20-20 change: Australia England Final 2010 world cup 20-20

If you want to compare Sunday's final of England and Australia with anything, it has to be our childhood story of David and Goliath. We all thought Australia would crush england like other teams and add one more trophy to their crowded mantle EASILY. England however, after a long long long long and very long time played like fighters. Their bowlers bowled a very good line. Their batsmen played like Dravid and their fielders dived like Jonty.
Colly's choice of bowling after the toss proved very successful. The credit must go to fiery spell from Sidebottom. Watson who played ok (4th highest scorer from oz) throughout the tournament fell to a short rising ball. The catch was even better, watchful swanny luckily getting the ball from Kieswetter's palms after the bounce. Australia with their gritty performance so far in the tournament however could have turned the momentum on their side if Clarke had made some better moves. A captain should not use the crucial encounter such as final of the world cup as a platform to up his poor batting performance(averaging 15 in all the 6 innings he played and lost his wicket). He should have left it to his inform batsmen. But, he took the risk of promoting himself higher and by not playing aggressive cricket paid the price. The result 27 off 27 balls which any team on earth would be happy with considering it is a 20-20 game and that too against Australia. Haddin who came in at no 4, did not bother the scorers much. His habit of playing every ball on the up cost Ozs yet another wicket. A short ball down the leg and haddin failed to connect it well. It was David Hussey's turn to bat next. He always looks to me like a small kid carrying a bat twice the weight of his size. If you look at his shots, you will notice he plays them late and with a very strong back hand. Today, he played a like a dud scoring 59 from 54 balls, hardly 6 runs per over. Australia had their chance after colly decided to try Swann and Yardy. Unfortunately, Clarke like a meek mouse came down the track for spinners 4 times to score a single? now that is pathetic. If you are taking 90% of the risk to come down the track, trying to hit the ball out of the park only takes few more percent of risk. The fourth time , he came down to score a single (hahaha) colly snatched the ball with a frog dive on his left. By the time Cameron white came to the crease in 10th over Oz were limping to 47 for 4 in 10 overs.
Cameron the only player who posed any danger, was the sole batsman who was trying to eye a very high total. D Hussey on the other hand was playing a safe innings to ensure his selection in the future squad played a complete self centered innings. This must have frustrated C White who then hit 4 fours and 1 six in his short but explosive 19 ball 31 run inning. After white departed, Mike Hussey only had 4 overs to play. Poor guy still managed to score 17 runs in the only 10 balls he got to play. Clarke's batting tactic has to be questioned here. Two of Oz's highest scorers and match winners of the tournament (Mike Hussey and Cameron White) were sent in at no 6 and 7 ahead of the two lowest (top order) scorers, Clarke (avg pathetic 15) and Haddin (avg just 14). This just proves that Clarke is still a pup when it comes to captaincy.
There's not much to write about England's batting. It was simply mature and well thought of. Kieswetter england's new batting sensation played like a champion. This kid is only 22 years of age and reminds me of Greame Smith in his early years. England now surely has a very strong army of batsmen in Kieswetter, Pietersen, and Eoin Morgan. Credit must also go to Andy Flower who was England's coach. The only hiccup I got during english innings was when KP threw his wicket to smith and Kieswetter made a mockery of his innings when he left a full ball from Johnson only to watch it fly without moving his bat. But these things happened much later when England was inches away from victory. Colly also deserves a pat for his field setting, bowling order , exceptional catch and a patent six off Watson.
Many congratulations to English team for their sturdy performance. They were hungrier than Ozs and proved that hard work can get you on TOP OF THE WORLD.

Reasons for Mumbai's 20-20 loss

You have to think and act very fast in a 20-20 game. Everybody thought Mumbai had an upper hand in the finals. However, we all know how 20-20 games swing on either side in a matter of seconds. Between Mumbai and Chennai I thought Mumbai should have won easily. Considering Mumbai's consistent performance throughout the tournament I thought Chennai would struggle. But after watching the finals I was left speechless. How low the fielding standards of international cricket (especially IPL) have fallen !! I can not expect even midwest cricket players to make such mistakes let alone international cricketers.
On seeing the highlights following things hurt mumbai very badly:

1) Raina's first drop catch-
What was Fernando thinking when he let Nayar approach the ball instead of pouncing on to the catch. Clearly it was his catch since he was approaching the ball in forward direction. Reminds me of a game when Fernando tried to act smart by not bowling after running and then staring at the batsman. This guy clearly is not made for big stage games.

2) Second drop !!
If first catch was blunder then there are no words to describe ZAheer's drop. Even kids who go to coaching classes should not make that mistake. Can you believe Jonty is training these guys for fielding. I can conclude only two things. First, Jonty is not doing a good job or his efforts are hampered by these big, bulky and lazy players who dont want to run and take catches (in practice). Look at ZAheer's shape and look at Johnty's shape. Here is a guy who is 10 years older to Zaheer but is much fitter and better fielder than him.

3) Shikhar Dhawan ????
IS this guy over rated ! Yes atleast based on his final performance. If you can not perform when needed the most, you simply are not good enough for the stage. What was he thinking when he let Ashwin ball maiden at the start. Are these guys really that weak to clear a 20 yard circle. My God !! let the softball kid take his place. They will definitely clear the inner cricle if not the boundary. Clearly a big bad performance by Dhawan.

4) Pollard's batting order ??
Ok you are chasing 169. well if your batsman (less capable offcourse) plays first over maiden, it is time to send hitter up the order. Whats the logic of sending pollard at no 8 when after 2 wickets the required run rate climbed to almost 12 runs an over.Huhhh. Who decided that batting order? Duminy cant clear the ground, Tiwari is too bulky (less agile), Rayudu is not that powerful either. In this case the only person who can respond to your SOS is Pollard.

Well now that the season is done, lets conclude by saying that it was just another game. But really, mumbai fell short by small margin , perhaps because of bad bad fielding. drop Catches cost Matches.

Game 1 - 20-20 League in Ohio Invitation Cup

Cleveland won the toss and decided to field. Akron were 13/3 at one stage. A good batting display from Amit (as always) and Hari Parthasarathi pulled us through. Siddharth's timely knock gave some boost. Akron managed 96 runs in 18.4 (approx)-all out.Our surprise bowler this time was Amit who opened with Vijay at the start. His first over was maiden. Excellent spell by Amit, Aditya and Hari restricted cleveland to 26 runs in 10 overs. Fast bowlers tightened their grip further to leave Cleveland on 58 at the end of 17 overs. Thus needing 39 runs in 3 overs, Akron felt they were safe. However some crisp strokeplay from Manu (Cleveland) and some rubbish bowling by other bowlers from Akron helped Cleveland score 26 runs in 18th and 19th over. Needing 13 runs in 6 balls, Manu hit 4,6 and 2 (new batsman scored 1 of the first ball) to give Cleveland a surprise win.