T20, List A, and ODIs, Oh My: The Cricket Thread (No, Not That Kind of Cricket)

Jake Peavy's Demons

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I have a very off-topic question but I think there's probably a decent amount of overlap between soccer and cricket fans (if there are any cricket fans here) so this seems like a decent place to ask. If this possible digression leads anywhere, I'm happy to start another thread elsewhere. I'm somewhat interested in starting to follow cricket, is anyone equipped and willing to give poor ignorant me a primer on following cricket like the ones several of you so graciously did regarding European soccer? (Again, happy to take this elsewhere if anyone is so equipped and willing).
PM'ed @Mr. Stinky Esq. yesterday and am taking up their advice and starting a thread (my first ever) in case anyone wants to join in on the discussion and follow leagues throughout 2022/23.

I watched the T20 World Cup this year and absolutely fell in love with the sport of cricket. Asked for a WillowTV subscription for Xmas, and my wife came through, lol. I'm still learning the sport but have done a good amount of research and hope to follow leagues throughout the year.

Australian's Big Bash League has recently started their season, and Pakistan's Super League begins in January.

I plan on subscribing in January for WillowTV with SlingTV. It is a monthly thing, and don't want to start the billing in December for just a couple of days. So on 01 Jan, hope to get started and catch some Big Bash League (Australia) action.

It seems there is a "Big 4" that compares to the likes of the "Big 4" in UEFA leagues (no, I'm not counting Ligue 1 these days in that 4). BBL (Dec - Jan, 61 games), Pakistan Super League (Jan - Feb, 34 games), Indian Premier League (March - May, 74 games), & Caribbean Premier League (Aug - Sep, 34 games). At least BBL also have a women's leagues too. Unlike football domestic leagues around the world, there is a "playoff" for the top teams of the table, and they battle it out for a championship.

IPL is considered the "big-time"/best league, and due to this, there is a little bit upcharge for these games versus just getting/buying the WillowTV app for your SmartTV, devices, and the like.

BBL is considered pretty good too, but they have hit a decline in viewership/attendance from when they first begin the T20 league, but have made attempts to build this back up with more foreign slot additions on their team.

IPL prohibited Pakistani players from playing in their league except from their debut season, but that seems set to change starting in 2023 (just in time!).

The PSL (Pakistan Super League) is a little different than normal leagues we're used to: the 6 teams are all owned by a group of investors, and not investors owning a team individually.

Rounding out the "Big 4" is the Caribbean Premier League, which is fascinating because it combines several island countries for "West Indies" and is their league.

Tours/series seem to be a big deal, but I haven't watched any of those yet. I liken them to a 3-game series in MLB with more at stake, but miss the nuances so far (hope to learn more).

England won the whole thing recently for the T20 World Cup, and their league is T20 Blast. I don't know much about them, but Willow claim to have rights to the England Cricket Board.

Most if not all games are accessible in English (and Hindi and Punjabi). ESPN+ also have the New Zealand league, but unsure what they are called.

Because the IPL is largely considered to be the best, with the highest average attendance, biggest purse winnings, etc., it seems to be pretty accessible to follow should one get access to their games. BBL too for the large English audience.

I haven't gotten into ODIs or full test matches yet; I reckon in time ODIs will garner more interest, but full multi-day test matches seem too much for me in my new-found interest.

From my understanding, these players often play year round for multiple teams and multiple competitions. It seems that at least in the T20 world, the World Cup and domestic leagues are king, though.

Here is a copy of a video @dirtynine posted in another thread, and the "sequel" to it for those interested:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWpbtLIxYBk


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0-3JlWWhyQ
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Around the leagues, thus far:

BBL:

On 16 Dec, the Sydney Thunder faced off against the Adelaide Strikers. Thunder made some noise (in a bad way) around the league by only scoring 15 runs (all out) in 5.5 overs. Thunder have had a rough go in the season so far, only winning 1 game by 1 wicket with 0 balls left to kick-off the season campaign. Last night, however, they scored 182/6 in 20 overs, defeating their Brisbane Heat opponents by 11 runs (171/9). I’m interested in seeing the consistency around the league when it comes to scoring runs. 15 runs is a paltry amount in a format of the sport where 110+ runs seems to be the norm.

The Perth Scorchers are off to a hot start, as their team nickname suggests. They are the defending champion and hope to repeat. 8 points from 5 matches (4-1). Unlike football (soccer) 2 points are awarded for a win as opposed to 3. Draws can still happen in the event teams have equalised in the score, or a rain-out occurs before either side takes the oval.

IPL:

IPL Auction (like Free Agency or Transfer Windows) conducted 23 Dec for the season starting 25 March. World Cup winners and England-international superstars Sam Curran and Ben Stokes were considered prizes of the auction. Curran went for a record ₹1850L (185 million lakhs [approx. 2.17MM$US]) to the Punjab Kings, and Ben Stokes went for ₹1625L (162.5 million lakhs [approx. 1.96MM$US]). Kane Williamson, an Aussie, went for ₹200L (20 million lakhs [approx. 240,000$US]) to the Gujarat Tigers.

The Gujarat Tigers were an expansion team the past season, and entered the league with the Lucknow Super Giants. Tigers winded up winning the whole league their inaugural season, and Lucknow finished 4th.

Admittedly, IPL is the home to players of which I grew more acquainted during the T20 World Cup, such as Virat “King” Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Rishabh Pant (Delhi Capitals), Suryakumar Yadav (Mumbai Indians), & Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians). I am really looking forward to following these players, these sides, and learn even more about the league.

PSL:

Pakistan is home to a 3-headed monster of bowlers, currently ranked 16th, 17th, and 18th in the ICC T20 Bowler Rankings in Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, and Shadab Khan.

Afridi is nicknamed “The Eagle”, and his 6’6” (198cm) frame matches his moniker. A left-handed fast-bowler, he was the captain of the incumbent champions, Lahore Qalandars and helped them win the 2022 campaign. He was the youngest captain to win a T20 league. He had an unfortunate injury in the World Cup Final or Semifinal and attempted to come back at full strength. Unfortunately, he was unable to continue the match. He and Haris Rauf form a potent 1-2 punch of bowlers for Qalanders and they look to defend their title going into 2023.

CPL:

Not much to report here so far. West Indies were eliminated from the tourney early, so I didn’t have as many options to follow their team and grow familiarity with their stars who play domestically. Unlike other leagues where cities or regions play each other, the West Indies will have island nations square off against one another, like Jamaica vs. Trinbago. The Jamaica Tallawahs won their 3rd championship last season. The Trinbago Knight Riders have the most championships in that league with 4. Barbados, Guyana, St. Kitts & Nevis, & Saint Lucia are other countries who have squads in the league.
 

Mr. Stinky Esq.

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I just want to say I appreciate your willingness to share with us. Like I told you by PM I think I’m going to try to dip my toes in with BBL and then try to get into IPL in March.
 

Mr. Stinky Esq.

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So I just watched a BBL game and I was hoping maybe you or anyone else could help me out here. I have been operating under the assumption that scoring more runs with your inning is the object of the game. But I just watched a game where while the second team scored more runs (and thus won as far as I could tell), but they reported it as them winning by a number of wickets. So do you need to simultaneously take more wickets and score more runs? What happens if one team takes more wickets and the other scores more runs? This is probably a stupid question but I'm new at this cricket thing.
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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So good question and something I was initially confused about at first. Hopefully this helps:

14 December 2022: Adelaide Strikers vs. Sydney Sixers

Adelaide Strikers 6/184 (20.0 overs) defeat Sydney Sixers 7/133 (20.0 overs).

Adelaide Strikers won by 51 runs.


In this game, Adelaide batted first and scored 184 runs from 6 wickets, meaning that Sydney "captured" 6 wickets, but allowed 184 runs. Now for the next innings, Sydney come to bat and score 133 runs from 7 wickets in 20.0 overs.

Since Sydney batted last, their target score is 185 (1 more run than Adelaide). But they ran out of overs before they could reach those amount of runs, because T20 is a strict amount of overs. So by the time Sydney received their 120th ball (not including any extras) they only managed 133 runs, and didn't "cover" the target score. I don't want to saw number of wickets are "irrelevant", but I wanted to use this specific example to illustrate that a team who had more wickets in their scoreline lost the game; it is the runs that matter.

Looking at it from a reverse angle:

Melbourne Renegades 6/175 (19.5 overs) defeat Sydney Thunder 6/174 (20.0 overs).

Melbourne Renegades won by 4 wickets.


This scoreline is ridiculously close, and came down to the penultimate ball. Sydney won the toss and elected to bat first. They managed 174 runs from 6 wickets in 20.0 overs. Now Melbourne come to bat, their target score being 175. Melbourne "covered" that target by scoring that many runs as needed. They won by 4 wickets, because they had 4 more wickets available to them before they would be all out (10 wickets) . Since they covered and had wickets left to spare, you'd say Melbourne Renegades won by 4 wickets.

Something quirky I noticed: in Australian cricket scoring, they do number of wickets/number of runs. So 6/175, instead of 175/6.

A few things I wanted to mention (figured I'd do a monthly post or so, unless more people start to participate):

- There is a unique type of dismissal/out called a 'Mankad', where the bowler correctly anticipates an over-eager batter stepping over the line before the ball is bowled, and he quickly knocks the bails off of the wicket to get the batter out. Video below:

https://media.tenor.com/pkAGe7Qwwc8AAAAC/itzz_rohan-ashwin.gif

59694

- A 'golden duck' is when a batter gets out/dismissed on the very first ball they face, and 'diamond duck' is where a batter gets out/dismissed without facing a ball (perhaps by being run out trying to get to one of the two bases).

- There is a DLS method (Duckworth-Lewis-Stern) where in the event of a weather delay, this statistical method dictates how many runs a side will need to score to defeat their opponent. So if a team gets fewer overs than the other, this method will state what is needed to win.

- Rishabh Pant, an Indian superstar, got into a car crash on 30 December. He has since been airlifted to a Mumbai hospital, and he most certain will be out for some time. He was one of several players I was looking forward to watching in the upcoming IPL campaign.
 

thehitcat

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Was just stuck in a hotel in Waco Texas that had Willow TV and I'm hooked again (though I'm more a Test Match, 5 day long, give me a tea break kind of viewer.) Watched 4 Big Bash games, the end of the first Pakistan/New Zealand Test and the beginning of the second. Trying to figure how I can get Willow and watch it on the screen behind my home office (i.e. all the time.) I love having one commentator argue with another about how plumb the LBW was.
 

Mr. Stinky Esq.

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Was just stuck in a hotel in Waco Texas that had Willow TV and I'm hooked again (though I'm more a Test Match, 5 day long, give me a tea break kind of viewer.) Watched 4 Big Bash games, the end of the first Pakistan/New Zealand Test and the beginning of the second. Trying to figure how I can get Willow and watch it on the screen behind my home office (i.e. all the time.) I love having one commentator argue with another about how plumb the LBW was.
I downloaded the iOS app on my iPhone and signed up. Account works on various other devices. Was pretty easy but the App Store reviews were very negative (mostly about trying to cancel).
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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@thehitcat I started up SlingTV on the 01 Jan, & added the Willow subscription through them to save any headache of dealing with Willow directly. Haven't had time to really go through it, but it seemed user-friendly enough.

@Mr. Stinky Esq., hopefully in the event you do cancel, they give you no grief.

It really a fascinating sport, & another different from baseball I enjoy is the formation/tactics shifts communicated from the captain depending on the batter batting.
 

swiftaw

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So I just watched a BBL game and I was hoping maybe you or anyone else could help me out here. I have been operating under the assumption that scoring more runs with your inning is the object of the game. But I just watched a game where while the second team scored more runs (and thus won as far as I could tell), but they reported it as them winning by a number of wickets. So do you need to simultaneously take more wickets and score more runs? What happens if one team takes more wickets and the other scores more runs? This is probably a stupid question but I'm new at this cricket thing.
In limited-overs cricket (T20, or 50 overs), the way the result is presented depends on whether the team batting first or second wins. All that matters in determining the results is which team ends up with the most runs (either when they run out of overs or they run out of wickets, whichever happens first).

If the team batting first (team A) ends up with more runs than the team batting second (team B) the result is usually presented a saying that team A beat team B by x runs (where x is the difference in the run totals).

If the reverse happens, it doesn't make sense to frame team B's victory in terms of run differential since the match would conclude as soon as team B eclipses team A's total, so they phrase it in terms of how many wickets team B had remaining when they passed team A. So if team B passes team A's total and in the process they lost 6 wickets, we would say that team B beat team A by 4 wickets (because that's how many wickets they had left).

In many limited-overs competitions, if both teams are tied at the end of their innings, they'll do a "super-over" where each team gets 1 additional over, and the team who scores the most wins. (Kind of like extra-time in Soccer). The 2019 World Cup final ended this way with England beating New Zealand (England is the current holder of both limited-over World Cups).

Test Match cricket (played over 5 days with each team getting two innings each) is the traditional marquee format of the game although in terms of popularity it has been eclipsed by the shorter formats. There is a lot of tactical nuance. For example, the home team can prepare the pitch to suit their bowlers (pace / swing / spin). Also, as the ball ages, it becomes less hard and thus pace bowlers tend to be less effective and the ball spins more. In test cricket, the fielding team is allowed to take a new ball ever 80 overs (although they can choose not too).

As I said, there is so much nuance in cricket, the best way is just to watch and pick things up as you go. For example, because the way the cameras are set up so they always show the deliveries from behind the bowler, at first many people miss the fact that consecutive overs are always bowled from the opposite end.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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Well, I’ll use a post from the last cricket thread that was about the stuff inside the ropes. For the new people, The Ashes is an England-Australia Test match series (Tests are played over 5 days, unlimited overs, and two innings unless the team batting first in the second innings [yes, innings is both singular and plural] can’t beat in two innings the score the other team put up in their first innings) held every couple of years, last in Australia for the southern summer 2021-22, next in England for northern summer 2024.


Series now concluded. Australia came within 1 wicket of a 5-0 series whitewash, instead winning 4-0, with only the Sydney test being remotely competitive and ending in a draw.

There were some fantastic highlights and in fact most of them were from Australia’s dominant bowling attack.
* Starc bowling Burns first ball of the series at the Gabba
* Travis Head scoring 152 first test to set up an innings win
* Captain Cummings missing the 2nd test in Adelaide due to a close contact COVID scare and it not mattering to the bowling attack - or strategy frankly as Smith filled in admirably and Australia’s top order bludgeoned England (Labuschagne, Warner, Smith all with 90+)
* Boxing Day Test was the Scott Boland show - how could you not be amused by his 6/7 figures in the 2nd innings? And his compelling story - journeyman bowler, never picked until this test, only the second Indigenous player ever, wins the inaugural Man of the Match medal named after Johnny Marr an heroic indigenous test player from the 1880s. How good is that?!?
* Sydney Test was the only one where England showed up in the end - and Australia nearly bowled them out there too
* Usman Khawaja was the batting star - with twin tons and a redemption story of getting back into the side and excelling after he was demoted
* Broad and Anderson strong bowling for England, and Bairstow and Stokes fought hard to help England secure the draw. Only compelling match of the series… until tonight.
* Last test an historic one at Hobart, where England bowled extremely well the 2nd innings to hold Australia close, but then couldn’t manage to extend on a fine opening start losing all 10 wickets for 56 after racing out to 0-68 in the 2nd session this evening. And this time the hero was Green, who took out the top 3 batsmen- two by bowling them!

Pretty fun to watch if you’re Australian, lots of questions will be asked back in England though. Like why England’s openers were so crap (Australia’s 10th wicket pair averaged better than England’s openers 14 - 12 until this innings just concluded!). Or why was Jimmy Anderson not in the attack in the first Test? Why was England’s pace so inferior to Australia until this fifth test?

Looking over my summaries above they’re pretty one sided.

But England has a few bright spots. I thought Root and Malan batted well together. The fight and lion hearts of Stokes and Bairstow were as we have come to expect. Wood bowled well as did Broad and Anderson - not sorry to see the back of that one. And the openers stood up and played positively tonight, but they were let down by the rest of the batsmen after they departed.

Farewell England. See you over there in 2024. Hope you fix your batting woes, and look forward to a stronger contest.
The last few Ashes have settled into a pretty stable cycle: Australia whitewash England with their pace bowling on lightning fast wickets in Australia, while England uses the slower wickets at home to win pretty convincingly, though less so than the Aussies down under.

Now, for the uninitiated, let me sway you to the dark side.

I have no idea why it was this moment that got me into Test cricket, but so it was:

View: https://youtu.be/YfGzS9JVFn8


The scene: the 2010 Ashes. Fourth Test, Day 2, Melbourne Cricket Ground. This was one of the last Ashes series in Australia where England were dominant. England are starting to run away with this test as well, when Kevin Pietersen, on 49 runs, offers at the bowler’s delivery, just misses past his inside edge, and sees the ball caught by wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, who is howling for the umpire to give Pietersen out. Umpire Aleem Dar wasn’t having any of it. Going entirely off his wicketkeeper’s reaction, captain Ricky Ponting asks for the video umpire to review, convinced they’ll find evidence of Pietersen’s edge catching the ball. The third umpire, who had some major state-of-the-art technology just because the match was in Australia instead of England, finds nothing to overturn the umpire’s decision of not out, and Dar relays it with the wash-out motion. Ponting, one of only two Aussies convinced that Pietersen’s out, starts berating Dar, something that is 100% frowned upon. It gets so bad that the TV crew, all Australian, are confused about what Ponting is thinking. They also go after one of Sydney Sox’s favourite targets, Victoria bowler Peter Siddle, for joining in with Ponting, basically pointing out that the captain is free to embarrass himself, Siddle wasn’t.

That was Ponting’s last Test match as captain. He dropped himself for the fifth Test in Sydney.

As far as a great bowling performance, this is the one that immediately comes to mind:

View: https://youtu.be/b_JolrQC5mE


Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Stuart Broad’s first innings bowling performance: 9.3 overs (57 legal deliveries), 15 runs allowed, 8 wickets taken. Australia were all out for just 60, and in only 18.3 overs. Sublime bowling, aided by an Australian attack that was clearly at wits’ end.

Now, you might be asking how a form of cricket that starts with a full, raucous crowd on Day 1 and a group big enough to fit at a Lowell Spinners game by Day 5 can ever be exciting. Well, let’s talk about a bizarre concept that can only happen in a Test match: the follow-on. Essentially, if the side that bats first in the first innings has a huge lead after they’ve bowled (200+ runs), they can force the side that just batted to go right back out and bat again. It’s rarely taken for a lot of reasons, but a little more than 20 years ago, Australia enforced the follow-on in the second Test of a three-Test tour of India. Most time, the team following on either loses by an innings (even with another 10 wickets, they can’t beat the score the other team put up in one innings) or by a lot of wickets (they reach the target, but can’t put far enough past it to prevent the other side from winning early in their second innings). Rarely, the team following can get through the fifth day and draw. But India did something special in Kolkata…

View: https://youtu.be/UT2pMi3VhA8


(I swear, I’m not trying to pick on the Aussies. That said, if this doesn’t get Sydney Sox back involved, someone tell him I’m starting an AFL thread next month)
 

streeter88

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Interesting that you discuss the rarely enforced follow on as the current series - where yet again Australia is thrashing a hapless visiting side (this time South Africa). Aussies are sitting on 4/475 and waiting out the rain at Tea on Day 3 in Sydney. South Africa have yet to bat, having lost the previous two tests convincingly (the latter by an innings and 182 runs!). With time running out and rain in cards for Saturday Day 4 as well, Cummins may need to use the follow on to get a result.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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Interesting that you discuss the rarely enforced follow on as the current series - where yet again Australia is thrashing a hapless visiting side (this time South Africa). Aussies are sitting on 4/475 and waiting out the rain at Tea on Day 3 in Sydney. South Africa have yet to bat, having lost the previous two tests convincingly (the latter by an innings and 182 runs!). With time running out and rain in cards for Saturday Day 4 as well, Cummins may need to use the follow on to get a result.
The shame in that is Usman Khawaja is on 195*. Double tonnes don’t come around all that often.

In case it isn’t clear yet, 5 days is the maximum a Test match goes. So if rain interrupts play (as it did in Sydney Friday), that’s a day lost. And as @streeter88 points out, if the Australian captain wants to get the whitewash (sweep), he may have to declare (you can basically say you’re done batting at any time as the batting side), then trust his bowlers to take 20 wickets before the end of Day 5 without allowing 475+ runs, and also taking 10 much quicker and with fewer than 275 runs allowed. And any Test match without a clear result at the end of Day 5 is a draw. So even if Cummings declares the second play restarts Saturday, the Proteas could just change strategies, trying to simply survive in the crease without really engaging in a run chase at all, just basically spending two days pounding deliveries into the dirt and only running when it’s absolutely necessary.

I’m working off memory for this, but I feel like @Conigliaro's Potential and @CSteinhardt should be involved here. The former has watched plenty of cricket in his day, and the latter has actually played some.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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So in a big shock, the follow-on doesn’t work the way Australia wanted it to. In fact, even if they had another day, they’d likely need to bat again to win, which itself wasn’t a given.

Australia 4/475 declared
South Africa 255, (f/o) 2/106
 

Mr. Stinky Esq.

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Must say I was surprised to learn that the wave is called the Mexican wave in Australia. I don't know exactly why but it makes me cringe when I hear the commentators call it that.
 

swiftaw

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Must say I was surprised to learn that the wave is called the Mexican wave in Australia. I don't know exactly why but it makes me cringe when I hear the commentators call it that.
It’s also called the Mexican wave in England. The reason is that our first exposure to it was the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
 

Tangled Up In Red

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Tangled Up In Red

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I'm inclined to agree. Baseball is born from 'if you ain't cheating...' and rules have evolved accordingly.
Can't have ethics/understandings (if that's what they are) not be codified.
Also unclear on rules/requirement for the warning... if there is one.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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As with all things, the ICC and other cricket boards could just legislate it out of the game if they wanted to. It wouldn’t be tremendously hard, either: “If the bowler’s foot touches the no-ball line, their delivery must be directed toward the striker’s wicket, else a no-ball given.” That they haven’t just means they don’t think it’s that big a problem. Compare it to this incident:

View: https://youtu.be/QIjCpPStHnE


It was never likely that NZ were doing anything but losing that match on the last ball (even if Trevor Chappell wasn’t a great bowler, McKechnie surely wasn’t the kind of batsman to hit a 6 in that situation), but the sense that it opened Pandora’s Box was enough that any competition worth its salt banned underarm deliveries almost on the spot.
 

Mr. Stinky Esq.

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Oh, wow. I had wondered why there were no submariner bowlers, but I had obviously neglected to consider reductio ad absurdum.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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Well, that, and the fact that a delivery should (but doesn’t have to) bounce once on its way to the strike wicket makes anything lower than sidearm a borderline disastrous delivery. Like, the best 3/4 or sidearm bowler I can think of in the last 25 years is Sri Lankan bowler Lasith Malinga:

View: https://youtu.be/vog7n-Wcb5k


The arm action is very evocative of a modern baseball pitcher, and as a result, he became a legendary Yorker bowler (a Yorker bounces basically on the level of the batsman, the last stage of a delivery bouncing before it’s a full toss, or hitting the wicket on the fly, and that is usually VERY BAD for bowlers). If you’re thinking in baseball terms, Malinga was basically a fastball/slider closer that could miss bats most of the time, but being just a bit off could lead to huge hits.
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Entertaining match between Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Stars in the Australian T20 BBL that ended just a few moments ago.

Brisbane turned up the Heat (pun intended) and averaged 13.5 RPO in the last 8 overs. A Sam Hein/Jimmy Peirson partnership enjoyed 133*/79 to drive support for the Heat.

Heat finished 188/4 (thanks to 22 extra balls) with Stars now taking their turn to bat.

Stars really turned it up in the last 6 overs, averaging 13.16 RPO and Heat looked like their were on the brink of collapse.

It come down to the final ball, where Stars needed a 6 boundary to take the match. Ball was hit on the ground and Heat let it roll, ensuring only a 4 boundary, & Heat held on to win the match (beat Stars by 4 runs [184/3]), & take the 3rd position in the standings table.

Perth Scorchers and Sydney 6ers, currently 1 & 2 on the table respectively, have at minimum a comfortable 6 point lead over Heat and the rest of the league.

PSL starts next month, and I am keen to watch it from the beginning.
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Regular season in the BBL ended yesterday, and the Top 5 teams in the playoffs are set.

By seed:

01) Perth Scorchers
02) Sydney 6ers
03) Melbourne Renegades
04) Sydney Thunder
05) Brisbane Heat

In Match 55, the Hobart Hurricanes faced off against the Brisbane Heat. With a Heat win, they would move to third in the playoff and ensure a home game.

Brisbane won the toss and chose to field.

They had some tremendous bowling against Hurricanes, lead by Spencer Johnson and James Bazley, who each bowled 4 overs with a 5.00 economy and induced 3 wickets between them. Michael Neser bowled 4 overs and induced 4 wickets, but his economy was 8.75. Brisbane looked set to advance to 3rd after holding Hurricanes to just 120 runs, making 121 runs their target. Starting from the 17th over, they managed only 4 RPOs, and that includes a stronger 7 runs in the final over. They needed 3 more runs to take the victory, but Hurricanes held on with even stronger bowling, lead by Riley Meredith (4 overs at 3.00 economy with 1 wicket) and Nathan Ellis (4 overs at 6.50 economy with 2 wickets).

With a loss, Brisbane Heat fell all the way to the fifth-and-final playoff spot and will have to play against the Sydney Thunder in Sydney for the Eliminator game. The winner of that match will play against 3rd seed Melbourne Renegades.

Perth Scorchers and Sydney 6ers will face off against one another in the Qualifier game, with the winner advancing to the final, and the loser advancing to the Challenger game between Loser of Qualifer vs. Winner of Knockout (Melbourne Renegades vs. victor of Sydney Thunder/Brisbane Heat). The Challenger game is the loser of the Qualifier verses the winner of the Knockout. Essentially the top 2 seeds get rewarded with double-elimination, while 3-5 have to battle it out in a winner takes all.

It all starts 27 January, with the tournament ending 04 February.
 

thehitcat

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That's 6 he went over the boundary with the ball. No catch. That said I don't know what the umpires said.


Hmm they gave him out. Guess that's right by the letter of the law but feels wrong somehow.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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I see the rule cited, and I get what’s going on, but I’m with Jomboy: he wandered soooooooo far past the boundary, and his ability to complete the catch legally is predicated on some pretty galaxy brain logic. Spirit of the play says four runs, letter says lost wicket.
The funny part is that if I'm understanding the rule as described in the video correctly, if he'd grounded his feet beyond the boundary while touching the ball (which he almost does), I think it's actually six, which seems like the worst result.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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The funny part is that if I'm understanding the rule as described in the video correctly, if he'd grounded his feet beyond the boundary while touching the ball (which he almost does), I think it's actually six, which seems like the worst result.
Which would make sense, as the closest play to that in baseball would be Jose Canseco’s ball off his head for a HR. My logic would have been a by-rule double because the ball’s first contact was Canseco’s head, which was both in-play and in fair territory. So there’s goes my idea for a 4 there. So with the two options left, I guess the laws’ view is that so long as the ball is truly in air, as in not in contact with anything touching the ground, then it’s available to be caught. It just seems dodgy that the fielder was able to run around the area behind the boundary and bunny hop his way to an out.

It also speaks to the sport as one of the last vestiges of a variable home field affecting play. We’re used to it in baseball, but most other sports have completely done away with any variability in playing surface. All NHL rinks are 200’ x 85’, NFL fields 120 yards x 160 feet, etc. However, the boundary rope in cricket goes wherever the pitch allows it, so there are grounds where an easy 6 on a cover drive barely rolls to the rope for 4. Here, it’s the space behind the boundary rope. That’s not always there.
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Wanted to post something earlier, but the Big Bash League campaign has ended.

Brisbane won the Eliminator over Sydney Thunder, due to DLS Method. Thunder needed 60 runs for par score in 6.5 overs, but only had 52.

Brisbane Heat advanced to play Melbourne Renegades in the Knockout game.

In the Qualifier game, Scorchers defeated Sixers to advance to the Grand Final, while Sixers had to play the winner of the Knockout game, which winded up being Brisbane.

That left the Challenger game, where the winner would go on to play the Perth Scorchers, who were aiming for the 5th title. Heat played the Sixers, and the Heat upset the Sixers and won by 4 wickets (9/116 to 6/117 in 18.2 overs).

This set up the Grand Final match with the Heat vs. Scorchers. The Heat were missing several key players: captain Usman Khawaja, Matt Renshaw, Marnus Labuschagne and Mitch Swepson, but fought hard to take the crown.

In the end, the Scorchers came back and took the match 178/7 to 175/7, with just 4 balls remaining, off the heroics of Cooper Connolly (25*/11, SR 227.27). Perth's captain Ashton Turner also helped his side with a strike rate of 165.62 and 53/32.

Fun sport, fun tournament, and can't wait for BBL|13 next year! I found myself rooting for the Heat during the regular season. Did some research, and took a natural liking to them. Plus, they weren't a side from Melbourne or Sydney, and haven't had the success of Perth (though who has in the history of this tournament). Hope that doesn't make me a bandwagon fan, haha.

Also, I had some observations for folks who are more attuned to the sport. @MiracleOfO2704, @swiftaw, others:

01) I get 3s are rarer than 1s, 2s, 4s, and 6s. But what about 5s? Are 'pure' 5s (not extra ball + a 4 boundary) super rare because the fielders have to make some errors along the field of play?
02) Do bowlers ever hit umpires in the run-up? Intentionally? Unintentionally?
03) In the middle of the oval, there are fainter lines on both sides of the stumps and wickets. What are the purposes of these lines? It seems there are 2-3 are each side, with the actual dirt, stumps, and wickets in the middle.
04) In the event of the Eliminator game, Brisbane won because of DLS. They hit first and Thunder followed up with a slower start, only for them to start picking up momentum. However, the momentum was suddenly cut short when the game was called due to the DLS Method. Now, I can appreciate maths and the equations that go into this stuff, but it seems a tough way to go out, especially in an eliminator tournament.
 
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MiracleOfO2704

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I’ll try to tackle the list as best as I can, but I wouldn’t really call myself any kind of authority.

1.- Yeah, a natural 5 (as in, not a boundary after a no-ball/by/leg-by) would need comical fielding. You can’t even count on just a slow roll to the boundary rope as, once the ball touches the boundary, it’s 4. It has to be hit either to a place without coverage (in which case, it’s on the captain that set his field in such a way) or involving such poor fielding that the ball remains in play and is just booted around. @swiftaw might be able to help here, as it does make me curious how a throw at the stumps from the outfield that misses and allows more runs would be scored. If it’s just the number of runs run, then that might be the most common way.
2. - The only bowlers I can think would be at risk of such a thing would be pace bowlers with their long run-ups, but they rarely come that close to the non-strike wicket. It’d have to be some unusual circumstance.
3. - I’ll have to look at the field diagram for ODI/T20. I’m used to Test matches, where the only markings are in the wicket. (EDIT: a guide from Cricket Victoria (I’ll just use this sub to troll @SydneySox at every turn, if no one minds) indicates that they could be wide guides, which would only be marked for ODI and T20. If you can grab a screen cap, just to be sure we’re talking about the same thing, that would help)
4. - DLS has long been a bane of ODIs and T20. There was a famous case where DLS altered the target for a batting side such that they went from needing 12 runs from 7 balls (extremely doable) to 12 from 1 (extremely not possible).
 
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Jake Peavy's Demons

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Here are some pics. Not perfect, as I'm on mobile, but here are some examples of ovals where there are multiple 'dirt tracks' parallel to the tracks where the game actually happens.

6084560846View attachment Dubai-International-Stadium-T20-records.webp

And another question: BBL had several key players who abandoned the tourney by going to India or other countries to play other tourneys.

For me personally, that will take some getting used to. The contracts for players allow them to play for multiple teams within a year, which is also dissimilar to what I'm used to. Is there some kind of hierarchy?

Perhaps international takes priority over domestic league, which takes priority over a foreign domestic league. (For example, an Aussie: Australian national team, then BBL, then maybe IPL or something.)
 

swiftaw

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Most cricket grounds maintain multiple pitches on the oval. The home team gets to choose which one they would like to use.

As far as franchise T20 tournaments, the IPL is the most lucrative for the players.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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Yeah, those are just pitches that could be used if so desired. Most grounds will have 3-5 of them.

As far as any kind of hierarchy about competitions go, it’s down to the individual player. Batsmen can probably extend their careers in a lucrative fashion by retiring from international teams and signing for a T20 league. Hell, Chris Gayle had a prolific career in T20 after he was done with Test cricket in 2014. Plenty of others prefer the all-or-nothing, swing-for-the-fences style of limited overs to the slow grind of Test matches. Similarly, there are players that can only function in their country’s whites.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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On the Test side of the ledger, England start a brief two-Test tour of New Zealand today. Stuart Broad makes his way back in after missing the 3-0 whitewash of Pakistan. Today’s match could see lingering issues from a cyclone that hit North Island.
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Thanks @MiracleOfO2704 and @swiftaw for answering my questions!

The PSL started 13 February, and I am a bit behind on my reporting, but been busy with work + life.

Lahore Qalanders opened the season against Multan Sultans, winning by 1 run, 175/6 to 174/6, led by a partnership of Fakhar Zaman and Mirza Tahir Baig taking 98/68. Captain Shaheen Afridi took 1 wicket but allowed only 27 runs in 4 overs, for a 6.75 economy. Partner-in-crime star bowler Haris Rauf also captured a wicket but allowed 37 runs with economy of 9.25. Multan put up a good fight to chase down the 176 they needed, but came up too short. Captain and star Mohammad Rizwan (W) (75/50, S/R 150.00) led his team with a spirited effort, until Afridi bowled him out. Still on the Multan side, Usama Mir captured 2 wicket in 4 overs and allowed only 25 runs, for a tidy 6.25 economy. Aforementioned Fakhar Zaman took MotM honours with 66 (42).

Match 2 pitted Peshawar Zalmi against Karachi Kings. This match meant something extra as superstar Babar Azam had been traded from Karachi to Peshawar prior, and he strengthens Zalmi, adding more star power on their squad on the batter side. I was excited to watch them all perform. Opening partnership Mohammad Haris (W) and Azam (C) got off to a hot start (78/51) until Haris was bowled out and Azam hit a ball caught by Aussie-international Andrew Tye. With both star batters out, Peshawar leaned onto the shoulders of TKC (Tom Kohler-Cadmore) who managed (92/50) until he was out caught. Peshawar managed 199/5, and now Karachi needed to chase down 200. Matthew Wade (W) managed 23/15. At one point it was 46/4 in 6.1 O, and then Imad Wasim (C) came up and tried to push his team toward victory. He finished 80*/47, but it was not enough, as his side managed 197/5, and Karachi lost by 2 runs. Bowler James Neesham for Peshawar captured 2 wickets and allowed 25 runs with a 6.50 economy. In my limited knowledge, it seems Karachi are unique to other clubs in the PSL (and perhaps other squads in T20 play) in that they have multiple players who can bowl, as opposed to a standard 5 bowlers who each bowl 4 overs in a game. Karachi had 6 bowlers in this game, and Mir Hamza had the best stats of his teammates: 2.0 O, 13 runs, 1 wicket, 6.50 economy, and is memorable for bowling Mohammad Haris out with a lbw.

Match 3 was Quetta Gladiators against Multan Sultans, who were the 1st side to play their 2nd game. Multan made quick work of Quetta: bowler Ihsanullah captured a 5-wicket haul and only allowed 12 runs in 4.0 O, getting a stunning 4.00 economy. One-half of opening batsmen, Jason Roy, managed 27/18 until he was caught out, and aside from 3 other batters, everyone else managed a S/R of <100.00, until they were all out. With Multan only needing to chase down 111, a partnership of Mohammad Rizwan (C) (W) and Rilee Roussouw captured a century (106*/76) to drive Multan to victory.

In other matches, Match 4 saw Islamabad United (178/6) win by 4 wickets (10 balls left) over Karachi Kings (173/7), with significant help behind batsmen Colin Munro (58/28) and Azam Khan (W) (44/28) to enjoy a century partnership (102/56).

Match 5 was Multan Sultans (210/3) defeating Peshawar by 56 runs (154) in 18.5 O. Bowler Ihsanullah continued his magnificent form for Multan and captured 3 more wickets in 3.5 O and only allowed 24 runs for a 6.26 economy. Usama Mir complimented his performance with 3 captured wickets of his own in 4.0 O to achieve his 5.50 economy in the match. Multan's bats set the tone early with Rizwan (C) (W) (S/R 157.14), Rossouw (S/R 208.33), David Miller (S/R 164.29), and Kieron Pollard (S/R 250.00) leading the way and it was too much for Peshawar to catch-up.

Match 6 finished this morning, but I personally did not get to see to much of it. Quetta faced-off against Karachi Kings and were victorious: 168/7 to 162/5. It looked like Karachi were going to be able to chase it down at a few points throughout the game, but Quetta held on for the win.

Although Multan have played the most games so far with 3, they look very formidable, with 4 points to lead the table. Current title-holders Lahore play their 2nd match on Sunday against Karachi, whose hardluck make them the only winless team so far in the PSL.

I am still having a blast watching this sport, continuing from the BBL, and seem to have Willow constantly playing in the background while working (thank goodness I'm WFH). Wish I would've gotten into this sooner...
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Another quick thing, I've been watching a little bit of the Australian Tour of India test matches, & I was initially surprised at the "lower" S/R of some of these batters compared to the T20 game. Different version of the sport for sure!
 

swiftaw

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An incredible test match has just ended in New Zealand. England batted first and made 435-8 declared. They then bowled New Zealand out for 209 and enforced the follow on.

New Zealand then hit a whopping 483 in their second innings, giving them a lead of 257 with just over a day to play.

England finished the 4th day at 48-1, meaning they needed another 210 runs to win, with 9 wickets remaining.

On the final day, New Zealand reduced England to 80-5. England managed to rebound to 251-8. They then lost their 9th wicket, meaning the last two batters had to come up with 7 runs to win. They made 5, and England were bowled out for 256, meaning New Zealand won by 1 run.
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Bumping up to mention a few PSL matches.

Match 18, Lahore vs. Quetta:

Lahore went to bat first and worked themselves into a hole, reaching only 54/7 in 11 overs (4.91 RPO) before Sikander Raza got settled in and carried his team going (71*/34, S/R 208.82). When their innings ended, they only mustered 148 runs, and Quetta set out to chase the runs, and got off to a hot start with 44/0 in 4 overs, but only managed 131/7 total.

LQ's bowling attack are ridiculously elite. They have top-Pakistani bowlers (Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf), Afghanistan's top bowler (Rashid Khan), Zimbabwe's best all rounder (the aforementioned Raza), and David Wiese (star from Namibia) all chipping in and doing some marvellous bowling. Not to mention Zaman Khan, an upstart Pakistani bowler. HR was the leading wicket-taker for the Lahore side (3/22, 4.0 O, 5.50econ) and Rashid Khan did his share (2/14, 4.0 O, 3.50econ). Sikander Raza finished off his masterful all-rounder performance with 0/6, 1.0 O, 6.00econ). Haris Rauf had been mired in some poor form leading up to this match, but his solid performance in this match led LQ to hope he'd start to turn it around.

Match 19, Karachi vs. Islamabad:

This was almost a complete reverse from Match 18. Both sides' bats got hot; Karachi went to bat first, and put up 201/5. Everyone's S/R was over 100.00, but captain Imad Wasim had 92* from 54 balls for a S/R of 170.37, hitting 13 boundaries (11 4s, 2 6s). Islamabad's target chase was 202, needing over 10 RPO to get there. They set out to bat and Azam Khan's 72* off 41 balls (175.60 S/R) led Islamabad to 204/4, a gutting loss for Karachi. i can't remember the commentary, but I believe they said this was the 2nd-highest successful chase in PSL history, and Islamabad had never personally chased 200+ before.

Match 22, Karachi vs. Quetta:

This match just finished and Quetta's target was 165, after Karachi posted 164/6. Despite 10 runs in the 1st over, Quetta were really struggling to piece together good runs and by the 15th over, they only had managed 97/5 thus far. They still needed 13.6 RPO to get out ahead and virtually put a dagger to Karachi's playoff hopes (Peshawar Zalmi would essentially have to lose every game [4 games left] to get Karachi a spot). In the next 5 overs, they decimated KK with 71 runs, going 14.2 RPO, and winning the match by 4 wickets with 1 ball remaining (164/6 vs. 168/6) to successfully chase.

Player of the match was Martin Guptill going 86* for 56 (S/R 153.57).

Including playoffs, only 12 matches remain.

Lahore Qalanders are entrenched in the Top spot of the points table at the moment with 12 points in 7 games played. Islamabad United and Multan Sultans have 10 and 8 points, respectively, also with 7 games played. Peshawar have a game in hand over LQ, IU, and MS and have 8 points, but would likely get a lower seed than MS due to NRR differences (-0.896 to +0.568, currently). KK's hopes are dashed (mentioned above) and lastly, Quetta will have to win their remaining matches to make it to the playoffs having only 4 points in 8 games with 2 remaining.
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Insane match just ended between Peshawar and Quetta. Peshawar put up 240/2 in thanks to superstar Babar Azam who had 115(65), S/T of 176.92. Teammates Saim Ayub 74(34), Rovman Powell 35(18), & TKC 7(3) all out up great stats & all had S/Rs of at least 194.44.

Insane numbers. Azam's 115(65) was the 2nd highest individual score in the PSL this season, & his 8th century overall.

Then Quetta came to bat. Jason Roy finished with an outstanding 145*(63), S/R 230.16. Now Roy has the highest individual score in the PSL, AINEC (his teammate Martin Guptill had it previously with 117(67)). Just incredible.

The aforementioned Guptill chipped in with 21(8), S/R 262.50, & Hafeez had 41*(18), S/R 227.78. 40 boundaries, 30 fours and 10 sixes.

An amazing chase: it's the most-successful chase in PSL history! And they had 10 balls left! 243/2, winning by 8 wickets. 3rd biggest chase in T20 history too!

The Pindi grounds seemed a dream for the batters & a nightmare for the bowlers. Quetta still mathematically alive for playoffs, & Peshawar remain in the 4th-&-final playoff spot on the points table, currently.
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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More history made today in the PSL.

Lahore faced Islamabad and batted first. These sides came into the match as the 1 & 2 current seed had playoffs started today.

Lahore finished with 226/5, thanks in part to Fakhar Zaman 115(57), S/R 201.75. Islamabad set out to chase a target of 227, but the formidable bowling attack of Lahore was going to make this an uphill battle.

Islamabad finished with 107/9, losing by 119 runs, the biggest deficit in PSL (albeit short) history. Furthermore, it was also the 1st time in PSL a single batter (Zaman) outscored an opponent entirely by themselves.

Now, something that caught my attention/surprise. Star batter of Islamabad, Azam Khan, who had the 5th most runs in PSL8 coming in today, injured his hand & left the game. I was surprised when Lahore took their 9th wicket, the game ended as Islamabad were all out. Is there not a substitution batter (and fielder) in the event of injury? Is their place in the lineup essentially an 'automatic' wicket?

@MiracleOfO2704, @swiftaw
 

MiracleOfO2704

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Without knowing the specifics of the PSL, if a batsman leaves injured, it just lowered the threshold to end the innings. It really should read that there must always be two batsmen, and once impossible, the batting innings is over.
 

swiftaw

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You are allowed a sub in cricket in case of injury but that sun cannot bat or bowl, they can only field. They are also not referred to by name on the scorecard, so if they take a catch it’ll say caught Sub.

The reason for this is to stop shenanigans where if a team bats first then claims one of their batters got injured and is replaced by a specialist bowler when it’s their team to field, or the reverse, where the team that bowls first then claims one of their bowlers got injured and is replaced by a specialist batter for their innings. Thus subs cannot bat or bowl.

Batters can have a runner though, so if they can’t run a third person will be on the pitch and they will run for the batter (but the batter still bats).
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Interesting stuff, thanks both!

Peshawar bottled it again today. Managed 242/6, & lost as Multan won by 4 wickets, getting 244/6 in 19.1 O.

Rilee Rossouw won man of the match, going 121(51), S/R 237.25.

Every team has just 1 game left in the regular season. Lahore, Islamabad, & Multan have secured their spots for the playoffs, whereas Peshawar still need a win to advance. Their last game is against Islamabad. Quetta, still fighting for the last spot, play Multan.
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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WAY late on this, but the PSL playoffs started and ended just yesterday.

#1 Lahore Qalanders faced #2 Multan Sultans in the Qualifier, with winner making its way to a Finals berth. Multan won by 84 runs, 160/5 (20 O) to 76 (14.3 O).

Strangely, Lahore skipper Shaheen Afridi (much more known for his bowling skill than his batting skill...more on that later) injected himself 5th in the batting order to no avail: 0(2). Lahore's batting was indeed strange, as all of the bowlers had more runs than any of the standard batsmen outside of Sam Billings (wk) 19(27): Haris Rauf 15(13), David Wiese 12(12) scored the 2nd & 3rd most for Lahore.

Multan batted first, & MOTM was Kieron Pollard with 57(34). Pollard also bowled an over & captured the wicket from Zimbabwe star and all-rounder Sikander Raza.

In the end, Multan had a comfortable win and went on to claim a Finals berth.

#3 Islamabad faced #4 Peshawar in the Eliminator 1 game. Peshawar won by 12 runs: 183/8 to 171/6, thanks in part to superstar Babar Azam's (c) 64(39). Mohammed Haris chipped in with 34(17). Islamabad's Alex Hales 57(37) & Sohaib Maqsood 60(48) did their part for Islamabad, but it wasn't enough as Islamabad were now to face Lahore in Eliminator 2.

Islamabad batted 1st & managed 171/5. Mohammed Haris managed 85(54) and Babar Azam had 42(36). Lahore came up to chase it down and were successful, winning by 4 wickets 176/6. Led by Mirza Baig's 54(42), LQ managed to chase down their target in 18.5 O. LQ know were to face Multan Sultans in the Final, for a rematch of the Qualifier match.

What a fantastic finale between LQ & MS! LQ batted first, & managed 200/6. Where the 200 came from, however, would've been anyone's wild guess: Shaheen Afridi, the pace bowler skipper himself, enjoyed 44*(15) and had himself 5 6s! This was good for 2nd on his side, with teammate Abdullah Shafique getting 65(40). Normally, with LQ's cheat-code bowling attack, a target of 201 for MS would be foolhardy.

It seems throughout HBL PSL 8 that LQ had the best bowling attack, yes, but Peshawar had the best/deepest batsmen, while MS where perhaps the most balanced team. In come MS, & Afridi began the innings bowling, like he normally has done this season. MS got off to a hot start with 72/1 after the 6 over PP. Afridi himself had struggled up to this point in the playoffs, & MS looked poised to win it.

Then, the wickets began falling. By over 17, MS had 160/4. LQ's mark after 17O was 153/5. By the next over, MS' win probability decreased 17.45% after Afridi captured 3 wickets to make it 167/7. MS looked dead in the water, until they battled back with a 22 run over drawing them to 188/7 at 19. This amazing over gave them a 40.71% win probability increase, which was now sitting at 43.76%.

Now 1 final over remained, needing 12 runs for a super over & 13 for a victory. A 2, 1lb, dot, 2b, & 4 later, we are down to the final ball. MS need 3 for a super over, & a boundary to win! The ball is struck by Khushdil Shah, & it's deep enough to get 2, but they must get a 3rd. The fielder Zaman Khan grabs it, fires it to the stumps, where Shaheen Afridi was waiting & just captured the wicket just maybe a fraction of a second (or maybe a full one) before that 3rd run would've come across. As a result it was scored a 2W, & LQ won the Final by 1 run: 200/6 to 199/8.

Afridi was understandably the MOTM. 44*(15), S/R of 293.33, & capturing 4/51. His economy rate was expensive at 12.75, but those 4 wickets he captured really helped seal the deal. Namibian all-rounder David Wiese really seemed to help stabilise LQ once he began to bowl, he helped out with 1/31, ER 7.75. Rashid Khan captured 2 wickets too with 2/26, ER 6.50.

An amazing way to end the PSL season, & LQ become the 1st team in the league to repeat as champions.

Next up in T20 is the IPL on 31 March, as the title-holders Gujarat Titans face the Chennai Super Kings.
 

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Exciting ending to an IPL match yesterday between Gujarat and Kolkata. Gujarat made 204 from their 20 overs and looked to be cruising to victory. Kolkata needed 29 from the last over. A single from the first ball left 28 needed of the last 5 balls with Rinku Singh having the strike. He promptly went 6-6-6-6-6 to give Kolkata the victory.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84jTH3te8U0
 

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Ummmmm, why did he follow up 3 straight yorkers (all bad ideas) with two extremely short deliveries? Like, that borders on some potential match fixing questions with how poorly bowled that last over was.