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Another England Roller Coaster

Another 1.01 was smashed in an England game on Betfair, that’s the last 2 games that England have been involved in, that has seen the 1/100 favourites in-running, lose.

Due to lifestyle reasons (a 22 month old daughter) I decided not to get up at 3 and watch the England game, when I switched my tele on at 8 this morning and seen England had been bowled out for 171, I thought it had been a smart decision.

Looking back, England should have lost this game. If South Africa had won then I would have said that the game was probably lost when we where 15/3 in the 5th over, but in all honesty, the game was lost on more than one occasion.

I wouldn’t accuse South Africa of choking, it wasn’t a do or die match. It will be a massive blow to them, as it will be a massive boost to England, but it wasn’t essential for SA to win.

It was a return to form of sorts for England – our batting was back to its usual crap standard and we had to rely on the bowling and fielding to get us home.

Swann was unplayable to Smith at times, although I wouldn’t want to have been hung on the evidence used to give Smith out. It looked like it probably hit the glove and the players reaction suggested it did, but it was far from conclusive and I wouldn’t have been surprised to have seen him given a reprieve by the TV umpire.

At the same time I can’t understand what grounds the JP Duminy decision from Anderson was overturned on. He was given out edged down the leg side and there was no evidence to suggest it hit his thigh pad and no evidence to suggest it didn’t hit his bat or glove. So why didn’t the onfield decision stand?

Although like with England’s reaction to the Smith edge, Duminy’s immeadiate referral suggested he didn’t touch it. But thats not enough evidence to overturn an on field decision. I found it all strange.

Anderson had a hard caught and bowled chance off Steyn late on, it didn’t matter in the end, but at the time I thought if you want to win these tight games, they are the sort of hard chances you have to hold. I’m sure certain members of the great Aussie teams of recent vintage would have held it.

All-in-all though, I thought England’s fielding was much improved.

At the end we also got yet another tactical review, this time from Dale Steyn on a blatent lbw. I don’t blame him for using it, but this is where the review system is made a mockery off.

I’m not singling out Steyn, everyone is at it and England may well have done the same during their innings – which I didn’t see. But it is something that ICC have to do something about, as it’s becoming a joke and just slowing the game down more.

Slowing the game down in a similiar useless way to taking a drinks break an over before the mandatory ball change. Now who would be stupid enough to do that?

Anyway, it was a great win for England and another thoroughly enjoyable match to watch.

I thought that Ireland also put up a good fight against India. It was a crafty decision by Dhoni to ask Ireland to bat first, in doing this he would have forced the Irish into a totally different mindset in having to set a total.

They showed against England that they are capable of chasing, Dhoni effectively said to them, lets see how good you are setting a total – and it worked as Ireland’s batting struggled.

Promising youngster George Dockrell got a harsh taste of international cricket, he felt the highs associated with claiming the golden wicket of Sachin Tendulkar, before coming in for a bit of rough justice in his final over at the hands of Yusuf Pathan, who took him for 16 runs off his last 4 balls, slightly distorting his impressive looking figures.

He showed great composure before that and his match figures of 2/49 from 10 overs is more than a respectable showing against India.

Ultimately India’s superior class showed and they were too strong for the Irish. Ireland did well though, they will play worse than this and win and they made India work for their victory, it was no walkover for Dhoni and co.

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3 Comments

  1. Anonymous

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    As you had remarked, Dean…England are certainly entertaining! 🙂

    Bloody good match that was! Well done to England’s bowlers…barring Yardy, every single one made an impact. And you know, good to have this type of pitch once in a while…why should batsmen have all the fun?! The great thing was that the pitch remained largely consistent throughout the game… so both teams’ batsmen were challenged (instead of just the chasing team’s).

    I had actually thought England had lost it when they collapsed twice…15/3 and then later after Bopara left. But I guess you’re never out of the game when SA chase! That’s the 2nd time in 2 months that they’ve had a meltdown chasing a small target! Though Steyn did put up a good fight. But in the end… that’s gotta shake up your self-belief. And must surely have made their ambition of going all the way quite a bit harder (mentally).

    On the other hand, England are certainly getting a lot of good practice handling pressure! Even if Strauss’ hair might be bearing the cost! 🙂

    -BP

  2. Hi BP,

    Thats true, it is good to have a pitch like that sometimes. From England’s point of view (and before our 1st meeting), I thought it would take a pitch like that for us to have any chance of beating India.

    It was the England of old, bowled and fielded well and didn’t have a bloody clue what a good score would be to set on that pitch.

    Two ways of looking at it for SA for me. One, is your theory which I think a lot of SA fans will probably be fearing. Or the other is that no one goes through a tournament without a slip up of some kind and maybe SA have got their balls up out of their system early, rather than in the quarters or semis, where they normally do it.

    Hard to know, but they do have form for folding, don’t they.

    Do you think Strauss could be the next cricketer to be advertising the ‘Advanced Hair Studio’ then?

    I think he will certainly need a rest mentally after this competition.

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