Twenty20 World Cup preview

Now that England have finished their rain affected series against South Africa there is no other men’s cricket until the start of the T20 World Cup. Of course there should be another two years, but because the ICC only sees various currency symbols in the fixture list they decided to go ahead and compromise some of the integrity of the tournament in exchange for the extra cash of having it once every two years instead of once every four. But it’s a reasonable enough decision as it’s only T20 and the whole point is just to make money anyway.

The format for the tournament is one of two group stages leading to the semi-finals. The first group stage is four groups of three with the top two from each advancing to two groups of four. It’s exciting in that any of the top teams can see their tournament end quite quickly if they slip up in the first two matches and rubbish in that this gives a huge role to chance. Still at least it’s a direct tournament and not the flawed rankings.

Group A contains England, India and Afghanistan. England are officially the best team in the world in the shortest format in the world and to be fair have won seven of their last ten (completed) matches. India are theoretically T20 powerhouses. They have probably the best disposed fan base toward T20 and this is manifest in the IPL. Despite (or very possibly in part because of) this India actually have a very poor record in T20 and have lost at home to both England and New Zealand in the past year. And then there is Afghanistan who I think I might be required by law to call ‘plucky’. Their story in getting to the tournament has been documented elsewhere in a much better fashion than I could, but what is most relevant is that they are not at all a bad side. They gave Australia a scare in a fifty-over match not long ago and they cannot be written off. One would probably not expect a major upset; England and India have to stay on their guard, but they will probably both advance.

Group B contains Australia, the West Indies and Ireland. A bit was made last week about Australia actually falling below Ireland in the rankings. (The Aussies have since moved back in front.) Although I pointed out why it was overblown, it is true that Australia have had a pretty dismal time in T20s recently. The West Indies have done a bit better though and split a two match series against Australia earlier this year. Ireland have played very little major opposition and were whitewashed in three matches at home by Bangladesh in the last series that they played. I think the West Indies will probably be the safest leaving Australia and Ireland. Ireland actually look like the better team on paper, but that is almost entirely against other Associate nations. They will be keen and if Australia have any sort of off day Ireland can definitely win. This might actually be a group where all three teams manage one win and run rate becomes the decider. I’m going to spring for the upset and have Ireland go through.

Group C comprises Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe. South Africa have had a solid if unspectacular year. Zimbabwe have lost all six official T20s they played in the last twelve months and only two of them were even close. Sri Lanka have hardly played any matches so it’s quite hard to judge them. Presumably South Africa will top the group comfortably with Sri Lanka quite likely finishing runners-up. It might be interesting to see if Zimbabwe can pull off something remarkable against them though.

And in Group D there is Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh. Pakistan have been a fairly strong T20 outfit recently and just technically beat Australia 2-1 in the UAE. (Though it should go down as 1-1 with one tie.) New Zealand did just manage to beat India, but had a poor time against the West Indies before that and are still far too mercurial. Bangladesh are Bangladesh. They may pull off a surprise against a better team on paper, but it would be a surprise. The Pakistan v New Zealand battle for the top of the group might be interesting, but unfortunately the tournament structure is such that the group winners are not rewarded over runners up. As with so many T20s, the result of that contest won’t matter.

So I suspect it will be England, the West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Group 1 of the second round and India, Ireland, South Africa and Pakistan in Group 2. The top two teams of those two groups will meet in the semi-finals. Assuming the groups finish as I suggest (which isn’t going to happen, but never mind) then I would guess the semi-finals to be England v Pakistan and South Africa v West Indies and probably South Africa topping off a good year by beating Pakistan in the final. Maybe.

Should Bangladesh play test cricket?

I haven’t watched very much of the Bangladesh v Pakistan test this week. It hasn’t been on TV here to the best of my knowledge, and in any case after the first two days of Australia v New Zealand I don’t really need to watch any more poor strokeplay for a while. What I’ve seen on Cricinfo has been incredibly one sided though. The Bangladeshis were bowled out for 135 in their first innings (after Pakistan opened the bowling with a spinner) and proceeded to concede 594-5 declared.

It’s yet another pretty pathetic performance from a Bangladesh side that don’t seem to be improving. Right now they don’t look like a test quality side, and really they never have. They were granted test status on the back of ODI performances and whilst they have looked intermittently competent in the shorter formats their bowlers have never had the quality to take twenty wickets and their batsmen have seldom applied themselves and played a proper innings. (Though they are not the only ones, as we’ve seen in the recent Australia series.) I would not back them to win the County Championship were they playing in that competition.

It raises the question again of whether they ought to have their test status revoked. Whilst they are reflecting poorly on test cricket as a whole, the loss of funds would immensely damage cricket in the country. The loss of test status would also mean they would play more limited overs cricket, which would not help them. In addition, most of the test nations except the original three were very weak for many years after starting to play test cricket. New Zealand were probably the worst (26 all out still being a record) but even they improved enough that they had a period of respectability. It was many years before England sent a full strength squad to tour India, or before the West Indies stopped playing ‘calypso cricket’. It is quite possible that Bangladesh may come around eventually and play at a respectable level.

At the same time, constantly losing (and usually losing badly) is not likely to be productive. They need to be tested against similar opposition more often than they are. And whilst Bangladesh may come around, there is no guarantee that they will. India and the West Indies did not start off playing one day cricket, as it hadn’t been invented yet. They could and did devote their resources to improving as test sides. One day cricket has always been Bangladesh’s strong point however and watching them play gives the strong impression that they are a one day team trying to play a test match. If they continue to focus on those formats (as they could be forgiven for doing, since ODIs are more lucrative for them and usually more of a contest) they are unlikely to improve as a test side. Least important, but still relevant I think, allowing Bangladesh to have test status and not Ireland is inconsistent. I strongly suspect that Ireland would beat Bangladesh in a test match at the moment.

I would prefer if Bangladesh had their test status revoked. What I would like to see is Bangladesh and the Associate nations play a lot of first class cricket amongst themselves and against the ‘A’ sides. (Full tours of three or four first class matches, ideally four days, plus limited overs matches would be ideal.) I don’t know how this would be financed, but if the ICC want to spread cricket around the world I think they need to find a way for the smaller nations to play more cricket in the longer format. Otherwise we will have more sides like Bangladesh playing test cricket when they are clearly unsuited to it.

1-0 the Windies

The West Indies beat Bangladesh this morning by 229 runs to win the series 1-0. It very easily could have been a 1-1 draw, had it not been for the poor outfield drainage in the first Test, though with Bangladesh it cannot be assumed that they would have converted a strong position into a victory. The West Indies continue to look rather mercurial, but generally improving somewhat. Last spring they beat Pakistan in a Test match and did not embarrass themselves against an admittedly reduced Indian side. Then they came to Bangladesh and played very poorly in the first Test. They probably ought to have lost, but only three days of play were possible. Coming on the heels of being bowled out for 61 in ODI, it looked pretty grim for the second Test, but they came back well. They twice bowled Bangladesh out for under 300, and the Bangladeshis strength is their batting. Their captain, Mushfiqur Rahim, was unimpressed with his side’s collapse on the final day, however.

The West Indies now go across the border for three Tests against an Indian side presumably still reeling from their 0-4 tonking in England. The way the Windies have played against Bangladesh they will be clear second favourites. The way India played against England may cast some doubt on that, but a more rested side at home should see off the Windies comfortably. Two-nil, I’d say.

Recap

Some brief thoughts on occurrences today:

The England men collapsed from 129-0 to 176 all out. It was pretty spectacular, even by English ODI standards, but there is little to be said about the match that has not been said on the tour already. The loss hands England a 0-5 whitewash. England can try to salvage a bit of face in a one off T20 before having two months off preceding the series against Pakistan in the UAE.

England were on the good side of a whitewash in South Africa though, as the women beat South Africa by five wickets to secure a 3-0 whitewash. A good bowling performance ensured that they only had to chase 182 to win and despite the early losses of Charlotte Edwards and Danni Wyatt they got home with a full seven overs to spare. Lydia Greenway top scored with 63, (and won Player of the Series) and Heather Knight won Player of the Match for her unbeaten 55 with the bat and 2-15 with the ball. England now have a three match T20 series to conclude the tour.

Bangladesh drew their rain ruined Test against the West Indies in Chittagong. There was never going to be a result, although the Windies were bowled out for 244 (a deficit of 106). Bangladesh were the better side and will take heart from debutant Elias Sunny who took 6-94 in the first innings. Two full days were lost to rain, although it was all overnight rain. The groundstaff could not get the outfield dry and days two and three were completely lost. It was something of a farce and should not happen on a test match ground, even in Bangladesh. The Windies have not had a great tour thus far; they won the ODI series 2-1, but were bowled out for 61 in the last match and this performance was a pretty poor one. There is one match left in the series and they will need to up their game considerably to avoid a humiliating defeat.

Zimbabwe won a historic victory against New Zealand. They chased down 329 to win by just one wicket and with one ball to spare. It was their highest ever successful run chase. Malcolm Waller won a deserving Man of the Match after scoring an unbeaten 99 off 74 deliveries and hitting the winning runs (though he was dropped twice in the last over). The Kiwis still won the series 2-1, but this does add something (I’m not sure what, exactly, probably some sort of spice) to the one off test match next week. Hopefully it will be a good match.

Not today, but on Sunday South Africa (men) levelled their series against Australia, inflicting an 80 run defeat on the tourists. Australia won the first match by 93 runs (D/L) so it’s been a pair of hammerings, but in opposite directions. The ODI series concludes on Friday and I am not even going to try to predict how that will go. A tie would probably be most fitting.