U.S. in the Cricket T20 World Cup

[Neilster]

As probably most people here are from the U.S. I thought I'd tell you that you are in the T20 Cricket World Cup, which starts today and is being played in India and Sri Lanka.

For the uninitiated, T20 is an abbreviated form of cricket, where the games take about four hours and there is lots of attacking play. In traditional cricket, called Test Cricket, games can go for five six-hour days. Since the 60s, one-day cricket (where the game takes about seven hours) has been played and T20 is about 25 years old.

I prefer the longer forms but T20 is wildly popular and brings in new fans and heaps of cash, so this World Cup is a big deal in the cricket world.

Australia are the defending champions and are very strong in all forms of the game but we just had a very ordinary three game series against Pakistan where we got flogged, so they might want to get their act together. Having said that, they usually respond to that kind of performance, so we'll see.

All powerful India are the favourites, followed by England who have a very dangerous team. India's gigantic, cricket-mad population is starting to tell. They always seem to have some bloke you've never heard of who comes into the team and is awesome.

So good news for U.S. fans, your first game is against India at 0830 (EST). It's on Willow in North America, apparently. I'm not going to sugar-coat it. That'll be tough but the U.S. are in the tournament on merit and they have some talented cricketers.

The U19 T20 World Cup final was last night. India won against a gallant England mainly due to an otherworldly 175 from only 80 balls by 14 year old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. This kid smashed a century from only 35 balls in April against the best players in the world in the IPL (Indian Premier League), announcing himself to the world. Amazingly he can play another four or five years of youth cricket but I don't think it'll be too long before he's in the senior Indian team. Here are his highlights from last night. He gives the ball some serious hammer.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaCricket/c ... 7580_that/

p.s. In the first game, The Netherlands very nearly defeated Pakistan. They let them off the hook at the last minute. That would have been a big boil-over, although they have a decent team and I can remember them beating England some years back.

[Neilster]

Well, that was an incredibly brave effort from the U.S. team and they really should have won, which would have been the biggest upset in cricket history. They had India in serious trouble in front of a stunned and basically silent Mumbai crowd, who'd rocked along to see India belt a minnow, but dropping Indian captain Suryakumar on 17 when he went on to get 84 not out from 49 balls meant that the hosts made a defendable score on a tricky pitch. India's strong bowling line-up got them home but they could have been defending 40 or more less.

A very good effort from a consistently improving U.S. team, who just need more exposure to the top teams to realise their potential. Their next game is on Wednesday against the mercurial Pakistan. You never know which Pakistan is going to show up. They can be world-beaters or the wheels can fall off completely and old tribal rivalries resurface. It's a complicated joint.

Here are short highlights...

https://www.icc-cricket.com/tournaments ... t20wc-2026

[Neilster]

Another creditable performance by the U.S. against Pakistan. They lost by 22 runs and really missed Ali Khan, who was out injured. Pakistan will be one of the teams to watch in this tournament as their batting is always strong and their spin bowlers will appreciate the subcontinental conditions.

In other news, most results went as expected but England had a huge scare against newbies Nepal, only winning by four runs. The big teams often find a way to scrape across the line in these tight contests. Nepal are improving quickly and may upset more fancied opponents.

[Neilster]

South Africa and Afghanistan had a tie but South Africa finally won in the second super over in dramatic fashion. About 20 years ago someone told me that Afghanistan had a good cricket team and I was incredulous. What happened is that during the Soviet invasion and when the Taliban took over many Afghanis fled to refugee camps in Pakistan. The Pakistani kids taught their kids to play cricket. Now they're seriously good.

Australia had an easy win against Ireland but I didn't think they played very well. We're missing three of our best bowlers and big hitting Tim David to injury and workload management.

England lost quite easily to the in-form West Indies. Had England lost to Nepal they would be in big danger of not progressing. They still might not. The mainly Indian crowd in Mumbai were supporting the West Indies for...historical reasons

[Neilster]

In a big upset, Italy has thrashed Nepal by 10 wickets with 44 balls remaining. Nepal nearly beat England a few days ago and were heavy favourites but were restricted by excellent Italian bowling and fielding to 123 and then failed to take a wicket as the Mosca brothers belted their attack. It was Italy's second ever World Cup game, having qualified through the European competition. This has thrown this group wide open and a pumped up and talented Italy play a wobbly England next. The sleeping giant of European cricket has awoken

Short highlights...

https://www.icc-cricket.com/tournaments ... t20wc-2026

Anthony Mosca, smashing a six.

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