England vs Bangladesh 2nd ODI

Posted: Wednesday, March 3, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , , , , , ,
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In my last post, I mentioned the Twenty20s played against Pakistan to talk about Broad's haircut but forgot my purpose. Broad doesn't look feminine or baby-faced anymore but he doesn't look that great either. There have been times when I didn't like his haircut, like when he got it coloured honey blonde (darker than his natural hair colour).
To cricket now, yesterday's match was thrilling. England won it in the records but Bangladesh was the better side. The commentators said that they have defeated all other Test playing nations, I don't remember when they defeated New Zealand though. When Tredwell came out to bat, I thought, either he'll save England from an embarrassment in his debut or everyone will remember his debut. He was calm and Morgan was awesome once again. The English know how to play well and lose and perhaps the English players with origin of other countries know how to win. Alastair became the 2nd English captain after Trescothick to score a half-century in his first two ODIs as captain. And Eoin Morgan became the first player to score centuries for two countries. Lovely.This time Cook brought Wright in the 16th over. Where did that come from? Petals perhaps. Or did he consider history? Like he did while choosing to field in the 1st one-dayer.

England vs Bangladesh 1st ODI

Posted: Tuesday, March 2, 2010 by Sanya Michelangelo in Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,
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The things to watch out for in this series are how new captain Alastair Cook does his job, how new guy Kieswetter plays and where Jimmy Anderson is. I was looking for him during the first match but couldn't find him. No, I didn't forget that he is rested. I just saw someone near the rope and wondered if he is jimmy. It's been so long since he played and he won't play till about May 3rd. The new guy Kieswetter, who made 143 in the 1st warm-up, looked impressive while fielding but not while batting. He is a wicket keeper but he fields well, looked like Irish Cutie Morgan when he was wearing sunglasses. Although these matches are expected to be one sided, they weren't really boring. Alastair panicked a bit. Sidebottom bowled the 37th over, Broad 38th, Collingwood 39th, Swann 40th, Wright 41st, Swann 42nd, Broad 43rd, Bresnan 44th, Broad 45th, Sidebottom 46th. I was waiting for Wright to bowl. I thought may be Cook has forgotten that he bowls. Why did he bring Pietersen before Wright? And only one over for Wright even though he got a wicket? Perhaps at the end of 40th over, he looked around and thought, "who else bowls in our team, who, who does, oh yeah, Wright does!" I remember that this wasn't his 1st match as England captain, he captained against SA in a Twenty20 too but the difference was that Anderson was probably the bowling captain. When Anderson changed Cook's fielding position, a commentator said, "This is the first time I've someone telling a captain where to field." I guess they can work together but that's not gonna happen in this series. Cook's ability to bat with a good strike rate have always been doubted but he hasn't really disappointed in ODIs. Sunday was no different, he scored 64 off 68. In the 2nd warm-up game, he scored 52 off 50 and hit a six too! Yeah, the opposition is Bangladesh but he has done well against good International teams, Counties too. I think, among the minnows, European teams like Ireland, Scotland bowl well while Asian teams bat well.

                      Before the 1st ODI, England played two Twenty20s against Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Dubai. They played well enough to win both of them but chuckled at the end in the second. The main difference between Australia and England is that Australia has winning edge, England doesn't. They know how to finish a game. For a few years, I saw England losing by 5-20 runs while chasing, I don't think it happens anymore. Morgan has made a difference. And Shah doesn't play old school cricket like most English batsman. In those few years, they would try to save wickets and lose wickets when they would start hitting.