Champagne Super Over - Cricket's Penalty Shoot Out

The Super Over is one thing cricket has got right. Bowling at an open set of stumps to decide a tie? Not for me.

Put into YouTube Chris Jordan Super Over and you will struggle to find any footage. Maybe because it was pretty much cricketing pornography. A super over going for just 3 runs. Chris Jordan does have an irritating habit of channeling the spirit of Jade Dernbach from time to time but like his fellow Chris of the Woakes variety he's capable of holding his nerve when it really matters. Here's hoping he gets it right if England need a Super Over at the World t20!


As much as Super Overs are great, why can't a draw be a draw in group stage games? You don't see Liverpool snatching a 90th minute equaliser against Arsenal in the Premier League to take the game to a penalty shoot-out. Lets save them for the knockout stages.

Start the Falcon!

Cricket from out of this world was the tagline for the new-look inter-planetary t20 competition and some of the cricket played was well worth its place in a galaxy far, far away. The tournament has been re-jigged over the years with the first three editions not going down very well with several purists.

This time, things were different and in the end it was the Endor Rebels who won the title after chasing down 185 to beat Galactic Empire in a thrilling final. The Rebels seemed to have an answer to everything thrown at them. Han Solo rarely failed but when he did, someone would always step up to the plate. This was perhaps most notable in the semi final where Chewbacca bludgeoned his way to 79 off just 27 balls. It was a brutal onslaught that saw him hit 32 off one over!

The Rebels were largely thankful to Han Solo, who’s 718 runs came at a swashbuckling strike rate of 174.37 and included a breathtaking 133 off 61 balls against the Tatooine Bounty Hunters. He missed out by inches on becoming the first player to hit a ball into the Mighty Sarlaac. Not bad for an ex-smuggler! The Rebels were also well led by Admiral Ackbar who set several clever traps to dismiss key opposition batsmen throughout the tournament. The brother/sister opening bowlers of Luke and Leia Skywalker bowled to these traps on their way to an impressive 47 wickets between them.

Solo’s old foe Boba Fett had a solid year behind the stumps for the Bounty Hunters, however, team owner Jabba the Hutt was not impressed with his soft dismissal in the semi final and threw him into the Great Pit of Carkoon. Rumours have been going around that he may still play in next year’s competition.

Galactic Empire should be rather satisfied with getting to the final. Before Alderaan, set to be led by Bail Organa, pulled out for unknown reasons (the Emperor is rumoured to have had something to do with it) they didn’t have a berth in the tournament. Darth Vader did little to repress the notion he’s too “old school” for the short format. His innings’ were usually characterised by a solid back foot punch through the covers. His runs did come at a strike rate over 140, although only 27 of his 495 runs came through the leg side.

The Jedi Knights were a major disappointment. Crushed by the Empire in their first home game, things didn’t improve and they went on to lose all of their remaining games. “Improve on this next season we must” was the verdict of coach Yoda. The Knights particularly suffered when Obi Wan Kenobi was banned from bowling his doosra amidst claims he was using a Jedi mind trick in his delivery stride. He was never seen again after the away game against the Galactic Empire.

t20 Dream Team Update

First of all, if you’re reading this it probably means you’re a fan of t20 Dream Team on Facebook. In which case, thank you.

This is basically an update on a few things. Firstly, the Team of the Week is proving to be great fun putting together. There aren’t any rules but merely some guidelines I like to follow, most notably a maximum of 2 players per team. This is only really possible in the Natwest Blast or when there’s more than 1 league up for selection. This lead to the creation of 12^th man. There won’t always be a 12^th man nor does there have to be. It’s for the great performance that can’t be squeezed into Team of the Week.

Unlike EA Sports, I only choose 11 players per week. It’s worth noting EA have hundreds of games to choose from. I have about 10. A player who scores 52 off 33 will be more likely to get in TotW than a player who scores 55 off 29 in a defeat. However this is not set in stone. See Michael Klinger for example (2 hundreds in a week both in a losing cause).

Secondly, there will be a small tweak for TotW at the end of July. Team of the Week 15 will take place on 23^rd July. This will be followed by a Team of the Final Round of Group Games from the Blast (TotFR). Team of the Week will resume the following Thursday but with the Royal London One Day Cup. The t20 Blast Quarter Finals will have a TotQF. There will also be Team of Finals Day. Team of Finals Day will include 3 hero cards, one for each game, as well as any record breakers from the day (if any).

Thirdly, record breakers. If Klinger or anyone else for that matter beats Jason Roy’s record of 677 runs in the tournament for example they will have a record breaker card. This will be as follows:

-          If it is broken with a none TotW contribution the RB card will be standalone

-          If it is broken with a TotW contribution the RB card will be in TotW

-          If the record is broken on Finals Day the RB card will appear in ToFD if the contribution is worthy. If not it will be in Team of the Season if the player warrants a place there.

Lastly, Paul Collingwood is closing in on 50 Durham wickets to go with 500 runs in t20 cricket. When he passes that milestone he will be rewarded with a hero card.

t20 Ultimate Team

Five years ago, EA Sports launched FIFA Ultimate Team. A game mode that allows players to build their own team of players from across the world. It works very well for football, so why not cricket? Or more specifically, t20 cricket. Nearly a year ago I did a team of the week for the Natwest Blast. Last season I, somewhat retrospectively, rated all the players in the Blast and created Cricket Ultimate Team. Over the off-season, I've tinkered with it and expanded to the IPL, CPL (Caribbean Premier League) and later in the year the BBL.

The first 2 IPL Team of the Weeks are here. Take a look.

TOTW1

TOTW2

Franchise t20 in England. The Question.

The debate about whether England should or shouldn't adopt a franchise t20 system has raised its head again in the wake of the recently concluded Australian Big Bash competition.

Personally I’m open to the idea of franchises in England but have some major concerns about it.

In the Big Bash games drew in big crowds largely due to reasonably priced tickets and the competition being held in the Christmas holidays.

In Australia, the grounds where games were played are much bigger than grounds we have here. How can you get 44,000 fans into a ground for a London Derby when the capacity of Lord’s is 28000?

The way Australia is as a country geographically means 8 teams from 6 cities works. Have 8 teams in the UK and that’s a lot of people who will lose out. One of the best bits of our competition is that you can get down to a local ground after work just in time for the start. Let’s put that into context. You finish work at 5pm in Peterborough. The match at Northampton starts at 6:30. Simple (even with being stuck behind a lorry down most of the A605).

Now let’s try that again for a franchise competition. You finish work at 5pm in Peterborough. The match at Nottingham (the nearest franchise) starts at 6:30. More difficult.

If the Warwickshire/Worcestershire franchise played the Notts/Northants/Leicestershire franchise, is there a guarantee that more fans would turn up for it than they would for a Notts vs Worcestershire game?

The Test Series After Party (Or Main Event if Your Indian) Part 1

With Test Matches done for the summer, England's attention turns to white ball cricket. India's attention has probably been there since they produced a performance worthy of the occupants of the 'other' Old Trafford back in Manchester. There was a same old, same old feel to the squad announced for the one-dayers. A squad without Ravi Bopara. Thats the all-rounder Ravi Bopara who can hurry through ten overs of economical medium pace bowling and then clear the boundary with consummate ease.

Hales in action for Notts

The inclusion of Alex Hales in the squad is at least a positive move, but then he was in the squad for the Sri Lanka ODI's but didn't even play when Cook missed out through injury. Alex Hales has proven in County Cricket this summer that there is more to his game than just t20. In fact its become hard to not think he can open in all three formats for England in a way David Warner does for Australia.

England have scheduled plenty of ODI's over the coming months to prepare for the World Cup. Being in Australia where par is, more times than not, 300 "power hitters" should be in the minds of the selectors. Preserving wickets for an assault in the last 10 overs may well work fine in England but in Australia 60-3 after ten overs is better than 31-0. If England really are serious about preparing for this World Cup, the pitches in this India series should mimic those that will be encountered in Australia. I'd like to see the likes of Vince, Roy and Willey seriously considered to the extent where at least 2 of them will be on the plane to Australia.

Blast Off!

The changes to the domestic t20 game for 2014 were initially greeted with a mixed reception. Personally I wasn’t too fussed by the name (Natwest t20 Blast) and I especially like the “Friday night is t20 night” vibe coming from the ECB. However whether or not the new two groups of nine proves more successful than three groups of six remains to be seen.

I got my first taste of the new look t20 competition at Lord’s where Middlesex took on Essex and then Sussex in a double header. The two games were unbelievably contrasting. Firstly Essex, led by Mark Pettini’s 95*, superbly chased down 180. The pitch took a dramatic turn between games and Sussex ended up defending a modest 128.

As is the way with t20 these days, the Cricket is accompanied by other novelties. The music, part of t20 since the early days, has been kept up to date with present hits (a.k.a songs I don’t know!) with the old classics (Chelsea Dagger for example) still getting a spin. Flamethrowers shoot into the air with every boundary and wicket, while drummers provide piece of the pre-game entertainment. During the match “Blast breaks” now take place. In essence, volunteers throw t-shirts into the crowd between certain overs.

So far then, the Natwest t20 Blast has left a good first impression on me. Next stop: Northampton on Friday.

Team of the Week

There were some impressive performances over the first weekend of action. Here is my FIFA Ultimate Team style team of the week...
Dawid Malan (Middlesex) 86* vs Essex

Mark Pettini (Essex) 95* vs Middlesex

Calum MacLeod (Durham) 80 vs Worcestershire

Scott Styris (Leicestershire) 63 vs Derbyshire

Paul Collingwood (Durham) 62 & 3-29 vs Worcestershire

Samit Patel (Notts) 56 & 2-25 vs Lancashire

Ben Duckett (Northants) 39* vs Yorkshire (wk)

Ian Butler (Northants) 4-25 vs Yorkshire

Will Owen (Glamorgan) 3-32 vs Hampshire

Steffan Piolet  (Sussex) 4-0-15-2 vs Middlesex

Dirk Nannes (Somerset) 4-21 vs Gloucestershire

The argument against franchises

It’s good to see the ECB haven’t bowed down to franchises for the domestic t20 competition. Here are two arguments against franchises;
1) The current format allows people to get to a t20 game straight after work and be home in good time. If you had, for example, 8 franchises each based at 8 major grounds (Lord’s, Oval, Edgbaston, Old Trafford, Headingley, Trent Bridge, Ageas Bowl and the SWALEC Stadium) you’d lose that convenience factor. If the ECB went to 8 major franchises, how could Joe Soap  who works 20 odd miles away from Taunton get down to a t20 game after work if his nearest teams were based in Wales and Southampton!?

2) The IPL may be full of superstar players, but none of the teams in it can call themselves underdogs. Let’s not forget, humble Northants are the defending t20 in England and their victory last year was a true underdog story.

Final Over

For t20 Cricket, an IPL game seems to take forever to get through. A seemingly unnecessary amount of time is taken between consecutive deliveries being bowled. I don’t understand why there has to be two Strategic Timeouts in an innings. They seem to slow the game down. Why the IPL doesn’t have a 1 hour 20 minute timeframe for an innings is beyond me. Then again, it is a competition derived by the BCCI!