Story World T20 through the words of a journalist [Warm-ups | Day 2]

[treva]

Blog Entry #1

Saturday, May 30, 2009
13:45 PM | As I sit in my five star luxury hotel room, supplied by my very generous bosses at the Daily Mail, I think ahead to what could be an eventful few weeks in England. Then again it could prove to be another damaging blow to traditional cricket values as Twenty20 cricket continues to attract business men from up, down, left, right and sideways around the globe.

The Twenty20 World Championship is almost upon us. The ultimate Twenty20 competition has found its way to its creator, England. We created the format back in 2003 with amazing success and popularity. Then it was just seen as a quirky competition with a side-show of cheerleaders, alcohol and sixes. Now it has become a serious event, and although those quirky features are still involved, it is a financial affected format with many businessman investing millions into the sport. Events such as the Indian Premier League and Stanford 2020 have led many to believe cricket has been changed for the worse with fear of losing the oldest form of cricket, Test Match cricket, sometime in the near future. However, there is no doubt Twent20 cricket has enhanced the sport's popularity and will continue to attract mass crowds all around the World.

In six days time Lords' will host the opening game of the 2009 competition, having seen a successful and explosive inaugural tournament two years ago in South Africa. India defeated Pakistan in the final to become the first ever World T20 champions but the title is anyone's trophy this year with the likes of Australia, India and South Africa just as likely to win as New Zealand, West Indies and the hosts themselves. I was recently asked who I thought would win the competition. I couldn't possibly answer with any confidence, although being a betting man, I have placed a ?20 bet on the mix of experience and youth of Sri Lanka.

This blog will bring you up-to-date with all the happenings before, during and after the competition. Who will be the star of the tournament? Who will be the flunk of the tournament? Controversy, excitement and sixes, read about them all here with me, Jack 'As talented as Hobbs' Teague.

I'm off to chat-up the exotic looking lady I noticed at the bar earlier. Wish me luck. This is Jack Teague ahead of the World T20 in England, reporting for the Daily Mail, saying 'over and out' until tomorrow morning.

---------------------------

This will be played on Ashes Cricket 2009. I have no idea how this will pan out as I have only played one game on AC after getting it at Christmas and am currently away from my PS3 until Sunday evening. Hopefully all will go well and this will be an interesting story.

 

[Ollie_H]

Love your stories, always HQ, don't expect this one to be any different!

 

[Highlander999]

Wait? So you work for the Daily Mail? Your career has just failed then

 

[treva]

My pay says otherwise

 

[treva]

Blog Entry #2

Sunday, May 31, 2009
11:23 AM | Good morning all. Here is entry two of my Twenty20 World Championship blog. After an evening that saw me drink endless amounts of alcohol and start a fight with a 6ft 7in bulldozer of a man I am sat on my bed with a pint of water by my side and two paracetamol tablets having been consumed.

The first news of the day comes from the England camp where James Anderson has picked up a slight calf strain and is unlikely to feature in any of England's warm-up games against Scotland (Tuesday) and West Indies (Wednesday).

Speaking of warm-up matches we have four games tomorrow, the most inviting of all being Pakistan vs South Africa at Trent Bridge. A Pakistani friend of mine has ensured me that they will be a major challenger once again this year. I am, however, less confident. Let’s take a look at Pakistan's key players. Shahid Afridi is definitely on the decline. Despite his almost untouchable nature in Pakistan even the fans are becoming restless with his below-par performances. Then you have Younis Khan, an accomplished batsman who looks uncomfortable with the task of leading an expecting nation. Shoaib Akthar has had a troublesome few years and is out of the competition after a genital wart condition (Please, no jokes. I was able to restrain myself, you can as well). There are several shining lights for the beaten finalists from 2007. Misbah Ul-Haq was one of the batsmen of the tournament in 2007 and will continue to score quick runs whilst looking exquisite at the crease. Mohammad Aamer is an exciting teenager who possesses pace as well as accurate swing and will head the bowling attack this summer.

On the other hand South Africa are a finely tuned machine with experience, youth, pace, power and fielding prowess. I'm going to give my first prediction of the blog. If I get any of the scores spot on you all owe me a ?1 each.

Pakistan 167/7 to lose to South Africa 168/4 by 6 wickets.

You heard it here first folks. After a quick toilet break I will return with my predictions for the other warm-up games available to watch on Sky Sports tomorrow (50p per every Sky Sports mention).

 

[Biggy]

After a quick toilet break I will return with my predictions for the other warm-up games

Does somebody wanna go check on Trev? He's been in there an awfully long time.

 

[mattfb]

This is looks real good. I love your writing. Looking forward to this, kiu!

 

[treva]

Blog Entry #3

Sunday, May 31, 2009
11:37 AM | Right, onto the three other matches that will be played tomorrow. The second tie between two test playing nations comes at Lord's in the evening between India and New Zealand.

India won the inaugural T20 World Championship two years ago but will find it extremely difficult to keep hold of their title. India boast some of the most explosive twenty20 players in the world. MS Dhoni will captain the side as well as hold an important role as wicket keeper-batsman and Indian hero. Sachin Tendulkar will be missed as well as Sourav Ganguly an Virender Sehwag. Instead it will be up to the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan. In the bowling department Harbajhan Singh will need to be on top form in an attack that is likely to leak runs. Ishant Sharma will be tricky to face on English surfaces that will move about off the seam.

New Zealand will rely heavily upon wicket keeper-batsman Brendon McCullum. The bulk of their runs will have to come from the explosive McCullum and Ross Taylor with the jury still out on Martin Guptil and Aaron Redmond. Daniel Vettori, like his Indian counterpart, will have to take the majority of New Zealand's wickets if they are to compete in the tournament.

My prediction:

India 183/8 to beat New Zealand 157/10 by 26 runs

As I type my phone rings for the third time. It seems to be the boss and if I continue to ignore him he'll simply fire me. I imagine he's just read the hotel bill from last night. Once I've been verbally abused by my boss I'll return with my third blog entry in an hour with my predictions for the final two warm-up games shown live on Sky Sports (Whey, ?1 up already).

 

[Jakester1288]

Does somebody wanna go check on Trev? He's been in there an awfully long time.

He was on a plane to Detroit, TBH.

 

[treva]

Blog Entry #4

Sunday, May 31, 2009
11:56 AM | There's only one thing worse than an angry boss an that's an angry wife. Apparently I am to blame for just about everything that has gone wrong since I left the house yesterday.

Anyway, back to my review and predictions of the final two warm-up matches tomorrow. The first game of the day at Trent Bridge sees the ODI World Champions Australia take on Bangladesh, who are no longer to be noted as minnows.

I won't insult Australian cricket fans further (However, if the opportunity rises again I will not be so kind) by stating that 'Australia are no longer the team they once were following the retirements of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and co'. Instead I will look at their ability, which still ranks them among the best nations. They have a superb balance of aggressive and thoughtful batsmen as well as powerful and accurate bowlers. David Warner could well prove to be the man to fill Matthew Hayden's massive hole and he will be instructed to smash the ball to all parts during the opening powerplay overs. Nathan Bracken and Mitchell Johnson will be the key to the Australian bowling line-up whilst Brett Lee will be searching for a return to his best form during the competition.

Bangladesh on the other hand are a team builing for the future. Bangladesh have arguably the most talented young batsmen in the world boasting the likes of Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed and Junaid Siddique. They also possess some excellent spin bowlers including the exciting 21 year-old Shakib Al Hasan. Bangladesh's problems lie within their inconsistent seam attack consisting of Mashrafe Mortaza, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain and Rubel Hossain. If the Bangladeshi's are to challenge the top nations then they will need to perform to the top of their ability in every aspect of the game.

I predict Bangladesh 157/8 to lose to Australia 160/5 by 5 wickets.

At Lord's Ireland and Netherlands face-off in the battle of the two minnow giants. Ireland proved at the World Cup that they are no pushovers and are the best of the non-Test playing nations in terms of general cricketing ability.
William Porterfield and Jeremy Bray head the batting line-up with Trent Johnson and 6ft 7in Boyd Rankin likely to take the new ball.

Netherlands are an unknown entity and will be looking to use the element of surprise to win games. Ryan ten Doeschate of Essex and Dirk Nannes of Middlesex will be highlighted as major threats with little knowledge of the rest of the team working to their advantage.

My final prediction of the day is Ireland 141/7 to beat Netherlands 132/10 by 9 runs.

For those of you who aren't travelling to Lord's or Trent Bridge tomorrow can enjoy two games live on Sky Sports, also available in HD.

Time for some lunch, me thinks. Ciao for now,
Teague.

 

[dajesmac]

David Warner could well prove to be the man to fill Matthew Hayden's massive hole
[/FONT]

Sayy whaaaaa

an he will be instructed to smash the ball to all parts

Good Lord! :help

 

[treva]

Sayy whaaaaa



Good Lord! :help

Note this is before the T20 WC and not now. I have to write it that way to make sense. Obviously he didn't turn out to be the next Hayden but he did promise a lot.

 

[treva]

Blog Entry #5

Sunday, May 31, 2009
15:23 PM | I return having gulped down some Bangers and Mash topped off with a chocolate brownie cake with cream. Enough about my food though. I have given my predictions on what I think will happen tomorrow but here are a few things, in 'Mock the Week' style, that are unlikely to happen during the tournament:


- The opening ceremony to consist of a small girl lip-syncing 'God Save the Queen' by the Sex Pistols whilst an ugly child sings the words back stage.

- Aliens abduct the Scottish team only to replace them with cricketing robots of amazing ability.

- Darrell Hair to make a surprising return only to cause uproar by accusing an umpire of ball tampering.

- Ricky Ponting won't complain about anything and will look as if he is enjoying cricket rather than being a grumpy bitch.

And now a few things I'd like to see:


- Someone looking to play the Dilshan scoop shot only to smash the ball into his own grill.

- An over full of wickets. We've had 6 sixes in an over, why not 6 wickets?

- Lasith Malinga lets the ball go way to early and hits the umpire behind him in the nads.

- The Mongoose T20 specialist bat used by a batsman as he smashes a six with his very first ball


This will be my last entry of the day, but tomorrow I'll bring you live action from both games at Lords' as well as reports from the other two games at Trent Bridge. So please join me tomorrow for all the action, plus team news and my usual witty writing style.

Teague, out.

 

[Ollie_H]

- Lasith Malinga lets the ball go way to early and hits the umpire behind him in the nads.

That gave me a little giggle, well written!

 

[treva]

Blog Entry #6

Monday, June 1, 2009
13:28 PM | Good afternoon all, unless you live in Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, then I imagine it is evening time. I am sat in the beautiful press box at Lord’s awaiting the start of the Ireland-Netherlands warm-up game ahead of the second Twenty20 World Championship on Friday.

The teams are out on the pitch so I’ll briefly give you the team lists before getting straight into the action.

Ireland: W.Porterfield*, J.Bray, P.Stirling, A.Botha, K.O’Brien, G.Wilson+, T.Johnson, R.West, K.McCallan, P.Connell, B.Rankin.

Netherlands: D.Reekers, A.Kervezee, B.Zuiderent, E.Szwarczynski, R.ten Doeschate, D.van Bunge, J.Smits*+, P.Borren, T.de Grooth, E.Schiferli, D.Nannes.

As the fielding team settle into their positions I’ll give you the news from the toss. William Porterfield called tails successfully and decided to bat first on a pitch in it for both bowlers and batsmen. Porterfield himself has taken guard at the strikers end and we are almost ready to start. This page will be updated every over so if the page does not automatically refresh for you then click

to manually refresh the page.

1st OVER: Ireland 4/0
An uneventful first over as Ireland’s openers get settled. Porterfield deflects his first ball from Nannes down to third man for a single before Bray gets off the mark with a push through the leg side for two. Bray picks up the ball off the last ball of the over to keep the strike.

2nd OVER: Ireland 8/0
Ireland’s openers continue to take it steady as Bray scores three runs in the over. Porterfield decides he would like some more of the strike as they pinch a tight single off the final ball.

3rd OVER: Ireland 18/0
Finally Bray and Porterfield cut lose as they score 10 off the over. Porterfield breaks the offside twice but only picks up two runs on both occasions. The Netherlands captain makes an error behind the sticks as the Irish pair pick up three byes.

4th OVER: Ireland 25/0
Still no sign of a boundary but the twos are racking up. Porterfield sneaks a single at the beginning of the over and after a couple of dot balls Bray hits three consecutive twos. The run rate is at just over six an over.

5th OVER: Ireland 27/1 – Wicket: J.Bray b. D.Nannes 13 (19)
A brilliant over from Australian born Dirk Nannes as he concedes just two runs and picks up the first wicket of the game. Bray looks to break the shackles by giving himself some room to hit over the offside but gets done for pace as his off stump is sent flying. The next man in is Paul Stirling and he gets off the mark with a single straight away.

TRENT BRIDGE UPDATE: Australia 36/2
Bangladesh won the toss at Trent Bridge and decided to bowl first and have started well. Australia are just dealing in boundaries but have lost both openers. Shane Watson was run out after a terrible mix-up with partner Brad Haddin. Haddin then edged to Rahim on 5 before Symonds smashed his first 3 balls for four. Symonds then butchered a no ball for six over mid wicket to put Australia on 36/2 after 5.

6th OVER: Ireland 34/2 – Wicket: W.Porterfield c. A.Kerverzee b. E.Schiferli 15 (13)
Back at Lord’s and Netherlands take another wicket. This time it’s the Irish skipper who drills the ball straight to Kervezee at cover having already hit the first boundary of the game earlier in the over. A wicket a piece now for the Dutch (well, Dutch and Aussie) opening bowlers.

7th OVER: Ireland 37/2
A quiet over after the loss of the captain. Stirling and Botha knock it about a little before Nannes produces a ripper of a delivery off the final ball that smashes into Botha’s chest. That’ll sting tomorrow, although I imagine it hurts a fair deal right now.

8th OVER: Ireland 43/2
After a wide off the first ball Schiferli keeps it tight only to see his fourth legitimate ball smashed back over his head by Stirling for only the second four of the innings. For those stats guys out there that’s a four every 4 overs.

9th OVER: Ireland 48/2
Ryan ten Doeschate comes on to bowl as the runs dry up for Ireland as Botha and Stirling pick up a couple of singles each. Another wide makes it five runs from the over with Netherlands well and truly on top.

10th OVER: Ireland 58/2
BANG, and just like that Botha ups the tempo with a massive six into the leg side. Short by Borren as he sees his first ball sail way over the ropes. He comes back well and concedes just four runs from the next 5 balls. The teams take drinks at the half-way stage.

TRENT BRIDGE UPDATE: Australia 88/2
Classic Symonds at Trent Bridge. Whilst the Bangladeshi bowlers struggle with no balls the Aussie power-house is destroying them all over the park. The big man has hit 3 sixes but has struggled to beat the in-field when he hasn’t been hitting the boundaries. Ponting has moved along to 24* whilst Symonds is just 2 short of his fifty. The Bangladeshi spinners have been ineffective so far which will worry Ashraful. Australia set to score 180+.

Botha knocks the ball into the leg side​