Twenty20

Cricket for the ADHD generation

Champions League

It's perhaps a sign of the perceived importance of the Champions League T20 that it's being broadcast in the UK on Eurosport 2. The key point of that sentence is the appearance of the number 2 at the end of it. Eurosport 2. Not even on Eurosport's main channel. So it was something of a surprise when, surfing the channels, I happened across the opening game between Bangalore and the Cape Cobras. Thinking that watching some cricket is always infinitely better than seeing none, I settled in to watch.

The grotesque amounts of money being bandied about is a definite turn-off, as are commentators reduced to being product spokespeople. It's not as bad as the IPL, but by christ it's still irritating.

My attention drifted, briefly brought back by Ross Taylor's blistering 50 off sod all, until one moment that suddenly made the whole thing worthwhile. The Cobras were in trouble having lost a couple of early wickets, including Herschelle Gibbs first ball, when JP Duminy strode to the crease. A few balls later and he marched down the wicket to slap the ball way back into the crowd. The bowler: Jacques Kallis. And did he not like that. The verbals came flying and suddenly I realised - this matters to them. And if team-mates are willing to get nasty in the pursuit of glory, I could see myself to following this through to the end.

Twenty20 warm-ups: what we learned

Two twenty over games for England ahead of the World Championship and two wins, against Scotland and the West Indies - well it had been a full week since we'd played them. England have never had a coherent selection policy or plan of attack in the shortest form of the game and, with just these two outings ahead of Friday's opener against the Netherlands which gets the tournament underway, time was short in trying to get it right.

But this is new England and, while Andy Flower never played the short form in his illustrious career, he's clearly seen enough to make certain judgements on the methodology required. England rather laboured to victory over Scotland after restricting them to 136 for 5, failing to use the first six overs before kicking into gear late on with Eoin Morgan playing an enterprising little innings alongside mainstay Kevin Pietersen who looks fully recovered from his Achilles injury. The bowling was inventive, though Adil Rashid's promising first spell in an England jersey was rather undone by one over that went for 17 as Scotland's batsmen threw the bat at him. Stuart Broad employed a devious tactic, bowling round the wicket to the right handers at the death. The angle meant that backing away to leg wasn't an option and Scotland scored just two runs off the 20th over. Some of the deliveries were borderline wide at best, but it's an interesting development that is worth further experimentation.

Against the West Indies, we learned that they still can't be arsed. We also learned that their running between the wickets is still as comical as ever. And we learned that Shivnarine Chanderpaul bowls leg spin: Luke Wright had to ask him. The Broad tactic was effective again, though Denesh Ramdin and Lendl Simmons had managed to get some of them away after a few swing-and-misses. The main thing to take away from it was a burgeoning opening partnership between Wright and Ravi Bopara. Bopara is in fantasatic touch no matter what format of the game he's playing and while Wright struggled early in his innings, he smashed Keiron Pollard for three consecutive, and increasingly big, sixes kick-started him as he ended unbeaten on 75. His approach may not pay off every time, but it's entertaining and he's giving himself a chance of clearing the field, especially in those early overs. Rashid and Graham Swann both played and, though it'll be a brave tactic to play both against, say, Australia, it's nice to have the options.

England won't win it, but they look better able to make a decent fist of things in a major tournament for the first time in a long time.

The Leeds pigeon murderer

Jacques Rudolph is already a legend down Yorkshire way, but Friday May 30 2009 cemented his place in the pantheon. The Western Terrace had already taken the view that, on the occasion of getting a right old beating off the old enemy, that you may as well drink until falling down and act the goat. Rudolph, obviously trying to lighten the mood, decided that if he couldn't affect the outcome he may as well cheer up the mass ranks of Yorkshiremen behind him.
And he chose to do this through the medium of pigeon killing.



At least he had the good grace to clear the carcass off the field afterwards