Super Over Exhibitions on Finals Day Decides the Course of the Day at Edgbaston 2011

The amount of major 20/20 games which are going down to the wire i.e. super over nowadays is getting unbelievably crazy. I can name at least 4 domestic SFs or finals this year which have been determined by a 1 over slog fest just at the top of my head. Personally, I prefer to see a super over ahead of a bowl out and feel the idea works well to settle a tie, but as we saw yesterday in rain affected shortened duck worth Lewis games sides are usually neck or neck right to the end and therefore a tie is always a chance. Should duckworth lewis be applied in such a short version of the game? Remember the England/WI pool game incident during the 2010 WT20 where WI won chasing not much inside a 6 over slot having been outplayed for the first half and even the opposition captain acknowledged England were hard done by. Perhaps duck worth lewis is too much of unfair interference in 20/20, especially in pressure games when so much hard work and dedication goes into reaching the latter stages of the tournament. You’d expect something fairer and squarer surely? I don’t buy into the fact that there is no better alternative, the game requires flexibility.

Nevertheless, congratulations to Leicestershire.

2003=Surrey
2004=Leicestershire
2005=Somerset
2006=Leicestershire
2007=Kent
2008=Middlesex
2009=Sussex
2010=Hampshire
2011= Leicestershire

Abdul Razzaq = Best T20 Player in the World

1) T20 WC win with Pakistan 2009

2) ICL win with underdogs Hyderabad Heroes 2008

3) Domestic T20 with Sialkot Stallions 2010

4) Domestic T20 with Lahore Lions 2010 (straight after he transferred)

5) T20 win Hampshire 2010

6) T20 win Leicestershire 2011 (straight after he transferred)

What a player!

Pool Of Pace Bowlers Available In Pakistan That I Rate

Pool of pace bowlers

Recognised

Wahab Riaz
Umar Gul

New Comers

Junaid Khan
Aizaz Cheema
Sohail Khan

Bowling All Rounders with Domestic Experience

Sohail Tanvir
Yasir Arafat
Rana Naved

Domestic Rookies

Anwar Ali
Sadaf Hussain
Mohammad Rameez
Mohammad Talha
Asad Ali

- 4 or 5 of these bowlers should be included in the final 15 or 16 man squad for 2012 T20 WC

Random Friday Cricket Facts and Figures

-Umar Akmal has only scored 2 50s in his last 21 test innings.

-Mohammad Hafeez has gone 11 innings without a half century in test cricket.

-Pakistan have lost 2 out of their last 8 tests in comparison Australia have lost 6 out of their last 8 tests.

-Australia have lost 7 out of their last 8 T20 internationals. Pakistan has also done the same.

-Pakistan this year has won 70% of their ODI matches and has won tests by victory margins as large as 196 runs and 10 wickets.

-Since Kamran Akmal has been excluded from the Pakistan Cricket Team they have not lost a single test series in 3 attempts (2 being played outside Asia and the one inside Asia was played against a high profile number 2 ranked side) and won 5 out of their last 7 one day internationals (The ones they have lost have been dead rubbers with one of them being determined by Duckworth Lewis). Evidence they are  better off without him. There is direction and progress as well as a unified camp. Also, Imran Farhat has a better batting average than Karman Akmal in both ODIs and tests.

-Sri Lanka has won 5 T20s in a row. They are looking a solid unit as hosts for the 2012 T20 WC and will be right up there as one of the favourites (they are due some triumph like 1996 having been finalists in the last 2 CWCs and during the 2009 T20 WC). England hold the record for the most consecutive T20 wins in a row of 8 which they achieved in Australia early 2011.

-Azhar Ali is the only Pakistan cricketer to have played every single test match since the start of the England tour last summer.

- Sri Lanka’s Sanath has the most number of ducks in ODI cricket history of 30.

-Rahul Dravid has faced the most balls in test cricket history and taken the most catches. He is the oldest test cricketer still playing.