Some surprises are good, some are bad, but both tease your nerves.
BBL|08 is halfway through its proceedings and we’ve watched some good cricket. Be it the pace of Riley Meredith and Brendan Doggett or the anti-aging innings of Shane Watson and Brendon McCullum, it has been interesting so far.
Among all those goodies, we’ve also seen some surprises – not good ones. Here are few of them.
1. Joe Root’s horrible season
The England Test captain was drafted into the Sydney Thunder squad with his teammate Jos Buttler, and fans were expecting to have an experience watching the Englishmen.
But the one quarter of the ‘fantastic four’ squad has been a disappointment for the season.
He’s considered a better player than Kane Williamson in the shorter format for some innovation, but this was not his tournament to perform and had to go back to national duties without leaving much mark.
For the record, he only crossed 20-run mark once in as many innings.
2. The U19 stars
The young leggie, Lloyd “the new Shane Warne” Pope, the hero for Australia in last U19 World Cup, hasn’t been able to impress his fans. He possesses a beautiful wrong’un and can bamboozle batsmen with the extra flight he put in it but he, surely, wasn’t at best of his career wearing magenta.
Similarly, Jack Edwards couldn’t yet make a strong statement by the willow and had only played small innings.
Surely, both are young talent but it was a surprise to see them not achieving what they’re capable of.
3. Perth’s bad-run
The most successful team of BBL, the three-time champions and two-time runners-up, are going through their worst run in a tournament. They are sitting on the bottom of the points table.
Batting has always been their strong point – but not this time as they were bundled out for 103 in their first match.
They tried different things, promoting David Willey up the order, different bowling combinations, but they failed badly.
Michael Klinger and Sam Whiteman aren’t scoring for them up the order which has led to their downfall. Similarly, their bowling attack has been very expensive, AJ Tye is not getting his lines right and similar is the case with Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Let’s see what other surprises we’ll get after the second half of the tournament.
Abdushakoor
Roar Rookie
She was very aware of the situation, and boy did she make a good throw.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Two final ball thrillers. Healy's clutch runout to force the super over was brilliant.
Abdushakoor
Roar Rookie
Yeah those WBBL semi-finals were no less than a good suspense movie. Were they?
Simoc
Guest
Its been like The Big Flop this season. So many one sided games. The commentary teams are weak in comparison to previously and the coverage doesn't extend to Friday. So Channel 7 have failed miserably to date. Tufnell brings nothing. Thankfully the foreign spinners have provided great viewing as has the great and woeful fielding. The women have turned it on though with sensational semi final games.
AREH
Roar Guru
I think it has to happen, surely. One per innings like an ODI match; I just don't like the thought of results potentially being decided from blatant errors, especially as every delivery is important in the outcome.
Abdushakoor
Roar Rookie
Thanks, yes it was disappointing too. I think it's time they introduce DRS in the league. What do you think?
AREH
Roar Guru
Very interesting stuff. I'd only add to that the appaling umpiring and fielding on display too often.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Bancroft, Bryant, Philippe, Short, Stoinis, Turner, Weatherald are younger Aussie's who are doing well. (Well, Stoinis is 29 and Short is 28, but not a lot of wrinkles on the others.) All is not doom and gloom.
Abdushakoor
Roar Rookie
And those who are playing well in BBL08 are either retired or too old.
JD St George
Roar Pro
The poor batting. It seems like the sickness is everywhere in Australian cricket.