AGB Cricket

CAPTAINS CONTAGIOUS

Michael Clarke was not the only T20 captain on the field on Sunday to have had a barry:

Identity theft: foreign legion adds to our Ashes pain

FOR the second time inside nine months Australia has been beaten by the Other South Africa: aka England.

Last year, Australia lost the Ashes in the face of a dominant South African batting display and it has happened again.

This time the South African batsmen took England to the World Twenty20 title in the Caribbean yesterday morning, England's first major limited overs success in any tournament since the World Cup legitimised short-form cricket in 1975.

Captain Paul Collingwood was the only token Englishman in the team's top five. The top three were all South African and Eoin Morgan is Irish.

But then Collingwood was an even more token captain than Michael Clarke during the tournament, scoring only 61 runs in seven matches at an average 10 and a strike rate of 6.2 runs per over.

If Clarke is Mike Clarke in honour of Mike Brearley, then surely Pies Collingwood is Tubby in honour of Mark Taylor, who came under heavy pressure when he couldn't score a run before the 1997 Ashes. Touch wood Tubby Pies doesn't fire up this summer.

Also, hats off to Malcolm Conn for getting back to good old-fashioned Aussie values by refusing to accept the legitimacy of the England... sorry, South African victory. The parlous state of English cricket - as opposed to the United Nations of English cricket - will be magnified, too, when the rest of the XI are selected from Transvaal, not Taunton. The stream of cricketers from SA to the UK is set to become a deluge since the Rainbow Nation must, if history is any indication, be headed in the direction of Zimbabwe and other ex-colonial basket-case hell-states.

AUSTRALIA v. ENGLAND, BRIDGETOWN

The Slashes, don't you know.

WITH THE BENEFIT OF FORESIGHT

Do you think Ian Chappell would like to call these back?

7/144: "The thing that fascinates me with Saeed Ajmal is that he beats players who are looking to get after him with flight. He's got ice running through his veins."

We'll see.

7/158: "That's the problem when you're chasing 17 an over: you get 14 and you're still 4 behind the rate. It's tough to keep belting a good spin bowler like Saeed Ajmal."

Not sure about the maths; not sure about the keep belting.

7/168: "The other thing that happens - you can see Hussey crouching down now - when you've got to run a few as he's been forced to do, particularly in this humidity, it saps your strength, and that makes it hard to hit sixes."

Listen up, old timer: improved fitness, better bats, smaller grounds, roads, heavy emphasis on big hitting and clearing the ropes. Things have changed since your day.

Post-match: "Pakistan can't believe it. But there were always signs there could be some panic."

So why didn't you say so? And why didn't you predict that Ajmal would cough up rancid pies in the last over?

End of over 19 (16 runs) Australia 174/7 (18 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 9.15, RRR: 18.00) MEK Hussey    38* (20b 2x4 3x6)      Mohammad Aamer    4-0-35-3 MG Johnson    4* (2b 1x4)      Saeed Ajmal    3-0-23-1
Hussey calls for a drink. 18 from the last over. Ajmal to bowl.
19.1	Saeed Ajmal to Johnson, 1 run, 114.3 kph, almost yorker length as he follows Mitch who was moving away outside leg stump .. edged to short fine-leg region.
19.2	Saeed Ajmal to MEK Hussey, SIX, 100.0 kph, What a thunderous wallop. Tonked! Ajmal drops it short and Hussey waits before he plays a crunching pull shot. IT's a six!
19.3	Saeed Ajmal to MEK Hussey, SIX, 113.8 kph, OMG! It's a six! Fabulicious! Stunning! What a strike. What drama! This time he went down on his knee to swing it over long-on for a glorious six!
19.4	Saeed Ajmal to MEK Hussey, FOUR, 105.4 kph, Absolutely crunched! And the scores are level! Unbelievable scenes here. Michael Hussey you beauty! What immense drama here. It was a length delivery outside off stump, Huseey slashed out at it and edges it past backward point fielder . IT went over the leaping fielder. It was that close. It was that dramatic.
19.5	Saeed Ajmal to MEK Hussey, SIX, Australianism prevails! What a great dramatic game this has been. Goose bumps! What a heartbreak for Pakistan. Michael Hussey has played like a dream. Whaddaplaayaaaa! He finished the game with yet another big hit. This is the Twenty20 innings of his lifetime. And what a way to finish it in style. He cleared the front foot and swung the ball over long-on. The while ball disappeared beyond the boundary. The Australian dug out erupted in joy. The Pakistani camp is stunned. U N B E L I E V A B L E. Hussey is mobbed by his team-mates. Clarke envelops him with a hug. The entire squad is out there on the ground. Take a bow Michael Hussey. Respect.

AUSTRALIA v. PAKISTAN, GROS ISLET

People are drooling over the tantalising prospect of an Australia v England final. They are getting ahead of themselves. You can never discount the possibility of Paktastic party tricks.

Gros Islet: Big Island, Big Little Island or Fat Island?

AUSTRALIA v. WEST INDIES, GROS ISLET

Can it be that this World Cup has been reasonably well organised? The matches appear to be skipping along rather neatly. That could be down to the concentration of venues; all the matches have been played in Bridgetown, Providence and Gros Islet. The group format appears to work. The cricket has not been startling, but nor has it been too shabby. The Republic of SA excluded, of course. Pity the tournament is in the West Indies, half a world away, with the matches on at half-past dead of night. Fortunately our next match is on in the morning, at a civilized hour. When I'm at work.

Do you think Kismet is saving up all the shenanigans for a climactic extravaganza? A murder. (Which wasn't a murder, which was a murder again, which... where are we with that investigation, by the way?) The final finishing in the dark.

THE SLASHES

Should Australia and England meet in the T20 final, I own the headline.

Should we lose? THE GNASHES Although, on reflection, I should have used that last year.

MIKE CLARKE

Does - to paraphrase Rodney Hogg - Michael Clarke have a degree in people?

Michael Clarke is becoming the modern-day Mike Brearley

A fine player and innovative captain who has an outstanding leadership record, Clarke is Australia's least successful T20 batsman in the same way that during the 1970s and early '80s, Brearley became one of England's finest Test captains but averaged just 22 and never made a century.

Update!

Klutzy begs to differ:

Clarke is our best T20 player: Haddin

Brad Haddin has defended the out-of-form Michael Clarke, saying the Australia Twenty20 captain is the team's best player.

Thanks, TK.

AUSTRALIA v. SRI LANKA, BRIDGETOWN

Nurd is the word:

Clarke's clout doubt

Michael Clarke dug a big hole for himself in yesterday's big win over India or he simply showed his willingness to put the team first, depending on your point of view.

AUSTRALIA v. INDIA, BRIDGETOWN

The third Aussie match is on. Australia are currently 0/95 off 10 overs. You will probably want to comment. Or watch Shawshank on Nine. Or the Rugby League Test match on Fox Sports Two. Or Bridezillas on Arena +2. Or Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams on Showtime Comedy. Or Judge Dread on STARPICS 1. (Why is it in capital letters?) Or America's Hardest Prisons on Nat Geo. Speaking of crime: how about the Demons being robbed by the men in red & blue (yes, the umps really were wearing red and blue) on Fox Sports 1. Maggots.

AUSTRALIA v. BANGLADESH, BRIDGETOWN

Foresight is a wonderful thing. The first Aussie match happens last night. If you have anything to say, if you are awake, you could have said it here.

Kensington Oval, formerly the Pickwick Cricket Club.

AUSTRALIA v. PAKISTAN, GROS ISLET

The first Aussie match happens tonight. If you have anything to say, if you are awake, say it here.

Beausejour Cricket Ground, formerly Beausejour Stadium.

BREAKING WINDWARD

Ahhh, that's better:

Warner fires again for Australia

The opener David Warner collected his second warm-up half-century as Australia fine-tuned for their opening World Twenty20 match against Pakistan on Sunday with a 101-run win against a Windward Islands XI. The contest provided little more than a run around for the Australians as they swept past an outfit including their squad mates Daniel Christian, Tim Paine and Nathan Hauritz.

BUNG LEE

Like Richard says in the post below: give it away, mate.

Brett Lee out of World Twenty20 with arm injury

Brett Lee's hopes of making an international comeback have been dashed by a muscle strain in his right forearm that will force him out of the ICC World Twenty20. Lee suffered the problem during Australia's one-run warm-up loss to Zimbabwe and the team has requested a replacement player, likely to be either Doug Bollinger or Ryan Harris.

Can anyone think of a bigger injury saga? In, out, maybe, out, in, out has become embarrassing. Makes the decision to offer him another CricAussie contract look ridiculous.

LUKE WARM UP

Not exactly world's best practice match:

Zimbabwe shock Australia with warm-up win

Zimbabwe delivered Australia a wake-up call after taking two wickets in the final over to seal a one-run win in their warm-up in St Lucia. Australia were on track chasing Zimbabwe's 173 for 7 when David Warner smashed 72 off 49 and the captain Michael Clarke took them to the verge of victory with 49 from 42.

But!

B Lee	4	1	13	1	3.25

Nurdle alert!

Australian captain Michael Clarke scored 49 from 42 balls.