ODI SERIES

What the hell? No one told me there was an ODI last night. I feel insulted to have missed a match from the Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St Vincent, and also missed Darren Sammy's post-match litotes: "Losing six wickets for seven runs set us back a little bit."

Is the series even on television?

Comments

[m0nty]

It was on the telly, but it started at some ungodly hour and was due to finish at sparrow fart.

[The Cricket Nerd]

When I first saw the live scorecard, I thought, "Have the tests already begun? Where's Ponting at #3?"
Then I saw Pollard's name and I knew it was an ODI.

[Tony]

I'm mainly pissed off because I missed a low scoring match.

[Vindicate]

Thought the first one was on Sunday, turns out that's the second. Bugger.

[Professor Rosseforp]

I saw highlights on tv and didn't recognise many names on the Australian team.
Litotes -- low-calory beakfast food?

[mooshydiana]

Jeez, this version of the Aus team is uninspiring.

[Big Ramifications]

Jimeoin is dead. It's all over the news.

[Big Rammer's mum]

Too soon.

[Tony]

Never too soon for a cheeky, but hardly malicious, well weighted chip, Big Mummer.

[lou]

Nice to see Watson maintaining is rollicking form.

[lou]

Another low-scorer. Good matches, West Indies still in this one.

[Tony]

Play all the matches in St Vincent. Good deck for a one-dayer.

[Tony]

Daffy Donald Duck.

[Tony]

Brett Lee is bang on target:

[Tony]

Lee is a great death fielder.

[Carrot]

This has been a good series so far. The Windies are a much better outfit under Sammy and Gibson. Two or three years ago they would have lost the last two games badly. Great to see the support they're getting from the crowds as well. The tests could be interesting, too!

[Vindicate]

Not sure the Windies have regained their attention span for tests yet. But, one dayer at a time.

[Tony]

Don't you hate it when mis-hits go for six. And when Brett Lee bowls the last over.

[Tony]

Australia conceded 1 run in over 36, 1 run in over 37 and 2 runs in over 38 at which point the score was 5 for 149, then gave up 11, 17, 9, 6, 9, 14, 15, 6, 8, 16, 11, 23 to finish on the arse end of 7 for 294. Oh, and did I mention that Forrest and Doherty dropped Pollard?

[Tony]

Funny watching World Series Classics from 1996/97 where mis-hits do not sail over the boundary rope, but are caught on the fence.

[lou]

There is no hope of getting some form of limiting regulations around these bloody modern bats unfortunately. It would be the best thing for cricket. The sloggy types couldn't get away with half the crap they do.

[Tony]

Sixes to square leg and mid wicket are coming off inside edges. Sixes to long on and long off are coming off the splice. Sixes to deep point and deep cover are coming off the outside edge. Remember when commentators used to say "you don't often see a six out there"? Often the bat spins wildly in the batsman's hand, or hand. Yes, a lot of practice now goes into clean hitting and "clearing the front leg" (and closing both eyes). But the caper is still more interesting when the batsman must hit the ball cleanly to clear a boundary that is a challenging distance from the wicket. Sigh. I guess it is the old 'height of the ring' style debate from basketball.

[Carrot]

I'm not so sure that it's just the bats. If it were, I think everyone would be hitting sixes for fun, and they're clearly not. The likes of Pollard, Russell and Lee are strong men, and we do live in an age of T20-borne audacity after all. The likes of Lance Cairns could hit the ball a long way way back when, but there just weren't that many players like him, and now there are.

The Caribbean has small grounds, too - although I didn't see any footage of tonight's game mind you, it could have been enormous for all I know.

[Tony]

Some of the sixes were HUGE and would have been sixes on any ground. But many only just cleared the boundary rope, while one bounced out of Forrest's hands and another was six because Forrest had his foot on the rope (according to the third umpire).

[Tony]

Further to Forrest's "catch" with his foot on the boundary rope.

It was hard to tell if his foot touched the rope because the rope did not move.

Forrest's foot was on an angle, which suggested his foot was indeed on the rope.

On the flip side, Forrest's leg was crookedly bent, which suggested he was keeping his foot off the rope.

Take either of those observations any way you want.

More interesting to me was Forrest's hesitation between catching the ball and then throwing it up to try for a catch-toss-catch boundary catch.

Forrest looked as though he knew his foot was on the rope and gave up, then thought he may as well try for the catch.

Les charitable viewers than me, or partisan viewers - Ian Botham, for instance - might have accused Forrest of sharp practice.

[Tony]

Brett Lee is an excellent death batsman:

[Bruce]

Is that one he made contact with? I don't think even he knows.

I refuse to accept that his 59 runs mean anything. Closing your eyes and swinging from the arse while getting lucky for a while with nothing to lose as the game was 90% lost already is no indication of a good innings.

The Aussie will not play on a pitch with any pace and bounce until the next home series.

[Tony]

Well, I was being sarcastic.

[Tony]

And yes, every Test nation bar Vark, who loves seamers too, will look to take the edge off the Aussie fast bowlers.

Then, next year the Ashes pitches will be interesting. No one is as flagrant in their pitch-fixing as the Poms.

[lou]

I don't think the poms pitch fix. They just have more spiciness pitches generally all around the country, plus the summer conditions are very conducive to swing. The only really renowned flat pitches at domestic level are Taunton and Chelmsford - plus Lords but that is weather dependent as I reckon I can tell if the ball is going to swing at Lords by looking out my window. And some of them like Trent Bridge and Chester-le-Street are fiery a lot, if not most, of the time.

[Tony]

I mean episodes like The Oval in 2009, when the Poms needed a win so a county road became a result pitch based on who won the toss.

[Finbarr Hawtrey Saunders]

I like mis hits coz of the last 5 letters.

[Uwe Hohn]

>"There is no hope of getting some form of limiting regulations around these bloody modern bats unfortunately. It would be the best thing for cricket. The sloggy types couldn't get away with half the crap they do."

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.

Be at peace. Have faith in the ICC lawmakers, my friend.

[Martin Luther]

Oy!

[Charles Hawtrey]

Well, I never.

[Kenneth Williams]

Ooohh matron.

[Psychology Pat]

Right, so now that we've got the footy season over and done with, what's the next big cricket game? It's been a long cold winter and I'm ready now for summer glorious summer.

[Tony]

When I saw Friday night's score I knew you would not be far away.

[Vindicate]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/559163.html

Not a bad write up, thought you might be interested Tones.

[Tony]

Indeed, thanks. I had it bookmarked for further reading, but you're prompted me into action.

[Tony]

Blame Marcus North for getting sick, thus catapulting Nyce into the side unprepared.

Then blame Nyce for forgetting how to spin the ball.

His shoulder injury in India in 2008 cost us the SA series in Australia in 2008/09 and the Ashes in 2009.

[Big Ramifications]

You have got a big horn for Bryce McGain, Tony.

// I notice these things

[Big Rammer's dad]

Let it go, Tony.

[Dr Spock]

Cling on, Tony.

[Tony]

I don't so much have a horn for Bryce, I have the shits for him missing two series with an injury that cost us two trophies.

There'll be no letting go.

[Carrot]

So, mid-tour report-card: drawn ODI series, drawn T20 series. I'm still backing the Tests to be pretty competitive, too - in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they take at least one match off us. Batting isn't their strong-point but you could argue that ours isn't either, and they have real belief about them these days. It's great to see, and good for cricket. It's a pity that no matter what they do - they could start white-washing everyone, much though it's unlikely - they'll still have a minnow's schedule for at least awhile, with two and three-Test series everywhere.

[Lou]

I hope they pull out the kind of pitches that they provided for the series against the Indians. Bowlers enjoyed themselves very much. I think it would give them their best chance of stealing a test.

[Tony]

Windies have ordinary batting, so they would be loathe to give our quicks a boost. Most likely they will offer pitches without juice.

[Big Ramifications]

If Bryce McGain was married to Clive Rice he'd be called Bryce Rice.

//gay

[Rodney Rude]

If Whitney Houston was married to Gene Pitney she'd be called Whitney Pitney.

[Tony]

If January Jones was married to Frederick March she would have married a dead man.