Cricket Diary: Cardiff t20 beds crisis

By Richard Gibson

Supporters of Hampshire, Sussex and Yorkshire are already experiencing problems with restricted hotel availability for the Friends Life t20 finals day – a month before the event.
 
Domestic cricket’s sold-out showpiece on August 25 in Cardiff clashes with the 12th British Speedway Grand Prix just down the road at the Millennium Stadium, an annual event that draws in excess of 40,000 to the Welsh capital.
 
The result is that reasonably-priced accommodation was scarce even before a ball was bowled in this week’s four quarter-finals.
 
The issue least effects Somerset, whose fans are more likely to travel on day trips for their fourth consecutive appearance in the last four, due to the shorter distance involved.

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Shaun Pollock’s conservative nature showed itself when he down-graded his score prediction for the current Test series between England and South Africa in a matter of hours.
 
Former Proteas captain Pollock, who controversially lost the leadership to current incumbent Graeme Smith nine years ago, plumped for a 2-1 away victory during interviews with a group of national newspaper journalists to promote Sky Sports’ coverage.
 
However, before boarding a plane to England, he suggested a 1-1 draw when put on the spot by his other employers, the BBC, during the Monday Night Club show, citing suspected wet weather at Headingley.
 
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Shane Warne is yet to confirm whether he will play a second season with Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League this winter despite the first trading window closing this week.
 
Warne, lured out of retirement last year to add some gravitas to Australia’s inaugural franchise tournament, has been advising the 2011-12 semi-finalists on recruitment but is not expected to make a definitive decision on his own participation until closer to his 43rd birthday in September.
 
Franchises have until November 30 to finalise their 18-man squads, with two England internationals – the Stars’ Luke Wright and Owais Shah, of Hobart Hurricanes – re-signed as overseas players after impressing last winter.
 
However, as revealed in this column earlier this month, Paul Collingwood was not re-engaged by Perth Scorchers, who have retained Herschelle Gibbs and snapped up South African all-rounder Albie Morkel.

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It is a sign of how cricket's landscape has changed that West Indies picked no fewer than 10 spinners in their provisional 30-man squad for September’s World Twenty20 event in Sri Lanka – when they terrorised opponents for three generations without one.
 
But a combination of the Caribbean’s slow pitches and the focus on 20-over cricket means they are arguably now the international team with the greatest depth in the twirly department.
 
Mystery spinner Sunil Narine, the Indian Premier League’s player of the year in 2012, is expected to play a major role in the Windies’ challenge for the title with off-spinner Shane Shillingford, Samuel Badree, who specialises in taking the new ball, the giant left-armer Sulieman Benn and leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo also amongst those contesting a place in the final squad of 15.

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England’s fall from grace as the world’s number one Test team will be complete if South Africa triumph in the middle match of the Investec Series at Headingley.
 
But it will not be as spectacular a plummet down the rankings as Bangladesh experienced on the International Cricket Council’s Twenty20 table this week.
 
Series victory over Ireland thrust the Bangladeshis up to fourth place - ahead of Australia, India at West Indies - only for defeats to Scotland and the Netherlands to plunge them back to equal ninth, alongside the Dutch.

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Samit Patel proved in top shape for Nottinghamshire’s Twenty20 Cup quarter-final against Hampshire at Trent Bridge with a half-century, three wickets and a catch.

But he looked unusually toned on his mugshot displayed on the ground’s electronic scoreboard when he came into bat or on to bowl too – Patel missed the club’s pre-tournament photoshoot due to England duty, so his head was super-imposed on Michael Lumb’s body.
 
Meanwhile, at Headingley, a broken bat did not diminish David Miller’s power-hitting. Yorkshire’s South African batsman was forced into a change after splitting his previous one at the end of the competition’s group stages – and after crashing 50 off 23 balls against Worcestershire dubbed his acquisition from this year’s trip to the Indian Premier League ‘a beauty’.

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Date: 27/07/2012 08:00:00 by Richard Gibson
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