WC2007: Super 8

[andrew_nixon]

You can blame me for the quick match.

I was doing the commentary on CricketEurope, and after Bray scored two fours in a row, I wrote this:

Bray looking in good form here.

And the collapse started on the next ball. Talk about the commentator's curse!

 

[LA ICE-E]

Man thats was a Quick match between Ireland and Sri Lanka
Man I can't Believe We Lost To Them.

I can;t believe that we lost to Bangladesh who lost to Ireland

Ireland played competitively through out the wc bar this match and the aussie match. So i don't know what you're whinging about. And to get this in prospective for you, the teams they weren't competitive against were australia who is one class above the rest and sri lanka who beat india pretty comfortably too.

 

[Sureshot]

These guys must have superpowers, then.

David Hussey
3791 runs @ 59.23 for Nottinghamshire
2801 runs @ 42.43 for Victoria

Michael Di Venuto
7256 runs @ 49.02 for Derbyshire
1067 runs @ 41.03 for Sussex
9170 runs @ 40.04 for Tasmania

Martin Love
1739 runs @ 69.56 for Northamptonshire
2718 runs @ 57.82 for Durham
10287 runs @ 46.13 for Queensland

Murray Goodwin
8418 runs @ 53.27 for Sussex
4308 runs @ 41.02 for Western Australia

Cameron White
1190 runs @ 59.50 for Somerset
2405 runs @ 30.83 for Victoria

Phil Jaques
1148 runs @ 88.30 for Worcestershire
2477 runs @ 61.92 for Yorkshire
1409 runs @ 58.70 for Northamptonshire
3656 runs @ 46.27 for New South Wales

Stuart Law
8538 runs @ 58.88 for Essex
5864 runs @ 57.49 for Lancashire
9920 runs @ 43.13 for Queensland

Darren Lehmann
8871 runs @ 68.76 for Yorkshire
12070 runs @ 56.93 for South Australia
2098 runs @ 41.96 for Victoria

Brad Hodge
3043 runs @ 62.10 for Leicestershire
9509 runs @ 45.93 for Victoria

Mike Hussey
1074 runs @ 76.71 for Durham
5194 runs @ 78.69 for Northamptonshire
8006 runs @ 42.13 for Western Australia

Justin Langer
3968 runs @ 61.04 for Middlesex
9181 runs @ 51.57 for Western Australia

There's no denying that Australian Grade Cricket (or whatever you call your first class) is stronger but then it's not surprising. You have a third of the teams, a stronger set up in general as you have people with brains in the positions to decide, how many of the team are home qualified players? 10/11 most games? Normally 8/9 in England.

It is weird though, you mention those players who all average 10-30 more in England than they do Aus. Yet some of our Test players (Bell, Cook, KP all have good FC records imo) like Tres and Colly average more in Tests. So it's quite confusing from that POV. Australia is stronger(est) in general.

Australian FC bowlers>England FC bowlers
Australians in England do better than Englands in England (On a whole)
yet some of our players don't have good FC records (Tres for instance) yet you'd say he's our 2nd best batsman. (Though his FC average would be going up, I'd imagine).

It's weird.

 

[angryangy]

Well, Warnie has a weak record bowling for Victoria, but that's mostly because he was playing for Australia in his 8th match. Trescothick played a lot of cricket before he was selected. He wasn't very old, though, still only 24. Perhaps it was a brilliant gamble that he would hit his peak, perhaps cushy Taunton just was never interesting enough.

Whatever differentiates all these players, it is locked within their minds. Trescothick blossomed in international cricket, while Ramprakash and Hick wilted.

 

[MUFC1987]

I don't see how you can use those averages to prove anything though. Overseas players come to England because they're good players, normally playing well and showing how good they are. Whereas in Australian Domestic cricket they can start badly for example at a young age, hence lowering the average. It's like if Trescothick played in Australia for the last 5 years, his average would be higher as he's developed into a better player than he was when he started his career in England.

 

[irottev]

Well thats a thrashing. Poor Ireland.

Their batting was never going to cope with the bowling friendly conditions.

 

[Master Khan]

I can't wait Till the Semi-Finals

 

[aussie1st]

Poor Ireland another thrashing Always going to struggle against that SL attack. Positive is they managed 2 wickets when defending only 81.

 

[LA ICE-E]

and they were batting well before the collapse began. Overall though you have to give it to ireland. They gave a lot to this wc, and only got thrashed twice. And beat/tie with 3 test nations that's 1 more than england did so far.

 

[irottev]

Definatly, Ireland achieved a lot this World Cup. Which is great for cricket.

 

[siddharth2002]

Definatly, Ireland achieved a lot this World Cup. Which is great for cricket.

Only problem is where do they go from here. Will we see more of these so called good performing minnow teams.

 

[Mars Maximus]

I hope so! For it is called the world cup, not the part of the world cup, so we need all teams performing so that cricket can thrive world wide

 

[aussie_ben91]

I don't see how you can use those averages to prove anything though. Overseas players come to England because they're good players, normally playing well and showing how good they are. Whereas in Australian Domestic cricket they can start badly for example at a young age, hence lowering the average. It's like if Trescothick played in Australia for the last 5 years, his average would be higher as he's developed into a better player than he was when he started his career in England.

That's why they can't get into the national side. I bet the strike-rates of the players listed would've been a bit higher aswell.

Here's a list of the highest FC averages in Australia.

http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/AUS/DOMESTIC/SS/SS_BAT_HIGHEST_AVS.html

The list of the highest List-A averages in Australia.

http://aus.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/AUS/DOMESTIC/DOD/DOD_BAT_HIGHEST_AVS.html

Bit deceptive, I think. Most of the older guys are up there probably due to the fact that didn't have a real heavy International schedule as the players today. That's not saying they didn't have class, but they had the sort of time Bevan's had (due to not being in the International side) to build heavy FC records.
It's also interesting that Steve Waugh had a better List-A record then FC record in Australia.

 

[LA ICE-E]

Only problem is where do they go from here. Will we see more of these so called good performing minnow teams.

Well, if you paid attention to the non-test nations then you would have got a hint that ireland and some of the other associates could have done this. Ireland won the intercontinental cup last year and are in the final of this years too. http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ireland/content/story/291015.html

Ireland have things lined up for them and have signs of a good future. Just look at the home support all of a sudden after their performance.

 

[siddharth2002]

Well, if you paid attention to the non-test nations then you would have got a hint that ireland and some of the other associates could have done this. Ireland won the intercontinental cup last year and are in the final of this years too. http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ireland/content/story/291015.html

Ireland have things lined up for them and have signs of a good future. Just look at the home support all of a sudden after their performance.

I meant playing with the test nations.