The Reverse Sweep

Dear Santa... - What have these cricketers requested for Christmas?

It's that time of year again and like the rest of us, the cricket fraternity have been compiling their list of requests for Santa.

Here's what some of them may have asked for this Christmas: 

Daniel Vettori - Protection. With 2011 having seen a number of dictators leaving this mortal coil, along with President Assad of Syria, Dictator Dan is one of only a handful left

Phillip Hughes - It's not exactly been a good year for poor old Phil, so his list to Santa is bulging with wishes such as a request to rescind his decision to opt out of BBL now that he has lost his Test place, a book of the best Worcester hosteleries ahead of his stint with the county and for Chris Martin and Martin Guptill to be sent on a one-way mission to Mars

Ricky Ponting - A time machine so he can relive past glories

Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir - A DVD of The Great Escape and a tunnel making kit

Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard - Lucrative contracts in the new Twenty 20 leagues in Outer Mongolia, Belarus and the Falkland Islands

Stuart Law - A one way ticket from Dhaka to Brisbane

Ijaz Butt - World War III 

Kevin Pietersen and Andy Flower - A bottle of paraffin, some matches and a lorry full of Graeme Swann's autobiography

Jonathan Trott - A Bob Willis voodoo doll

Jesse Ryder, Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith - A KFC bargain bucket per day for life

Shane Warne - Some humility

Kamran Akmal - A new pair of gloves made of industrial strength velcro coupled with a small accident for brother Adnan

Darren Sammy - Catching lessons from Kamran Akmal

Sachin Tendulkar - Something about a 100th hundred. Not quite sure what that is all about

Shane Watson and Zaheer Khan - New bodies in time for the Boxing Day Test.

Where next?

Chasing Sachin by Adam Carroll-Smith | Book Review

Jack Hobbs by Leo McKinstry | Book review

Check out some of our Cricket XIs: They also played cricket, Rugger Buggers, Cricketing Criminals , A team of cricketers that died young, The Worst Australia Ashes XI of the last 30 years, The Worst England Ashes XI of the last 30 years

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

It's surreal: Kieron Pollard fires a first ODI hundred; David Warner cracks a maiden Test ton

Having an opinion is pretty much a prerequisite to writing a cricket blog that is interesting enough for people to enjoy and as our two readers will no doubt testify that means there are times when we get it a bit wrong at The Reverse Sweep.

In the last few days, two familiar targets of our ire have done rather well. Firstly, Kieron Pollard, whom we have previously opined to be the most overrated cricketer in the world scored his maiden ODI hundred (at the 51st attempt) against India in Chennai (in a dead rubber, it should be noted).

Since conjuring up an improbable win (and consequently a lucrative IPL contract) against New South Wales in the inaugural Champions League, Pollard was become a very rich man indeed through essentially whoring himself around the World’s T20 leagues whilst consistently disappointing for the West Indies (for whom he still hasn’t played a single Test).

Many feel that Pollard epitomises everything that is wrong with cricket in 2011 - Michael Holding certainly isn’t keen having famously suggested that “Kieron Pollard, in my opinion is not a cricketer”.

But it seems that Pollard may have more about him than either we or Holding had hitherto imagined. We’d already noted that throughout the India-West Indies ODI series, Pollard appeared to be trying to play himself in before trying to hit the ball onto the next continent.

We were reliably informed that Sunday was the first occasion since March 2009 that Pollard faced more than 100 balls in a single innings. That should provide him with a sobering thought and together with the memory of his maiden hundred provide the basis for his approach at the crease in future.

However, Pollard would be advised to remember that one swallow does not make a summer, and an ODI average with the bat of 23 and a T20I one of 12 clearly requires drastic improvement.

The notion of one swallow applies as much to David Warner as it does Pollard.

Warner’s brave, glorious and unbowed maiden Test ton in Hobart may have proved to be agonisingly futile in the final reckoning, but it did suggest that we were premature and ok we’ll admit it irrefutably wrong in rubbishing Warner’s Test credentials.

Indeed, Warner’s reinvention of himself for the longer form of the game is to his credit. The very suggestion of him carrying his bat in a Test match would have provoked much laughter not that long ago, but Warner did it in his second Test, in a run chase on a devilishly tricky surface.

Whilst he would do well to remember that his opening partner in Hobart also made a stunning impact in his second Test match, unlike the hapless Phillip Hughes, Warner doesn’t seem to lack self-belief nor possess a fatally flawed technique.

Moreover, he also seems to have heeded the advice of Virender Sehwag who as The Old Batsman reminded us last week told Warner that if he played his natural game “you'll be a better Test cricketer than you are a Twenty20 player”.

We shall see about that, but Warner has certainly made an immensely impressive start.

Where next?

2nd Test: Australia vs New Zealand - Australia marks out of 10

Virender Sehwag scores 219 in a ODI to spark interest from Boris Johnson

Cricket Zeroes: The Twenty 20 harlot

The farcical Champions League and its band of cricket mercenaries

Cricket Heroes: Michael Holding

Top 20 cricket blogs: The Old Batsman

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Peter Trego and Somerset make us care about the Champions League...for ten seconds

There are many reasons why we are not tuning into the Champions League.

First, it is Twenty 20.

Then there is the fact that as we wrote last week, the whole franchise system and players like Kieron Pollard having a choice of whom to represent makes the tournament a bit farcical.

Finally, the tournament is so heavily weighted in favour of the IPL sides that we are surprised that the other teams aren't required to take the field blindfolded.

So we really couldn't give a monkey's left bollock about the Champions League.

But Somerset's win over Kolkata caused us to momentarily halt our antipathy.

Let's face it Somerset would probably finish second in one horse race, so there couldn't have been much hope for a side shorn of its England players Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler, without its talismanic captain and star batsman Marcus Trescothick and also deprived of the services of the aforementioned mercenary Pollard.

But led by Peter Trego - who may have bagged an IPL contract into the bargain - they did an impressive impersonation of David to beat the Goliath that is Kolkata and their international stars including Jacques 'toupee' Kallis, Brett Lee, Yusuf Pathan and Shakib al-Hasan.

Having been forced to care about something that would feature prominently in our Room 101 list, we are now worried that this might extend itself to other things such as Manchester United, Jordan (no, not the country) and Ed Miliband.

That is quite a frightening thought.

Thanks Somerset.

Where next?

The farcical Champions League and its band of cricket mercenaries

Cricket zeroes: The Harlot (a.k.a The Freelance Cricketer)

Our Top 20 Cricket Blogs

Read all our County Cricket coverage

The A-Z of IPL3 -  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

 

 

The farcical Champions League and its band of cricket mercenaries

Those that read this blog even occasionally will know that the Reverse Sweep is no big fan of Twenty 20 cricket - indeed we have likened it in the past to the 'two pumps and a squirt' format of the game.

But even the most ardent follower of the shortest form of the game must admit that a major downside of the franchise circus and freelance cricketer arrangement is that the supposed pinnacle of the Champions League is sullied when a player has a choice of two or more teams for whom to play for. Of course, no-one epitomises the cricket mercenary more than Kieron Pollard.

In our column for All Out Cricket this week - Franchise circus exposed by Champions League - we look at this very subject.

Some of you may not agree with us...

Where next?

Cricket zeroes: The Harlot (a.k.a The Freelance Cricketer)

Our Top 20 Cricket Blogs

Read all our County Cricket coverage

County Championship XI of the week #18

Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Save Shiv

 
West Indies may have scraped into the quarter-finals of the World Cup, but there can’t be much confidence that they will progress any further – even if their next opponents are unpredictable Pakistan.

Darren Sammy’s side should have beaten England and India, having fought back to get into winning positions in both matches.

We’re still scratching our heads here at the Reverse Sweep at the way West Indies handed England a World Cup lifeline – it’s not often that you see a team needing 22 runs off 52 balls losing their last four wickets for two runs.

Yesterday’s defeat against India wasn’t quite as dramatic, but it still featured another horrendous batting collapse.

At 154 for two, West Indies needed less than a run a ball off of the last 20 overs.

It should have been a routine win, but the wicket of Devon Smith precipitated a collapse that saw the last eight wickets fall for just 34 runs.

If Smith had been replaced at the crease by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, then it is likely that West Indies would have sauntered to victory.

But Chanderpaul was inexplicably left out of the side against England and India.

So now the tail effectively starts at five with Kieron Pollard.

Pollard is great against weak attacks when a few quick runs are required in the latter overs, as evidenced by the carnage he inflicted on the Irish and Dutch bowlers.

But he is probably the last batsman you want coming in against Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh when what is required is a no frills approach and plenty of ones and twos.

Chanderpaul provides this in spades; Pollard doesn’t.

Chanderpaul may not have had a great World Cup thus far, but West Indies can ill afford to leave him out.

If they get into a similarly good position against Pakistan, then it is a good bet that Chanderpaul would lead them over the winning line.

The ‘Save Shiv’ campaign starts today.

Where next?

Read about our cricket heroes and zeroes

Heroes: Darren Sammy

Check out our Reverse Sweep XIs

Read all our 2011 World Cup posts here

An XI of unlikely World Cup heroes and a not so heroic 12th man

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

World Cup Team Previews: West Indies - Calypso or Collapso?

 
On paper at least, the winners of the first two World Cup tournaments should have no problem negotiating the group stages of this year’s competition. But West Indies supporters have become accustomed to disappointment and will be approaching this World Cup with trepidation especially as the match with Bangladesh looks like an effective knockout encounter. On their day, the boys from the Caribbean can beat anyone especially if Chris Gayle fires, but ignominious exit at the group stages would hardly be a major surprise.

Strengths

There is depth and firepower in the batting with the likes of Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Barath and the Bravo brothers. If Pollard can finally transfer his IPL form to the international stage then West Indies could go into orbit. Benn is a canny spinner and conditions should suit him, whilst Roach is an immensely promising fast bowler.

Weaknesses

In a word, inconsistency. This team can be champs one day and chumps the next. The bowling looks lacking in depth and batting collapses seem to occur all too frequently.

Main man

If he is in the mood, Chris Gayle - the coolest dude in cricket – can flay any attack.

Look out for…

The antics of Sulieman Benn, whether it is getting into heated rows with opposing batsmen or umpires, or even refusing to bowl around the wicket, watching him on the field is unmissable. Captain Darren Sammy’s musings on Twitter are also worth a gambit.

Prediction

The game with Bangladesh looks like the mother of all banana skins and whilst they could give England a run for their money, we predict a first round exit for Sammy’s band of merry men.

Where next?

World Cup Team previews: Part 1 - India: Glory or effigies?

World Cup Team Previews: Part 2 - South Africa: Don't mention the 'C' word...

World Cup Team Previews: Part 3 - Bangladesh: Shock & Awe

Our XI to shine at the World Cup

Heroes: Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding

Check out all our other Reverse Sweep heroes and zeroes 

If you like this, follow us on Twitter @thereversesweep

Zeroes: The Freelance Cricketer (a.k.a The Harlot)

Twenty 20 has brought a number of disagreeable things to cricket - the Super Over, the Indian Premier League and David Warner to name but three. But perhaps the worst has been the emergence of the 'Freelance Cricketer'.

We prefer to call them Harlots here at the Reverse Sweep as they go around the Twenty 20 leagues across the world flashing a bit of skirt, being paid exorbitant fees, not really giving a jot and invariably being an expensive disappointment. 

Take Dwayne Bravo for example. Not content with being part of the Trinidad & Tobago and Mumbai Indians Twenty 20 sides, he has now also made a brief (and disastrous) cameo for Essex at the FP T20 finals day, which was held at the Rose Bowl at the weekend.

Now we don't have an axe to grind with Bravo. We actually like him. He is one of the few of the current crop of West Indian players who seems to care about wearing the maroon cap. But Essex's decision to jet Bravo over for finals day certainly backfired.

Bravo made just five runs off eight balls in the semi-final against Hampshire before being run out jogging for a second run that should a tortoise would have expected to have made. Then he went for 46 runs off his four overs. Given Essex lost in the last over, it could be argued that the decision to play Bravo ahead of an actual Essex player who had featured throughout the regular season proved an expensive one in more ways than one.

And what happens if two or more of the teams that one of these harlots is playing for qualifies for the Champions League? One would hope that Kieron Pollard would choose Trinidad & Tobago over Somerset, South Australia or Mumbai Indians but can anyone really be sure that would be the case? We fear that it would be whoever paid the highest price. 

Anne Boleyn was known as the King's Harlot throughout sixteenth century Europe when she was Henry VIII's long standing mistress, but at least she stuck around to become his second wife (ultimately much to her eventual cost), but this new breed of mercenary cricketer is very different. Some would argue that you can't blame them for taking the cash on offer, but for us the whole concept of the Freelance Cricketer is a definite Reverse Sweep zero. 

The ten most poignant cricket memories of 2009

As we've written previously, yesterday was a special event in the Reverse Sweep household with the birth of our second child. This means that the posts for the next few days will be looking back rather than commentating on what is happening today and now in the cricket world.

 

This post looks back at 2009 - a year of change for cricket. This was certainly true for England as the year ended with the team in a much better position than they were on New Years Day 2009 with the spat between KP and Peter Moores just about to culminate in both men being sacked.

 

2009 was also a momentous year. England lost to the Netherlands but regained the Ashes. The Aussies fell back into the pack in test cricket but continued to lead the way in the 50 over game. Pakistanwon the World T20 and unveiled yet two more outstanding teenagers. And Bangladesh finally won a series abroad against the West Indies Cricket Board XI.

 

Anyway without further ado here are The Reverse Sweep’s ten most memorable and poignant cricket memories of 2009, appropriately in reverse order.

 

10. Trinidad & Tobago light up the inaugural Champions League

I must admit that I was dubious. For me T20 is more ‘hit and giggle’ than ‘proper cricket’, but I accidentally tuned into the coverage of the inaugural competition on Eurosport and was captivated by the brilliance of T&T. Excellently led by Daren Ganga, the minnows made it all the way to the final against New South Wales; a team full of test players who they had already beaten earlier in the competition thanks to a whirlwind innings from Kieron Pollard. Unfortunately, they lost the final but they were the true winners and their success will hopefully spark the West Indies to a much needed revival.

 

9. Shoaib Akhtar makes us laugh

First there was the press release from the Pakistan Cricket Board explaining that Shoaib was not able to play in the World T20 due to genital warts. And if that wasn’t enough the portly fast bowler was then ruled out for another three months because he had had liposuction. Thanks for the laughs Shoaib.

 

8. Colly, Jimmy and Monty save England in Cardiff

It seemed inevitable that the Aussies were going to go one-up until the dogged Collingwood dropped anchor in a marathon 344 minute innings. And when he was ninth out with over 11 overs to spare, Monty and Anderson took over and became the unlikely heroes. The Durhambattler then repeated the trick at Centurion in tandem with Onions (and Newlands with Ian Bell) and as at Lord’s, England responded by winning the next test at Durban.

 

7. The Netherlands beat England (and not at football)

Now we knew Englandwere bad at limited overs cricket but this really took the biscuit. An absolutely shambolic performance by the home side meant that the World T20 began with a bang. Things actually got worse with the 6-1 ODI reverse to the Aussies. Then an unlikely renaissance with an improved performance in the Champions Trophy followed up by a surprise series win in South Africa. But on that day in June England were well and truly clogged.

 

6. Cool Chris’ 70 ball ton at the WACA

Australia had just declared on 520/7 but that didn’t bother Mr Cool as he smashed a weakened Aussie attack all over the WACA in compiling a devastating 70 ball hundred (the fifth fastest in test history). He hit six huge sixes, four off a shell-shocked Hauritz, including a monstrous shot that landed on the roof of the towering Lillee-Marsh Stand.

 

5. Freddie Lord’s it over the Aussies

Englandhadn’t beaten the Aussies at HQ since 1934 and despite setting them a massive 522 run, an excellent partnership between Clarke and Haddin had the nerves jangling. Step forward Flintoff who blew the Aussies away on a tense Monday morning to take the plaudits ahead of the perhaps more deserving Strauss, who had set up the victory with a first innings 161.

 

4. Sehwag smashes the Sri Lankans for 293

The most devastating batsman in the World reached a new high with this phenomenal innings. Sri Lankahad been bowled out on the second morning for 393 and Sehwag wasted no time as he smashed seven sixes and forty fours in a 254 ball innings. By the end of the second day Indiawere 443/1 off only 79 overs and Murali had been obliterated. Sehwag was out early the next morning so just failed to become the first batsmen to hit three test triple centuries but that should not detract one iota from a truly spectacular knock.

 

3. Trott gets the runs on debut to help England seize the Ashes

Despite calls for former players such as Trescothick and Ramprakash – even W.G Grace was mentioned at one point – the selectors bravely opted for the South African born Trott. And boy did he repay their faith in spades with a brilliant and determined century in the second innings to help set Australiaan unachievable target. Broad, Swann and Harmison did the rest and the Ashes were on their way home.

 

2. Dilshan takes to opening like a duck to water

Before the start of 2009, Dilshan was known more for his brilliant fielding than his inconsistent batting. Then he had a go at opening and by the end of 2009 was rivallingSehwag as the most exciting and destructive batsman in the world. His stats as an opener are truly impressive: in Tests he averaged 66 and scored three hundreds in only five tests, in ODI it was 56 and four hundreds in 19 matches, and in T20 he averaged 43 and invented the Dilscoop. Arguably, Dilshan was the player of the year; how it has changed in 2010.

 

1. Terrorists attack the Sri Lankan bus

The most poignant event of 2009 happened on 3 March when the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked in Lahoreen route to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third days play. Thankfully, although five players were injured, none were killed but eight other people were and Pakistan is now a no-go destination for all international cricket sides.

 

 

Appropriately, the same two sides contested the World T20 final in June and Thilan Samaraweera, who was shot in the leg, recovered to become the leading test runscorer of the year with 1,234 runs at 72. World cricket needs Pakistan, its most flamboyant side along with the West Indies, and it is to be hoped that the situation will improve to enable international cricket to be played in Pakistan again as soon as possible.

The Worst XI of the World T20

Like everyone else, we'll be selecting our best XI of the tournament too, but watching Michael Clarke's scratchy innings in the final yesterday made us think what the worst XI of the competition should be. We deliberately haven't included any players from the four minnows of Afghanistan, Ireland, Zimbabwe or even Bangladesh as that would be a bit obvious and a tad unfair.

Instead we have come up with an XI of players who came to the Caribbean with high reputations and profiles, and who then flopped like Gordon Brown in the UK General Election. Here we go:

Murali Vijay (India) - Scored 48 against Afghanistan, but then only nine runs in total against South Africa, Australia and West Indies thereafter. Not keen on short bowling and a poor replacement for Sehwag. Just edges the equally disappointing Gambhir.

Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) - The old codger scored 15 runs in six innings  and the longer he refuses to retire the more he besmirches our memories of a once great player. It's way past time for the knackers yard, Sanath.

Michael Clarke (Australia, Captain) - A passenger at T20, he scored 92 runs in seven innings at a paltry strike rate of 81. In this XI (unlike the Australian line-up) there would be no hiding place for the first T20 non-playing captain.

Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka) - His wretched form from the IPL continued with only 71 runs from six innings. The champ of last year's World T20 turned into one of the chumps of this one.

Yuvraj Singh (India) - A shadow of his former self in all but his stomach, which seems to have blown to at least five bellies. Another player who hugely disappointed for India. A change in attitude and diet are required otherwise he will lose his place. 

Kieron Pollard (West Indies)- The best all-rounder in the IPl was an absolute disaster here. 47 runs at 9.40 with the bat and only one wicket with a horrendous economy rate of 11.00 with the ball. His jet lag from the flight back from India seems to have lasted for three weeks.

Mark Boucher (South Africa) - Like the rest of his side, the much vaunted keeper had a poor tournament here with only 29 runs in five innings.

Ravindra Jadeja (India) - If he was Pakistani there would be a parliamentary enquiry into his performances. His ineptitude with ball and bat was only surpassed by fielding that Stevie Wonder sans his guide dog would have been ashamed of. Didn't even have the excuse of being fatigued from the IPL.

Zaheer Khan (India) - The normally reliable Khan had a nightmare with only two wickets in his three matches. Even worse was his economy rate of 9.54. Was he still suffering from the disappointment of Mumbai's IPL final loss?

Mohammad Sami (Pakistan) - Six wickets in three games sounds okay until you see the economy rate of 9.81. Ouch!

Ravi Rampaul (West Indies) - Like the majority of the hosts, Rampaul had a torrid time with an economy rate of 11.50 from his two matches.

Who will be the Lovers & the Shaggers of the World T20?

Last week we introduced you to two categories of T20 batsmen - the Lovers and the Shaggers. 

The warm-up matches and the opening match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka has taught us that the pitches in Guyana, Barbados and St Lucia are slower than an arthritic tortoise who has had a particularly heavy night on the sauce. This means that the shaggers may not be as prevalent as they were in the IPL where Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan and Kieron Pollard in particular shagged themselves silly around India for six weeks.

I always had Tillakaratne Dilshan down as a shagger; and an unconventional one at that, but to see him struggle today to score only three off 19 balls suggests that he won't put as many notches on his belt as he did in England in last year's World T20.

So predicting the Lovers that will aim to provide pleasure all night, be chivalrous with their foreplay and then maintain a steady and patient momentum with the occasional shout out loud moment. Similarly, trying to fathom who will be the Shaggers that are too selfish for foreplay and start banging away from day one looks like it is going to be more difficult than we thought. But, to the hell with it and here goes.

The Lovers - Looking to give some lurve will be the following: Jacques Kallis, Mahela Jayawardene, Paul Collingwood, Michael Clarke (if anyone can manage to stay awake), Gautam Gambhir and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

The Shaggers - Warming up with Robin Uthappa's medicine ball will be: David Warner, Bangladesh (yep, the whole team are testosterone fuelled sex maniacs), Eoin Morgan, Murali Vijay, Shahid Afridi (who is probably a bit kinky), Albie Morkel, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Elton Chigumbura.  

  

The IPL XI of the tournament

The fallout from Kochigate and the subsequent suspension of Lalit Modi over-shadowed the final and helped us forget to write a post naming our XI of the tournament.  We didn’t watch every game. In fact we didn’t even watch half of them, but we have seen enough to name our XI. As per the IPL rules, we have limited ourselves to a maximum of four overseas players – although we have in fact only picked three.

1.  Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai)– the leading run-scorer in the tournament was the main reason behind Mumbai’s dominance of the regular season. If he was playing for Indiain the World T20, the organisers may as well give MS Dhoni the trophy now.

2. Murali Vijay (Chennai)– Controversially (probably) selected ahead of Kallis, we have opted for Vijay because his superior strike (156.84) would dovetail better with Tendulkar than Kallis’ more methodical approach. And his 127 off only 56 balls against Rajasthan was arguably the innings of the season.

3. Suresh Raina (Chennai)– Third in the leading run-scorers list and at a strike rate of over 142 too, Raina continued his good form in the T20 format and was consistency personified. Man of the match in the final and his fielding was top-class throughout

 

 

4. Saurabh Tiwary (Mumbai)– Gets in ahead of more celebrated names like Symonds, Watson and Jayawardene. Tiwary continually provided the icing on the cake to the excellent starts usually provided for Mumbai by Tendulkar; and in the semi-final (when Sachin failed) his innings provided the platform for Pollard to launch Mumbai into orbit.

5. Robin Uthappa (Bangalore) – The muscle man who warmed up with a medicine ball was the most consistent of the kamikaze attack-at-all-costs batsmen (see post on the Lovers and the Shaggers). Uthappa can win a game in less than five overs as a strike rate of over 171 would suggest. Why is he not in the Indian T20 squad ahead of the disappointing Yuvraj Singh?

6. MS Dhoni, Captain (Chennai)– The inspirational captain behind Chennai’s success and the man that saved their bacon in the do-or-die match against Punjab. Dhoni is rapidly becoming India’s greatest ever captain.

7. Kieron Pollard (Mumbai) – The best all-rounder in the tournament. With the bat he had the highest strike-rate (185.71), with the ball he took a steady supply of wickets at a relatively good economy rate and he was electric in the field. If Mumbai had not held him back until it was too late in the final, who knows what could have happened?

8. Ravichandran Ashwin (Chennai)– With a superlative economy rate of 6.10, Ashwin’s off-breaks typically gave Chennai a great start with the new ball. Ashwin was yet another factor behind Chennai’s resurgence from the mid-point of the season.

9. Amit Mishra (Delhi) – This is probably a biased choice given that Delhiwas my adopted side, but Mishra performed consistently well and took 17 wickets during the competition. To be honest, it could just as easily have been Harbhajan, Ojha, Kumble or Murali though as spin came to the fore.

10. Lasith Malinga (Mumbai)– Malinga’s ability to bowl yorkers at will is a priceless commodity in T20 and with his unorthodox action, he can be unplayable at times. Took 15 wickets and did so at a decent economy rate of just over seven.

 

11. Doug Bollinger (Chennai) – Just pips his Australian colleague Ryan Harris and Zaheer Khan. The arrival of Bollinger coincided with Chennai’s resurgence and his performance in the semi-final and final played a big part in his team’s triumph. In his first match he took two for 15 from four overs against Rajasthan. This was the match that saw 469 runs making it all the more astounding.

World T20 preview and predictions

Just five days after the end of the IPL season, international cricket resumes with the World T20 in the Caribbean. Although, it will be a less frenzied affair with no DLF maximums, no timeouts and praise be to God, no Danny Morrison, it is not exactly an example of good scheduling by the ICC. And coming under a year after the last World T20 in England, no-one could argue that cricket in general is adopting a less is more approach to the youngest form of the game.

The competition itself is structured in the same way as a year ago with four initial groups of three being whittled down to two groups of four in the Super Eight stage, before the semi-finals and final. Group A sees holders Pakistan up against Bangladesh and Australia, and with Shahid Afridi captaining pretty much anything could happen. Shorn of Shoaib Malik, Rana Naved, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan through the mismanagement of Ijaz Butt and one of the best T20 bowlers in the world in Umar Gul through injury, Pakistan may even struggle to get past unpredictable Bangladesh.

Despite losing a warm-up match to Zimbabwe and Brett Lee to injury, Australia has to rank amongst the favourites for the trophy; though the decision to leave Doug Bollinger at home could come back to haunt them. We'll take the Aussies to top the group and Bangladesh to get past Pakistan and cause more match-fixing allegations from their oh so wonderful politicians.

Group B sees last year's runners up Sri Lanka take on New Zealand and Zimbabwe. King Kumar's boys should do well on the expected slow pitches of the Caribbean and New Zealand don't generally get beaten by the minnows, so despite the boon of beating Australia, the ever-improving Zimbabwe are likely to miss out here.

The wonderful story that is Afghanistan qualifying for the competition is likely to end abruptly with India and South Africa the opposition in Group C, and the hosts West Indies and England will have too much firepower for Ireland in Group D.

Then the real business will start with the Super Eight stage although the bizarre way in which those groups will be constituted is confusing to say the least. By our reckoning, assuming Australia, Sri Lanka, India and England win the preliminary groups, the two Super Eight groups will be Bangladesh, New Zealand, South Africa and England in Group E, and Australia, Sri Lanka, India and West Indies in a much tougher looking Group F. But we could be wrong and we're already on the phone to Professor Stephen Hawking in order to get a better understanding of how this works.

Anyway, taking for granted that we are correct; and for England's sake we hope we are, then the Reverse Sweep's belief that 2010 is going to follow 1966 and 2003 in the annals of English sporting glory looks a distinct possibility. With T20 being a great leveller, the selectors finally picking the right squad and England having a good balance between bat and ball, Paul Collingwood's men should be right up there in contention for the trophy. We take them to go through to the semi-finals with South Africa from this supposed Group E.

If Group F looked like this then it would rightly be called the group of death. All four teams look strong with India led by the excellent MS Dhoni and Australia the two favourites for the competition. But don't rule out the hosts who will be looking to make up for their disappointing performance when hosting the World Cup in 2007. With Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, West Indies have the impact players that win a T20 match in a five over spell. And with T20 having that element of unpredictability we go for the hosts to join India in the last four.

With South Africa likely to choke in the semi-final and the West Indies probably running out of steam, we at the Reverse Sweep are predicting an India-England final with the absence of Sachin Tendulkar meaning that England will finally break its duck of having never won a limited overs ICC world trophy. But we won't be massively surprised if we get it wrong.

In terms of the cricketers to look out for, here are our tips (one per country) as the likely stars: England - Kevin Pietersen, India - MS Dhoni, South Africa - Dale Steyn, West Indies - Kieron Pollard, Australia - Cameron White, Sri Lanka - Angelo Mathews, Bangladesh - Tamim Iqbal, New Zealand - Ross Taylor, Pakistan - Shahid Afridi, Zimbabwe - Elton Chigumbura, Ireland - Niall O'Brien, Afghanistan - Mohammad Shahzad.

Let the festivities begin, and then roll-on quickly so we can get some test cricket...    

The Lovers and the Shaggers

In his column for CricDude a few weeks ago, Jarrod Kimber of Cricket With Balls and Cricket Sadist fame, wrote that they were essentially two types of batsmen in T20 (read his post here). Jarrod called them the mentalists and the clever guys. As the names would suggest, the mentalists adopt a kamikaze approach that rarely comes off, whilst the clever guys take their time, play themselves in and invariably provide more of a contribution.

Having watched some (if not all; as that would make me insane) of the IPL action this season, we at the Reverse Sweep would agree with Jarrod, but would suggest a more base (some may say crude) categorisation.

Jarrod's clever guys are our Lovers. Chivalrous with their foreplay as they caress and ease themselves in, and then maintaining a steady and patient momentum with the ocassional shout out loud moment. Essentially they are aiming to provide pleasure for as long as possible; well for the bulk of the 20 overs at least. Obvious lovers are Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis (perish the thought) and Rahul Dravid.

Then you have the Shaggers. Too selfish to bother with needless foreplay and the inconvenience of playing themselves in, the shaggers start banging away at a frantic pace from ball one. For the most part it ends in crushing disappointment with an abrupt end after only a couple of pumps and a squirt, as they exit stage left with head bowed and bat between their legs. But when it comes off it can provide sheer ecstasy. It can even last all night as evidenced by M (don't call me Murali) Vijay's innings of 127 off 56 balls in the runfest between Chennai and Rajasthan. Some can do it on a more regular basis like Robin Uthappa, some prefer a quick shag like Kieron Pollard, whilst others can even earn superlatives such as being called the best shag they'd ever had. Witness Shane Warne's exaggerated appreciation of Yusuf Pathan's 37 ball 100 against Mumbai in the early stages of the competition - it must have been some shag for Warney to say it was the best he's ever had.

So if nothing else, T20 has given us the lovers and the shaggers; and for that we should be eternally grateful.

Finally, Chris Gayle loses his cool

It has finally happened. The coolest dude in cricket has finally lost his temper with his bumbling side following a second successive loss to Zimbabwe. I'd always thought that Gayle losing his cool was as likely as Gordon Brown getting a positive approval rating. Obviously I was wrong.

Speaking after the game, an honest Gayle reserved his ire for three batsmen in partcular saying "In the Australia series, I saw improvements in the likes of Pollard and Smith. To come here ... and the way they went about it, I must say I am very disappointed in those two guys and Ramdin. Those guys were key for us and the way they went about it was a terrible display. It is very disappointing and sad to see how they went about it."

Maybe Gayle's propensity to get out to Doug Bollinger in Australia has finally chipped away at that cool veneer? But his criticism of the three amigos was spot on. In what despite my negative comments yesterday was a fascinating contest, most of the West Indies batsmen snookered themselves in their run chase by getting out to ridiculous shots. Smith in particular was at fault after getting out with only four needed from the last three balls. Gayle went further and refused to offer excuses saying "When you do crap, it's definitely crap and there is no excuse." This kind of honesty is refreshing in a World where cricketers, footballers and rugby players and managers are all too ready to offer excuses or blame the match officials when things go wrong. Gayle, who could have easily referred to the mad schedule that saw his side play T20Is in Sydney last Tuesday and then Trinidad on Sunday,  thought that the West Indies played crap, so he said so.

Luckily for Gayle, there are four more matches in the series for his side to redeem themselves, which even though Zimbabwe are better than most people would have thought, should surely see West Indies win the series. Shouldn't it?