Showing posts with label super 8. Show all posts
Showing posts with label super 8. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Semifinalists decided
South Africa's demolition of England has determined the 4 semi-finalists for the series with a full 4 more matches left to be played. Of only academic interest now will be the West Indian games vs England and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka should win handily over Ireland tomorrow as well. The only semi-significant game may be that of New Zealand vs Australia on Friday as the top two teams battle in what may be a snapshot of the final.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Super 8 - bye bye windies
Still 7 more matches left to be played in an extremely lengthy Super 8 phase but by and large the semi-finalist have been determined. Well at least 3 of the four have been anyways.
New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka look set to be in the semi finals while South Africa and England battle for the 4th spot.
What about the West Indies you say? Well 4 losses in 4 Super 8 matches have left the home side one from the bottom in the points table. Even supposed minnows Bangladesh appear to be playing better than the Windies at the moment.
So well what can one say about the Windies side who came through their preliminary round unbeaten only to be trashed soundly by superior teams in the Super 8? Well I can make some excuses here:
I just think the team was under prepared and just isn't as good as we would all have liked to think. Talent and potential wise maybe we are up there but performance wise lately we have been playing at or below the minnow level. Why? Well for one the effort given by the team is definitely lagging.
No wonder its reported that a gun was pulled on certain Windies players at a nightclub last week. That fan was probably just as disgusted as most fans are by the lackadaisical approach by our squad not even making the last four games competitive.
Where do we go from here? Well the team goes home after the Super 8. Oh wait they are home so I guess they just go their separate ways and enjoy the money they made while losing. In terms of rebuilding, fans have heard the same mantra chanted by the board and the players for over 10 years now. Instead of rebuilding we seem to be digging a deeper and deeper hole. Hopefully at some point the players and management and WICB will take responsibility for their roles and the Windies can actually become competitive again but for now I wouldn't hold my breath waiting. We're just not a good team. A so it go I guess!
New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka look set to be in the semi finals while South Africa and England battle for the 4th spot.
What about the West Indies you say? Well 4 losses in 4 Super 8 matches have left the home side one from the bottom in the points table. Even supposed minnows Bangladesh appear to be playing better than the Windies at the moment.
So well what can one say about the Windies side who came through their preliminary round unbeaten only to be trashed soundly by superior teams in the Super 8? Well I can make some excuses here:
- We got a bad schedule and ended up playing games against Australia and New Zealand back to back.
- The squad wasn't prepared.
- Big Questions about captaincy or rather the captaincy was poor
- Definitely a lack of strategy was shown in things like taking the power play late in the game against South Africa to not even attempting to slog until too late will watching the run rate skyrocket as we chased a total against New Zealand.
- The team has deficiencies in both its batting and bowling departments.
- We should have batted first vs South Africa
- Questions about squad and team make up like why replace an opening bowling with a batsman who will bat at number 8?
I just think the team was under prepared and just isn't as good as we would all have liked to think. Talent and potential wise maybe we are up there but performance wise lately we have been playing at or below the minnow level. Why? Well for one the effort given by the team is definitely lagging.
No wonder its reported that a gun was pulled on certain Windies players at a nightclub last week. That fan was probably just as disgusted as most fans are by the lackadaisical approach by our squad not even making the last four games competitive.
Where do we go from here? Well the team goes home after the Super 8. Oh wait they are home so I guess they just go their separate ways and enjoy the money they made while losing. In terms of rebuilding, fans have heard the same mantra chanted by the board and the players for over 10 years now. Instead of rebuilding we seem to be digging a deeper and deeper hole. Hopefully at some point the players and management and WICB will take responsibility for their roles and the Windies can actually become competitive again but for now I wouldn't hold my breath waiting. We're just not a good team. A so it go I guess!
Friday, March 30, 2007
A miracle?
So West Indies lose two in two days going down to the mighty Aussies and the New Zealanders as well.
While I'm barely resisting the urge to follow the Indian fans and burn the entire team in effigy lets just say I'm a little disappointed in their showing. Its one thing to lose its another thing to just not be competitive.
Against the Aussies we never really stayed in the match once we started batting, and I watched as our required run rate climbed and climbed and climbed without any response on our part. At some point we should have made a go at it and hit out. If you're going to go out at least go down swinging I say. Playing timid does not win one day matches. It was almost as if we gave up early and just opted for batting practice or is it that the Aussies are just that good that resistance is futile.
Against the New Zealanders batting first we never really pushed the run rate either. Some players got starts but never really continued on to take those 20s to 40s or convert those 30s and 40s to 50s and 80s and beyond. Then to add to it all we were bowled out for under 180 after having replaced a strike bowler with a genuine batsman for this game. How embarrassing! How do 9 batsmen get out for under 180? How do you expect a bowling squad one mainline bowler short to defend that score on a good wicket? Dwayne Smith is a decent enough medium pacer but do you really want him opening your bowling when you are defending 180?
Mind you the Lendl Simmonds (inexperienced batsman) for Jerome Taylor (opening bowler) switch just boggles me. I still cant see what the justification for that was. Does having 9 batsmen really help the West Indies? We've never been a team to have the batsmen after 6 and 7 contribute greatly to team score. OK occasionally a number 8 will score some runs but that's rare. I don't have the raw stats to back that up but memory says that you'd be hard pressed to find a game where anyone past #7 really got a 50 and put up a resistance.
We need our top 5 batsmen to score runs in order to put up decent scores and win. Bringing in a new batsman at number 8 is neither here nor there towards winning for the Windies. That's just how it always has been.
Then at the end of the game the Captain basically complained about the 15 member squad selected. Damn wave the white flag why don't we. It gets no better from here as we face both Sri Lanka and South Africa. Think I was right to rule the West Indies out of contention for the semis because to get there from here now its going to take a miracle.
While I'm barely resisting the urge to follow the Indian fans and burn the entire team in effigy lets just say I'm a little disappointed in their showing. Its one thing to lose its another thing to just not be competitive.
Against the Aussies we never really stayed in the match once we started batting, and I watched as our required run rate climbed and climbed and climbed without any response on our part. At some point we should have made a go at it and hit out. If you're going to go out at least go down swinging I say. Playing timid does not win one day matches. It was almost as if we gave up early and just opted for batting practice or is it that the Aussies are just that good that resistance is futile.
Against the New Zealanders batting first we never really pushed the run rate either. Some players got starts but never really continued on to take those 20s to 40s or convert those 30s and 40s to 50s and 80s and beyond. Then to add to it all we were bowled out for under 180 after having replaced a strike bowler with a genuine batsman for this game. How embarrassing! How do 9 batsmen get out for under 180? How do you expect a bowling squad one mainline bowler short to defend that score on a good wicket? Dwayne Smith is a decent enough medium pacer but do you really want him opening your bowling when you are defending 180?
Mind you the Lendl Simmonds (inexperienced batsman) for Jerome Taylor (opening bowler) switch just boggles me. I still cant see what the justification for that was. Does having 9 batsmen really help the West Indies? We've never been a team to have the batsmen after 6 and 7 contribute greatly to team score. OK occasionally a number 8 will score some runs but that's rare. I don't have the raw stats to back that up but memory says that you'd be hard pressed to find a game where anyone past #7 really got a 50 and put up a resistance.
We need our top 5 batsmen to score runs in order to put up decent scores and win. Bringing in a new batsman at number 8 is neither here nor there towards winning for the Windies. That's just how it always has been.
Then at the end of the game the Captain basically complained about the 15 member squad selected. Damn wave the white flag why don't we. It gets no better from here as we face both Sri Lanka and South Africa. Think I was right to rule the West Indies out of contention for the semis because to get there from here now its going to take a miracle.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Super 8
The Super 8 portion of the contest starts tomorrow with Australia vs West Indies. The 8 teams that made it to this portion of the tournament are: West Indies, Australia,Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa, England, Ireland and Bangladesh.
Bangladesh and Ireland are the surprise teams to have made it this far replacing the more respected Indian and Pakistani squads who have returned home. Such is life in this game of
glorious uncertainties.
During the Super 8 each team will play 6 games; ie they'll play all of the other teams in the tournament except the other advancing team from their group who they would have already played in the first round.
Of the two teams advancing from each group the team which won the meeting between those two teams takes 2 points into the Super 8. That means that Australia,Sri Lanka , West Indies and New Zealand go into the Super 8 with 2 points while South Africa, Bangladesh, Ireland and England start out with zero.
The 4 top teams at the end of the Super 8 segment make the semi-finals.
This format makes for an interesting round of games.
Two points here from my perspective.
(1) You can safely rule out Bangladesh and Ireland as advancing to the semi-finals. Yes minnows Kenya have advanced in the past but this time I think it will be difficult for either Bangladesh or Ireland to win any other match against the top teams in this tournament.
(2) Because of the squads who've made it and the format of the super 8 New Zealand and Australia have an added advantage points wise in this tournament. How you ask? Well they are the two group winners (starting on 2 points) who have both Bangladesh and Ireland left to play. That means of their 6 remaining games 2 are against so called minnows who they should beat easily so you've got to like their chances of making the semi-finals.
That means the other 4 teams; West Indies, England, Sri Lanka and South Africa are fighting for the other two semi-final spots. Ignoring my loyalties or without factoring in home advantage I'd say the odds on favorites for those two spots areSri Lanka and South Africa. England will have to play masterfully to be in with a chance. Their odds of making it are the greatest of those 4 teams. South Africa starts out with no points so maybe that gives the West Indies a chance
especially if they can pull off an upset win against either South Africa or Australia.
How much will being at home play to the West Indies advantage? I really would not like to speculate right now. They played quite well in Jamaica but never seemed as commanding as
some of the other squads even in their games against Ireland and Zimbabwe. Plus no home side has won the tournament since its inception. Still maybe they'll peak at the right time.
Its going to be a tough campaign. I'd personally like to see the West Indies make it but their backs will be up against it so I think logically the final 4 will be Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Of course this is cricket and logic means squat so we'll see what happens.
Go Windies!
Bangladesh and Ireland are the surprise teams to have made it this far replacing the more respected Indian and Pakistani squads who have returned home. Such is life in this game of
glorious uncertainties.
During the Super 8 each team will play 6 games; ie they'll play all of the other teams in the tournament except the other advancing team from their group who they would have already played in the first round.
Of the two teams advancing from each group the team which won the meeting between those two teams takes 2 points into the Super 8. That means that Australia,Sri Lanka , West Indies and New Zealand go into the Super 8 with 2 points while South Africa, Bangladesh, Ireland and England start out with zero.
The 4 top teams at the end of the Super 8 segment make the semi-finals.
This format makes for an interesting round of games.
Two points here from my perspective.
(1) You can safely rule out Bangladesh and Ireland as advancing to the semi-finals. Yes minnows Kenya have advanced in the past but this time I think it will be difficult for either Bangladesh or Ireland to win any other match against the top teams in this tournament.
(2) Because of the squads who've made it and the format of the super 8 New Zealand and Australia have an added advantage points wise in this tournament. How you ask? Well they are the two group winners (starting on 2 points) who have both Bangladesh and Ireland left to play. That means of their 6 remaining games 2 are against so called minnows who they should beat easily so you've got to like their chances of making the semi-finals.
That means the other 4 teams; West Indies, England, Sri Lanka and South Africa are fighting for the other two semi-final spots. Ignoring my loyalties or without factoring in home advantage I'd say the odds on favorites for those two spots areSri Lanka and South Africa. England will have to play masterfully to be in with a chance. Their odds of making it are the greatest of those 4 teams. South Africa starts out with no points so maybe that gives the West Indies a chance
especially if they can pull off an upset win against either South Africa or Australia.
How much will being at home play to the West Indies advantage? I really would not like to speculate right now. They played quite well in Jamaica but never seemed as commanding as
some of the other squads even in their games against Ireland and Zimbabwe. Plus no home side has won the tournament since its inception. Still maybe they'll peak at the right time.
Its going to be a tough campaign. I'd personally like to see the West Indies make it but their backs will be up against it so I think logically the final 4 will be Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Of course this is cricket and logic means squat so we'll see what happens.
Go Windies!
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