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ICC T20 World Cup 2012

MUSICAL CHAIRS IN COACHING SPREADS CRICKETING GOSPEL
Off the field in Sri Lanka, there has been a spirit of co-operation that is robbing the cricket world of half its secrets in the best possible manner

In the ICC World Twenty20, no quarter is asked for and none given. The format and scheduling have shown that you could be sent packing from the tournament with just one bad day. In the case of Zimbabwe, their entire tournament lasted three days, and they were on the way back home before five of the 12 teams had even played their first game of the tournament.

In Group D – half humourously referred to as the Group of Death – New Zealand find themselves in the Super Eights with one win and two points, while Pakistan, who have achieved the same, still need to beat Bangladesh to get through. One slip up, and one of the most dangerous teams of the tournament could be sent packing.

While the action on the field has been brutal – nowhere more apparent than in India’s comprehensive thrashing of England at the R Premadasa Stadium – off the field, there has been a spirit of co-operation that is robbing the cricket world of half its secrets, in the best possible manner. This is, of course, happening through the coaching and support staff of various teams, who have often slipped seamlessly from the home camp to the ‘enemy’ camp, taking with them immense knowledge of players.

This was most apparent on Monday at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, when Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan offspinner and the man who made the doosra famous, was in Bangladesh’s corner, speaking to their batsmen about how to pick the spin of Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi.

“Of course, it’s a big boost for us to have Saqlain Mushtaq with us,” admitted Mushfiqur Rahim, on the work his team’s bowling coach was doing. “He is telling us how to read Ajmal, Afridi, (Umar) Gul and (Mohammad) Hafeez. But the application of it will depend on us. If we can do that, it’ll be an interesting game tomorrow.”

Saqlain is far from unique in this regard. In the opposite dressing-room, Dav Whatmore, who is now coaching Pakistan, spent four years coaching Bangladesh, knows each of Mushfiqur’s players inside out. While Pakistan’s bowling attack may not need the inside information, it won’t hurt to have knowledge of specific weaknesses and strengths of individual batsmen.

Away from Pallekele, there are several other coaches and support staff who have travelled far and wide in a bid to spread the cricketing gospel. Duncan Fletcher, who now coaches India, was spotted warmly shaking Nasser Hussain’s hand ahead of England’s match against India. After all, Hussain and Fletcher had worked together with England. Add to this the fact that Fletcher was South Africa’s batting consultant, and you have a man in the Indian dressing-room who has intimate knowledge about two of India’s biggest opponents.

If India benefit from having Fletcher in-house, the playing field was levelled with the departure of Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton after their successful campaign in the ICC World Cup 2011. While Gary spent hours helping batsmen deal with the recurring technical challenges that the world game throws up, Upton was in charge of the mental aspects of India’s preparation and play. While there are naturally things that will stay confidential, despite Kirsten now being South Africa’s head coach and Upton the country’s high performance manager, the insight the two have on India’s players is undeniable, given that they lived, travelled and roomed with them for three intense years.

The list is longer and includes Graham Ford (South Africa to Sri Lanka), Allan Donald (England to South Africa), Mickey Arthur (South Africa to Australia), Ottis Gibson (England to West Indies), Steve Rixon (New Zealand to Australia) and Trevor Penney (Sri Lanka to India).

The beauty of this is that even this situation won’t remain for long. If you looked at this list a couple of years down the road, the soundtrack of cricket would have played out longer, and very few would be in the same place in this game of coaching musical chairs.

MUSICAL CHAIRS IN COACHING SPREADS CRICKETING GOSPEL
Off the field in Sri Lanka, there has been a spirit of co-operation that is robbing the cricket world of half its secrets in the best possible manner

In the ICC World Twenty20, no quarter is asked for and none given. The format and scheduling have shown that you could be sent packing from the tournament with just one bad day. In the case of Zimbabwe, their entire tournament lasted three days, and they were on the way back home before five of the 12 teams had even played their first game of the tournament.

In Group D – half humourously referred to as the Group of Death – New Zealand find themselves in the Super Eights with one win and two points, while Pakistan, who have achieved the same, still need to beat Bangladesh to get through. One slip up, and one of the most dangerous teams of the tournament could be sent packing.

While the action on the field has been brutal – nowhere more apparent than in India’s comprehensive thrashing of England at the R Premadasa Stadium – off the field, there has been a spirit of co-operation that is robbing the cricket world of half its secrets, in the best possible manner. This is, of course, happening through the coaching and support staff of various teams, who have often slipped seamlessly from the home camp to the ‘enemy’ camp, taking with them immense knowledge of players.

This was most apparent on Monday at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, when Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan offspinner and the man who made the doosra famous, was in Bangladesh’s corner, speaking to their batsmen about how to pick the spin of Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi.

“Of course, it’s a big boost for us to have Saqlain Mushtaq with us,” admitted Mushfiqur Rahim, on the work his team’s bowling coach was doing. “He is telling us how to read Ajmal, Afridi, (Umar) Gul and (Mohammad) Hafeez. But the application of it will depend on us. If we can do that, it’ll be an interesting game tomorrow.”

Saqlain is far from unique in this regard. In the opposite dressing-room, Dav Whatmore, who is now coaching Pakistan, spent four years coaching Bangladesh, knows each of Mushfiqur’s players inside out. While Pakistan’s bowling attack may not need the inside information, it won’t hurt to have knowledge of specific weaknesses and strengths of individual batsmen.

Away from Pallekele, there are several other coaches and support staff who have travelled far and wide in a bid to spread the cricketing gospel. Duncan Fletcher, who now coaches India, was spotted warmly shaking Nasser Hussain’s hand ahead of England’s match against India. After all, Hussain and Fletcher had worked together with England. Add to this the fact that Fletcher was South Africa’s batting consultant, and you have a man in the Indian dressing-room who has intimate knowledge about two of India’s biggest opponents.

If India benefit from having Fletcher in-house, the playing field was levelled with the departure of Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton after their successful campaign in the ICC World Cup 2011. While Gary spent hours helping batsmen deal with the recurring technical challenges that the world game throws up, Upton was in charge of the mental aspects of India’s preparation and play. While there are naturally things that will stay confidential, despite Kirsten now being South Africa’s head coach and Upton the country’s high performance manager, the insight the two have on India’s players is undeniable, given that they lived, travelled and roomed with them for three intense years.

The list is longer and includes Graham Ford (South Africa to Sri Lanka), Allan Donald (England to South Africa), Mickey Arthur (South Africa to Australia), Ottis Gibson (England to West Indies), Steve Rixon (New Zealand to Australia) and Trevor Penney (Sri Lanka to India).

The beauty of this is that even this situation won’t remain for long. If you looked at this list a couple of years down the road, the soundtrack of cricket would have played out longer, and very few would be in the same place in this game of coaching musical chairs.

MUSICAL CHAIRS IN COACHING SPREADS CRICKETING GOSPEL
Off the field in Sri Lanka, there has been a spirit of co-operation that is robbing the cricket world of half its secrets in the best possible manner

In the ICC World Twenty20, no quarter is asked for and none given. The format and scheduling have shown that you could be sent packing from the tournament with just one bad day. In the case of Zimbabwe, their entire tournament lasted three days, and they were on the way back home before five of the 12 teams had even played their first game of the tournament.

In Group D – half humourously referred to as the Group of Death – New Zealand find themselves in the Super Eights with one win and two points, while Pakistan, who have achieved the same, still need to beat Bangladesh to get through. One slip up, and one of the most dangerous teams of the tournament could be sent packing.

While the action on the field has been brutal – nowhere more apparent than in India’s comprehensive thrashing of England at the R Premadasa Stadium – off the field, there has been a spirit of co-operation that is robbing the cricket world of half its secrets, in the best possible manner. This is, of course, happening through the coaching and support staff of various teams, who have often slipped seamlessly from the home camp to the ‘enemy’ camp, taking with them immense knowledge of players.

This was most apparent on Monday at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, when Saqlain Mushtaq, the former Pakistan offspinner and the man who made the doosra famous, was in Bangladesh’s corner, speaking to their batsmen about how to pick the spin of Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi.

“Of course, it’s a big boost for us to have Saqlain Mushtaq with us,” admitted Mushfiqur Rahim, on the work his team’s bowling coach was doing. “He is telling us how to read Ajmal, Afridi, (Umar) Gul and (Mohammad) Hafeez. But the application of it will depend on us. If we can do that, it’ll be an interesting game tomorrow.”

Saqlain is far from unique in this regard. In the opposite dressing-room, Dav Whatmore, who is now coaching Pakistan, spent four years coaching Bangladesh, knows each of Mushfiqur’s players inside out. While Pakistan’s bowling attack may not need the inside information, it won’t hurt to have knowledge of specific weaknesses and strengths of individual batsmen.

Away from Pallekele, there are several other coaches and support staff who have travelled far and wide in a bid to spread the cricketing gospel. Duncan Fletcher, who now coaches India, was spotted warmly shaking Nasser Hussain’s hand ahead of England’s match against India. After all, Hussain and Fletcher had worked together with England. Add to this the fact that Fletcher was South Africa’s batting consultant, and you have a man in the Indian dressing-room who has intimate knowledge about two of India’s biggest opponents.

If India benefit from having Fletcher in-house, the playing field was levelled with the departure of Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton after their successful campaign in the ICC World Cup 2011. While Gary spent hours helping batsmen deal with the recurring technical challenges that the world game throws up, Upton was in charge of the mental aspects of India’s preparation and play. While there are naturally things that will stay confidential, despite Kirsten now being South Africa’s head coach and Upton the country’s high performance manager, the insight the two have on India’s players is undeniable, given that they lived, travelled and roomed with them for three intense years.

The list is longer and includes Graham Ford (South Africa to Sri Lanka), Allan Donald (England to South Africa), Mickey Arthur (South Africa to Australia), Ottis Gibson (England to West Indies), Steve Rixon (New Zealand to Australia) and Trevor Penney (Sri Lanka to India).

The beauty of this is that even this situation won’t remain for long. If you looked at this list a couple of years down the road, the soundtrack of cricket would have played out longer, and very few would be in the same place in this game of coaching musical chairs.
 
PAKISTAN TRAINING SESSION
24 September 2012 · Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele
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MATCH 13
Sri Lanka v New Zealand
13th Match, Group E
10:00 GMT (15:30 SLST)
Thursday September 27th 2012
Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele

MATCH 14
England v West Indies
14th Match, Group E
14:00 GMT (19:30 SLST)
Thursday September 27th 2012
Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele

MATCH 15
Pakistan v South Africa
15th Match, Group F
10:00 GMT (15:30 SLST)
Friday September 28th 2012
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

MATCH 16
Australia v India
16th Match, Group F
14:00 GMT (19:30 SLST)
Friday September 28th 2012
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

MATCH 17
England v New Zealand
17th Match, Group E
10:00 GMT (15:30 SLST)
Saturday September 29th 2012
Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele

MATCH 18
Sri Lanka v West Indies
18th Match, Group E
14:00 GMT (19:30 SLST)
Saturday September 29th 2012
Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele

MATCH 19
Australia v South Africa
19th Match, Group F
10:00 GMT (15:30 SLST)
Sunday September 30th 2012
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

MATCH 20
Pakistan v India
20th Match, Group F
14:00 GMT (19:30 SLST)
Sunday September 30th 2012
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

MATCH 21
West Indies v New Zealand
21th Match, Group E
10:00 GMT (15:30 SLST)
Monday October 1st 2012
Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele

MATCH 22
England v Sri Lanka
22th Match, Group E
14:00 GMT (19:30 SLST)
Monday October 1st 2012
Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele

MATCH 23
Australia v Pakistan
23th Match, Group F
10:00 GMT (15:30 SLST)
Tuesday October 2nd 2012
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

MATCH 24
India v South Africa
24th Match, Group F
14:00 GMT (19:30 SLST)
Tuesday October 2nd 2012
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

SEMI-FINAL 1
TBD v TBD
1st Semi Final
13:30 GMT (19:00 SLST)
Thursday October 4th 2012
R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
 
WE ARE UNDER BIG PRESSURE NOW: DE VILLIERS
South African captain admits that the team is under pressure after losing the game against Pakistan
29 September 2012 - 06:01pm IST by R Kaushik in Colombo
It was inevitable, given the history associated with South Africa, that the question of ‘choking’ would be asked of AB de Villiers after his team failed to close out Friday’s match against Pakistan at the ICC World Twenty20 2012. Pakistan had slumped to 76 for 7, chasing 134, but recovered strongly through Umar Akmal and Umar Gul to complete a two-wicket win with two deliveries to spare.

Even at the start of the tournament, de Villiers had admitted that his team had choked in the past, but this time, he looked both a little annoyed and angry. “I am very proud of the way we played,” he said. “A lot of people will say we choked. I thought we played good cricket out there. We did well to compete. We held our heads high when we walked off the field because of the way we played. We gave ourselves a chance to win the game, we are very happy with that. We will come back in the next two games and if we play better cricket in both of them and go through to the semi-finals, there won’t be any choking there, that’s for sure.”

Defeat at the hands of Pakistan has left South Africa needing to win both its remaining matches – Australia on Sunday, and India on Tuesday – to entertain hopes of a semi-final berth. “We are under big pressure now,” de Villiers said. “We have to win both to go through, it’s not something we hoped for. The positive thing about the Pakistan game was that we were not 100%. We were well below par and we still competed.

“People tend to forget that we actually fought well to get into a winning position. It’s very easy to look at the one or two overs that we lost the game with ball in hand, but we played unbelievable cricket to get there. I am proud of the way we fought. I think we stand a really good chance of playing good cricket again in the next two matches. We can only go up from here.”

De Villiers didn’t come on to bat until No. 6 against Pakistan, but said that had always been part of the plan. “We lost early wickets there,” he said. “I felt more comfortable on this kind of wicket to bat the last ten or 12 overs. It worked really well. We got to a total where we thought we could compete. We were staring down the barrel with bat in hand after the first eight or ten overs, looking at a total of 100. We got to 134 and that’s competitive on this deck, it proved to be competitive.”

South Africa used Robin Peterson for two overs in the Power Play, and de Villiers didn’t rule out a similar approach against Australia. “We got a few wickets in that period, it really worked well for us,” he said. “It’s definitely a different approach, we haven’t been doing that in the past. It is a very positive thing for us to bowl spinners in the first six, just seeing the results come through like that.

“It’s something to look at, especially on this kind of a wicket if it is turning a bit. Maybe against the Australians, it won’t be a bad game plan. But we won’t forget our pacemen. They are still on top of the world with the way they bowl and I back them to come good and get wickets against Australia.”
 
Funny Media

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I don't know if this point was made earlier, but i think ICC is really making fun of itself & inturn Cricket:

First u had a T20 WC in the year 2007 than again in 2009 (in two years time), than again in 2010 (just in 1 year time) than again now in 2012, if ICC had to make the switch to an even year for T20 than after 2009 it could had waited for 3 years till 2012 but NO they had hurried to make the switch in just 1 year.

Second, u have a 50 over One day WC in every 4 years time.

Third, there is even talk of a cricket test Championship.

Fourth, there is champions trophy (again having all the top cricket teams) every 2 years.

Fifth, there is IPL, SL league, Aus league, English league, etc.

Sixth, above all this u have the usual tours of the cricketing nations.

There is no sport on the planet that has more than 1 form of WC, not so many matches, even Soccer which has the biggest fan following (undoubtedly) all over the world has somewhat limited matches when compared to Cricket (just 1 WC every 4 years).

I think to have all the eggs at the same time ICC is killing the "golden hen".
 
I don't know if this point was made earlier, but i think ICC is really making fun of itself & inturn Cricket:

First u had a T20 WC in the year 2007 than again in 2009 (in two years time), than again in 2010 (just in 1 year time) than again now in 2012, if ICC had to make the switch to an even year for T20 than after 2009 it could had waited for 3 years till 2012 but NO they had hurried to make the switch in just 1 year.

Second, u have a 50 over One day WC in every 4 years time.

Third, there is even talk of a cricket test Championship.

Fourth, there is champions trophy (again having all the top cricket teams) every 2 years.

Fifth, there is IPL, SL league, Aus league, English league, etc.

Sixth, above all this u have the usual tours of the cricketing nations.

There is no sport on the planet that has more than 1 form of WC, not so many matches, even Soccer which has the biggest fan following (undoubtedly) all over the world has somewhat limited matches when compared to Cricket (just 1 WC every 4 years).

I think to have all the eggs at the same time ICC is killing the "golden hen".

Good Observation friend. The frequentness of matches & too much cricket is killing the sport & classical cricketers itself.

Gone are the days when we used to wait & feel eager for golden moments of crickets.
Cricket plays have become much mechanical or robotic acts, its lacks passions, emotions, zeal & life as it used to have some 10-15 years ago.
 
To be honest last night we lost a match which we had in our grasp SL 123 after 19 overs then gul as usual the over rated bowler comes and goes for 16 runs on a pitch on which a single run was important , and that proved to be the difference in the end , no wonder it was the highest over of the game in term of runs then after a very good start when we were 55-1 after 9 we lost our way

Loosing form such commanding position is the thing that only Pakistan team can do ... afridi as i already said the most brainless cricketer i have ever seen

And for imran nazir fans RIP, from first day i know he is player who can just hit medium pacers but when it comes to quality pace bowlers he is a dead rubber


Not playing Abdul Razzaq on a pitch where batsmen were most needed was a blunder which cant be justified

Pakistan seems to have become a team that chokes in big matches , 3 consecutive years 3 consecutive semi-finals and 3 consecutive looses must be some kind of record

Instead of breaking his bat and helmets afridi should respectfully retire , doing such emotional dramas by breaking bats aint gonna work

One thing that baffled me why umer akmal was batting so low down the order when he was in form and was the only batsman who was playing comfortably on a pitch where every other batsman struggled . poor captaincy , he has been selfish as a captain

On a lighter note i am watching aus vs west indies women semi final and just observed elyessa perry the australian women fast bowler balls faster than irfan pathan :lol: now that is some humiliation haha
 
T20 World Cup Final - Sri Lanka Vs West Indies on Sunday. Kindly adjust contrast and brightness on your Television sets before watching.
 
ICC thought of raking in big money through this tournament ..now it seems they will incurr huge loss with the exit of india and pak and waning interest of 1.6 billion population into this tournament now.
 

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