The Champions Trophy, which, under a new format, will feature the best eight teams. Recent form - over the last few years and in the South Africa where the tournament is being held - is any indication, the winners will be one of Australia, South Africa or India. The stats of teams since the last Champions Trophy back that Australia, South Africa and India are the front runner for the trophy. These teams had won more games than they've lost against the top eight teams since last Champions Trophy. During this period, India has won 11 out of 17 series, Australia have won 6 out of 12, and South Africa have won 7 out of 10 series. The eight ODI teams against each other since last Champions Trophy: Team ODIs W/ L = ratio Bat ave Bowl ave Australia 70 43/ 23 = 1.86 37.12 27.76 South Africa 46 28/ 16 = 1.75 35.37 29.10 India 78 42/ 30 = 1.40 33.87 33.69 New Zealand 55 22/ 25 = 0.88 31.00 34.53 Pakistan 44 20/ 23 = 0.86 30.97 34.15 Sri Lanka 60 25/ 31 = 0.80 28.98 28.58 England 62 25/ 34 = 0.73 28.74 31.40 West Indies 49 11/ 34 = 0.32 27.09 36.91 Above table clearly state that only these three teams been the best everywhere in the last three years having more wins than loss in there bag. Trophy front runner Australia has good record on South Africa soil. One will find South Africa and Aussis record exceptional if look at all the matches played in South Africa since beginning of this decade. Teams in South Africa in ODIs among the top eight since 2000: Team ODIs W/L = ratio Bat ave Bowl ave South Africa 87 58/ 21 = 2.76 37.14 28.04 Australia 27 17/ 9 = 1.88 34.45 29.19 India 14 5/ 9 = 0.55 24.82 35.93 England 14 3/ 9 = 0.33 27.77 27.22 Sri Lanka 17 4/ 12 = 0.33 25.53 39.73 New Zealand 19 3/ 14 = 0.21 27.52 37.07 West Indies 13 2/ 10 = 0.20 28.43 44.35 Pakistan 13 2/ 10 = 0.20 23.98 38.20 The individual batting stats of players in South Africa offer some interesting insights too. For one, it explains - partially at least - why Rahul Dravid was brought back into the Indian team. He leads the averages chart among batsmen who'll be playing in the tournament. If one looks in the table below, the top 8 out of 10 players are from these favourites. Batsmen against the top eight teams in ODIs in South Africa Batsman ODIs Runs Average 100s/ 50s Rahul Dravid 17 737 56.69 0/ 9 Ricky Ponting 22 1031 54.26 4/ 4 Jacques Kallis 113 4080 46.89 6/ 28 JP Duminy 13 398 44.22 0/ 2 Michael Hussey 10 338 42.25 0/ 3 AB de Villiers 34 1159 41.39 0/ 9 Graeme Smith 56 2079 39.98 3/ 16 Herschelle Gibbs 87 2739 34.23 9/ 9 Sanath Jayasuriya 29 899 32.10 2/ 5 Mohammad Yousuf 18 509 31.81 1/ 2 Sachin Tendulkar 26 822 31.61 1/ 4 Kumar Sangakkara 17 404 28.85 0/ 2 Mark Boucher 101 1522 27.67 0/ 5 Michael Clarke 10 243 27.00 0/ 3 Brendon McCullum 12 237 26.33 0/ 1 Paul Collingwood 10 181 25.85 0/ 1 Younis Khan 13 336 25.84 0/ 2 Yuvraj Singh 10 180 22.50 0/ 1 Among the bowlers, most of the wicket-takers have been the fast men. Brett Lee leads the way with an excellent haul of 41 wickets in just 19 games, with three four-wicket hauls and a five-for. Shane Bond and Makhaya Ntini have been among the wickets as well. The spinners have reasonable economy-rates, but apart from Muttiah Muralitharan, they haven't had a lot of wicket-taking success. Bowlers against the top eight teams in ODIs in South Africa: Bowler ODIs Wickets Average Econ … [Read more...]
Champions Trophy Cricket warmup matches
There are some warm-up matches before the beginning of Champions Trophy 2009 in South Africa. None of these matches will be given the ODI status and teams will be able to practice before they get into the big tournament. The big game on the Sep 18 is between the Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Pakistan has lost recent series in Sri Lanka so they can back themselves in the Warm Up match. India will be taking New Zealand on Sep 20 in another warm-up match. Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies play two warm-up games while India and South Africa play one. Schedule for the warm up matches: Friday, 18 September - South Africa v West Indies (d/n) Friday, 18 September - Pakistan v Sri Lanka (d/n) Friday, 18 September - New Zealand v Warriors (d) Sunday, 20 September - New Zealand v India (d/n) Sunday, 20 September - Pakistan v Warriors (d/n) Sunday, 20 September - Sri Lanka v West Indies (d) Day-1 Maches review: Pakistan v Sri Lanka: Pakistan warmed up for the ICC Champions Trophy in style by winning there tie against Sri Lanka. Kamran Akmal’s superb 82 and Naved-ul-Hasan’s 5 for 41 help Pakistan to achive 108-run victory against Sri Lanka in Benoni. Pakistan was initially in trouble, slipping to 64 or 3, after the experienced top order pair failed to get going. Opener Kamran and Misbah-ul-Haq revived Pakistan by continuing to score at a brisk pace, and they went on to a massive score after Misbah-ul-Haq and highly rated youngster Umar Akmal made half-centuries. Mahela Jayawardene had called on the top order to fire last week, but it flopped in the face of a daunting target of 307. The biggest contribution from the top five was captain Kumar Sangakkara's 21, which meant Sri Lanka were struggling at 83 for 5 by the 23rd over. Chamara Kapugedera and Angelo Mathews resisted with a 102-run stand but could only bring some respectability to the margin of defeat as they couldn't keep up with the spiralling asking-rate. South Africa v West Indies: In another match South Africa laid down an early marker as they piled up 388 for 4 against West Indies at Potchefstroom. Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and JP Duminy all played superb inning and reached the 80s, while Roelef van der Merwe took four wickets. Duminy was the stand-out batsman with 80 off 49 deliveries and two of his five sixes required replacement balls. Mark Boucher also gave a reminder of his big-hitting skills by smashing 55 off 27 balls, adding 116 off 55 deliveries with Duminy. West Indies' openers made a spirited start but the middle order caved in - with the exception of Darren Sammy who made a fighting half-century - and West Indies limped to 200 before being bowled out. New Zealand v Warriors: While New Zealand start Champions Trophy campaign on poor note in Pretoria, where they lost their opening warm-up game by two wickets to the Warriors. After suffering consecutive defeats against Sri Lanka and India in the Compaq Cup due to batting failures, New Zealand's captain Daniel Vettori had stressed the need for partnerships. They managed one worth 95 for the second wicket between Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor, with both scoring half-centuries, but the rest of the batsmen failed to build on a solid platform - New Zealand were 173 for 2 at one stage. They lost six wickets for 10 runs during a startling lower-order collapse and were dismissed for 237 in the 47th over. The Warriors' opening bowler, Juan Theron, caused most of the damage, taking 5 for 42 in 8.1 overs. The Warriors chase also suffered from the lack of substantial partnerships but all their batsmen chipped in with useful contributions. Their top eight reached double figures with wicketkeeper Davey Jacobs leading the way with 54. Ian Butler took 4 for 53 and Daryl Tuffey claimed 3 for 49 - brought the match to a close finish. The eighth wicket fell with the Warriors needing 24 runs to win but Theron came to the rescue with 21 off 19 balls to ensure victory in the penultimate over. Author: Mona Gupta, New Delhi. … [Read more...]
Champions Trophy analysis: Indian cricket team
After a month's gap before starting a new season, a depleted India played a good cricket against New Zealand to get some momentum and move to No. 1 for one day (on 11th September 2009) in the ICC's ODI rankings. After a month's break, and in their first match of a new season, India has done enough to indicate they are back in business. Team was not able to continue momentum against Sri Lanka. The ongoing series in Sri Lanka will help team to gain much need practice before Champions Trophy. Victory in this month's ICC Champions Trophy would allow 1983 world champion, ICC Champions Trophy 2002 joint-winner with Sri Lanka and the ICC World Twenty20 2007 champion an opportunity to remind the rest of the world how good a side it is. For India it won't be an easy path into the semi-final stage of the eight team elite competition, particularly as India's group features defending champion Australia, former winner the West Indies and reigning ICC World Twenty20 champion Pakistan. Key Players to watch: Let’s have a close look on key players and team strength of India, Pakistan, Aussies and West Indies from Group-A. India has good combination to handle every situation; there are a lot of players to watch like Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Ashish Nehra. India and Pakistan the two traditional rivals go head to head at Centurion on 26 September. The Pakistan side has Younus Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. Other players to keep an eye on are Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi and Umer Gul but Yousuf is definitely a player to watch. One can’t label current West Indies team as 'second-string'. Their main strength is top players like Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. These players had good record against India and had always given performance when India is on the other side. India has good record against Australia in the past Champions Trophies but one can’t take Ponting side for granted. Aussies squad has good players like Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Nathan Bracken, Michael Hussey and Shane Watson. Aussies performance in ongoing series against England proves once again that they are still tough side to beat in ODI cricket. Indian squad for Champions Trophy: M S Dhoni (Capt), Yuvraj Singh (VC), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhanjan Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Abhishek Nayar, Ashish Nehra, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, and R P Singh. M S Dhoni: Current age: 28 years 67 days Major teams: India, Asia XI, Bihar, Chennai Super Kings, Jharkhand Batting style: Right-hand bat Fielding position: Wicketkeeper Record: 140 Matches, 4602 runs 138 catches and 43 stumps Award: ICC One-Day Player of the Year 2008 Yuvraj Singh: Current age: 27 years 274 days Major teams: India, Asia XI, Kings XI Punjab, Punjab, Yorkshire Batting style: Left-hand bat Bowling style: Slow left-arm orthodox Record: 237 Matches, 7026 runs 70 catches and 75 wickets Award: ICC Twenty20 International Performance of the Year 2008 Rahul Dravid: Current age: 36 years 244 days Major teams: India, Scotland, Asia XI, ICC World XI, Karnataka, Kent Batting style: Right-hand bat Bowling style: Right-arm off break Fielding position: Occasional wicketkeeper Record: 334 Matches, 10599 runs 194 catches and 14 stumps Award: Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2000 ICC Test Player of the Year 2004 ICC Player of the Year 2004 Sachin Tendulkar: Current age: 36 years 141 days Major teams: India, Asia XI, Mumbai, Mumbai Indians, Yorkshire Batting style: Right-hand bat Bowling style: Right-arm off break, Leg break googly Record: 426 Matches, 16730 runs 129 catches and 154 wickets Award: Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1997 Gautam Gambhir: Current age: 27 years 333 days Major teams: India, Delhi, Delhi Daredevils, India Red, President's XI, Batting style: Left-hand bat Bowling style: Leg break Record: 78 Matches, 2594 runs 24 catches Harbhanjan … [Read more...]
