Post T20 WC - A look back at the tournament
A look back at the tournament and a preview of things to come (what teams should be looking to do ft Australia and South Africa)
“Carlos Brathwaite! Carlos Brathwaite! Remember the name!”
Wait - the 2022 T20 WC has just concluded. England have ridden their redemption arc, right to the very top, and it is Ben Stokes (who else!) who concludes it.
World Champions, and their legacy as one of the great white ball teams intact, England walk away happy champs.
Looking back, it has been a great tournament. We have had upsets, last ball finishes, excellent catches, along with comedic fielding, West Indies being knocked out before the Super 12 and general on and off-field comedy. It has to be said that good all-rounders were by far the most useful commodities in this World Cup, especially those that bowled pace or quality spin. This played a major role in my team of the tournament. But first, let’s look at the final.
It was a good game of cricket, with two contrasting game personalities against each other: go from ball one or build a base and hit it at the death. As we saw, hitting at the death didn’t work today, Pakistan got to a below par total, and England tried their hardest to make it a thriller for the audience, but got there in the end; winning with a mistimed loft through the leg side. Naseem was near unplayable, swinging it so much that the batsmen could not touch the ball even if they played with a tennis racket.
I still do not think we have seen the best of England in white-ball cricket: the 2019 WC was near their peak, but in T20 cricket, I reckon they have more potential, especially with the emergence of the 100.
Now, time to look at some of the moments of this world cup.
It all began with a rusty-looking Sri Lankan side losing to a spirited Namibia outfit. Jan Frynlick and JJ Smit with some late over hitting to take them to 163, and then SL being bundled out for 108, with no one making over 30 for the Lankans.
The “minnows” had arrived.
I don’t think this was the biggest upset, but Scotland triumphing over West Indies was a major comedy moment. The two times World Champions losing to Scotland, with Mark “bowl from behind the crease” Watt taking 3-12 (4). West Indies’ rut continues, with no clear way to return.
Pakistan losing to Zimbabwe. Pakistan feeling like they were out. Raza taking 3/25 (4) and Nawaz feeling like the unluckiest player on the planet, especially after Babar went “Don’t point fingers, it isn’t one individuals fault,” then going, “especially not Nawaz.” But then only for SA to choke again to the Netherlands.
Surely the biggest upset of the World Cup. SA did it AGAIN. Ackermann turned up with a fabulous 41 off 26 and knocked SA out , along with Brandon Glover, a South African (of course), who took 3/9 (2). Ugh, South Africa, not again!
Something I found particularly funny was this comparison, and I don’t say this as an Indian fan: Kohli averaged 98.66 this World Cup, and Babar struck at 93.23. That is incredible. Surely, just from that, you can work out that the powerplay approach, particularly from subcontinent teams, needs working on, which I will cover in the next article.
Here is my team of the tournament.
Alex Hales
Jos Buttler (wk)
Virat Kohli
Suryakumar Yadav
Glenn Phillips
Hardik Pandya
Shadab Khan
Sam Curran
Wanindu Hasaranga
Anrich Nortje
Josh Little
Subs: Shaheen, Arshdeep, Raza
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Onto some of the teams, and what they can do in the future.
I’m going to begin with Australia, as they have potentially the least to do.
I would get rid of Finch and Warner, along with Cummins.
Simple, none of them are able to contribute as much as they used to, or just never were good. It is time for fresh blood - the killer instinct.
Nathan Ellis would be one of my first bowlers on the team sheet, with a T20 economy rate of 7.85, and has been fabulous in the last year.
Cummins by contrast, has an economy of 7.98, and an IPL economy of 10.68 in 2022 - I believe IPL has a higher quality of hitting, and so is a better measure of a players ACTUAL worth, since bilaterals contain quite a lot of non-main team players (rested).
However, Cummins is, primarily, a powerplay bowler, and they already have Hazlewood + Starc. We saw Starc being moved to the middle overs, which was completely unneccesary. Ellis is a death bowler, and those numbers are superb for someone who regularly bowls 2 at the death, so Ellis should definitely be in that team.
The ever-improving Kane Richardson is also beginning to grab eyeballs after his stunning performance in the Hundred this year.
It might be too early to say, but Cameron Green looks the part for opener. Long levers, can access quite a lot of the ground and aggressive from the onset - he would open the batting in an ideal Aussie T20 XI in my opinion. Josh Inglis would be my other opener: he boasts a T20 SR of 147.86 at an average of 30. These players have to be given time and exposure - there is no point giving them a few odd games.
Now, South Africa. Don’t say it. But we all know it.
Commonly branded as “chokers”, and what else can you call them?
They lost this thriller to India, by failing to make 7 runs off 2 overs, back in 2011. But that was just a friendly, right?
In the 2003 World Cup, Mark Boucher thought 229/6 would be the winning score at the end of the 45th over. He hit the second last ball for a 6, and played a perfect front-foot defence off Murali’s last ball. SA actually needed 230, and got knocked out.
Where do they go from here? The good news is, there isn’t too much to do, as their T20 squad is very good already, with capable players knocking on the doors too.
An ideal SA XI may look like this:
Reeza Hendricks / Dewald Brevis
Quinton de Kock
Rilee Rossouw
Aiden Markram
David Miller
Tristan Stubbs
Dwaine Pretorius
Keshav Maharaj / Tabraiz Shamsi
Kagiso Rabada
Anrich Nortje
Lungi Ngidi / Wayne Parnell
Subs: Dewald Brevis, Rvd Dussen, Marco Jansen
This seems like a relatively good team, with batting until 7, and 5 proper bowlers, with three part timers for matchups. Brevis can bowl leggies, and Stubbs and Markam can bowl offspin.
Brevis should get as much time as possible to develop, as a player with huge potential. He struck at 177 this edition of CSA T20, with that majestic 162 at an average of 36. There is no reason for him to not make the squad any time soon.
In terms of players who miss out, or will (should) be on the bench:
(all stats taken from this year’s SA Domestic T20 league unless specified otherwise)
Rvd Dussen - his T20 ability is not as good as his ODI dominance. With a T20 strike rate of 129, he does not make it to my ideal SA XI, but is in the XV.
Donovan Ferreira - Struck at 168 this CSA T20 league, at an average of 26. Will be interesting to see his development in the SA20 in January.
Ottniel Baartman - Took 15 wickets (in 30 overs) at an average of 14.4 and an economy of 7.4. Once again, will see how he bowls to better players in SA20.
With the new SA20 league, it offers a league where non-IPL quality level players get a stage to perform, and with some of the best T20 players in the world, such as Liam Livingstone, Rashid Khan and Jos Buttler. Once again, better scouting teams appear to have made better signings (MI Cape Town being a prime example), whereas other teams have been just as bad as expected, with Sunrisers Eastern Cape having the most money at the start of the auction, only for them to have the least money AND the least players only 3 HOURS later. But this isn’t a preview of SA20, that will be covered later.
I will, of course, cover other teams, but that will be in a seperate post released later, maybe post IPL retention stuff.
Meanwhile, England successfully consolidated their dominance as the top white ball side; a perfect turnaround from the 2015 WC loss to Bangladesh.
But there’s a lot to look forward to. The future is bright. SA will hope it’s the same for them.
Sam curran
Which players should England be looking at to take them forward, perhaps to the next T20 world cup in 2024?