HK 6s

No Warwickshire players in the England side this time (Maddy and Trott have done this in the past) in the HK 6s Tournament which England won last year. This year it was South Africa vs the hosts in the final...

Moles in trouble as NZ coach (updated)

Andy Moles has received the backing of New Zealand Cricket (hopefully not the kind of backing football club chairmen give their embattled managers) after it was reported senior players were not happy with him as head coach and felt he wasn't up to it. Moles will continue as coach for the NZ tour to UAE to play Pakistan but there would be a review of the team's performance.

Update Oct 24 : And thats it! Andy Moles quits as NZ coach.

World 2020

The World 2020 has begun, or at least the practice games have begun. Oddly these are being televised by Sky in lieu of showing the domestic competition. So South Africa vs Pakistan in a practice game wins over, say, Warks vs Northants. Mind you the Bears lost so it was just for the best.

Its interesting to see the difference though between how T20 is played here and abroad, here its often the nudge and angle, overseas they like to whack the ball in the air and over the boundary. Different conditions apply though of course but i wonder if the domestic T20 is starting to get too serious. There is too much at stake now and some of the fun of the earlier seasons has been lost. Bring back the hot tub, the Neil Carter speed dating and the other razamatazz!

England return home after Mumbai terror attacks

England are to return home after the final 2 ODIs in their series were cancelled in the wake of the terror attacks in Mumbai. They may return for the 2 tests later in the year though as one was to be held in Mumbai that may need re-thinking. The T20 Champions League was due to begin next week and Mumbai was one of the venues but this has now been postponed until the new year.

Someone who had a close shave is Worcestershire's Kabir Ali who was meant to be in the Taj Mahal hotel at the time of the attacks but instead chose to see a movie instead.

Well done to Tendulkar

Of course a well done to Sachin Tendulkar who broke the record for runs scored in test matches in the current test match between India and Australia. He just needed 15 runs to bear Brian Lara's 11,953 and ended up with 88 so becoming the first (and so far only) player to pass 12,000 runs. An amazing achievement and you wonder, with test cricket getting gradually squeezed by the seemingly insatiable demand for T20 and ODI cricket, whether another will top him. Well Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid might but they are both still a long way behind.

Bell watch - fourth ODI vs South Africa

England go 4-0 up in the series but not the best of days for IR Bell in this rain affected game. 13 runs only, but in the context of a target of 137 not that bad, and a catch. Fair to middling day in the office.

Bell watch - third ODI vs South Africa

An excellent day in the office, lets see the critics put the dampener on this one (though i'm sure they will try!) 73 runs including 11 4s and a 6 with a strike rate of 94.8 as England won the series against a strangely off-colour South Africa.

Bell watch - second ODI vs South Africa

South Africa 83ao, England 85-0

South Africa, are you Warwickshire in disguise? Another good day in the office for Bell, 28 unbeaten runs (still some commentator moans of course) and a near run-out.

Bell watch - first ODI vs South Africa

Not a bad day at the office, 35 runs, a run-out and a catch. Of course the commentators are moaning. IR Bell could singlehandedly end global warming, cure cancer and end world poverty and still people would moan.

Should the Champions Trophy be in Pakistan

Various countries are umming and ahhing about whether to go to the Champions Trophy in Pakistan considering the "security situation" in the country, England received a briefing on the security measures from the ICC today. Apparently Sri Lanka, a country wracked by civil war and terrorism, is hilariously on standby to be the alternative venue. I suspect if the IPL or Champions League was being played in Pakistan everyone would be going there without a second thought.

Unfortunately most countries in the cricket world have some sort of strife or internal problems including this one with it's dozens of active terrorist cells if you believe the authorities (which i don't personally).

Scotland vs England - Poonia falls

NS Poonia c Patel b Bresnan 0 (3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Oh dear.

Test cricket : "They're dying Jim." "Let them die!"

Test cricket is under attack from the new kid on the block (well 5 or so years old kid) Twenty20 of course. Apart from here and Australia test match attendances are rather low, pitifully low in some cases so the England desire to keep test match cricket special is not really shared by some other countries, especially India who now run the game (de-facto).

The T20 Champions League has been rescheduled and now clashes with England's test series in India in December. The Champions League final will be the day before the first test starts which could make for some interesting overnight travel for some players. Boards such as Australia and South Africa maybe are more keen on protecting test cricket but they need the cash from joining the Indian-led T20 money train.

So what should happen then, should we strive to maintain test cricket or just bow to the inevitable? Test match cricket is profitable here but unfortunately even if that remains the case here for other countries it is less of a priority and players will start to opt out of a 5 days test match grind in return for a few hours work that may yield much more money. Weaker teams and finally no teams at all may mean test match cricket dies even in England.

Still lets hope T20's amazing expansion cools down, to be honest i think T20 does need to come down a bit to remain sustainable. Unfortunately cricket is currently run like any capitalist system and short term gain is all that matters.

Scotland vs England - battle of the Bears

England have travelled up to Scotland to play them in an ODI, part of England's warm-up before their T20+ODI series against South Africa. Interestingly not only is Ian Bell lining up for England but there is a Warks player lining up for Scotland too. Navdeep Poonia of course though he hasn't been on the best of form lately only getting a couple of low scores in the last championship match against Essex (the weather made that game not the easiest to play in though, especially as an opening batsman).

The weather could be a problem today too, the forecast doesn't look too promising. Currently drizzling up in Edinburgh apparently.

Members angered by Ashes ticket policy

Members have been voicing their anger on various fora because of the situation with half-memberships and Ashes tickets. The half-year memberships were introduced in May and were quite a good deal at £65 offering 70% of the season for 40% of the cost. 1000 people took up this reasonable offer and now they have equal precedence with full-members to procure Ashes tickets. This of course meant that people who paid 40% got tickets instead of people that paid 100%. This ticket policy was defended by Povey (the CEO) in the Birmingham Post.

No doubt some people have taken the half-membership just to get Ashes tickets (one caller to the radio a few days ago admitted it) and in some cases the member discount they can get is greater than the £65 the half-membership costs. You do the math. Some full-time members have also said they will consider getting a half-membership next year instead though Povey says it may not be offered again.

I'm not that interested in test match tickets though to be honest, i prefer watching it on TV. The first 2 times i went to Edgbaston (and saw live cricket) were in tests though. The first time was New Zealand a long time ago (Hadlee was still playing) and the second to see the WI destroy England. I saw Atherton come out like a man coming out to a firing squad and i got badly sunburnt. Hooray!

T20 for Olympics 2020?

The Aussies are leading a growing campaign to get the T20 form of cricket into the Olympics in time for 2020, obviously they know its 1 more guaranteed gold medal. Adam Gilchrist is leading the push to return cricket to the Olympics. It was in the original games of course, though cricket not being back since means England comfortably remain Olympic cricket champions. Steve Waugh has added himself to the campaign.

Cricket should be in the Olympics to be honest, its a much bigger sport than some that are in already. So why not? 2020 is some way off of course, 12 years though someone like Alistair Cook could feasibly feature in it. It could be a teenager currently playing county cricket today could be leading England to Olympic glory in Pyongyang or wherever the 2020 Olympics are held.