Singh's Six Six Slogs Singes and Subdues England in World Twenty20

Englands Twenty20 World Championships ended in a blaze of glory (for the other guys), when Yujraj Singh blasted six sixes in an over from Stewart Broad at the same time setting a world record with a 50 in 12 balls.

Yuvraj is the fourth man to complete the perfect over, after Garry Sobers, Ravi Shastri and Herschelle Gibbs. The first two instances came in domestic first-class matches; the most recent was in South Africa's World Cup game against Holland in March. But no one had previously achieved the feat against a Test-playing nation. Yuvraj's barrage – which also took him to 50 in an international record of 12 balls – was the final insult in England's execrable Twenty20 campaign.


Yet again, we English have given the world a new game – or at least a new refinement of an old game – and watched our sportsmen lose at it. Ten days ago, Paul Collingwood was predicting that the domestic experience of the team's Twenty20 specialists would give them an edge. Now his team have slunk shamefully out of the tournament. They remain the only major country not to have won a world one-day competition of any kind.

He must have been using some of this to enhance his performance.

England will have to invent another game that they can be good at.

Thanks for the Good News Telegraph Online

Scotland Achieve Historic Tie with India in Cricket

After a disappointing loss to Pakistan, Scotland achieved a creditable draw with India at the Cricket Twenty20 World Championships, when the match was abandoned with no play due to rain.

A Magnificent Moral Victory!

If Pakistan wallop India, Scotland can qualify for the next stage. This would be a classic Scottish sporting success. More likely not to happen however. We Scots, we have to remain optimistic.

What Drugs is this Guy On?

The new South African head of the International Cricket Council Ray Mali is talking up the potential of the currently very poor Zimbabwe One Day Cricket Team.

"The programmes that they have which I believe they will take cricket far and it has been demonstrated by what we saw over the last three one-day games, especially yesterday (Sunday) when Zimbabwe was almost there.

"And I believe these boys - if they are given a chance to play for the next three years as one unit - they will be at the top of world rankings.

"It is not a dream, I believe it can be done. Zim Cricket will have to continue exposing these boys to higher class, intensive cricket all the time. Zimbabwe Cricket will have my support, they will have the support of ICC with this type of cricket that has been demonstrated over the last few days," said Mali.

The former president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa also praised the ZC leadership, saying they have managed to have a sustained development programme that ensures a constant supply of talent.

"At the same time I am excited by the involvement of schools in the cricket set-up which augurs well for the future because I believe with the participation of schools, from the Under-11 age-group up to the top, it means the future of cricket in this country is guaranteed.

"There will be a constant flow of players going up and the quality of leadership that has been assigned to look after the cricket here is of the highest quality that you can find anywhere in the world. It compares well with what we have in South Africa and other parts of the world."

Is this the same country that the somewhat corrupt Mr Mugabe is running (into the ground). Obviously all that money is being funnelled into cricket rather than feeding the population.

In other news Cherie Blair is in the running for Miss World, George Bush has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in Iraq and David Beckham is not a prima donna.

Where do these people come from? I mean it is nice to be nice to your neighbours, but a little reality would be more appropriate. By this reckoning, Scotland have a shot at the top rankings in cricket. How can I get a job like that?

I had exquisite timing in writing that post, with Zimbabwe beating Australia in the Twenty20 World Cup last night. You could get odds of 50 to 1 for the match before it started. Not bad for a 50:50 result outccome. Oh well perhaps Ray Mali can keep his job.

Cricket Shortens Forms of the Game

With the bash brothers version of the World Cup for cricket about to start in South Africa, Gideon Haigh details the history of the shorter foms of the game.

Twenty20 seems so fated to take over the world that it cannot be long before batsmen start hitting four4s and six6s, and falling for duck0s. But the underlying idea of making cricket faster, shorter, simpler and sillier is an old one. In fact, for a game whose commandments sometimes seem to have been handed down on clay tablets, cricket has throughout its history been interpreted with disarming freedom.

Nor should it be overlooked that the model of an 11-a-side two-innings game on which "first-class" cricket converged was only one of a host of cricket variations in use 200 years ago. Cricketers still took the field against one another as individuals, in single-wicket competition; as threes, fours, fives and sixes, in double-wicket competition - and against odds, often apparently overwhelming. When the first English team toured Australia from January 1862, it played 11 of its 14 games as XIs against XXIIs, and not until 1946-47 did English cricketers undertake an Ashes tour in which every game was on equal terms.

Sometimes the concepts combined. In one of the most famous duels, in 1810 the great allrounder William Lambert took on Lord Frederick Beauclerk and TC Howard - and won by 15 runs to claim a stake of £100. This he did, apparently, with wides, which did not then count against the bowler, and which, legend has it, drove the combustible Beauclerk crazy. There were combinations, too, that not even ECB marketers have dreamed up. Near Rickmansworth in May 1827, for example, "two Middlesex gentlemen" were defeated by Harefield farmer Francis Trumper "supported by his dog", providing a windfall for gamblers: an event of potential historical significance to Cricinfo, Coral, and Krufts.

Political Umpire describes it as

like reader's digest cricket, or a book review rather than a book itself.

Seems to me that despite some of the poo pooing about Twenty20, this very commercial form of cricket has a great deal of potential. With increasing commercial interest in cricket and lifestyle changes limiting the time people have to watch cricket, this trend is likely to continue. The proposed Indian Cricket League, with a shorter format and short season is attracting a great deal of interest from current and recently retired marquee players, despite attempts by the cricket governing bodies to stifle participation. Television has voted with their cheque books, almost guaranteeing a success.

Despite all this at the essence, cricket still remains a competition between a batsman and a bowler and his buddies. All the other stuff is just noise.