fell when giving Harbhajan the charge, Naman Ojha snapping up the inside edge. Dhawan's dismissal was very similar, and it was a smart move by Ojha to stand up for the seamer Trivedi, who cut back on his pace to keep the batsmen in check. Red stumbled further when Badrinath was run out after a terrible mix-up and some repair work was needed. Khadiwale and Jaggi stepped up with a stand of 49 for the fourth wicket. Khadiwale fell shortly after getting to his fifty, tamely mistiming a pull off Dinda.
Jaggi, the right-hander from Jharkhand, maintained the momentum with a brisk innings that included five fours and a six. However, he failed to push on after reaching his fifty, edging Yusuf Pathan to Ojha while attempting a cut. Blue continued to chip away at the wickets - even Dhoni rolled his arm over and picked up a wicket - and Red looked in danger of not lasting their full quota of overs. By the time they took the batting Powerplay in the 45th over, they had already lost nine wickets. Harbhajan was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 40. But the real drama would pan out in the next 50 overs.
Suresh Kumar's 87 proved decisive, as India Blue held on for a thrilling one-wicket win against India Red at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur. Suresh was the lynchpin even as wickets kept falling around him, playing a big hand in ensuring victory. Ashok Dinda, though, had the final word. Having picked three wickets earlier, he hit the boundary which sealed the match in Blues' favour after they needed seven off the last over with just the one wicket in hand.
The chase was well-planned, as Suresh played the anchor's role to perfection, even as Ishant Sharma struck at either ends of the innings. Harbhajan Singh, promoted to No.3 after a good day with the ball, lent good support with a run-a-ball 36. When captain MS Dhoni departed for 37 with the score 161 for 5, the match was tantalisingly poised.
Suresh continued to graft away and soon brought up his fifty in style, clubbing Sudeep Tyagi over long-on for a six. With Jalaj Saxena and Yusuf Pathan departing soon, he was running fast out of partners, though the equation was firmly in Blues' favour. Two fours in Ishant's ninth over had them in sight of the finish line, yet a final sting in the tale remained. Looking for a quick finish, Suresh mishit a slower one from Ishant and Ravindra Jadeja made no mistake running in from mid-on. That was the end of the 47th over.
The task could not have looked more imposing, with 12 required off 18 and Dinda and Siddharth Trivedi to come. Munaf Patel, who otherwise had a day to forget, struck in his penultimate over, rearranging Sreesanth's stumps with the second ball. Ishant followed the act, giving away four in the 49th over.
The Red captain S Badrinath was a nervous man, as Munaf ran in for his final over. A full delivery first up was hit in the air over cover by Dinda, and the batsmen sneaked a couple. A short ball followed, which was pulled along the ground through midwicket for another two. Another terrible delivery from Munaf wa unpardonable, and Dinda pulled it in the air behind square leg to the fence to seal the win.
For close to 35 overs, Red held the reins and looked good to reach 300-plus. However, the Blue bowlers pulled things back to bowl them out for a sub-par 248 inside 45 overs on a good batting track. Harshad Khadiwale and Ishank Jaggi made brisk half-centuries but the lower order failed to build on that platform.
Red were powered by a solid start from their openers M Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan. Vijay scored at over a run a ball but fell when giving Harbhajan the charge, Naman Ojha snapping up the inside edge. Dhawan's dismissal was very similar, and it was a smart move by Ojha to stand up for the seamer Trivedi, who cut back on his pace to keep the batsmen in check. Red stumbled further when Badrinath was run out after a terrible mix-up and some repair work was needed. Khadiwale and Jaggi stepped up with a stand of 49 for the fourth wicket. Khadiwale fell shortly after getting to his fifty, tamely mistiming a pull off Dinda.
Jaggi, the right-hander from Jharkhand, maintained the momentum with a brisk innings that included five fours and a six. However, he failed to push on after reaching his fifty, edging Yusuf Pathan to Ojha while attempting a cut. Blue continued to chip away at the wickets - even Dhoni rolled his arm over and picked up a wicket - and Red looked in danger of not lasting their full quota of overs. By the time they took the batting Powerplay in the 45th over, they had already lost nine wickets. Harbhajan was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 for 40. But the real drama would pan out in the next 50 overs.
ue will make domestic cricket stronger - Modi
chairman of the Champions League Twenty20's governing council, is certain the tournament will result in the "rapid growth" of club cricket around the world. Modi also said there was a strong chance the Champions League would be taken to non-cricket playing countries as a means to expand the game's reach and get other countries to embrace cricket.
"The Champions League has been developed to embrace club cricket all round the world," he said on the day of the tournament launch in Bangalore. "It's a place where we can find young cricketers who then play for their national sides. The IPL is a great example of a domestic club-level tournament, and similarly nations around the world have club tournaments. The objective here is not to make money, it is to build the game, to build club-level cricket, to find and nurture new talent. Money is not the criteria. The objective here is that we have some of the best players around the world and we hope that in years to come the Champions League comes to symbolise what the UEFA [version] is to football.
"From this year itself the tournaments in countries like Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies will become more competitive. You'll see players who were not participating in domestic tournaments who will now take part and do well. Before, once players graduated from their clubs, they became international players and if at all they went back to their clubs they hardly played a few games. But the rules of the Champions League are that you have to play for your club, and your club must win to participate here. You won't get a chance to be here unless you've not played for your club."
Dean Kino, head of business and legal affairs for the Champions League, said one positive fallout of this competition would be to give context to domestic cricket. "It increases the passion of grassroots cricketers to be involved for their states and provinces. If you look at the interest in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash in Australia and the IPL over the last six months, you will see that the result of going to the Champions League has been hugely stimulating. At the domestic level it will drive young cricketers to the game and that will build on domestic cricket and make it stronger."
Modi felt there was no better format than Twenty20 to draw new audiences and one way to do so was to broadcast matches across the world in different languages. While the current focus is to take the Champions League to participating nations, there is a definite plan to expand the competition. "That is a definite possibility. The immediate future is that we have South Africa, Australia and New Zealand as leading candidates and the objective would be to move within the participating countries," he said. "But we must make the competition more broadcast-friendly and show it to countries that have never seen cricket before. Like the IPL did, we have to get more women and children hooked onto this game."
The governing council has definite plans to take the tournament on the road, with Modi confirming that future editions will move from country to country. Kino said the concept was to move the competition around as much as possible. "We will look at newer, cricket-playing countries primarily but beyond the next ten years a decision will be taken as to whether it is appropriate to bring the game to non cricket-playing countries. We want to take the grassroots level of cricket to as many countries as possible."
To make the Champions League more prestigious, one change could be to increase the number of participating teams, something the governing council will decide on after the inaugural tournament. Modi and Kino ruled out a home-and-away format, like in the IPL and other domestic tournaments, because of the obvious difficulties in flying teams across the world on a daily basis. "As a global league it is very important to get crickets playing all around the world and give them the opportunity to play on different surfaces, in front of different fans and cultures," Modi said.
The IPL, run by the BCCI, has been extremely successful and Kino was hopeful the Champions League would blossom with the inputs of Cricket Australia and other boards. "The Champions League doesn't arise from the IPL," he said. "Representatives of Cricket Australia, the BCCI and Cricket South Africa talked about the possibility of a Champions League even before the concept of the IPL was invented. We've been talking about this for years and it's been a matter of getting the right time and place to launch. Whereas the IPL certainly helped leverage interest in the event, the Champions League stands by itself as an international event. It becomes the apex of all domestic events around the world; its context and relevance is through domestic events."
"The Champions League has been developed to embrace club cricket all round the world," he said on the day of the tournament launch in Bangalore. "It's a place where we can find young cricketers who then play for their national sides. The IPL is a great example of a domestic club-level tournament, and similarly nations around the world have club tournaments. The objective here is not to make money, it is to build the game, to build club-level cricket, to find and nurture new talent. Money is not the criteria. The objective here is that we have some of the best players around the world and we hope that in years to come the Champions League comes to symbolise what the UEFA [version] is to football.
"From this year itself the tournaments in countries like Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies will become more competitive. You'll see players who were not participating in domestic tournaments who will now take part and do well. Before, once players graduated from their clubs, they became international players and if at all they went back to their clubs they hardly played a few games. But the rules of the Champions League are that you have to play for your club, and your club must win to participate here. You won't get a chance to be here unless you've not played for your club."
Dean Kino, head of business and legal affairs for the Champions League, said one positive fallout of this competition would be to give context to domestic cricket. "It increases the passion of grassroots cricketers to be involved for their states and provinces. If you look at the interest in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash in Australia and the IPL over the last six months, you will see that the result of going to the Champions League has been hugely stimulating. At the domestic level it will drive young cricketers to the game and that will build on domestic cricket and make it stronger."
Modi felt there was no better format than Twenty20 to draw new audiences and one way to do so was to broadcast matches across the world in different languages. While the current focus is to take the Champions League to participating nations, there is a definite plan to expand the competition. "That is a definite possibility. The immediate future is that we have South Africa, Australia and New Zealand as leading candidates and the objective would be to move within the participating countries," he said. "But we must make the competition more broadcast-friendly and show it to countries that have never seen cricket before. Like the IPL did, we have to get more women and children hooked onto this game."
The governing council has definite plans to take the tournament on the road, with Modi confirming that future editions will move from country to country. Kino said the concept was to move the competition around as much as possible. "We will look at newer, cricket-playing countries primarily but beyond the next ten years a decision will be taken as to whether it is appropriate to bring the game to non cricket-playing countries. We want to take the grassroots level of cricket to as many countries as possible."
To make the Champions League more prestigious, one change could be to increase the number of participating teams, something the governing council will decide on after the inaugural tournament. Modi and Kino ruled out a home-and-away format, like in the IPL and other domestic tournaments, because of the obvious difficulties in flying teams across the world on a daily basis. "As a global league it is very important to get crickets playing all around the world and give them the opportunity to play on different surfaces, in front of different fans and cultures," Modi said.
The IPL, run by the BCCI, has been extremely successful and Kino was hopeful the Champions League would blossom with the inputs of Cricket Australia and other boards. "The Champions League doesn't arise from the IPL," he said. "Representatives of Cricket Australia, the BCCI and Cricket South Africa talked about the possibility of a Champions League even before the concept of the IPL was invented. We've been talking about this for years and it's been a matter of getting the right time and place to launch. Whereas the IPL certainly helped leverage interest in the event, the Champions League stands by itself as an international event. It becomes the apex of all domestic events around the world; its context and relevance is through domestic events."
Duminy's 99 outdoes Bangalore
Cape Cobras 184 for 5 (Duminy 99*) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 180 for 4 (Taylor 53*, Uthappa 51) by five wickets
At this venue in 2008, Brendon McCullum slammed the most famous Twenty20 century to knock the stuffing out of Royal Challengers Bangalore. On another starry South Indian night, against the hosts again, JP Duminy struck the most awesome 99 you will see in this format to take the Cape Cobras to a thrilling last-over victory.
And so a new chapter in the rapidly growing Twenty20 format has begun. After a gala opening ceremony reminiscent of the opening night of the first IPL, the two teams treated a capacity Chinnaswamy Stadium to a superb exhibition of Twenty20 overs. Anil Kumble had no hesitation in batting first on a good batting track and 20 action-packed overs later the Cobras had their task cut out, after Robin Uthappa and Ross Taylor starred in a powerful batting display. But Duminy thumped five sixes and eight fours in as clinical and perfect a display of shotmaking as you could hope to see, and his partnership of 61 with Ryan Canning transformed the game after Bangalore had grabbed three early wickets in defence of 180.
The Cobras were in real strife early on with the bat, as Herschelle Gibbs edged Praveen Kumar behind in the first over, and captain Andrew Puttick followed suit with a leading edge to point. Henry Davids played a couple of handsome strokes but when Virat Kohli took an easy catch at point off R Vinay Kumar, the scoreboard showed 62 for 3.
As he has done at the international stage, Duminy didn't waste time in finding his range. Kumble continued to vary his pace and fed Duminy a steady diet of googlies; Duminy was beaten on occasions but replied with deft boundaries, the pick being a cut behind short third man for four. There was a moment of drama, too: Taylor dropped a dolly at long-off when Duminy was 23, after which a dead ball was called because the ball hit the cable of the fly camera.
Once he found his range, Duminy was unstoppable. Vinay was scooped for four and Roelof van der Merwe was driven over mid-on for six. After getting to 50 in 30 balls, Duminy stepped up a notch and Canning played his part with 20 from 18 balls.
The game was wide open when the Cobras needed 54 off five overs. That was eased significantly as Kohli's part-time medium-pace went for 13 in the 16th over, Kumble and van der Merwe were struck for big sixes and Vinay was mowed for boundaries either side of the pitch. Duminy's final six took him to 99 yet, cruelly, there was to be no century as Rory Kleinveldt finished the deal with two balls remaining.
This seemed a distant possibility after 20 overs in the field, when the Cobras seemed distinctly overawed by the moment and a packed house breathing down their necks, misfielding with alarming regularity and serving up a dozen too many full tosses. Uthappa paved the way with a belligerent but plucky half-century, being dropped on 18 and miscuing more than a few between catchers, and an astonishing assault from Taylor rounded flattened the attack.
Depleted by the injury blow to Charl Langeveldt in the sixth over, the Cobras were sloppy in the field, putting down three catches and missing a run-out. Uthappa was the beneficiary of one sitter and a couple miscues that dropped safely, and flourished in Rahul Dravid's company after Langeveldt took out Jacques Kallis early. Using his feet regularly to try and get on top of the bowlers, Uthappa pulled off some stinging shots down the ground and over midwicket, each of which the partisan home crowd cheered with gusto.
Dravid, dropped on 16, played some crisp and orthodox shots before he was run out for 28, after which Kohli was stumped for 17. But Bangalore took 61 off their final four overs, 40 of them in boundaries off just eight balls by Taylor, who picked up a 24-ball half-century off the final delivery of the innings, courtesy a top-edged four. Taylor has a penchant for clearing his front leg and heaving across the line, but this evening he was aided by an array of stray slower balls on the pads and rank full tosses.
A target of 181 ultimately proved a saunter with Duminy at his dazzling best. Tonight a new chapter began, one that could dictate the future of club cricket.
At this venue in 2008, Brendon McCullum slammed the most famous Twenty20 century to knock the stuffing out of Royal Challengers Bangalore. On another starry South Indian night, against the hosts again, JP Duminy struck the most awesome 99 you will see in this format to take the Cape Cobras to a thrilling last-over victory.
And so a new chapter in the rapidly growing Twenty20 format has begun. After a gala opening ceremony reminiscent of the opening night of the first IPL, the two teams treated a capacity Chinnaswamy Stadium to a superb exhibition of Twenty20 overs. Anil Kumble had no hesitation in batting first on a good batting track and 20 action-packed overs later the Cobras had their task cut out, after Robin Uthappa and Ross Taylor starred in a powerful batting display. But Duminy thumped five sixes and eight fours in as clinical and perfect a display of shotmaking as you could hope to see, and his partnership of 61 with Ryan Canning transformed the game after Bangalore had grabbed three early wickets in defence of 180.
The Cobras were in real strife early on with the bat, as Herschelle Gibbs edged Praveen Kumar behind in the first over, and captain Andrew Puttick followed suit with a leading edge to point. Henry Davids played a couple of handsome strokes but when Virat Kohli took an easy catch at point off R Vinay Kumar, the scoreboard showed 62 for 3.
As he has done at the international stage, Duminy didn't waste time in finding his range. Kumble continued to vary his pace and fed Duminy a steady diet of googlies; Duminy was beaten on occasions but replied with deft boundaries, the pick being a cut behind short third man for four. There was a moment of drama, too: Taylor dropped a dolly at long-off when Duminy was 23, after which a dead ball was called because the ball hit the cable of the fly camera.
Once he found his range, Duminy was unstoppable. Vinay was scooped for four and Roelof van der Merwe was driven over mid-on for six. After getting to 50 in 30 balls, Duminy stepped up a notch and Canning played his part with 20 from 18 balls.
The game was wide open when the Cobras needed 54 off five overs. That was eased significantly as Kohli's part-time medium-pace went for 13 in the 16th over, Kumble and van der Merwe were struck for big sixes and Vinay was mowed for boundaries either side of the pitch. Duminy's final six took him to 99 yet, cruelly, there was to be no century as Rory Kleinveldt finished the deal with two balls remaining.
This seemed a distant possibility after 20 overs in the field, when the Cobras seemed distinctly overawed by the moment and a packed house breathing down their necks, misfielding with alarming regularity and serving up a dozen too many full tosses. Uthappa paved the way with a belligerent but plucky half-century, being dropped on 18 and miscuing more than a few between catchers, and an astonishing assault from Taylor rounded flattened the attack.
Depleted by the injury blow to Charl Langeveldt in the sixth over, the Cobras were sloppy in the field, putting down three catches and missing a run-out. Uthappa was the beneficiary of one sitter and a couple miscues that dropped safely, and flourished in Rahul Dravid's company after Langeveldt took out Jacques Kallis early. Using his feet regularly to try and get on top of the bowlers, Uthappa pulled off some stinging shots down the ground and over midwicket, each of which the partisan home crowd cheered with gusto.
Dravid, dropped on 16, played some crisp and orthodox shots before he was run out for 28, after which Kohli was stumped for 17. But Bangalore took 61 off their final four overs, 40 of them in boundaries off just eight balls by Taylor, who picked up a 24-ball half-century off the final delivery of the innings, courtesy a top-edged four. Taylor has a penchant for clearing his front leg and heaving across the line, but this evening he was aided by an array of stray slower balls on the pads and rank full tosses.
A target of 181 ultimately proved a saunter with Duminy at his dazzling best. Tonight a new chapter began, one that could dictate the future of club cricket.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The youngsters won it for us - Ponting
has attributed Australia's Champions Trophy success to the efforts of youngsters in his team, especially their performance in an occasionally tense final.
"We have gone through some ups and downs in the last 18 months. A number of great players have left and we brought in a lot of young, fresh players. It was great to see some of them stand up and deliver," Ponting said after Australia's six-wicket win over New Zealand that gave them their second Champions Trophy title.
Australia's bowling performance in the final was led by Nathan Hauritz, who grabbed 3 for 37, including the well-set Martin Guptill for 40. Later, in their chase of 201, Australia were in trouble at 6 for 2 but Shane Watson and Cameron White added 128 to put them in control. "Two young guys at the crease at 6 for 2, it doesn't get any tougher and they did a great job," Ponting said.
Australia came in to the tournament as favourites along with South Africa, fresh from the success of a 6-1 ODI humiliation of England. They beat West Indies in a tough contest in Johannesburg, were dominant against India in a washed-out game and edged Pakistan in a two-wicket win in Centurion. They were comprehensive winners in the semi-final against England, Ponting and Shane Watson hammering centuries in a nine-wicket win.
"In the ODI series in England after the Ashes, we did well there to put ourselves in a position where we can give this tournament a little bit of a shake," Ponting said. "We've played some great cricket over the last couple of weeks here."
The Champions Trophy also brought personal success for Ponting, as he emerged the highest run-getter with 288 at 72 in four games. He was honoured with a golden bat for that feat, and followed it up with the Man-of-the-Series award, ahead of Watson, who finished the tournament with back-to-back centuries.
"We needed discipline today, and we knew that if I was around till the 40th over, we had a chance," Watson, who was Man of the Match, said after his innings of 105. "It was set up with Ricky's help in the semi-finals to get me through, and he missed out today, but it was time for another to step up.
"The wicket today was a little slower than the other night but Kyle Mills and Shane Bond bowled beautifully straight up until me and White had a good partnership."
"We have gone through some ups and downs in the last 18 months. A number of great players have left and we brought in a lot of young, fresh players. It was great to see some of them stand up and deliver," Ponting said after Australia's six-wicket win over New Zealand that gave them their second Champions Trophy title.
Australia's bowling performance in the final was led by Nathan Hauritz, who grabbed 3 for 37, including the well-set Martin Guptill for 40. Later, in their chase of 201, Australia were in trouble at 6 for 2 but Shane Watson and Cameron White added 128 to put them in control. "Two young guys at the crease at 6 for 2, it doesn't get any tougher and they did a great job," Ponting said.
Australia came in to the tournament as favourites along with South Africa, fresh from the success of a 6-1 ODI humiliation of England. They beat West Indies in a tough contest in Johannesburg, were dominant against India in a washed-out game and edged Pakistan in a two-wicket win in Centurion. They were comprehensive winners in the semi-final against England, Ponting and Shane Watson hammering centuries in a nine-wicket win.
"In the ODI series in England after the Ashes, we did well there to put ourselves in a position where we can give this tournament a little bit of a shake," Ponting said. "We've played some great cricket over the last couple of weeks here."
The Champions Trophy also brought personal success for Ponting, as he emerged the highest run-getter with 288 at 72 in four games. He was honoured with a golden bat for that feat, and followed it up with the Man-of-the-Series award, ahead of Watson, who finished the tournament with back-to-back centuries.
"We needed discipline today, and we knew that if I was around till the 40th over, we had a chance," Watson, who was Man of the Match, said after his innings of 105. "It was set up with Ricky's help in the semi-finals to get me through, and he missed out today, but it was time for another to step up.
"The wicket today was a little slower than the other night but Kyle Mills and Shane Bond bowled beautifully straight up until me and White had a good partnership."
Younis says he continues enjoying captaincy
Pakistan captain Younis Khan has said he is enjoying leading the side despite the semi-final loss in the ICC Champions Trophy and insisted it had not affected his own performance on the field.
"I'm enjoying cricket," Younis said after reaching Karachi. "In fact all the boys are enjoying playing under my captaincy and that's a good thing."
Younis was first made captain in 2005 in the absence of Inzamam-ul-Haq but announced his resignation for the 2006 Champions Trophy, only to reverse it the next day and lead Pakistan to a first-round exit in the tournament. He was favourite to take over the captaincy following Pakistan's poor show in the 2007 World Cup but he turned it down, citing mental strain as the reason. However in January 2009, the board approached him again following a disastrous home series against Sri Lanka. This time Younis accepted and led Pakistan to a World Twenty20 title in England.
Younis said the Champions Trophy exit was bitterly disappointing as he had wanted to gift his country the trophy that had been shifted from Pakistan to South Africa because of security concerns. He said there were many reasons for the team's defeat to New Zealand, including his dropped catch, missed run-outs and poor umpiring but that finishing in the top four was a positive sign.
"I will regret dropping it for the rest of my life," Younis said. "Maybe the result could have been different had I not dropped that catch."
Allrounder Shahid Afridi felt luck had deserted Pakistan in the game against New Zealand but also said that they had made poor use of the Powerplays in the match. They scored only 35 in their batting Powerplay after taking it only in the 45th over and conceded 55 when New
"I'm enjoying cricket," Younis said after reaching Karachi. "In fact all the boys are enjoying playing under my captaincy and that's a good thing."
Younis was first made captain in 2005 in the absence of Inzamam-ul-Haq but announced his resignation for the 2006 Champions Trophy, only to reverse it the next day and lead Pakistan to a first-round exit in the tournament. He was favourite to take over the captaincy following Pakistan's poor show in the 2007 World Cup but he turned it down, citing mental strain as the reason. However in January 2009, the board approached him again following a disastrous home series against Sri Lanka. This time Younis accepted and led Pakistan to a World Twenty20 title in England.
Younis said the Champions Trophy exit was bitterly disappointing as he had wanted to gift his country the trophy that had been shifted from Pakistan to South Africa because of security concerns. He said there were many reasons for the team's defeat to New Zealand, including his dropped catch, missed run-outs and poor umpiring but that finishing in the top four was a positive sign.
"I will regret dropping it for the rest of my life," Younis said. "Maybe the result could have been different had I not dropped that catch."
Allrounder Shahid Afridi felt luck had deserted Pakistan in the game against New Zealand but also said that they had made poor use of the Powerplays in the match. They scored only 35 in their batting Powerplay after taking it only in the 45th over and conceded 55 when New
Watson, bowlers power Australia to title defence
Australia 206 for 4 (Watson 105*, White 62, Mills 3-27) beat New Zealand 200 for 9 (Guptill 40, Hauritz 3-37, Lee 2-45) by six wickets
They were given a scare in a global final for the first time since the 1996 World Cup but Australia still remain the team to beat on the big day. If Australia were typically aggressive and opportunistic in setting themselves just 201 to chase, they were made to play out of character in the chase against exceptional opening spells from Kyle Mills and Shane Bond, which Shane Watson and Cameron White did with smartness and with determination.
Watson's best innings at international level, a century that earned him the Man-of-the-Match award for the second successive Champions Trophy final, was key to Australia's win. The opening spells of Mills and Bond even overshadowed that of Brett Lee and Peter Siddle. In defence of a meagre total, their lengths were immaculate. The ball that got Ricky Ponting was a perfect example: neither full enough for him to come forward, nor short enough to carry over the stumps, and the inswing trapped him in front. By then Bond had nailed Tim Paine with a full outswinger.
Along with White, Watson went into the Test-match mode, playing out the top two bowlers as if in the first session on a green top under overcast skies. They could afford to do so because of the paltriness of the target, and the absence of Daniel Vettori: he had to pull out at the last minute because of a hamstring injury. White even let go two leg-side half-volleys. Apart from that, there were hardly any scoring opportunities on offer. Except for a couple of awry calls for singles, they survived that period calmly. Starting from the seventh, five overs went for just two runs, and the bowling figures of Mills and Bond then told the story: 6-2-8-1 and 5-2-9-1 respectively.
And then the Aussie mental strength and ruthlessness came to fore. All the other four bowlers were welcomed with boundaries in their first overs. Two of them, against Ian Butler and Jeetan Patel, were deliberate efforts to signal intent; the other two, off James Franklin and Grant Elliott, were gifts down the leg side. Once both the opening bowlers were taken off, Watson turned it on to take the game away from New Zealand. He was lethally good with the horizontal bat, launching two powerful sixes to midwicket, and with the straight bat he mostly went down and along the ground.
Prime Numbers
5
The number of successive finals Australia have won in multi-team tournaments - they have triumphed in the last three World Cups, and the last two Champions Trophies. The last time they lost such a final was the 1996 World Cup.
3
The number of Man-of-the-Match awards Shane Watson has won in Champions Trophy knockout matches - he won the award in the 2006 final, and the 2009 semi-final and final. In all he has won seven such awards.
49.68
Watson's average when he has opened the innings in ODIs. In 30 innings he has scored 1242 runs, with four centuries and three fifties, and a strike rate of 85.95.
73
The number of dot balls Australia played in the first 15 overs of their chase. During this period they struck only four fours. In the next 30.2 overs, though, they struck 18 fours and five sixes.
128
The partnership for the third wicket between Watson and Cameron White, which is the third-highest for Australia in an ODI against New Zealand. They fell seven short of the record.
16
The number of times Australia have beaten New Zealand in an ODI at a neutral venue, out of 17 games. Their only defeat was in Cardiff during the 1999 World Cup.
51
The number of ODI wickets Brett Lee has taken against New Zealand, making him the sixth bowler - and the second Australian, after Glenn McGrath - to get to the 50-wicket mark against them.
From 7 off 28 he motored along to 49 off 72 by the 25th over. During that Watson onslaught, White presented New Zealand with a top-edge that Brendon McCullum, the stand-in captain, got under after having run backwards but dropped. That would have reduced Australia to 41 for 3 in the 18th over.
The momentum wrested, Watson took the back seat, and allowed White get into action. McCullum realised the second string of bowlers wasn't doing him any good, and called Mills and Bond back. Mills gave him another big-hearted effort, taking out White and Michael Hussey, in the process crossing Richard Hadlee's tally of 158 wickets. Both the leading bowlers' quotas were exhausted, and Watson turned it on again, bringing up his hundred and the win with back-to-back sixes.
This final will be remembered for the top-class pace bowling from both sides, on what was a true surface that yielded neither variable bounce nor much seam movement. The way Australia bowled, it seemed we would have the traditional anti-climactic final involving Australia.
All three fast bowlers were fast, accurate and menacing. Nathan Hauritz was canny on a pitch that assisted him, and Watson was stable. New Zealand were never allowed space: the first time their run-rate crossed four an over was at the end of the 43rd over, but they had lost seven wickets by then and had consumed the batting Powerplay. Ponting was proactive in attacking - even during two sizeable partnerships, he set aggressive fields, and brought back all his three strike bowlers in the middle overs to try and get breakthroughs.
A bad start for New Zealand got worse when McCullum fell for a 14-ball duck, which seemed almost inevitable. Right from the off, Lee and Siddle hit the mid-to-high 140s, with Lee getting consistent outswing as well. Three tight overs were enough to frustrate McCullum into cutting a Siddle delivery that was too close to him.
Martin Guptill and Aaron Redmond weathered the storm that the three Aussie fast bowlers worked up, but then Hauritz struck in the middle overs. A 61-run stand was followed by back-to-back strikes from Hauritz, sending back both the batsmen.
Ponting got slips in, and asked Mitchell Johnson and Lee to attack furthermore. Ross Taylor, who twice edged towards slip deliveries from Johnson straightening from a sharp round-the-wicket angle, finally played an impatient shot. Lee produced a vicious inswinging yorker to get rid of Elliott.
It then became a matter of surviving the 50 overs, and Australia never let up the pressure, despite the batting Powerplay that yielded 40 runs.
They were given a scare in a global final for the first time since the 1996 World Cup but Australia still remain the team to beat on the big day. If Australia were typically aggressive and opportunistic in setting themselves just 201 to chase, they were made to play out of character in the chase against exceptional opening spells from Kyle Mills and Shane Bond, which Shane Watson and Cameron White did with smartness and with determination.
Watson's best innings at international level, a century that earned him the Man-of-the-Match award for the second successive Champions Trophy final, was key to Australia's win. The opening spells of Mills and Bond even overshadowed that of Brett Lee and Peter Siddle. In defence of a meagre total, their lengths were immaculate. The ball that got Ricky Ponting was a perfect example: neither full enough for him to come forward, nor short enough to carry over the stumps, and the inswing trapped him in front. By then Bond had nailed Tim Paine with a full outswinger.
Along with White, Watson went into the Test-match mode, playing out the top two bowlers as if in the first session on a green top under overcast skies. They could afford to do so because of the paltriness of the target, and the absence of Daniel Vettori: he had to pull out at the last minute because of a hamstring injury. White even let go two leg-side half-volleys. Apart from that, there were hardly any scoring opportunities on offer. Except for a couple of awry calls for singles, they survived that period calmly. Starting from the seventh, five overs went for just two runs, and the bowling figures of Mills and Bond then told the story: 6-2-8-1 and 5-2-9-1 respectively.
And then the Aussie mental strength and ruthlessness came to fore. All the other four bowlers were welcomed with boundaries in their first overs. Two of them, against Ian Butler and Jeetan Patel, were deliberate efforts to signal intent; the other two, off James Franklin and Grant Elliott, were gifts down the leg side. Once both the opening bowlers were taken off, Watson turned it on to take the game away from New Zealand. He was lethally good with the horizontal bat, launching two powerful sixes to midwicket, and with the straight bat he mostly went down and along the ground.
Prime Numbers
5
The number of successive finals Australia have won in multi-team tournaments - they have triumphed in the last three World Cups, and the last two Champions Trophies. The last time they lost such a final was the 1996 World Cup.
3
The number of Man-of-the-Match awards Shane Watson has won in Champions Trophy knockout matches - he won the award in the 2006 final, and the 2009 semi-final and final. In all he has won seven such awards.
49.68
Watson's average when he has opened the innings in ODIs. In 30 innings he has scored 1242 runs, with four centuries and three fifties, and a strike rate of 85.95.
73
The number of dot balls Australia played in the first 15 overs of their chase. During this period they struck only four fours. In the next 30.2 overs, though, they struck 18 fours and five sixes.
128
The partnership for the third wicket between Watson and Cameron White, which is the third-highest for Australia in an ODI against New Zealand. They fell seven short of the record.
16
The number of times Australia have beaten New Zealand in an ODI at a neutral venue, out of 17 games. Their only defeat was in Cardiff during the 1999 World Cup.
51
The number of ODI wickets Brett Lee has taken against New Zealand, making him the sixth bowler - and the second Australian, after Glenn McGrath - to get to the 50-wicket mark against them.
From 7 off 28 he motored along to 49 off 72 by the 25th over. During that Watson onslaught, White presented New Zealand with a top-edge that Brendon McCullum, the stand-in captain, got under after having run backwards but dropped. That would have reduced Australia to 41 for 3 in the 18th over.
The momentum wrested, Watson took the back seat, and allowed White get into action. McCullum realised the second string of bowlers wasn't doing him any good, and called Mills and Bond back. Mills gave him another big-hearted effort, taking out White and Michael Hussey, in the process crossing Richard Hadlee's tally of 158 wickets. Both the leading bowlers' quotas were exhausted, and Watson turned it on again, bringing up his hundred and the win with back-to-back sixes.
This final will be remembered for the top-class pace bowling from both sides, on what was a true surface that yielded neither variable bounce nor much seam movement. The way Australia bowled, it seemed we would have the traditional anti-climactic final involving Australia.
All three fast bowlers were fast, accurate and menacing. Nathan Hauritz was canny on a pitch that assisted him, and Watson was stable. New Zealand were never allowed space: the first time their run-rate crossed four an over was at the end of the 43rd over, but they had lost seven wickets by then and had consumed the batting Powerplay. Ponting was proactive in attacking - even during two sizeable partnerships, he set aggressive fields, and brought back all his three strike bowlers in the middle overs to try and get breakthroughs.
A bad start for New Zealand got worse when McCullum fell for a 14-ball duck, which seemed almost inevitable. Right from the off, Lee and Siddle hit the mid-to-high 140s, with Lee getting consistent outswing as well. Three tight overs were enough to frustrate McCullum into cutting a Siddle delivery that was too close to him.
Martin Guptill and Aaron Redmond weathered the storm that the three Aussie fast bowlers worked up, but then Hauritz struck in the middle overs. A 61-run stand was followed by back-to-back strikes from Hauritz, sending back both the batsmen.
Ponting got slips in, and asked Mitchell Johnson and Lee to attack furthermore. Ross Taylor, who twice edged towards slip deliveries from Johnson straightening from a sharp round-the-wicket angle, finally played an impatient shot. Lee produced a vicious inswinging yorker to get rid of Elliott.
It then became a matter of surviving the 50 overs, and Australia never let up the pressure, despite the batting Powerplay that yielded 40 runs.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Underdog tale reaches tough climax
Underdogs in films make a mockery of the form book. Exhibit 1: New Zealand come to the Champions Trophy, sans superstars, sans high ICC rankings, and after being well and truly battered for more than a month in the sapping heat of Sri Lanka. They are - it is fair to say - the outsiders in this tournament.
Underdogs in the movies start out of their depth, find the happy knack of winning, and then start liking what they feel. Exhibit 2: New Zealand are outclassed by South Africa on a true Centurion pitch. Then Sri Lanka, fooled by the earlier two pitches at the Wanderers, put New Zealand in, and discover they have given their opponents first use of a batting beauty. Against England, New Zealand get a spitting beauty of a pitch, call right at the toss, and run through the batting.
Underdogs in the movies are hit by injuries, handicaps, and miseries, but every setback inspires them. Exhibit 3: New Zealand lose Jacob Oram before their campaign starts. Jesse Ryder pulls his left abductor muscle during the Sri Lanka game, but before leaving plays the kind of innings that must have led to the coining of the phrase "beware the wounded batsman". Then Daryl Tuffey, at the time looking their best bowler, breaks his hand while fielding and is ruled out for the rest of the tournament. Next up, Grant Elliott, hero of the win against England, breaks his thumb, but braves the injury to score a heroic unbeaten 75 in the semi-final.
The real villains start appearing only in the later stages of underdog movies. Exhibit 4: On paper Pakistan have everything they need to end this underdog tale, but their occasional overconfidence and exceptional play from the underdogs take New Zealand to the final.
Underdogs in the movies meet the biggest, scariest villain right at the end. Exhibit 5: It is always Australia's fate, or that of any champion team, that their excellence, consistency, their hard work, will always be seen as villainous in romantic underdog stories. We can also conveniently forget that they too lost three of their most important players - Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin - in the lead-up to the tournament. Champions, though, don't deserve such considerations. Every good underdog story needs a mean villain, and Australia have rarely failed to oblige at world events.
If more context is needed, New Zealand have historically seen Australia as big brothers, and have always sought to bring their best against them. Moreover, New Zealand are yet to beat Australia in a tournament final, and have lost six times (tournaments with more than one final have been considered as one). Centurion will not provide them with a freak pitch either. It's all stacked up against New Zealand this time, and no self-respecting underdog story would have it any other way.
How good this story is will be known by Monday evening, or rather early on Tuesday morning in Australia and New Zealand.
Form guide
(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia - WWWLW
Ominously they are peaking at the right time. Even more ominously they have survived the one token scare that champion sides face, in the game against Pakistan.
New Zealand - WWWLL
Their weakened line-up has made the rest even more determined. They will rely a lot on their bowlers and fielders to find a balance between defence and attack, and restrict Australia like they did Pakistan.
Team news
Both teams gave satisfactory performances in the semi-finals, and both are more or less settled - even if not entirely by design.
Australia (probable): 1 Shane Watson, 2 Tim Paine (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Cameron White, 6 Callum Ferguson, 7 James Hopes, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Hauritz, 11 Peter Siddle.
A discussion on allrounder Brendon Diamanti has its merits - Neil Broom hasn't had much to do in the tournament - but New Zealand are not likely to tinker with a winning combination. And the way Elliott came through the semi-final, a big worry for them has been taken care of.
New Zealand (probable): 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Aaron Redmond, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Neil Broom, 6 Grant Elliot, 7 James Franklin, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Shane Bond, 11 Ian Butler.
Watch out for...
Daniel Vettori is definitely in the running for the Player-of-the-Series award. Against Sri Lanka he rescued a floundering middle order, and against Pakistan he promoted himself to No. 6 and guided a nervous side through to the final. And that's besides his routine job, during which he has taken seven wickets at an average of 17.71 and an economy-rate of 3.97. He is now four wickets short of the leading wicket-taker of the tournament, Wayne Parnell.
Ricky Ponting has a habit of turning it on on the big day. But he is a bruised captain, too, the only Australian leader since time immemorial to have lost the Ashes twice. He has also led them to successive unsuccessful campaigns at ICC events. When was the last time they failed to win three majors in a row?
Shane Watson is a threat to Vettori for that series award. He has taken six wickets at 16.83, and put behind him the lean run with the bat that he experienced at the end of the England series and at the start of this event. If he bats like he did in the semi-final, we could be in for a swift finish.
Pitch and conditions
Centurion, apart from the Pakistan-Australia game, has had flat batting pitches, which could made it harder for New Zealand to pull off an upset. A 30% chance of precipitation means we should get a complete game.
Stats and trivia
New Zealand have entered 13 tournament finals before this, and have won four of those.
Since their 1999 World Cup triumph, Australia have reached 19 tournament finals, and have lost only three: in 1999 to Sri Lanka in Colombo, and two CB Series finals to England and India in 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively.
The whole New Zealand team has scored six ODI centuries between them (Ross Taylor 3 and Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill and Grant Elliott one each), Ponting has 28.
Australia have beaten New Zealand in six tournament finals. This will be their first meeting in a final at a neutral venue.
Quotes
"We are playing at a level which would win us the big games. We look to play best cricket when it matters. We are peaking at the right time for the finals."
Ricky Ponting can feel what those wanting a close contest are dreading.
"But once you reach that level, you realise there is an immense desire to go all the way and I think there's no relief in the camp. It was all about how we're going to win tomorrow as opposed to it's great the we've made it"
Reaching the final was once New Zealand's goal, but not anymore, says Daniel Vettori.
Underdog tale reaches tough climax
Underdogs in films make a mockery of the form book. Exhibit 1: New Zealand come to the Champions Trophy, sans superstars, sans high ICC rankings, and after being well and truly battered for more than a month in the sapping heat of Sri Lanka. They are - it is fair to say - the outsiders in this tournament.
Underdogs in the movies start out of their depth, find the happy knack of winning, and then start liking what they feel. Exhibit 2: New Zealand are outclassed by South Africa on a true Centurion pitch. Then Sri Lanka, fooled by the earlier two pitches at the Wanderers, put New Zealand in, and discover they have given their opponents first use of a batting beauty. Against England, New Zealand get a spitting beauty of a pitch, call right at the toss, and run through the batting.
Underdogs in the movies are hit by injuries, handicaps, and miseries, but every setback inspires them. Exhibit 3: New Zealand lose Jacob Oram before their campaign starts. Jesse Ryder pulls his left abductor muscle during the Sri Lanka game, but before leaving plays the kind of innings that must have led to the coining of the phrase "beware the wounded batsman". Then Daryl Tuffey, at the time looking their best bowler, breaks his hand while fielding and is ruled out for the rest of the tournament. Next up, Grant Elliott, hero of the win against England, breaks his thumb, but braves the injury to score a heroic unbeaten 75 in the semi-final.
The real villains start appearing only in the later stages of underdog movies. Exhibit 4: On paper Pakistan have everything they need to end this underdog tale, but their occasional overconfidence and exceptional play from the underdogs take New Zealand to the final.
Underdogs in the movies meet the biggest, scariest villain right at the end. Exhibit 5: It is always Australia's fate, or that of any champion team, that their excellence, consistency, their hard work, will always be seen as villainous in romantic underdog stories. We can also conveniently forget that they too lost three of their most important players - Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin - in the lead-up to the tournament. Champions, though, don't deserve such considerations. Every good underdog story needs a mean villain, and Australia have rarely failed to oblige at world events.
If more context is needed, New Zealand have historically seen Australia as big brothers, and have always sought to bring their best against them. Moreover, New Zealand are yet to beat Australia in a tournament final, and have lost six times (tournaments with more than one final have been considered as one). Centurion will not provide them with a freak pitch either. It's all stacked up against New Zealand this time, and no self-respecting underdog story would have it any other way.
How good this story is will be known by Monday evening, or rather early on Tuesday morning in Australia and New Zealand.
Form guide
(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia - WWWLW
Ominously they are peaking at the right time. Even more ominously they have survived the one token scare that champion sides face, in the game against Pakistan.
New Zealand - WWWLL
Their weakened line-up has made the rest even more determined. They will rely a lot on their bowlers and fielders to find a balance between defence and attack, and restrict Australia like they did Pakistan.
Team news
Both teams gave satisfactory performances in the semi-finals, and both are more or less settled - even if not entirely by design.
Australia (probable): 1 Shane Watson, 2 Tim Paine (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Cameron White, 6 Callum Ferguson, 7 James Hopes, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Hauritz, 11 Peter Siddle.
A discussion on allrounder Brendon Diamanti has its merits - Neil Broom hasn't had much to do in the tournament - but New Zealand are not likely to tinker with a winning combination. And the way Elliott came through the semi-final, a big worry for them has been taken care of.
New Zealand (probable): 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Aaron Redmond, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Neil Broom, 6 Grant Elliot, 7 James Franklin, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Shane Bond, 11 Ian Butler.
Watch out for...
Daniel Vettori is definitely in the running for the Player-of-the-Series award. Against Sri Lanka he rescued a floundering middle order, and against Pakistan he promoted himself to No. 6 and guided a nervous side through to the final. And that's besides his routine job, during which he has taken seven wickets at an average of 17.71 and an economy-rate of 3.97. He is now four wickets short of the leading wicket-taker of the tournament, Wayne Parnell.
Ricky Ponting has a habit of turning it on on the big day. But he is a bruised captain, too, the only Australian leader since time immemorial to have lost the Ashes twice. He has also led them to successive unsuccessful campaigns at ICC events. When was the last time they failed to win three majors in a row?
Shane Watson is a threat to Vettori for that series award. He has taken six wickets at 16.83, and put behind him the lean run with the bat that he experienced at the end of the England series and at the start of this event. If he bats like he did in the semi-final, we could be in for a swift finish.
Pitch and conditions
Centurion, apart from the Pakistan-Australia game, has had flat batting pitches, which could made it harder for New Zealand to pull off an upset. A 30% chance of precipitation means we should get a complete game.
Stats and trivia
New Zealand have entered 13 tournament finals before this, and have won four of those.
Since their 1999 World Cup triumph, Australia have reached 19 tournament finals, and have lost only three: in 1999 to Sri Lanka in Colombo, and two CB Series finals to England and India in 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively.
The whole New Zealand team has scored six ODI centuries between them (Ross Taylor 3 and Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill and Grant Elliott one each), Ponting has 28.
Australia have beaten New Zealand in six tournament finals. This will be their first meeting in a final at a neutral venue.
Quotes
"We are playing at a level which would win us the big games. We look to play best cricket when it matters. We are peaking at the right time for the finals."
Ricky Ponting can feel what those wanting a close contest are dreading.
"But once you reach that level, you realise there is an immense desire to go all the way and I think there's no relief in the camp. It was all about how we're going to win tomorrow as opposed to it's great the we've made it"
Reaching the final was once New Zealand's goal, but not anymore, says Daniel Vettori.
Underdogs in the movies start out of their depth, find the happy knack of winning, and then start liking what they feel. Exhibit 2: New Zealand are outclassed by South Africa on a true Centurion pitch. Then Sri Lanka, fooled by the earlier two pitches at the Wanderers, put New Zealand in, and discover they have given their opponents first use of a batting beauty. Against England, New Zealand get a spitting beauty of a pitch, call right at the toss, and run through the batting.
Underdogs in the movies are hit by injuries, handicaps, and miseries, but every setback inspires them. Exhibit 3: New Zealand lose Jacob Oram before their campaign starts. Jesse Ryder pulls his left abductor muscle during the Sri Lanka game, but before leaving plays the kind of innings that must have led to the coining of the phrase "beware the wounded batsman". Then Daryl Tuffey, at the time looking their best bowler, breaks his hand while fielding and is ruled out for the rest of the tournament. Next up, Grant Elliott, hero of the win against England, breaks his thumb, but braves the injury to score a heroic unbeaten 75 in the semi-final.
The real villains start appearing only in the later stages of underdog movies. Exhibit 4: On paper Pakistan have everything they need to end this underdog tale, but their occasional overconfidence and exceptional play from the underdogs take New Zealand to the final.
Underdogs in the movies meet the biggest, scariest villain right at the end. Exhibit 5: It is always Australia's fate, or that of any champion team, that their excellence, consistency, their hard work, will always be seen as villainous in romantic underdog stories. We can also conveniently forget that they too lost three of their most important players - Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin - in the lead-up to the tournament. Champions, though, don't deserve such considerations. Every good underdog story needs a mean villain, and Australia have rarely failed to oblige at world events.
If more context is needed, New Zealand have historically seen Australia as big brothers, and have always sought to bring their best against them. Moreover, New Zealand are yet to beat Australia in a tournament final, and have lost six times (tournaments with more than one final have been considered as one). Centurion will not provide them with a freak pitch either. It's all stacked up against New Zealand this time, and no self-respecting underdog story would have it any other way.
How good this story is will be known by Monday evening, or rather early on Tuesday morning in Australia and New Zealand.
Form guide
(last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia - WWWLW
Ominously they are peaking at the right time. Even more ominously they have survived the one token scare that champion sides face, in the game against Pakistan.
New Zealand - WWWLL
Their weakened line-up has made the rest even more determined. They will rely a lot on their bowlers and fielders to find a balance between defence and attack, and restrict Australia like they did Pakistan.
Team news
Both teams gave satisfactory performances in the semi-finals, and both are more or less settled - even if not entirely by design.
Australia (probable): 1 Shane Watson, 2 Tim Paine (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Cameron White, 6 Callum Ferguson, 7 James Hopes, 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Brett Lee, 10 Nathan Hauritz, 11 Peter Siddle.
A discussion on allrounder Brendon Diamanti has its merits - Neil Broom hasn't had much to do in the tournament - but New Zealand are not likely to tinker with a winning combination. And the way Elliott came through the semi-final, a big worry for them has been taken care of.
New Zealand (probable): 1 Brendon McCullum (wk), 2 Aaron Redmond, 3 Martin Guptill, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Neil Broom, 6 Grant Elliot, 7 James Franklin, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Shane Bond, 11 Ian Butler.
Watch out for...
Daniel Vettori is definitely in the running for the Player-of-the-Series award. Against Sri Lanka he rescued a floundering middle order, and against Pakistan he promoted himself to No. 6 and guided a nervous side through to the final. And that's besides his routine job, during which he has taken seven wickets at an average of 17.71 and an economy-rate of 3.97. He is now four wickets short of the leading wicket-taker of the tournament, Wayne Parnell.
Ricky Ponting has a habit of turning it on on the big day. But he is a bruised captain, too, the only Australian leader since time immemorial to have lost the Ashes twice. He has also led them to successive unsuccessful campaigns at ICC events. When was the last time they failed to win three majors in a row?
Shane Watson is a threat to Vettori for that series award. He has taken six wickets at 16.83, and put behind him the lean run with the bat that he experienced at the end of the England series and at the start of this event. If he bats like he did in the semi-final, we could be in for a swift finish.
Pitch and conditions
Centurion, apart from the Pakistan-Australia game, has had flat batting pitches, which could made it harder for New Zealand to pull off an upset. A 30% chance of precipitation means we should get a complete game.
Stats and trivia
New Zealand have entered 13 tournament finals before this, and have won four of those.
Since their 1999 World Cup triumph, Australia have reached 19 tournament finals, and have lost only three: in 1999 to Sri Lanka in Colombo, and two CB Series finals to England and India in 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively.
The whole New Zealand team has scored six ODI centuries between them (Ross Taylor 3 and Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill and Grant Elliott one each), Ponting has 28.
Australia have beaten New Zealand in six tournament finals. This will be their first meeting in a final at a neutral venue.
Quotes
"We are playing at a level which would win us the big games. We look to play best cricket when it matters. We are peaking at the right time for the finals."
Ricky Ponting can feel what those wanting a close contest are dreading.
"But once you reach that level, you realise there is an immense desire to go all the way and I think there's no relief in the camp. It was all about how we're going to win tomorrow as opposed to it's great the we've made it"
Reaching the final was once New Zealand's goal, but not anymore, says Daniel Vettori.
'The next time I get injured, I will be gone' - Flintoff
While rumours of his future career moves continue to swirl, Andrew Flintoff has admitted that he is one injury away from calling it quits. Flintoff is to spend the next three months in Dubai to aid his recovery from the latest operation to his right knee and make a return to England's one-day team as their star allrounder, but did not mince words when assessing himself.
"The next time I get injured, I will be gone," he was quoted as saying by PA Sport. "Realistically, with the operation I've had, I have a limited shelf-life. I'll try to draw that out for as long as I can.
"But if the knee or anything else goes, that will pretty much be it. I've been injured since I was 13. Me and bowling have never actually gone together."
Flintoff, 31, retired from Test cricket at the end of England's Ashes-winning summer, and 24 hours after helping them regain the urn he underwent arthroscopy to his injured right knee. He admitted in a newspaper interview last month hat there is a chance he may never play again, but his main ambition remains to play in another World Cup and has targeted the one-day leg of England's tour of Bangladesh next February as a realistic date for a comeback.
His latest bout of rehabilitation suffered a minor setback in early September when it was revealed that he was afflicted by deep vein thrombosis in his right calf, though the ECB was quick to release a statement describing it as "a common complication of surgery".
"The next time I get injured, I will be gone," he was quoted as saying by PA Sport. "Realistically, with the operation I've had, I have a limited shelf-life. I'll try to draw that out for as long as I can.
"But if the knee or anything else goes, that will pretty much be it. I've been injured since I was 13. Me and bowling have never actually gone together."
Flintoff, 31, retired from Test cricket at the end of England's Ashes-winning summer, and 24 hours after helping them regain the urn he underwent arthroscopy to his injured right knee. He admitted in a newspaper interview last month hat there is a chance he may never play again, but his main ambition remains to play in another World Cup and has targeted the one-day leg of England's tour of Bangladesh next February as a realistic date for a comeback.
His latest bout of rehabilitation suffered a minor setback in early September when it was revealed that he was afflicted by deep vein thrombosis in his right calf, though the ECB was quick to release a statement describing it as "a common complication of surgery".
Rest of India take complete control
Rest of India 260 and 352 for 4 (Tiwary 80*, Saha 5*) lead Mumbai 230 by 382 runs
Abhinav Mukund hit his seventh first-class hundred and, though M Vijay fell short of three figures, Rest of India had taken complete control of the Irani Cup on the fourth day. The openers were dismissed late in the first session and S Badrinath went in the second, but Manoj Tiwary ensured that ROI further tightened their grip on the game with a patient half-century. A persistent drizzle brought a slightly early end to the first session and it returned later to prevent any play from happening in the last. With only a day left, and the weather looking iffy, this game appeared to be moving towards a draw.
The day had everything that you could expect in domestic cricket when one team moved towards gaining complete ascendancy. The pace of cricket was gentle, batsmen simply cantered along, the bowling lacked sting, there was no one watching and if only a dog had invaded the field it would have made for a picture-perfect session. It was a day to bring books, your ipod, some good food and drinks, and perhaps, even take an afternoon siesta. The only bright spot came at the end of the second session when the television flashed a glimpse of a padded-up Virender Sehwag which teased you with the hope of some fireworks in the last session. But the rain played kill joy.
Abhinav, who has now hit seven hundreds and two fifties from 17 first-class games, moved towards the landmark without any trouble. In fact, he didn't even realise that he had reached his hundred - when he clipped Dhawal Kulkarni off his pads - until the players in the dressing room started clapping. He celebrated the landmark with a lovely off drive before unfurling an airier one past mid-off and a clipped boundary to deep square leg.
ROI was in so much control that Vijay even tried, successfully, a switch hit when he was on 88 and Tiwary played two consecutive reverse sweeps. Vijay didn't hit any boundaries today, instead moving along in dabbed singles. He did have a slice of luck on 79 when Vinayak Samant failed to hold on to a low catch off Kulkarni but fell pulling a long hop from Iqbal Abdulla straight to deep midwicket. Abhinav too departed soon, chipping Ramesh Powar straight to long-off. However, with the fall of Abhinav and Vijay, ROI pulled down the shutters completely for quite a while till Tiwary got things moving again.
Tiwary started off slowly, reaching 6 from 63 balls, before he got going with an edged boundary to third man. That boundary seemed to turn the tide for him and he began to play shots more frequently. He used his feet well against the spinners, driving straight and lifting them inside-out over covers. By the end of the second session, ROI's lead had reached 382 and they still had six wickets in hand.
Abhinav Mukund hit his seventh first-class hundred and, though M Vijay fell short of three figures, Rest of India had taken complete control of the Irani Cup on the fourth day. The openers were dismissed late in the first session and S Badrinath went in the second, but Manoj Tiwary ensured that ROI further tightened their grip on the game with a patient half-century. A persistent drizzle brought a slightly early end to the first session and it returned later to prevent any play from happening in the last. With only a day left, and the weather looking iffy, this game appeared to be moving towards a draw.
The day had everything that you could expect in domestic cricket when one team moved towards gaining complete ascendancy. The pace of cricket was gentle, batsmen simply cantered along, the bowling lacked sting, there was no one watching and if only a dog had invaded the field it would have made for a picture-perfect session. It was a day to bring books, your ipod, some good food and drinks, and perhaps, even take an afternoon siesta. The only bright spot came at the end of the second session when the television flashed a glimpse of a padded-up Virender Sehwag which teased you with the hope of some fireworks in the last session. But the rain played kill joy.
Abhinav, who has now hit seven hundreds and two fifties from 17 first-class games, moved towards the landmark without any trouble. In fact, he didn't even realise that he had reached his hundred - when he clipped Dhawal Kulkarni off his pads - until the players in the dressing room started clapping. He celebrated the landmark with a lovely off drive before unfurling an airier one past mid-off and a clipped boundary to deep square leg.
ROI was in so much control that Vijay even tried, successfully, a switch hit when he was on 88 and Tiwary played two consecutive reverse sweeps. Vijay didn't hit any boundaries today, instead moving along in dabbed singles. He did have a slice of luck on 79 when Vinayak Samant failed to hold on to a low catch off Kulkarni but fell pulling a long hop from Iqbal Abdulla straight to deep midwicket. Abhinav too departed soon, chipping Ramesh Powar straight to long-off. However, with the fall of Abhinav and Vijay, ROI pulled down the shutters completely for quite a while till Tiwary got things moving again.
Tiwary started off slowly, reaching 6 from 63 balls, before he got going with an edged boundary to third man. That boundary seemed to turn the tide for him and he began to play shots more frequently. He used his feet well against the spinners, driving straight and lifting them inside-out over covers. By the end of the second session, ROI's lead had reached 382 and they still had six wickets in hand.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
