Twenty20 Champions League Preview: Part Two

Part two of the Twenty20 Champions League Preview:

• The Bangalore Royal Challengers have almost as many South Africans in their squad as the sides representing that country (even without the injured Kevin Pietersen). Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Dale Steyn all feature, whilst Rahul Dravid demonstrated in this year’s IPL that there’s a role for him in Twenty20 cricket which doesn’t simply involve driving down the run-rate.

• Somerset‘s preparation has been dominated by Marcus Trescothick’s return to India, with some of the coverage seemingly willing him to suffer a breakdown. Assuming all is well with Trescothick, he and Justin Langer make an experience opening pair, with possible future ‘England’ wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter also capable of making quick runs. It’s difficult to assess how well the English sides will do, but at first glance it seems a mighty task for Somerset to win the tournament.

• Sussex have a reasonably balanced side which was impressive during the English domestic Twenty20 Cup, with the batting of Michael Yardy and Ed Joyce and the bowling of James Kirtley particular highlights, with Luke Wright and to some extent Yasir Arafat capable both of adding runs and taking wickets at crucial moments. The side may struggle against some of the millionaire IPL teams, but perhaps greater experience of Twenty20 cricket will count in their favour.

• Trinidad & Tobago are arguably considerably stronger than the side which is representing the West Indies at the moment, with Dwayne Bravo one of the stars of the (now presumably defunct) Stanford 20/20 competition alongside spinner Dave Mohammed, and with Windies wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin also in the side.

• Wayamba have the experience of Mahela Jayawardene and the magic of Mendis. The latter will most likely bamboozle a number of players who are missing international experience, although he didn’t quite live up to his billing for Kolkatta in the IPL. The side look more like dark horses than front-runners, but, as I’ve already said, anything could happen over 20 overs.

• Victoria might suffer for the loss of Dirk Nannes, but David Hussey and Brad Hodge have the class to make an impact with the bat. Bryce McGain has another chance to make an impact outside of Australia following his disappointing Test ‘career’.

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Twenty20 Cup Finals Day Preview

The Twenty20 reaches its conclusion this weekend with the now traditional Finals Day. This year will be the last season of the current format, and will also see the first qualifiers decided for the Champions League after last year’s cancellation.

As well as the exciting prospect of the mascot race being commentated on by Phil Tufnell, the cricket should be of a high standard, with four good sides involved:

• Kent have the strongest track record of all the sides involved, having won the competition in 2007 and been losing finalists last year. With the likes of Wayne Parnell (back from South Africa for the finals), astute captain Rob Key and Azhar Mahmood in the side (along with many other players of quality) it’s not too hard to see why.

• Northamptonshire may not be eligible for Champions League qualification, but the possibility of their first limited overs silverware since 1992 should be enough of a motivator. Perhaps ironically (but perhaps not –ask Alanis Morissette), the ICL-‘tainted’ players that have disqualified Northants from the CLT20 are a large part of the reason they’ve made it this far. Johan van der Wath in particular has the potential to be a game-changer.

• Somerset, like Kent, are former winners, and the quality of their top order (Trescothick, Langer, Kieswetter…) is beyond question. The bowling is not quite as strong, but if the batsmen make a big enough score that won’t matter too much, and the experience of the older heads will be priceless in the field.

• Sussex may be missing Matt Prior for Finals Day, but they have quality bowlers in Yasir Arafat and James Kirtley, whilst Luke Wright can make an impact with bat or ball (or both). Defeat in the Friends Provident Trophy final may have sharpened their hunger for success, but Murray Goodwin will need to regain his form if they are to lift the trophy.

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County Cricket Takes a Sensible Turn

The ECB has, somewhat out of character, done something that makes sense and decided that having two county Twenty20 competitions might be a little over the top, scrapping the proposed ‘P20’ league format (which was itself an alternative to the ‘EPL’ city-franchise-based competition which was previously favoured by some) in favour of expanding the existing Twenty20 Cup.

There would have been considerable foolhardiness in persisting with two twenty-over competitions in the face of waning support from the counties (which predictably faded further after it became apparent that there wasn’t as much money to be made as had previously been thought) and a general feeling that the format is reaching saturation point. According to the BBC, the expanded competition will span the whole season with most matches played on Thursdays, Fridays and at weekends, which also makes sense. In fact, the whole thing is so plausible and seemingly well-thought-out that it’s a little disconcerting.

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Flintoff loss could prove Adil’s gain

The news that Andrew Flintoff will miss the World Twenty20 tournament will have been unwelcome for most involved in English cricket (and, of course, for the competition’s sponsors), but it could prove to be Adil Rashid’s big break.

The young Yorkshire spinner has been called into England’s 15-man squad to replace Flintoff. Rashid played a strong role in Yorkshire’s Twenty20 Cup campaign last year (unfortunately doomed by an administrative error), and is highly rated by many (including myself), although Gareth Batty was preferred by England for the ODIs over in the Carribbean despite Rashid being over there already. The debate about his ‘readiness’ for international cricket is really a debate about his quality, but if he features for England, he will have been granted a golden opportunity to announce himself as ‘ready’ to the world of cricket.

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Weekend Youtube: Stars of the Stanford

With the cash bonanza that is the Stanford Super Series about to get underway, here’s a quick introduction to some of the personalities involved:

• Middlesex have qualified by grace of their victory in this year’s Twenty20 cup, for which a large portion of the credit is due to Dawid Malan’s rescue of the side from 21-4 against Lancashire, and Tim Murtagh will also be an important player for the Men In Pink.

• Trinidad & Tobago are involved following their success in this year’s Stanford 20/20 tournament, where Dave Mohammed dominated proceedings. He’s been called up to the Stanford Superstars squad, but T&T still have the experience of the likes of Darren Ganga, master of Mental Cricket.

• As well as Mohammed, the Stanford Superstars can also draw on the Twenty20 prowess of Chris Gayle, as well as the pinch-hitting of Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

• England arguably have the least Twenty20 experience of the four sides competing, but the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff should be able to adapt their big hitting to the format.

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