In a very interesting development, the IPL has been moved outside India, probably to England! That's a real revolutionary move. After the Indian central govt. indulged in petty politics and hemmed and hawed about the security arrangements, this was the best decision to take.

This will ensure greater participation and a better coverage for IPL. Overall a good decision (for once) by the Indian cricket board. If this comes through, it will help in better relations between the various cricket boards.

But the downside of this decision is - it will probably jeopardise the holding of the World cup in the sub-continent.

Hmmm .. I guess it's not suprising that they decided to move it but it is sad that cricket even needs security.

We've all been quiet in this thread lately - I think the attacks on the Sir Lankan team sucked all the fun out of cricket for a while.

Good to see Simon Taufel umpiring agani in NZ and Steve Bucknow has had his last test in SA and not before time.

Australia beated by an innings for the first time since 1998. SA played welll but it didn't look like Aust really cared. I think it's been too long a summer for them.

And Harris got the man of the match and bucked a trend in sports nowadays to give the credit to someone else. I love it when sonmeone comes out and says "Gosh I played great today "

Quote:

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Kallis: "It's [captaincy] a tough job but it was made easier by guys giving advice around. The guys played well from the start. It was a fantastic stuff from Harris.

Harris "I have played good cricket and enjoyed it really well. "

Johnson is the Man of the series: "I have enjoyed it. Lot of credit has to go team our bowling attack stuck together and I fed off it.; ".

Ponting: " Full credit to South Africa for playing as well as they did here. Our batting was not up to it in the first innings. Full credit to] both the teams; the standard of cricket was very attractive.

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Mitchell Johnson got a century .. [retty much cements his all-rounder status.

England women won the Women's cricket World Cup yesterday too.

Anyone else ever seen New Zealand's new fledgling batting star Jesse Ryder and Irish Ryder Cup golf player Darren Clarke in the same room ? They could be twins - though Daren is about 20 years old than the Kiwi!

Can't believe that James Franklin is holding down a Test batting spot at 6 - but it looks as if he's improved exponentially with the bat over the past year.

Who will win the series, India or New Zealand?

Almost forgot about this thread.

AM watching the SA/Aus ODI at the moment and SA are putting on a pretty good score. I'm home alone tonight and have the day off tomorrow - I actually plan to watch it all even if it is a 2am finish.

What does everyone think about women commentators?

One of the best is Donna Symmonds of the West Indies. She used to appear regularly for all the ICC events for MAX, the Indian broadcaster. She was knowledgeable, used crisp words and a clear accent and could even manage Tony Greig in the commentary box . In the T-20 world cup, instead of leaving her alone in the commentary box, ESPN asked her to do the toss/ pitch report and that's when she became nervous and really did a bad job. But as a commentator, she is as good as anyone else in the job.

The other lady in cricket whom Indians are familiar with is Mandira Bedi, who was the prime reason for making women interested in cricket. She revolutionised cricket broadcasting in India, which was usually a drab affair. She brought in a lot of colour and though she looks empty-headed, she can hold her own with Geoff Boycott, Ian Chappell and Tony Greig. But she is not a commentator, she is only a TV co-presenter.

I know there is a woman commentator for the SA/Aus series. Is that Kris Naidoo? I have seen here doing the post-match presentations and she seemed to be good. I must tune in to the present match and try and catch her on air

I don't know her name, Deepak, I keep missing it. She is on now and I am enjoying her commentating. A couple of ODI's ago the man she was commentating with hardly let her get a word in but Courtenay Walsh is playing fair and they seem to have a good raporte.

I remember one in the last Aus tour to INdia and thought she did a good job too.

There was a female commentator in an NRL match on the weekend and it was shocking - just seemed wrong but I do like them in cricket.

SA got 317 and Australia are now 5/188 - in the first partnership the Australians looked they were going to get the total easily but now it's 5/188 and it's not looking so sure.

Michael Hussey out of 2, LBW. Starting to get worried about his inclusion in the Ashes.

I missed the match. I was busy with something, by the time I changed channels the match was over and the presentation function was on.

Same thing happened to me too, yesterday .....IPL 2 starting soon.....in South Africa this time....anybody looking forward to it? (especially with English players in it now and all that...)

Unless it is on PayTV I won't take much notice. Although it will be more interesting to see how the Pommie players are going and how the whole comp is going in SA.

Pet peeve time.
People who walk in front of the sight screen.
I think they should start to shoot them .. I reckon people will start to think twice then ...

Just watching the start of the Aus/Pak game tonight .. anyone else? Good to see Pakistan playing really. Nice looking stadium too.

Sounds like there is a fair crowd there but you can't really see them
Shoiab Aktar seems to have really thickened up lately .. has a limp but still seems ot have the speed.

Marsh has an early hamstring problem and has a runner on.
I think the Australian team is still too haphazard and it's too close to the Ashes for them to really gel as they should be.

First wicket, Marsh (and runner) runout. 1-41 having a runner always makes a runout more likely.

Am quite excited about the prospect of a "home" tour from Pakistan on New Zealand soil. I think that could be a very evenly matched series.

Amidst all the coverage of Test Matches and the IPL and the 20twenty world cup coming up, the local domestic cricket here in England is easily overlooked. But yesterday I was flicking through the sports channels and stumbled upon a Friends Provident group match between Middlesex and Kent. I thought I'd watch a few overs but ended up watching some of the best batting I have ever seen, not by big name seasoned pro's but by 2 Middlesex youngsters, Nick Compton and Eoin Morgan. They came together at 30 for 2 and put on 277 runs before they were both out in the same over. Morgan hit 161, Compton 131.
It was Morgan who took the eye and played some fantastic shots (see the link for an example). He surely is destined for the Test team very soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuB4lstPbIs&NR=1

I don't post here much since I don't know much about cricket, but I just had to mention the Dutch win over England at the Twenty20 World Cup that just started. How exciting! Who knows, cricket might finally get some air time here now.

LOL, I was thinking of you this morning. It was exciting! I only saw the last five overs of the game but the Dutch looked in good form.

Shades of that NZ game earlier in the year when the Poms did the same thing .. overthrows on the last ball? Ooops.

Yes, what Leau said. It was nowhere in the news, not in the sports headlines, but hidden in the 'miscellaneous' section, somewhere between the darts results.
I think they deserved better than that.
Luckily the BBC showed the final overs. What a fascinating game!

Thats an amazing result! I was sure that England had won, that I didnt bother to check the score. I got the news from here.

Unfortunately, the timings are a problem for me. The matched started at 10pm and would have gone on till 1/1:30. So probably I have to miss most of the late starting matches. So now, England vs Pakistan becomes a do or die match for England!

I guess that's one of the 'beauties' of 20/20 cricket. Because there is such an element of chance involved, the 'minnows' are just as much a threat as the traditional 'heavies'. Take the Scotland vs New Zealand game - it was reduced to 7 overs a side, and Scotland just came out swinging, racking up 89 uns in their allotted overs. It was only due to a couple of poor overs and untidy fielding that New Zealand managed to snatch the win. Scottish slow-medium bowler Watson bowled the 3rd last over, and bowled 5 'dot' balls, with the other one being a dropped catch which was accidentally booted for 4 by Drummond!
And as for Australia, perhaps Andrew Symonds' sacking may have upset the team, but they were outplayed by a committed West Indian team, notably Gayle and Fletcher. After England gave WI a pasting in the lead-up series, it was good to see them come back. And particularly good for me, because I backed them to beat Australia!

Big big match today for India. If they lose, they go home. And so far, the start has been average. Pietersen is looking ominous and the Indians are looking nervous. Looks like everything depends on the batting now.

Well, India gone but at least they lasted longer than Australia. But don't worry, even if Ricky Ponting says not, we have excuses and lots of them. Symonds/mind on the Ashes/who cares about T20 anyway?

I've been enjoying watching some of the games and it's been good to see Ireland and the Netherlands being competitive. Test will always be my favourite form of the game but Twenty20 is growing on me.

I watched the India batting innings this morning and they just got bogged down there and couldn't get out of the habit of getting singles. When that six got hit of the third last ball I reckon the whole stadium held their breath.

India out - England played wonderful cricket and deserved to win. With apologies to English friends - if you can't beat England, how can you hope to defend a title? Anyuway, the better team won and India can't even return home, they have to stay there to be thrashed by the Springboks.

Jadeja was the villain who spoilt the show, with his mindlessly slow batting. And Dhoni is no longer captain cool, he seems to be under tremendous pressure, thanks to the Sehwag controversy.

South Africa is crediting IPL for their good performance, but India also needs to credit IPL for their dismal show. Too much of cricket drained them physically and mentally! Hope the stupid BCCI officials take note and reduce the number of matches India plays.

I hope South Africa win, they are a great team and poor guys have never won anything.

I agree with you, Deepak It's funny that we blame too much cricket for the overkill and fatigue factor and the South africans go about crediting the same IPL for their success But IPL did take its toll on the players (see Vettori, Ryder, Taylor for New Zealand)....

I would LOVE to see the South Africans win this one...especially since the Australians are also out, who's there to stop them in their current form? but given their "history" of choking when it matters most, I would put my money on Sri Lanka if the Lankans do reach the final (Lanka-West Indies/England in one semis while Pak-SA play the other semis).

Well, I predicted a SA vs India final, so how well am I going?

Spoiler if you're watching later
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Well, England has gone, courtesy of DL