With the ODI World Cup over for another four years, it is now time for all and sundry to wade into debate about the players, matches and moments of the tournament. Every news outlet has been spouting their team of the tournament from Cricinfo to the BBC to the ICC themselves. These are pretty facile…
Tomorrow sees the second semi-final of the Cricket World Cup, as undefeated India take on co-hosts Australia at the SCG. I would try and predict the result but that just seems futile when it comes to these sides. All the form in previous meetings would point towards a comfortable Australian victory, but it would be…
When Dave Richardson made his no infamous ‘only 8 competitive teams’ comment, I’m sure he didn’t think it would come back to haunt him as spectacularly as it did. Not only did Ireland cause a few upsets, and Bangladesh make it through to the knockout stages. But also the matches involving the supposed 8 competitive…
South Africa v Sri Lanka (Wednesday 18th March- SCG) The first of the quarterfinals pits perennial World Cup overachievers Sri Lanka against the might of South Africa. Sri Lanka head into the knockout stages with some reasonable results behind them, having beaten both England and Bangladesh, but their two defeats to co-hosts Australia and New…
India are the first side through to the World Cup quarter finals. Their unbeaten World Cup run now stretches to eight matches, their equal longest in their history. The only worry for a suddenly miraculously inform side ahead of the West Indies match was that they happened been tested enough. Thankfully, for both the Indian…
India A India seem to have stumbled upon some kind of magic formula. They were simply woeful in the recent tri-series, even managing to make England look like a half decent ODI side on their way to losing all their matches. But since the World Cup has started they have looked like an in-form, balanced,…
It speaks volumes of India’s destructive batting line-up that, despite their atrocious showing during the recent ODI tri-series, and increasingly toothless bowling, they are still considered a firm favourite for a semi-final spot in the World Cup. Plenty has been said about India’s much vaunted top order and their ability to make huge totals. If…
England completed a workmanlike victory over India this morning to ensure qualification for the tri-series final. The manner of the victory, while frustratingly including a batting collapse, will be cause for optimism in the England camp. Learning to win ugly is a skill that is highly valued with a World Cup around the corner. One…
They did it. England have finally won an ODI in a convincing fashion. Sure, other teams do it quite often; some even make a habit of doing it a few times, perhaps even to win a series. But this is England, and we are used to a few close defeats, the rare hiding and the…
Today, fast bowling tearaway Brett Lee declared that he was hanging up his boots at the end of the current Big Bash season. He is the final regular member of Australia’s all conquering Test side of the late 90’s and early 00’s to call time on his career. Looking back, Lee can be pleased at…
For the third instalment of my look at Test cricket’s greatest young batsman, I turn my attention to the Indian stroke-maker Virat Kohli. At just 26 years of age, Kohli’s CV is already a source of jealousy for much more experienced players. He has racked up nearly 150 ODI appearances, including 21 centuries, to go…
Over my next four posts I’ll be taking a look at the four most exciting young batsmen in Test cricket heading into 2015. First up- Steve Smith. I was lucky enough to be in Sydney for the final day of the 2010/11 Ashes series. Aside from England’s victory, my abiding memory from that final morning…
So here we go. I’ve set myself the challenge of blogging everyday of 2015 – 365 posts! Some days they may be short and sweet; others long and rambling, but hopefully I can stick with it for the entire 12 months. Obviously, it would make it a lot better for me if people actually read…
On Wednesday I made the trip down to Taunton to watch the 3rd day of the Championship match between Somerset and Middlesex. Despite Somerset having little riding on this end of season match, they had run through Middlesex’s top order the previous day to leave the visitors fighting for their Division 1 status. The scene…
It’s 4:30pm on August 17th and England have just completed a turnaround against all odds on a scale akin to the Miracle of Midway. One noticeable factor of the England celebrations, as James Anderson collects his man of the series award, is the wealth of new faces. After India appeared to have conquered their overseas…
I’m not a complete traditionalist, but when it comes to the game I love, the longer the better – at international level anyway. It was always the drama and tension of a test match that drew me to the game and from there I expanded into watching the One Day game. In an ideal world…
The auction for the 2014 Indian Premier League took place last week and saw several of the world’s top talents snapped up for hundreds of thousands of dollars by eager franchises. Apart from Pakistan , all the major test playing nations have representatives in the 2014 edition. It just so happens that England’s sole representative…
Jack Vittles 