Ireland destroyed Canada in 2 days, deserve a test status

Share

Tweet

Ireland prove their supremacy in the associates cricket once again as they beat Canada by an innings and 11 runs in just 2 days.

Ireland show that they are the high class materials and none of the associates match to their calibre. A comprehensive victory came in a first-class match of ICC Intercontinental Cup in Dublin. The hero of the Ireland's batting was 21 years old Paul Stirling, who scored 107 runs. Together with Wilson (61), he took the team's total to 155 for the first wicket.

That was not the end to the excellent batting performance from Irish side. Alex Cusack (81), Kevin O'Brien (79) and John Mooney (40) are other major contributors. The team finally got all out for 462 runs.
Khurram Chohan took 4 wickets while Manny Aulakh grabbed 3 for Canada.

Just like batting department, the bowling department proved to be great headache for the Canadians. Their fist innings last till 194 runs only, with only Ruvindu Gunasekera reaching to fifty. He scored 66 runs. The major damage was given by Albert Van der Merwe, who claimed 5 crucial wickets of Canadian batsmen.

After being forced to follow on, Canada got into trouble again as they lost 4 important wickets in just 66 runs. It was Merwe again, along with U19 skipper George Dockrell, who gave hard time for Canadians. Both claimed 3 wickets each. Important contribution from John Mooney (2/45) and Phil Eaglestone (2/50) forced Canada to give up at 257 runs.

With this win, Ireland top the league table followed by Afghanistan at second. Canada have lost their both matches so far and are struggling at the bottom of the table.

Read more »

Australia seek a series win against Sri Lanka at Test

Share

Tweet

Australia are doing well under the captaincy of Michael Clarke. The world champion for more than a decade have now started to regain the form and confidence they were known for. The tour of Sri Lanka will be an energy booster for them. They are leading the 3 test match series by 1-0 with the final test commencing on this Friday.

The vice-captain of Australian side, Shane Watson agreed that they would be highly dissapointed if they lost the final test. The way Australia have been playing through out the series, they only deserve the victory.

After being dethroned by Indian side as the world cup champion, Australian side have undergone through lots of transitions. Long time skipper Rickey Ponting stepped down as a captain, giving a chance to Michael Clarke to lead the side. All the great warriors from the golden era had left the fort, leaving behind the young amateur talents to fill the empty spaces. No doubt they still have stocks of world class players, but they are somehow not so competitive as the Australian players were traditionally known for. But now, the scenario is slowly changing and the new players are learning to adapt to the pressure at highly competitive International stage.

Middle order batsman Shaun Marsh and off-spinner Nathan Lyon will be the big findings of current test series. Lyon got 5 wickets in his debut match, where he destroyed Sri Lankan's batting lineup to get them all out for only 105. He conceded only 34 runs in 15 overs. Similarly, Shaun Marsh, who we might know as a player of Kings XI Punjab and not so regular batsman in ODI side, made a successful debut by scoring 141 runs. He hit 18 fours to get to that figure. He can be seen as a long term prospect for Rickey Ponting at number 3.

Australia lost the T20 series 2-0, while grabbed the ODIs 3-2. If they can win the test series, they will end the Sri Lankan tour happilly. They have to gear up to face the challenges of tough sides like South Africa, New Zealand and India in coming 4 months.

Read more »

Expert's View: Ireland v England ODI Match

Share

Tweet

This is a guest post from betting expert Aidan Ward. You can get more tips on betting in his website www.thebookiesoffers.co.uk.

England travel to Dublin, Ireland for the One Day International match against Ireland that promises to be an interesting and exciting game of cricket.

The England team have just finished a superb test series victory against India to leave them the number 1 test team in the World, but the squad to take on Ireland has many changes. Many have said that the changes are to give some of the younger fringe players a chance and a taste of first class International cricket and it is hard to argue against that point.

The regular England ODI captain is Alistair Cook who, along with quite few other big names, has been rested for this with Eoin Morgan filling the boots as the team captain. Despite these changes though the bookmakers still have England down as firm favourites to win the match with bookies Victor Chandler offer the best odds of 1/3 for an England victory.

Ireland have been making steady improvements though to their one day game and could well cause an upset. It was not that long ago the Irish team beat the England team in the World Cup after all. If you fancy an Ireland win here then Bet365 are offering the best betting odds here at 11/4. With Ireland not really making any surprise changes to their squad an Ireland win could be a very good bet.

Although there is a slight risk in the individual player betting markets as they may not play there are also some great odds and bets to be had with the bookmakers. In fact it would be a good idea to look at a free betting guide to see the best free betting offers and get a free bet on the match.

In the betting for the top England batsman there are some interesting options and some nice betting odds to be had. The bookmakers favourite is Craig Kieswetter and if he plays a steady game and doesn’t try and smash the ball out of the ground from the very start he has a good chance of top scoring. Most bookmakers including Paddy Power and Betfred have him at odds of 7/2 which might be a bit on the short side for some punters. Jonathon Trott also has odds of 7/2 with Stan James but seeing as he missed the last test match against India he still may not be fit to play. The bet we would advise taking is the odds of 5/1 from Boylesports for James Taylor to be top scorer for England. He has been in top form for Leicestershire this season and has also captained the England Lions team as well as hit some high scores.At the moment only Bet365 and William Hill have betting markets on the leading England bowler but that still doesn’t stop you being able to get a good value bet.

Our selection here would be Steven Finn who has odds of 3/1. He has proven himself to be a high quality bowler and should be given a chance to play seeing as he would think himself unlucky to be left out of the recent test teams.

One final bet we like the look of is for Ireland to score the most 6’s in the game. We believe England may take a conservative approach to this game and try and build a score slowly but steadily whereas the Irish team we believe will attempt to score big and score fast. This bet is available with betting odds of 2/1 with Victor Chandler and Paddy Power amongst other bookmakers.

Read more »

England grab a No. 1 test spot from India

Share

Tweet

India is dethroned as a world number 1 test nation by England today. India lost their top spot after conceding one of their most humiliating defeats in a test history. They lost the 3rd match and a series by an inning and 242 runs.

India could have only expected a miracle to avoid defeat, may be heavy rain for the next 3 days that would have swapped away remaining days of play. But luck is something that is not helping Indian side at all. 

The game was almost over when England built up a formidable first inning total of 710 for 7, a score that seem out of reach for fragile Indian batting line, who could manage to score only 224 in the first inning. Alistair Cook (294) and Eoin Morgan (104) took the game away from India before the start of the 3rd day. Already behind by 286 runs, India could not do any good for themselves as they lost their 4 strong batsmen at the score of 56. Virender Sehwag failed for golden duck in consecutive innings.

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar was the only hope for the Indian fans, but not for saving a match. The fans wished if only he could make his 100th international century. Out of form Tendulkar was showing some determination at the middle of the crease, but he was unfortunately run out by a great piece of fielding from Graeme Swann. He made 40. 

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who scored 77 in the first inning, provided some resistance once again as he made 74 runs. But his score was never enough to save India from a crushing defeat. England's bowling has always been of top class. James Anderson (4), Stuart Broad (2) and Graeme Swann (2) made sure that England didn't have to wait too long to taste victory. They eventually got India all out before tea session.

After losing the series and the top spot simultaneously, India have nothing else to lose. They could save themselves from slipping further down in the test raking by winning the remaining one match, however, the kind of form England are having currently, it would be immensely difficult task to do that. In fact, England might be looking for a white wash.

(Photo Courtesy: EspnCricinfo)

Read more »

Win a ticket to a England-India match

Share

Tweet

Cosmic Cricket has a good news for every cricket lover who wants to witness the live action of cricket between England and India with his/ her own eyes. Here's your chance to win a ticket to Old Trafford, where England will challenge India in an only T20 match that will be held on August 31. So, your dream of watching your favourite cricketers can come true just after another 20 days. You want to know how. We will tell you how you can be that lucky person. 

Kingfisher, the leading business company and the sponsor of the current England-India series has launched a competition for its facebook fans. There is a simple question that you need to answer. You don't need to be an expert to answer correctly, but yes, you should have a common knowledge about cricket. The lucky winner will be informed via email and will be presented with ticket to watch the match. So, what are you waiting for? Join the facebook page of Kingfisher Global now, enter the competition and give the correct answer to the question. Keep visiting the page, as there will be many other exciting prizes to win, including a dinner with Graeme Swann. Here's the link to Kingfisher Global's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/KingfisherGlobal 

Do send us a comment if you become the lucky winner. Cosmic Cricket will love to feature you in our post. 

Read more »

"Cricketliveguide": An example of poor journalism

Share

Tweet

While blogging has given everyone a freedom of speech, it has also promoted an unethical journalism practice. By unethical journalism, I mean creating a news out of baseless and wrong information. Such an example is set by "Cricketliveguide", a cricket blog (or website), when it published the news about Nepal U19 cricket on 9th July, 2011. See the screenshot below:

I have highlighted the parts which I want to talk about. The cricket web portal "cricketliveguide" says "Nepal picked 14 Indian players". That took me with surprise. I could not believe my eyes and initially thought it might be a typing mistake, but when I saw the same information in the later part of the post, I was confirmed that writer wrote that intentionally. Now I want to ask Mr. Bowman Michael, the editor of the website and the writer himself, on what basis he gave such statement? The whole Nepalese cricket fans know that Nepal has its homegrown products in cricket. Nepal doesn't buy players from other countries like most of other nations do. I can say this confidently because I know most of the U19 players who are currently participating in the world cup qualifier in Ireland. If he has the proof of what he is saying, why didn't he disclose that with the post?

Being a blogger myself, I thought of asking the explanation from the author himself  before taking further action. I left comment in this post, which is still waiting to be approved. 

 I came to know that many other Nepalese fans also left comments in this post, but the comment box is still empty, which means the moderator has either deleted all the comments, or no one is there to moderate at all.  Reckoning the second option could be true, I decided to send a direct mail to the editor. Here is what I wrote to them. 

Dear editor:

I would like to grab your attention towards a post entitled "U-19 World Cup Qualifiers: Nepal picked 14 Indian Cricketers", which is completely a false information. I am a cricket blogger myself and I think this article has been written without any base. As I have discovered that it was written by the editor himself, the issue becomes more critical. Moreover, the website has not considered correcting the mistakes even after knowing the truth. I humbly request you to change the post as none of the players in Nepal u19 team is Indian. If you think I am wrong, please provide the proof regarding it. I hope you will look after this matter as it is hurting the ego of all Nepalese cricket fans. Thank you
Sincerely,Sujan Uday @ www.cosmiccricket.com

I wrote the email on the 26th June and am still waiting for the reply. May be the editor seems to be too busy or he feels it not necessary to respond. He is unaware how serious this matter is. By writing such post, he is polluting the image of Nepal cricket in the international arena. I wouldn't have bothered to write a post if Nepal actually has any Indian player, but it is not true. If the author thinks I am wrong, he can challenge me with the necessary evidences. Otherwise I want him to change the information or discard the whole post. Now, I am waiting for the reply for my post. 

Read more »