Englandish are World Champions

So England has beaten Australia in the final of the T20 World Cup. They are World Champions. What is more they thoroughly deserved to win, England were clearly the best side on display. No contrivances. No Duckworth and Lewis. Not even a dodgy umpiring decision. England won; fair and square. Whhhooo.

There is a fly in the ointment of course. When I say ‘England’ what I actually mean is ‘People who qualify to play cricket for England’. Only one batsman in the top five (Collingwood) was born in the United Kingdom and for me at least that does take some of the gloss from the victory. The first Englishman walked to the crease with the score on 118-2. I can at least console myself in that the bowling was all done by who were born and brought up in England – and it was the bowling that really won it for England. Australia didn’t fully recover from (yet another) top order collapse. No miracle this time – happily.

A golly good thrashing

England was crushed today by South Africa. Everything about the South African game was superior: bowling, fielding, batting, confidence and I suspect mental attitude as well. It is difficult to see where England could have won that game. How to win is easy: score 200 (or maybe 175 on that wicket) and put South Africa under pressure but I don’t think England have the ability to do that. England now have to beat India and West Indies to have a chance of the semi’s - a big ask for a small team.

Australia sunk in a perfect storm

We don’t have many of these days in England. Where the weather is moody, hot and sticky. The clouds bunch up. For hours it looks like the storm will break. Eventually, all hell breaks loose – hail, thunder, lightning and flood. So it has been this year with Chris Gayle. He has spent the previous month looking stormy and moody. Hardly a smile and not many runs. Sulking at his position and the weather – not that I can blame him there. The storm finally broke yesterday with Gayle and Fletcher assaulting the Australian bowling. Australia were not so much beaten and blown away in ten overs. Chasing 170, West Indies were 120-0 after ten! Brett Lee on his return to the Australian side bowled very quickly, topping 93mph. He disappeared even more quickly with Gayle hitting him clean out of the ground and taking 27 from one over. Andre Fletcher’s contribution to the thumping should not be forgotten. He started the assault and after they had broken the back of the chase he batted sensibly – milking the bowling. A real revelation.

Gayle’s innings was not all savagery and violence. He played proper cricket shots full of style. Earlier in the day we saw McCullum and Taylor blast it for New Zealand but their innings were just slog-fests. They had none of Gayle’s class. Will we see a better innings this tournament? I hope so.

England scrape past Scotland

There have been some pretty impressive performances in the warm up matches for the ICC World Twenty20. South Africa looked mighty against Pakistan both with the bat and ball. India and New Zealand looked sharp with New Zealand recovering a poor start against Australia to make a game of it. England? Oh they demonstrated the exact set of failings you would imagine: predictable bowling that made little headway followed by a batting display that would not scare anyone – it didn’t scare Scotland that is for sure. Without KP (who survived a pretty simple LBW early on) England would have been sunk. Most of the other major sides look far superior – no surprise there then.

Performing worse that England were... the umpires. There were some pretty poor decisions out there – Afridi was caught from a chest high full toss that was not called no-ball even after a consultation. There have been quite a few run-outs not given. Thankfully we will get third umpires in the tournament proper.

Cricket Bonanza

What is the most important cricket series this summer? The Ashes of course, or is it. Well, yes it is actually. In twenty years time people will still talk about the 2009 Ashes much as they do about every other Ashes series. Whether it be a classic series or a whitewash it will be remembered for years. So where does that leave the ICC World Twenty20 cup which starts on Friday? Is it just a hit and giggle? For most of the people that take part (i.e. the cream of world cricket) the ICC World Twenty20 is the most important tournament this summer. That is because it is a shop window for the IPL and any other Twenty20 tournament that may spring up. The World Twenty20 is a deadly serious affair for those taking part – it will help decide salaries for the next few years. So expect lots of fantastic cricket, barrel loads of passion and gallons of pressure. Personally I cannot wait for the World Twenty20 to start...