The hosts are out to seize on rare glimpses of Australia appearing beatable and write themselves into historyThere have not been many times since Australia won the last T20 World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2020 that the team has looked beatable. Since that memorable win in front of a record crowd, Australia has only lost three T20 internationals - two to New Zealand and one to India via a super over in late 2022. Australia have always been a dominant team, but that win seemed to set them on a course of becoming near-indestructible.There are also not many ways to beat Australia. Opposition teams must feel trapped in a horror movie at times - they manage to...
All-rounder brought back memories of 2019 with his ability to produce his very best when under the most severe pressureIt was Joe Root who probably best summed up Ben Stokes and a career that will for ever be defined by far more than just the numbers. Speaking in Phoenix from the Ashes, the documentary about the life and times of England’s champion all-rounder, Root put it simply: “The big moments find him.”One certainly found Stokes at Eden Gardens six years ago, the last time he played a world final decked out in red. That fateful deciding over he bowled to Carlos Brathwaite saw four successive sixes soar into the night sky like fireworks, West Indies were crowned T20 world champions...
In the end, players who have previously been marginalised, sidelined and discarded came good at just the right timeAfter days of dire forecasts, it was unexpected to even have a T20 World Cup final. Angry cartoon thunderstorms failed to deliver on a night that felt warm and humid enough to bring them on. India supporters had expected to see their team but their semi-final knockout didn’t have the expected hit on crowds, with more than 80,000 still in attendance at Melbourne’s giant arena. As Pakistan fans filed out, post-match presentations offered a manufactured euphoria of ascending Coldplay choruses while gold glitter covered the grass, shimmering like a fleeting nightclub dream. The real euphoria was among the England squad, whose podium...
Indian cricket shapes the world game yet they have now gone 11 years without a trophy as big game misjudgments continue to cost themIndian cricket should be dominating world cricket. By bank balance it already is: the last Indian Premier League deal went for more than US$6bn (£5.1bn), the season will soon expand to 94 matches, its timeframe will eat up more of the southern season, pushing earlier into March and perhaps even February. Its franchises have already taken January by buying up new leagues in South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, the same organisations are eyeing up the Hundred in England and the Big Bash in Australia should private investment be invited, and as salary caps increase they...
Coach’s law of nature speech highlights take-as-it-comes approach which has helped propel unlikely run to final“The mistake they make,” Harold Pinter said, “is to attempt to determine and calculate, with the finest instruments, the source of the wound”. He wasn’t talking about cricket (that time) but the words still come to mind watching Pakistan play in this T20 World Cup.Six weeks or so ago, they hammered England by 10 wickets in a Twenty20 match in Karachi. The mood in the stadium after the game that evening was giddy, even a little delirious. A day later, England beat them back, badly, in a 63-run victory that was settled 20 minutes into the second innings and of course the mood changed too....