First Grader
Another century, another dominating performance by the big man. Watson hit 65 off 32 to finish the Kiwis off.
And here is a good article just for Silent Bob.
A key feature of the Super Eight matches in this World Cup has been the inability of the opening batsmen to get off to the kind of frenetic start that's become the norm in one-day cricket. Sixty runs in ten overs is often par for the course on flat, batsman-friendly tracks, but in this tournament, the trend has been entirely different: difficult pitches with seam and swing - and sometimes bounce - on offer has made the openers' lot an unenviable one. The latest instance of the openers' struggle was in evidence during West Indies' match against Bangladesh in Barbados on Thursday - despite having Chris Gayle in their ranks, West Indies limped to 17 for 2 after ten, which turned out to be only marginally worse than Bangladesh's 22 for 2 at a similar stage in their innings.
That game wasn't the exception either: in 22 Super Eight matches so far, the first ten overs has yielded an average run-rate of 3.61, at 25.98 runs per wicket. So, on an average, teams have been 36.1 runs for the loss of 1.4 wickets after ten overs, which is hardly a typical ten-over score.
The openers from all sides have struggled, except one: Australia's opening pair of Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist have blasted the ball around as if these were the most batsman-friendly pitches. The table below shows how each team has fared in the first ten overs in the Super Eight games, and the difference between the Australians and the rest is gigantic, and goes a long way in explaining why Australia have completely dominated all the teams in the tournament so far.
And here is a good article just for Silent Bob.
A key feature of the Super Eight matches in this World Cup has been the inability of the opening batsmen to get off to the kind of frenetic start that's become the norm in one-day cricket. Sixty runs in ten overs is often par for the course on flat, batsman-friendly tracks, but in this tournament, the trend has been entirely different: difficult pitches with seam and swing - and sometimes bounce - on offer has made the openers' lot an unenviable one. The latest instance of the openers' struggle was in evidence during West Indies' match against Bangladesh in Barbados on Thursday - despite having Chris Gayle in their ranks, West Indies limped to 17 for 2 after ten, which turned out to be only marginally worse than Bangladesh's 22 for 2 at a similar stage in their innings.
That game wasn't the exception either: in 22 Super Eight matches so far, the first ten overs has yielded an average run-rate of 3.61, at 25.98 runs per wicket. So, on an average, teams have been 36.1 runs for the loss of 1.4 wickets after ten overs, which is hardly a typical ten-over score.
The openers from all sides have struggled, except one: Australia's opening pair of Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist have blasted the ball around as if these were the most batsman-friendly pitches. The table below shows how each team has fared in the first ten overs in the Super Eight games, and the difference between the Australians and the rest is gigantic, and goes a long way in explaining why Australia have completely dominated all the teams in the tournament so far.
