Tag: 2023/24

Match Preview – Australia vs Pakistan, Pakistan in Australia 2023/24, 3rd Test
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Match Preview – Australia vs Pakistan, Pakistan in Australia 2023/24, 3rd Test

Big picture: Series gone, but Pakistan have WTC points to play forIt's David Warner week at the SCG, but there might be a competitive Test match in store in Sydney if the pitch and the weather play ball.Pakistan gave Australia a true scare in Melbourne and save for a handful of unforced errors in the field, and if you side with Mohammad Hafeez, some "inconsistent umpiring" and DRS calls, they could have pulled off a Christmas miracle and beaten the home side.As it were, though, the match and the series were lost. But that does not mean that Sydney be a dull dead rubber. Vital World Test Championship [WTC] points aside, the two sides have history here. Pakistan should have won in 2010. Not unlike Melbourne last week, they somehow shot themselves in the foot to lose the unlosable Test match...
Match Preview – South Africa vs India, India in South Africa 2023/24, 3rd ODI
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Match Preview – South Africa vs India, India in South Africa 2023/24, 3rd ODI

Big picture: We have an ODI series deciderIf this series felt like an afterthought before, the ODI on Tuesday night confirmed it, when the broadcast in India kept talking about the IPL auction instead of the cricket that was happening. A South Africa victory though has given this upcoming game proper stakes. It's a decider and that's the kind of pressure both of these teams will want to put their next gen under as they continue on their path of transition.Tony de Zorzi, scoring a century in just his fourth ODI, and B Sai Sudharsan, getting off the mark in international cricket with the sweetest cover-driven boundary and topping that up by scoring a fifty in difficult batting conditions, both exemplified the talent that will forever keep coming through, which is useful because it seems li...
Match Preview – South Africa vs India, India in South Africa 2023/24, 2nd ODI
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Match Preview – South Africa vs India, India in South Africa 2023/24, 2nd ODI

Big picture: SA look to avoid another home series defeat You can fight conditions only to a certain extent in cricket. Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan went into the first ODI of the series with just seven wickets between them but bowled South Africa out for 116 in conditions that had swing, seam and uneven bounce.As action moves to Gqeberha, and to a day-night match, you'd hope for more even conditions that don't change dramatically during the match. Gqeberha has not hosted an ODI in more than four years, but it has not been a high-scoring venue. It has gone 12 years and eight ODIs without a score of 300. As it is generally the slowest and lowest of the surfaces among mainstream South African venues, India will hope to close out the series there. For South Africa, the next t...
Match Preview – West Indies vs England, England tour of West Indies 2023/24, 1st T20I
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Match Preview – West Indies vs England, England tour of West Indies 2023/24, 1st T20I

Big picture - T20 World Cup countdown beginsAnd now for something completely different. Or at least a slight change of pace after three months solid of ODI cricket. England have had their fill for 2023 and even if West Indies' appetite for the 50-over format has been sharpened by a 2-1 series win, having kicked their heels during the World Cup, it is time to switch gears and dig out the T20 duds for five short-form thrashes starting under the Bridgetown lights on Tuesday.You are never far from an ICC event these days, with the series beginning an informal countdown to next year's T20 World Cup, to be played in the Caribbean and USA. England are the defending champions (where have we heard that one before?) and alongside West Indies are the only team to have won the competition twice. Both...
Match Preview – South Africa vs India, India in South Africa 2023/24, 1st T20I
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Match Preview – South Africa vs India, India in South Africa 2023/24, 1st T20I

Big picture: With India comes the moneySummer is loading in the southern hemisphere. Dezember (with a Z because that's how we like to say it to convey holiday vibez) is in full swing. The end-of-year parties have started, and cricket will get in on the action with India's all-format visit, the only men's international cricket that will take place in South Africa this summer.In many ways, that is as much a statement on the changing cricketing landscape as it is of the continued power of the game's major player - India. There's only space for so much international cricket, so it was about getting the most profitable and popular opposition. The first T20I in Durban has been sold out since the end of last month, the other white-ball games are expected to be well attended too, and the financia...
Match Preview – West Indies vs England, England tour of West Indies 2023/24, 2nd ODI
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Match Preview – West Indies vs England, England tour of West Indies 2023/24, 2nd ODI

Big picture - England in a rum spot (again)Talk about another bloody day in paradise. England arrived in Antigua looking to launch a new chapter for their one-day cricket, after the disappointment of the World Cup, but were instead given a reboot up the backside by a feisty West Indies batting display, led by Shai Hope's scintillating, MS Dhoni-inspired hundred and ably supported with unfettered contributions from the likes of Alick Athanaze and Romario Shepherd.Not for the first time, things haven't gone to script for England in the Caribbean - and instantly it feels like there is more of an edge to this ODI series, with two matches still to play. West Indies, who lost to Zimbabwe, Netherlands and Scotland during their abject World Cup Qualifier earlier in the year, have plenty of ground...
Match Preview – West Indies vs England, England tour of West Indies 2023/24, 1st ODI
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Match Preview – West Indies vs England, England tour of West Indies 2023/24, 1st ODI

Big picture - Caribbean rebootThe return to action hasn't been quite so jarringly immediate as it was for India and Australia in the wake of the World Cup final, or indeed for England's T20 World Cup winners in Australia last winter. And, let's face it, a four-island jaunt to the Caribbean in December is a reasonably palatable assignment after the indignities that preceded it.Nevertheless, it's still only three weeks since Jos Buttler's browbeaten squad limped back to Blighty with their World Cup dreams in tatters, and less than a fortnight since their four-year reign as 50-over world champions was formally ended in Ahmedabad. Whatever way you look at it, it seems a curious juncture in the global cycle to be undertaking another three-match ODI series.And to judge by the inexperienced squa...
Match Preview – India vs Australia, Australia in India 2023/24, 2nd T20I
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Match Preview – India vs Australia, Australia in India 2023/24, 2nd T20I

Big picture: Expect swingi in ThiruvananthapuramWhat did the ODI World Cup not give you? Enough last-ball thrillers? Runs from Suryakumar Yadav and Josh Inglis? Wristspinners being carted around? Well, that's why we have bilaterals…A mere four days after Australia's World Cup triumph, a bunch of their players stayed back - and others joined them - for a five-match T20I series, which started with a nail-biting game that ended with a last-ball six that didn't even find a place in the scoreboard. Line-ups and fortunes changed so much that Steven Smith opened the batting, Ishan Kishan walked out at No. 3, and Inglis hammered Australia's joint-fastest men's T20I century. But some other things remained the same. Suryakumar's domination was back as the format changed, India's line-up still had j...
Match Preview – India vs Australia, Australia in India 2023/24, 1st T20I
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Match Preview – India vs Australia, Australia in India 2023/24, 1st T20I

Big picture: More India vs Australia coming your wayNothing exemplifies the problem with the international cricket schedule quite like this T20I series between India and Australia. To start a five-match series four days after an ODI World Cup final is absurd in itself, although there is precedent as recently as 12 months ago with England forced to front up for a three-match ODI series against Australia four days after their T20 World Cup triumph.On top of that, haven't these two sides played against each other enough this year? They played a four-Test series in India in February and March, followed by a three-match ODI series. They played in the World Test Championship final in June straight after the IPL. They then played a second three-match ODI series in India in September just two wee...
Match Preview – India vs New Zealand, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023/24, 1st Semi-Final
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Match Preview – India vs New Zealand, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023/24, 1st Semi-Final

Big picture: Big stakesFirst, the unstoppable force. India are having the World Cup of their wildest dreams and it has nothing to do with the fact they are undefeated in it. That is merely a byproduct of their planning leading into the tournament. They left 2019 needing… more. So they went out searching, trying as many as 50 different players across four years and 66 matches. Six months out from the showpiece, they had identified who they wanted and were focused on sharpening their skills. In the 15 ODIs between March and October 2023, they were picking all of their XIs from a set of 24.The chosen ones were given all the support they needed to live up to their full potential, which is why Suryakumar Yadav finally looks like he belongs in ODI cricket. Off the field, India were doing even b...