World Cup 2011

votelawrence

Cremated wrote: »

I wouldn't say that, we should be looking to beat Holland and Bangladesh, and can't be ruled out against England or the West Indies...

Holland yes, but Bangladesh aren't the punchline they were a few years ago, Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbalwould be welcome into pretty much any team in the world right now and they are going to be running on a confidence high playing at home after whitewashing the kiwis, not that Ireland can't beat them I just think it'll be a close match.

Cremated

votelawrence wrote: »

Holland yes, but Bangladesh aren't the punchline they were a few years ago, Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbalwould be welcome into pretty much any team in the world right now and they are going to be running on a confidence high playing at home after whitewashing the kiwis, not that Ireland can't beat them I just think it'll be a close match.

The one thing about Iqbal is that he has one way to play, he just hits it and granted he hits it cleanly a lot of the time but I hope Rankin can send his leg stump for a walk early ...

booth70

Two teams (England and West Indies) in different parts of the world chasing almost identical scores of 275+ today.....both teams lose both their openers for ducks!!

How weird is that???!!!

Dozen Wicked Words

booth70 wrote: »

Two teams (England and West Indies) in different parts of the world chasing almost identical scores of 275+ today.....both teams lose both their openers for ducks!!

How weird is that???!!!

I heard Strauss and Gayle had opened Ice Cream Parlours recently too. :P

booth70

Looks like Morgan's a doubt for the world cup..... Was really looking forward to seeing him play:(

kryogen

Be a real shame for Eoin if he doesnt make it

Ireland have a realistic shout at getting out of the group I feel, England are tired and battered from the tour of Australia, fatigue may be a factor, probably not but heres hoping, we should be looking to beat Holland and Bangladesh although not a walk over is a winable game, the West Indies, well, that depends on whether they turn up or not, stay in the positive camp!

riffmongous

Hauritz and Mike Hussey out of the Australian squads.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/content/current/story/499890.html

You really have to feel for Hauritz, what a rough year

TheDrog

Looks like Eoin is definately out, fracture goes down to the knuckle which is worse than they thought

TheDrog

Not a promising start in the warm up games so far, New Zealand still to go

In Dubai, Ireland lost to Zimbabwe by six wickets. Ireland 204 all out (W Porterfield 66, E Joyce 45, A White 41, G Lamb 3-30, G Cremer 2-20) lost to Zimbabwe 208-4 (42.5 overs, B Taylor 82*, C Ervine 47, C Coventry 26, S Williams 25, A Cusack 2-22, A Botha 1-20, K O'Brien 1-50).



Dubai International Stadium.
Kenya won by 3 wickets.
Ireland 176 all out E Joyce 59, A White 29, G Dockrell 18*, N O'Brien 17. Ireland were 56-7.
Kenya 178-7

NWPat

Morgan is out, replaced by Bopara.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/england/9388533.stm

kryogen

Fairly spectatular collapse and decent shot at a recovery today

Should be winning those games but dont mind as long as problems are worked on and worked out

Cremated

We also play Zimbabwe once more, at least Porterfield and Joyce are getting runs, and the role of Joyce is even bigger now, anyways these are warm up games,

we are changing things around, they even had Niall opening the batting with Stirling...

kryogen

Mike Hussey isnt a happy camper regarding his omission from the Aussie squad, he feels he deserved a crack at it, mentioning that the precident for bringing him even though he would be unavailable for the first game and possibly the second was set with the Symonds situation last time, he did play a big part in the latter stages so maybe Hussey has a point, shame he didnt get to have one last World Cup

Then again, from the Aussie selector point of view, hamstring injuries are unpredictable and given Husseys age it does give them the opportunity to see how the next generation will get on

TheDrog

I understand where cricket australia are coming from but it's very hard on Hussey who was their standout player during the tests, I don't think he would have been as disappointed if they hadn't given Symonds the chance in 2007

kryogen

As a Hussey fan is it a real shame, hes an excellent finisher to have in the squad also and a cool head full of experience

In other Aussie related news, Cricket Australia have made an offer to Murali to coach young Aussie spinners

TrueDub

kryogen wrote: »

In other Aussie related news, Cricket Australia have made an offer to Murali to coach young Aussie spinners

Wind-up?

TheDrog

nope true apparently although I suspect that he'll arrive and the whole country will yell chucker in unison

http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/current/story/500077.html

The man whom Australia once treated as an outcast, Muttiah Muralitharan, could now help them unearth a match-winning spinner. The controversial offspinner is in talks to be signed on as a guest spin coach with the Brisbane-based Centre of Excellence, according to the Australian newspaper Daily Telegraph.
Muralitharan confirmed that he had been approached for the job and that negotiations were going on at present. "They want me to come for two weeks in a year and help them with the Academy," Muralitharan told ESPNcricinfo. "They want me to come in May but there is the IPL so we have to finalise the dates. We are still in the process of talks."
Muralitharan, the holder of the Test and ODI records for the most number of wickets, has had a chequered history with Australia. He was repeatedly no-balled by umpire Darrell Hair for a suspect action during the Melbourne Test in 1995, and was booed by Australian crowds. He even pulled out of the tour to Australia in 2004, apprehending crowd hostility.
He retired from Tests last year with a haul of 800 victims, and is due to mark his final appearance in one-dayers in the 2011 World Cup, having taken 519 ODI wickets.
If Muralitharan gets involved, it could be prove to be a boost for Australia, who have had a barren spin cupboard since the retirement of Shane Warne in 2007, trying out several spinners without success. Recently, Xavier Doherty and Michael Beer were plucked from relative obscurity to play in the Ashes.

TheDrog

The latest admission that cricket is only for certain countries



From Cricinfo:



The format for the 2011 World Cup was designed to give the top teams the best chance of qualifying for the knockout stage, tournament director Ratnakar Shetty has said.
"Economically, we all know that India is the financial powerhouse of cricket," Shetty said in an interview with ESPNstar.com. "The exit of India and Pakistan from the 2007 World Cup was a disaster for the tournament. The sponsors, broadcasters, tour operators, West Indies board - all lost a lot of money. The format was changed in such a way that it gives all the top teams a chance to compete. We have gone back to the same format that was used in 1996."
Shetty was satisfied with the improvements at the Wankhede Stadium, one of the four World Cup venues that were running behind schedule. Talking about the Eden Gardens fiasco, he said the BCCI and ICC could not have averted the situation by being more involved. "Unlike in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh where the Boards run the show completely, in India, the BCCI doesn't run daily cricket. In our case, the stadia are completely managed by the state associations. The ICC has documented the progress of each venue. The BCCI monitored the reports of the venue, but to ensure that the work is completed was the responsibility of the state association."
Apart from security, Shetty identified filling up Indian grounds for non-India matches as the biggest organisational challenge posed by the tournament. "We have directed all the state associations to throw the gates open to the school children to enjoy a good day out. The tickets have been very reasonably priced too. The ICC is running a lot of contests, and free tickets will be issued to the contest winners, so in our capacity we are doing the best to ensure that the stadia will not see empty stands."
Shetty also stressed that the Indian board made a conscious effort to make the Indian grounds more spectator friendly, something that hasn't been a concern in the past. "To a large extent, the BCCI have taken the spectators for granted, because irrespective of who India plays, the crowds turn up," he said. "There was a serious discussion in the board to make the stadiums spectator-friendly. We didn't want to go by just the numbers. Wankhede's capacity could have been increased, but we have reduced it from 45,000 to 32,000. Similarly the Eden Gardens capacity has been reduced to 65,000. There is more space between the seats.
"The toilet facilities, food courts and the media facilities have all been given a massive facelift, so I am sure people will not complain this time. The IPL has brought a lot of female fans to cricket. Female following has tremendously increased, so we have taken all this into account before redeveloping the stadia."

Renno

Is cricket completely on it's own in this regard? I can imagine if NZ are knocked out of group stages of the rugby in the autumn that it would be a huge financial disaster, but would it lead them to making sure it didn;t happen again?

Has there been anything in the past in any other sport's World Cups? Cricket is unique in that it is dominated financially by one nation, and I can't really think of anything similar. I presume the International Table Tennis Federation would struggle if everyone from China kept getting knocked out early, but apart from that is there a precedent?

Presumably the GAA could give Dublin a bye to the semis of all All-Ireland's every year? Is that the best equivalent?

SSK

Can someone explain what the difference is between WC directors fixing who they want to qualify for the knock-out stages in order to maximise their income streams and a bowler fixing when they bowl a couple of no-balls in order to maximise their income.

For a sport trying to eradicate corruption it is disgraceful behaviour and endemic of all that is wrong with the ICC and the Indian cricket authorities who seem to think they run the show.

Mongarra

Unfortunately money talks in cricket more than in most sports and the Rupee talks loudest.

Apart from that the elite 10 in the closed shop know that the bulk of the spoils will be divided between them and a few scraps thrown to the Associates to keep them quiet.

Again, like our politicians, they make the rules and they are then "entitled" to the spin-off benefits that accrue from, mainly, TV and sponsorship monies, with their junkets and expenses all covered and, no doubt, all travel to, and accommodation at, the various World Cup venues paid for.

booth70

SSK wrote: »

Can someone explain what the difference is between WC directors fixing who they want to qualify for the knock-out stages in order to maximise their income streams and a bowler fixing when they bowl a couple of no-balls in order to maximise their income.

For a sport trying to eradicate corruption it is disgraceful behaviour and endemic of all that is wrong with the ICC and the Indian cricket authorities who seem to think they run the show.

Brilliant.....easily the best post I have ever come across on this forum:)

SSK

booth70 wrote: »

Brilliant.....easily the best post I have ever come across on this forum:)

Cheers mate...you mustn't have read too many then

But its something that really annoys me because I am exactly the target market the bigwigs in the ICC should be targeting in order to grow the global audience.

I had no prior interest in cricket prior to the famous 2007 world cup and have become absolutely hooked on the game since. I like to take an interest in any sport where Ireland is competing on the world stage and the cricket lads are fantastic ambassadors for sport in our country. Through the lads success and Sky's excellent cricket coverage (Bumble, Atherton etc.) I now love and appreciate the game and when I retire from my current sporting endeavors (hurling & basketball) I intend to try my hand at it. I even went over to Nottingham for a couple of days in 2009 to watch a few of the WC games and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The cricketing authorities are a joke for trying to block the progress of a developing nation like ourselves, where we are actively trying to grow the game. Lets hope we can pull off a couple of more shocks this time around and make them even more uncomfortable :cool:

booth70

SSK wrote: »

But its something that really annoys me because I am exactly the target market the bigwigs in the ICC should be targeting in order to grow the global audience.

I had no prior interest in cricket prior to the famous 2007 world cup and have become absolutely hooked on the game since. I like to take an interest in any sport where Ireland is competing on the world stage and the cricket lads are fantastic ambassadors for sport in our country. Through the lads success and Sky's excellent cricket coverage (Bumble, Atherton etc.) I now love and appreciate the game and when I retire from my current sporting endeavors (hurling & basketball) I intend to try my hand at it. I even went over to Nottingham for a couple of days in 2009 to watch a few of the WC games and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The cricketing authorities are a joke for trying to block the progress of a developing nation like ourselves, where we are actively trying to grow the game. Lets hope we can pull off a couple of more shocks this time around and make them even more uncomfortable :cool:

Unlike you I have been a cricket 'fanatic' ever since I was old enough to hold a cricket bat....Its was an inescapable part of growing up in India in the early 80's....I watched how cricket replaced hockey as our national sport on the back of our World Cup win in 1983....still remember vividly the outpouring of joy on the streets on that searingly hot June evening as Amarnath trapped Holding in front to seal a famous win...

I have also watched the shift in cricketing power from the traditional Eng-Aus axis to the subcontinent but have been dismayed at the way the BCCI (the ICC is just another name for the BCCI!!) controls not only world cricket now but also national cricket back home and have made no bones about it if you look at my previous comments on this forum....state cricket is still played on dead pitches in front of empty stadiums....test matches have been taken away from the traditional bases like Madras and Calcutta and are allocated to grounds like Mohali and Nagpur to please local politicians....it pained me to see Laxman guiding India to a famous one wicket in a recent test against Australia in Mohali in front of about 1000+ people in contrast to the next test played to an almost full capacity stadium in a traditional base like Bangalore....that India are no: 1 in test cricket is not because of the BCCI but despite it....dread to think what will happen when players like SRT , Dravid and Laxman finally hang up their boots

While I absolutely love the IPL and think its great for the game the less said about the corruption in the IPL the better

So....not surprised at all by the change in format at the World Cup to keep India in the tournament for as long as possible so that the crooks in the BCCI and their friends can continue to line their pockets

Despite all of the above still looking forward to the World Cup.... and hoping of course that India wins!!

riffmongous

New Zealand hit 311/6 against Ireland in todays warm up, pretty disappointing

Cremated

Ireland in reply 117/1, Stirling lbw b Vettori 39 but Porterfield is still in on 65 from 61,

and Joyce 8 from 15, after 18 overs...

coldfire1x

The lads lost yet again but they did give a good fight instead of surrendering easily. 300+ scores are too much to chase.

riffmongous

Some very nice performances from the top 4, nice strike rate from Porterfield too. But the success Vettori had (10-0-42-4) was worrying and a bit predictable I guess.

Cremated

coldfire1x wrote: »

The lads lost yet again but they did give a good fight instead of surrendering easily. 300+ scores are too much to chase.

This was different to be fair to them, chasing a big total against New Zealand, they got a lot closer than the game during the 2007 World Cup, ...

mikeruurds

Ireland giving the Zimbos a cricket lesson this morning in the warm-up game. 12/3 after 8 overs.

Smith and Punter have both metioned that the pitches are a little dodgy and taking a lot of turn, but looks like there may be a bit in it for the pace men.

Come on Ireland!