Ed Joyce in for Joe Gatting?

After his first innings duck Joe Gatting got 31 in the second innings v Cambridge MCCU at more than a run a ball, but I still think Ed Joyce will play the next Sussex Championship match v Northants.

Not very friendly.......

Interviewer Rameez Raja to Michael Clarke just after the toss for the semi-final '............and for yourself personally a good chance to address this slump issue..............'.

Thanks very much!

50/50 in the Sri Lanka v England Semi

I believe that if you played 10 games between England and Sri Lanka they'd win 5 each so it really is a bit of a lottery as to who might win today. Interesting that Sri Lanka seem inclined to play Mendis for the simple reason that England haven't played him much...that tactic could go either way if England's batsman can get after him because he tends to bowl length.

What will decide the match? England's top order. If they fire and Morgan is batting when Malinga is bowling his yorkers at the death, then England can win. Toss you coin for the victor now....

The inquisition starts in India

Yes, they lost 3 games in the Super 8s and they didn't have a warm up game or games, but as always reaction has gone way over the top in the Indian media, just the same as it always does when England do well or badly in our media. Losing games of Twenty20 isn't something that heads should roll for - it's perfectly feasible for a good batsman to get a good ball or have to go after the bowling immediately meaning they get themselves out. Likewise a batsman may just get the better of the bowling on any given day and/or edge it past the keeper for boundaries several times.

Those pointing at the IPL as the one reason that India lost are over-simplifying things - it may not have helped but as Sanjay Mandrekar has pointed out the main thing to concern themselves with is their shortcomings against the short ball, having just come away from India where the pitches are relatively slow and low. Nothing a few nets won't sort out and no reason to panic.

Joe Gatting struggling for Sussex

Joe Gatting can only hope that he gets a second innings to try to get some runs under his belt against Cambridge MCCU as he's been scrabbling around this season for runs and Sussex coach Mark Robinson must have been hoping that the slightly lower standard would allow him some time at the crease. A second ball duck won't have helped his mindset....

Not really funny, but..........

Poor Mark Footitt was injured on day 1 of the current match but soldiered on the following morning. Bad enough getting hit batting but............ bowling and.......... by a team mate.

http://www.middlesexccc.com/match.asp?MatchID=500 Press the word highlights and look at Day 2 Listen also to how the commentator keeps the giggles under control when he mentions Neil Dexter's injury.

Wasn't there an England goalkeeper who broke a foot by dropping a jar of salad cream on it ?

ECB advertising Bangladesh Test on Facebook

The ECB are advertising the Lord's Bangladesh match on Facebook - it would be interesting to know if they targeted me because I'd mentioned that "cricket" was one of my interests in my profile, or if it was less targeted. Also interesting to note that they're having to advertise - I don't think they normally need to, but with the underwhelming visitors of Bangladesh and Pakistan this summer, advertising might be a necessary evil.

Free coaching for a leg-spinner

Pitchvision Academy are offering a free day of coaching for a leg-spinner:

"I'm looking for a leg spinner who wants some free coaching. Must be free on the day of May 25th (and have to get to Ealing under their own steam). Contact me for details."

Momentum means little in Twenty20

Paul Collingwood has rightly said he wanted to beat New Zealand despite already having qualified so that England kept up their momentum. And Graeme Swann is talking up the team's chances. But the reality is that one off Twenty20 games aren't always won by the best overall side, but more the best on the day - something that will be beneficial to England if they play Australia.

So how much does momentum really matter?

Good timing by Pietersen junior?

England will be hoping that KP's and his wife have timed the arrival of their child perfectly so that he's back for the semi-final...fingers crossed given his excellent form.

England's women playing for pride in final game

England's women have shown they're fallible over the last few months but going to India was always going to be a tough tour with two key players missing. Yes, they haven't batted well in this Twenty20 competition but they shouldn't beat themselves up - Twenty20 will always see upsets and good and even great teams are always at risk of crashing out.

Good luck to them versus South Africa as they attempt to react like Champions...

The first celebrity cricket team...

...seems to have included JM Barrie (author of Peter Pan), Arthur Conan Doyle, PG Wodehouse, AA Milne and Jerome K Jerome. Great writers, not so great on the pitch apparently....

Sussex/Middlesex swings in favour of Sussex

All the pressure is on poor old Malan as Middlesex try to get to the 243 that Sussex set them today. Panesar scored 46 not out - a career best - but it shouldn't have been that many if Owais Shah has caught him at 3rd slip, and that drop could be crucial in the final analysis.

It was really interesting watching the two captains. I only saw Strauss trying to get the final two wickets but it seemed like they had given up trying to get Hodd out (who got a hundred) as they gave him one the whole time, and yet they didn't put that much pressure on Panesar either. Looked a little strange to me, but O'Brien finally got Hodd out LBW to make the breakthrough - even then Panesar and Collymore still managed to put on 33 for the final wicket thanks to Shah's drop.

When Sussex fielded Collymore bowled two long hops to Strauss which got deposited to the cover boundary. Rather than ask his bowler to stop bowling there, Goodwin had a cover sweeper in the 4th over of the innings. I was sitting there thinking Collymore needed to come off or bowl better with a ring field when Scott Newman padded up to a straight one and Sussex were off the mark. My take out was that Sussex seem to rely on some wonder balls from their bowlers and accept that there may be some dross too - they try to limit the damage with a very in/out field. As long as it works then I'm all for it - they just need Malan out early tomorrow to put themselves in with a superb chance of another victory to keep their 100% season going.

A pretty special innings

329 in a 40 over game from an 18 year-old with a hangover....not bad! 27 fours and 28 sixes apparently, and 144 balls for the whole innings. The report doesn't say if the opposition overhauled their total but I suspect they might not have got too close...

Women's tournament hotting up

Following a sensational batting display by West Indies' Deandra Dottin, Australia beat England on sixes countback yesterday (1-0) following a super over in which both sides scored 6 for 2 - couldn't have been closer!

Dottin scored her second 50 off 13 balls which brought back memories of when Nick Walker hit my bowling everywhere a couple of years ago. He got his second 50 in 11 balls and most if it came off my bowling so I have every sympathy with the South African bowlers who Dottin took apart!

D/L method v Jayadevan method

If you're into your stats, take a look at this analysis of the D/L method v the Jayadevan method for when rain strikes mid-match. Only if you're into your stats though...!

India want more Tests!

Now that they are the number 1 Test team India want more Tests which can only be a good thing. I hope that remains their view when they're not number 1...

An England loss was always on the cards!

Having just checked the score and seeing that Ireland must now be favourites (49/4), I feel duty bound to say that I've been telling anyone that I discussed it with today that England beating Ireland was not even close to guaranteed. They would win 10 out of 10 Test matches against Ireland and possibly even 10 out of 10 ODIs, but 9 or possibly 8 out of 10 Twenty20s against Ireland, as the shortest form of the game is such a lottery.

It's looking like it could be the one or two in 10 that they lose today by the looks of it....

More Duckworth-Lewis agony for England

We've been here before in Twenty20 haven't we? As if the game isn't a lottery enough when played over the full 20 overs, when the D/L is brought into play it seems to massively favour the side batting second. West Indies will be very happy with the result, but even Chris Gayle said afterwards that they need to look into how the calculations are made such was the advantage it gave his side, and this is the second time they have benefited against England in the World Twenty20.

Recently Daniel Vettori also raised the fact that the D/L method stuggles to take into account powerplays, and that's a further issue. It's difficult to know what the solution is, but what I can say is that England's over scores were: 5, 16, 9, 11, 10, 9, 11, 4, 5, 8, 3, 6, 8, 4, 6, 16, 14, 27, 10, 9.

If you were to take their top 3 overs and bottom 3 overs that would equal 70: 27, 16, 16, 3, 4, 4.
If you took their top 6 overs that would equal 95: 27, 16, 16, 14, 11, 11.
Somehow West Indies were asked to chase 60.

We all understand that the D/L method takes into account historical data but in a format with virtually no historical data to go on, an alternative needs to be considered until there is a sufficient body of games to go from, you would think wouldn't you? Presumably the ICC are praying that England beat Ireland now (no guarantee at all given the lottery of Twenty20), but somehow I don't think they're that fussed about the best team winning if their slow and poor adoption of technology to help umpires is anything to go by...

Hawk-Eye Lecture at Lords

Looks like an interesting one for those that are interested....a lecture from Paul Hawkins on Hawk-Eye and a panel discussion with Jonathan Agnew, Geoff Boycott and Billy Bowden - 25th May.