Story :: Associate Nations Cup :: Afghanistan Team Preview Out ::

[ShamiLoverGlipGlops]

Associate Nations Cup is a new T20 format that the ICC has put to increase the standard and give more cricketing action and bring associate nations a view to the world. 10 Teams will be participating in Season 1 of this Associate Nations Cup. All these team are top associate teams and have played international level cricket some or other time. This cup format is designed such a way that top four teams that is the Semi-Finalist directly qualify for the T20 World Cup and bottom two team relegate and 2 other associate nations come up and take their place. Format see's flexibility as that it does not clash with any domestic tournament.

Each country must send 14 of their best players and then the 10 countries will be divided in a group pool of 2. Group A and Group B. Each teams play each other twice and then the top two teams will go through and qualify for the semi-finals.

To increase interest of the people this cup will be played in different parts of the world, but this year the Associate Nation Cup is been held in 2 countries. Group A matches will be played in Australia and Group B matches will be played in England. ICC have spoken to the particular countries cricketing board and have decided to cut down the ticket prices drastically so that people come and enjoy the most entertaining form of cricket the T20 cricket.

Teams that are participating are

1. Ireland
2. Kenya
3. Zimbabwe
4. Afghanistan
5. Canada
6. Scotland
7. United Arab Emirates
   
8. United States Of America
9. Netherlands
   
10. Bermuda

All the country boards are excited about this tournament held by the ICC and are happy to see Associate Nations getting motivation which only the way to increase and spread cricket all over the world. Cash Rich BCCI to said " We are happy that ICC have taken this decision to promote the Associate Nations. We will serve ICC in every possible way and we would love to see one or two nations from these to get the test status"

ICC also announced the groups for the following tournament and said fixtures will be out in a day or so.

Group A - Australia

Team Name
Ireland
Canada
Netherlands
United States Of America
Afghanistan

Group B - England

Team Name
Kenya
Zimbabwe
United Arab Emirates
Scotland
Bermuda

Story Index

Ireland Team Preview
Kenya Team Preview
Afghanistan Team Preview

Credits

Sim : Sohum
Images : Google

 

[Prithvi]

Good idea, but remember, its always difficult to know one unknown team, but you're up with 10 unknown teams.

So, you have to be clear when you preview each team. As it belongs to only associate nations, do note that you introduce each and every player, unlike what others do for minnows in an ICC event (Just saying that they're unpredictable and can cause upsets).

Binnu added 0 Minutes and 28 Seconds later...

Its a uphill task IMO, but you have capability to do it.

 

[Aditya]

You have started few stories in the past but you have not been able to continue with them. Make sure you continue with this story,If you put your best effort into this story then this story can certainly be very exciting one to read. As mentioned by Binnu,Introduce each and every player. Take cricinfo help for that,You can certainly make this story enjoyable to read. Best of luck!

 

[Aussie Team]

Looks like a good story..
How you are simulating?

 

[Amar791849]

Good idea and nice presentation mate!
Just A suggestion:use sashidharan's c2k7 update roster for this Story

 

[ShamiLoverGlipGlops]

Hello and welcome to the show Road To Associate Nations Cup. This is a show all which will guide you to know each and every Associate teams and their players well so that you can go and cheer your teams well.

First up today we have the big giants of this cup who are the favorites to win this cup and they are no other then the Ireland Cricket Team

Ireland are the winner of 3 Intercontinental Cups and 2 European Division A Cups. They have also won the ICC World Cup qualifier for 50 overs. Other then this, Ireland Qualified for 2nd T20 World Cup held in England by winning the ICC T20 World Championship Qualifier tournament. They took Second place in the ICC T20 World Championship Qualifier Tournament this year and where placed with West-Indies and England. Ireland have the reputation of killing the Giants on their day and if they play to their potential.

Lets move forward and discuss more about their batsman and bowlers. Ireland are better known as a good bowling side then a batting side. Their performance in bowling against Pakistan in the 2007 world cup where they defeated them and knocked them out was one such occasion. There are some great hitters in their side but they are not consistent enough and that is the reason Ireland lack as a Batting Unit.

Ireland's batting mainly depends on William Porterfield, Kevin-O-Brein, Nail-O-Brein, Andre Botha, Andrew White and many more. They where hit back when Ed Joyce and Eoin Morgon chose to play for England when offered an England Contract. Looking at Eoin today he might just would have made some difference to Ireland Cricket to be honest. But nothing can be done and William Porterfield the captain has step up as a batsman but needs to be more consistent enough.

Let's look at their squad first and then discuss more about them.

Big names which fire and then opposition is under pressure.

Ireland's Batting mainly revolves around Porterfield,Cussack,O Brien brothers. They heavily depend upon their wicket keeper batsman Nail-O-Brien to fire every time. If he does then he will single handedly the match away from any opposition.

Players To Watch Out For

Nail O Brien's 2 fifty in World Cup 2007 saw some remarkable change in the batsman's calm and composure attitude. He was a batsman who would lose his calmness very soon and gets intimidated very soon. Biggest example is against West Indies when he tried abusing Brain Lara when Ireland won against the West-Indies. He made 58 runs in that match.

But now he has changed a lot and at domestic level he has scored 957 runs with an average of 23.92 and strike rate of 120 plus. Although he is yet to make an impression in International T20 level and he just averages around 18 and his strike rate is also 97 which is not good enough for T20 level.

Another batsman is William Porterfield. His leads the Irish team and has a better strike rate then Nail-O- Brien but not the best. He has scored 263 runs at an average of 17 and strike rate of 103. He opens the innings and is expected to score big runs but he has not done that at international T20 level.

Andre Botha who migrated from South Africa to this Irish team. He is a good bowling all rounder who has taken 21 wickets at T20i level with an average of 9 and economy rate of 5.50. He comes pretty handy with the bat to and is definitely going to be player to watch to.

Peter Connell is a 28 years old Right Arm Fast Medium who has impressed and played to his potential well. He has taken 10 T20i wickets with an average of 16 and economy rate of 6.50.

Alex Cusack is a good all rounder who bowls Right Arm Medium and also a hard hitting batsman. He has an bowling average as 18 and batting average as 15 with strike rate above 130.

Trent Johnston, their speer head in bowling department and is most consistent and wicket taking bowler. He began his career in Australia playing aside Brett Lee,Slater and others but chose to represent Ireland. He has an bowling average of 20 and and economy of 6 and also is very useful when it comes with the bat to. He averages 10 with bat and has a strike rate of 100.

Boyd Rankin is the opening right arm fast medium who has taken 7 wickets at an average of 23 and strike rate of 7.

Kevin-O Brien a very handy all rounder who has has taken wicket at an average of 30 and economy of 7 and bats with an average of 11.


So pretty big names out there and are certainly players to watch out for.

Thanks for joining us we will be back with the preview of next teams.
​

 

[Mihir Doshi]

Good Presentation Mate.. You are hearing people's comment and that is good...

Hope To See USA or UAE take away the Cup!!

 

[Prithvi]

Well, update looks good, but improve the presentation.

Lemme explain it rather echoing all.
To the profile images you put for "Players to watch out for", you can photoshop them, put the "stroke" in blending options and put green color and by choosing the stroke to be inside, which gives a good look.
And in the episode header, use latest pepsi logo and that too, re sized as per proportions.

And Even make the text "Players to watch out for" in comic sans MS, which gives a good look.

 

[ShamiLoverGlipGlops]

Not great at photoshop but will try my best!!

 

[Prithvi]

OMG! 16 guests!!! You're great:laugh.

BTW, its easy making those things, DEAD EASY.

 

[ShamiLoverGlipGlops]

OMG! 16 guests!!! You're great:laugh.

BTW, its easy making those things, DEAD EASY.

Guests might have thought it's real

 

[TheGreemSim]

Basically this is WCL Div 1 and 2 without Denmark and Oman. Still I look forward to it.

 

[Aditya]

Good work Rahul. But bit more writing about the players will be good. For few players you have written very less,Most of us know about Ireland players so its fine. But when you introduce teams like Afghanistan do some research about there players and then post about each and every players not just players to watch out for.

 

[ShamiLoverGlipGlops]

Have just completed database work and now this will be as regular as my league was..

Excited about this!!

 

[just_cricket]

Good start mate, but it's Niall O'Brien not NAIL!