Can SA win the last Champions Trophy?

Clearly not... This is what one may have thought after the Proteas lost to Pakistan by six wickets in a warm up match and then to India by 26 runs in the first game of this year's (and the last) ICC Champions Trophy. However, since then the Proteas beat Pakistan by 67 runs and tied with the West Indies. This means South Africa is through to the semi finals.

As a South African cricket fan I can't deny that this tournament has suddenly become very interesting to me. Can we go all the way? Do we have what it takes? Equally important is the question: do the SA players have the hunger to win? 

None of the other teams have shown the consistency that India have displayed. Regardless, it takes four teams to make two semi-finals. Four teams have a chance for glory, to win the last Champions Trophy. 

The Proteas' performance has been up-and-down lately, but there has been an improvement. The team suffered the loss of Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn. However Steyn is back and the others have been replaced. I believe Chris Morris has brought more dynamism to the team than there was before. 

I have been thinking recently about what is more important to a sports team: talent or hunger to win. Skill is not everything, but an average person cannot walk onto a sports field and excel. Both are required. India look like they have both, and Shikhar Dhawan is playing absolutely brilliantly. They must be the favourites to win the tournament.

Shikhar Dhawan (27) scored his maiden ODI century against SA on 6 June. He was awarded the man of the match, scoring 114 (94). Nice picture. It was taken from http://www.espncricinfo.com.

However, for the Proteas Ryan McLaren has been quite good and consistent, and our bowling and batting attacks are both looking more determined and clinical with each game. Colin Ingram's 73 off 63 deliveries against the West Indies stands out for me as a demonstration that South Africa are still fighting. His man of the match performance, especially coming from a man who has not been very authoritative in his batting lately, reveals that the team wants to win and, as I can't think of a better way of saying it, will transform themselves, sacrifice their comfort, to do what they must to win. It is possible SA can do it.

It was nice seeing Colin Ingram (27) play so confidently and aggressively against the West Indies on 14 June. Image taken from http://www.espncricinfo.com

We are less consistent than India right now, but recent displays and the fact that some of our brilliant players have been dormant means that our true potential has yet to be realised in this competition. Has everyone forgotten that we have the two best batsmen in the world in ODIs, at least according to the last rankings I saw, and the best bowler in tests? On a side note, who would have thought that after two games Australia would be at the bottom of group A (which consists of NZ, ENG and SRI)?

If anyone is a soccer/football fan the Confederations Cup should be good. Brazil look great, I will probably support them and Nigeria.

A West Indian IPL?

Unfortunately I missed the IPL final last night (on 26 May 2013). However I watched the highlights this morning. After Chennai beat Mumbai in their playoff to go straight into the final, Mumbai defeated Rajasthan in another playoff and then went all the way and overcame Chennai in the final. Mumbai won the final by 23 runs, their first IPL tournament win.

The West Indian cricketers have proved in this IPL that they are a powerful force in T20 cricket. Chris Gayle made the highest T20 score for a batsman (175*) and Dwayne Bravo took the most wickets in an IPL season (32). Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith, Darren Sammy and Sunil Narine also had a great tournament. For me Kieron Pollard was the best player in the tournament as he made big knocks in the playoffs as well as the final. I can see now that West Indians are fantastic in this format and the WI teams will be a great threat in the Champions League T20 later this year.

IPL 2013 final: CSK 125/9 (20) MI 148/9 (20). Kieron Pollard (centre) hit 60* and got man of the match. Image taken from http://sports.ndtv.com

Cricket in England

I really enjoy watching cricket played in England. The picture on the TV screen is always clear and green, the commentary is really nice and the England test team is a good unit. The England team always seems to back each other. They believe in each other, and take on the best teams in the world; especially when they play in England. Their fans are also very supportive, chant and sometimes dress up for matches. The fans are also impolite at times - which makes it more entertaining.

The conditions in England will favour seamers and batsmen. So next month's ICC Champions Trophy will be exciting for me. I love watching seamers in action. Fast bowlers are far more interesting than spinners. England will probably play well. They are dominating New Zealand right now; and having their fans behind them and playing on their own conditions in the tournament will also help. England will be a team to watch out for, and certainly Australia and Pakistan. Of course I am hoping SA can do well.

Coming from a great IPL, I hope this Champions Trophy will be just as exciting.

Stuart Broad (26) of England. He will probably be the best English pace bowler for a while, and he can bat a bit. Image taken from http://www.standard.co.uk

Broad's stats are as follows: (Taken from http://www.espncricinfo.com on 27 May 2013)

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	56	77	10	1676	169	25.01	2639	63.50	1	9	210	14	16	0
ODIs	96	51	17	416	45*	12.23	568	73.23	0	0	25	6	20	0
T20Is	46	19	7	71	18*	5.91	74	95.94	0	0	5	1	20	0
First-class	109	145	25	2854	169	23.78	4826	59.13	1	16			36	0
List A	113	57	18	462	45*	11.84	642	71.96	0	0	28	6	22	0
Twenty20	64	21	8	80	18*	6.15	87	91.95	0	0	5	1	23	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	56	100	11654	5950	191	7/44	11/165	31.15	3.06	61.0	7	8	1
ODIs	96	96	4897	4242	152	5/23	5/23	27.90	5.19	32.2	9	1	0
T20Is	46	45	981	1205	55	4/24	4/24	21.90	7.37	17.8	1	0	0
First-class	109		20789	11230	394	8/52		28.50	3.24	52.7	17	18	2
List A	113		5679	4930	177	5/23	5/23	27.85	5.20	32.0	9	1	0
Twenty20	64	63	1383	1577	81	4/24	4/24	19.46	6.84	17.0	1	0	0

What is the ICC Champions trophy?

This June we will get to watch the International Cricket Council 's second biggest event. The Champions Trophy runs roughly every two years and currently involves the 8 highest ranked ODI teams. It is an ODI tournament a bit like the World Cup but with less teams. It could be seen as a more elite tournament. 

There are two groups in this year's competition. Group A features Australia, England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Group B has India, Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies. It began in 1998, which South Africa won, believe it or not. 

The late Hansie Cronje captained SA to their
first ICC event win in the 1998 ICC CT. Image taken from
http://www.supersport.com/cricket/content.aspx?id=19234.

In their only ICC event win, SA beat West Indies in the final by 4 wickets with 18 balls to spare. Jacques Kallis was the man of the match in the final and was awarded player of the tournament. You can read about that final here http://www.icc-cricket.com/events_and_awards/champions_trophy/event_history.php.

I expect the tournament to be very exciting this year. The top four ICC ranked ODI teams are all within 4 points. As of 05 May 2013 the rankings are:

India      119 points
England  117 points
Australia 116 points

South Africa (4th) are on 113 points and Sri Lanka (5th) are on 108 points.

It has been a while since South Africa have entered an ODI tournament not being one of the top 3 ranked teams.

The history of the tournament:

1998      - SA
2000/01 - NZ
2002/03 - IND/SRI 
(Rain prevented a game being finished in 2 days, so the trophy was shared)
2004      - WI
2006      - AUS
2009      - AUS

This Champions Trophy starts on 6 June.

JP Duminy makes a return to international cricket. Image taken from http://en.wikipedia.org.

The biggest news for South African fans is that Jacques Kallis has asked not to play in the Champions League, and in his place JP Duminy has made a comeback to the squad, following a 6 month injury. The Proteas squad for the Champions League looks good. Here it is:

AB de Villiers (capt) 
Hashim Amla 
Farhaan Behardien 
JP Duminy 
Faf du Plessis 
Colin Ingram 
Rory Kleinveldt 
Ryan McLaren 
David Miller 
Morne Morkel 
Robin Peterson 
Aaron Phangiso 
Graeme Smith 
Dale Steyn 
Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

My only qualm about the squad is that I think Roelof van der Merwe has done very well recently and I think he should have been included ahead of Aaron Phangiso.

IPL6 is currently ongoing. It is in the second half of its progression. The final is on 26 May. Image take from http://ipl2013t20.blogspot.com/2013/04/watch-ipl-2013-live-streaming-season-6.html.

I said recently that the Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Sunrisers Hyderabad are the only teams capable of winning the IPL. It seems once again I have to eat my words. The Sunrisers Hyderabad are not looking as good as they were in the first third of the tournament. However the Rajastan Royals and Mumbai Indians look more like they are up for the challenge.

I don't want to make any sweeping statements and then be proven wrong. Let me just say that at this point the Pune Warriors India and the Delhi Daredevils have been unimpressive and are the only teams I seriously expect to not get near making the final.

If you would like to find out more about the ICC Champions Trophy go to http://www.icc-cricket.com/events_and_awards/champions_trophy/index.php or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICC_Champions_Trophy.

There's Only 3 possible winners in this IPL

The game is not over but I am sure the result is safe (although, the 438 game can testify against me). The Royal Challengers Bangalore made 263-5 against the Pune Warriors today in a T20 IPL game, a world record. Chris Gayle made 175 not out off 66 balls for the RCB, of course a world record. It took him 30 balls to reach 100 runs and 53 deliveries to reach 150. Gayle's innings included 17 sixes and 13 fours. Pune are currently 38-3 after 5.2 overs.

An innings like that shows that a great innings by a player can win a match. I believe this is especially true in T20 cricket. My summation from this is that right now there are only three brilliant teams in this season's IPL. Only these three teams have the kind of batsmen who can win games single-handedly while also having good bowlers, fielders and a good team spirit. From the current log you can probably determine which ones they are. 

Pos	Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Net RR	For	Against	Pts
1	CSK	7	5	2	0	0	+0.648	1058/136.1	997/140.0	10
2	RCB	7	5	2	0	0	+0.470	1046/133.0	1034/139.5	10
3	SRH	7	5	2	0	0	-0.104	910/138.1	921/137.4	10
4	RR	7	4	3	0	0	+0.588	1061/139.2	958/136.2	8
5	KXIP	6	3	3	0	0	+0.204	828/112.1	829/115.3	6
6	MI	6	3	3	0	0	-0.194	947/120.0	946/117.0	6
7	KKR	6	2	4	0	0	+0.021	860/118.4	843/116.4	4
8	PWI	7	2	5	0	0	-0.706	945/138.4	994/132.1	4
9	DD	7	1	6	0	0	-0.913	967/137.0	1100/138.0	2

The log can be seen at http://www.iplt20.com

The Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad are the best IPL teams right now. They are also the three teams with the best current form in the competition. Who are the batsmen who can win games in these three teams?

From Chennai there's Michael Hussey, MS Dhoni and Murali Vijay. 

From Bangalore there's Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli.

From Hyderabad there's Kumar Sangakkara, Cameron White and Thisara Perera.

All these teams have great depth, though the Sunrisers do not have as much. Nevertheless, I believe only one of these three teams will win the IPL. The other six lack the talent, belief, form or execution. The Rajasthan Royals are not bad right now but since they lost to Chennai yesterday by five wickets, after Shane Watson scored 101 for RR, I believe they are not in the same class as the other three teams. 

Chris Gayle of the West Indies today made 175* for RCB, the world record for the highest score by a batsman in a T20 game. It was also the fastest century achieved. If any person could do it he could. Image taken from http://www.supersport.com.