Zimbabwe V England ICCCT match

[Richard Jenkins]

Well Zimbabwe need a wicket now if they want to have a shout . 107/2 now off 18 overs, and it is so dark, you can't see the high rise flats. Anway, there are a few demonstrators, wearing 'mugabwe out ' T shirts .


Zimbabwian feilding is weird, but energetic. They seem to be using a 'half way house' approach, using two throws from the boundary.


The USA beat Zimbabwe in the warm up game, so if NZ take USA to the cleaners, what's going to happen if Flintoff comes in?

Strauss and Vaughan at the crease.

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by Rachael

At what point does the decision to reduce the number of overs per side get made?.

Richard is right that over reductions cannot happen until the reserve day, and England will bat through their full 50 if there is enough time available today. Today must finish, as I understand, by 1820 BST (i.e. there is a possibility of up to 20 minutes' extra time beyond the scheduled close on day one).

A question which I could not answer - and foolishly I almost posted this on the BBC site earlier, until I realised the complete pointlessness of that idea - is what happens if England get an innings in today and Zimbabwe get more than 20 overs - i.e. enough for a match to be constituted - but less than an innings and tomorrow is then washed out completely? Will a D/L target be computed after their innings has been forced to a close by unplayable conditions to see if they have done enough? I think it could be. That means that, when they go out to bat this afternoon, Zimbabwe actually do not have a target - or at least they do not know what it is. Instead, from 20 overs onwards, we can expect to see a twelfth man coming on with drinks and a target update every couple of overs. Isn't this what led to South Africa being eliminated from the World Cup about six years back - poor communication as to what was required, and a consequent D/L tie being their undoing? Makes for an interesting game, as long as you have the full D/L software fired up alongside you!

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by Richard Jenkins

Zimbabwian feilding is weird, but energetic. They seem to be using a 'half way house' approach, using two throws from the boundary.

It takes up a lot of men, but it's quite common in baseball, I think - and the ball seems to come back in really quickly like this. Sometimes catches batsmen a bit unawares (and out of their ground).

[Occasional Fan]

Originally Posted by Rachael

Well.. so much for the festival of cricket to polularise the game. Have you checked to see if live feeds from elsewhere are similrly restricted?

I suspect there are ways of hiding your location so that the live-feed will work. What are those web-based portals called that supposedly allow you to do that? I've never used one but I believe they do exist. Even if they don't, it seems to me that some hacker somewhere really ought to be able to get you around this ridiculous obstacle.

Unfortunately I'm no techie, Rachael - but I do know a few. We'll see how things go, but I am having enough computer problems at the moment, even staying completely within the law and bounds of good taste in cyberspace. I see I can buy a live feed from Cricinfo, but it's a bit more than I'd like to spend. Sometimes the Caribbean broadcasters have a feed available, but I've never yet found one from southern Africa, the sub-continent or Australia or New Zealand. I'll do a quick review of the USA's radio stations now ... or rather, I won't. Can't imagine anyone over there will be paying attention to it somehow.

[Occasional Fan]

As it's raining again, I thought I'd do some arithmetic. It seems to me that, if tomorrow's forecast is correct and it chucks it down all day in Birmingham, the present match will be a wash-out - no result, one point each. That can only be to Sri Lanka's advantage, I think. Let's assume that England beat Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe - backing the favourites in each game. The margin is likely to be higher for Sri Lanka's victory than it is for England's, so Sri Lanka will win the group on Net Run Rate. Right? England could be victims of their own weather.

[Richard Jenkins]

Well, no further Play today, so 198/ 5 for England.England's innings must be completed tommorow.

If it rains tommorow, and if Zimbabwe complete 20 overs then it becomes a match. Zimbabwe need 145 from the theoretical 20 overs to win (D/L )
Tommorow's weather forecast looks worse than today.

If 20 overs can't be completed tommorow, it's a draw and 1 point each.
Collingwood has 35, Jones 23.

has anyone ever declared in a ODI?

[Occasional Fan]

Don't know, but you can't declare in this competition. Law 14 is specifically excluded for the ICCCT.

[Alison]

Originally Posted by Occasional Fan

Law 14 is specifically excluded for the ICCCT.

It's specifically excluded for all one day international games.