Ricky Ponting doesn’t like the idea of a seven-match ODI series. It’s too long, he believes. Now that the first two games in India are out of the way with one win each, he can pretend his team are about to embark on a five-match series. That of course ignores the question of momentum, which [...]
Bangladesh levelled the series with their seven-wicket win on Thursday but after one comprehensive win apiece the outcome of the third game in the year’s third series between the two teams is still difficult to predict. Zimbabwe were buoyant after winning the series opener by five wickets and gave the impression they had turned the [...]
Bangladesh entered the series as clear favourites but were shocked by an improving Zimbabwe in the first one-dayer on Tuesday. Their captain, Shakib Al Hasan, remains confident his team is strong enough to pocket the series 4-1 and has demanded a better performance from his top order. A familiar early collapse cost Bangladesh; they crumbled [...]
Australia’s lead-up to their second clash against India in Nagpur will be more structured than the approach to the first, when their pre-match plans were affected by the late arrival of the New South Wales players participating in the Champions League final and their game-time strategy hit by the loss of Brett Lee and James [...]
Does the audience have the stomach for a seven-match ODI series? The answer will play out during the next couple of weeks. However, if you do get beyond the initial apprehension, this series is extremely vital for both teams. For Australia, as Shane Watson has said, this is a warm-up for the World Cup, while [...]
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 [...]
There are all sorts of scenarios and permutations about which teams could make it through to the semi-finals in Group A but the simplest is this: if Australia beat India, it will be Pakistan and Australia who progress. The group will be done and dusted with two games to go. Things become more complex if [...]
For once, India and Pakistan will not be playing on an island. India-Pakistan matches are usually separate events within the main event, oblivious to the larger picture of the tournament, but this game doesn’t seem to be the usual matter of life and death. For once, this match, though the first big clash of the [...]
In theory this is the rematch of the most recent Champions Trophy final. In reality, it looms as a serious mismatch. In 2006 in Mumbai, an Australian side featuring Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Damien Martyn, Brad Hogg and Andrew Symonds polished off a disappointing Brian Lara-led West Indies outfit to take the title. Flash forward [...]
Andrew Strauss is usually as affable as international captains come, but despite his upbeat sentiments, there was no disguising the exhausted despondency with which he addressed the media in Johannesburg on Wednesday, as England prepared to face the music in a one-day competition that has humiliation stamped all over it. True, they arrive in the [...]
