England’s cricketing messiah was unable to prevent a humiliating 229 run defeat – their worst by runs in all ODI cricket. The US Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen reach 50 wins, becoming only the 5th F1 driver to do so, and Marc Guiu starts his Barcelona career with a bang!
Cricket
ODI World Cup
His many heroics over the last few years have given fans of English Cricket a sense of the inevitable whenever Ben Stokes is named in the team. Unfortunately, Saturday’s game would not be added to the list of sensational Stokes innings. Despite a promising start, Reece Topley continuing his excellent form by dismissing De Kock for 4 off the 2nd ball of the innings, the decision by captain Jos Buttler to bowl first would prove to be a fatal one. The change of momentum can be pinned to one moment, Topley stooping to save a boundary off his own bowling, the ball clipping the tip of his index finger on his bowling hand. He would attempt to continue but was in clear discomfort, eventually leaving the field mid over after being thumped to the boundary though midwicket by an ominous looking Reeza Hendricks. Scans after the game show he has fractured his finger and is out for the remainder of the tournament, a huge blow to an England side desperate for some good news.
From here on out England would struggle to stem the flow of runs, a visibly unwell Adil Rashid being their most economical bowler whilst going at a run a ball emphasises their struggles with the ball in hand. A brutal display of power hitting saw Heinrich Klaasen finish on 109 from just 67 deliveries, staking his claim as one of the best middle order batsmen in the world right now. A surprise innings from a tailender epitomised England’s dismal bowling performance, with just about every delivery it seemed disappearing into the stands for Marco Jansens quick-fire 75 (42).
The scoreboard pressure was collossal, forcing England’s openers to go hard from the off – the required run rate starting at 8.00 an over from ball 1. Early wickets fell followed by a batting collapse of epic proportions leaving England 68/6 and staring down the barrel of defeat. Mark Wood, England’s most expensive bowler on the day, managed to save some face with a handful of sixes, however even the most optimistic of fans had lost all faith.
Where does this leave England? As it stands, they are currently dead last in the round robin stage of the tournament, winning just 1 of their opening 4 and doing so with a horrendously poor net run rate. In order to qualify for the semi finals, 5 wins out of their last 5 games is a must, and even then they might have to hope for a slip up from an Australian side who are starting to find their feet.
England’s next 5 fixtures:
- Sri Lanka (26th Oct)
- India (29th Oct)
- Australia (4th Nov)
- Netherlands (8 Nov)
- Pakistan (11 Nov)
It’s not looking good…
How Bizarre
Did you know you can’t declare in ODI cricket?
Declaration
When a captain decides his team have enough runs and voluntarily terminates their innings prematurely
It is a decision almost wholly reserved for test cricket, in which there is a reasonable justification for it, however a strange occurrence in the 1979 Benson Hedges Cup changed the laws of the game from then on.
It’s Somerset vs Worcestershire in the final round of group matches in England’s domestic one-day cricket tournament. In the changing room, someone in the Somerset camp has worked out that a loss would leave them level on points with two other teams, with qualification for the next round then determined by bowling strike rate (the average number of balls bowled per wicket taken). Declaring after just one over then would mean a swift defeat and Somerset would preserve their much superior strike rate and thus they would progress into the next round of the tournament. So that’s exactly what they did. In a match that only lasted 18 minutes an saw just 16 legal deliveries, Somerset lost by 10 wickets as Worcestershire chased a commanding total of 1 run. There was uproar. Although within the laws of the tournament, an emergency vote was held and the cricketing counties voted 17-1 in favour of removing Somerset from the tournament. Who voted for Somerset to remain you ask? Well that was Derbyshire, who believed the result should stand, leading us to the conclusion that a rather red faced Somersetian must have voted against themselves…
For those interested: Match Scorecard
50 for Max
The US Grand Prix was an entertaining affair, despite the familiar result. Lando Norris took the lead into the first corner from second on the grid, getting a better start than Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari, with Verstappen moving up a place into 5th past past Norris’ team mate Oscar Piastri. As the race unfolded, Mercedes opted for a bold one stop strategy for Hamilton, but this would back fire as the 7-time World Champion would be forced into making a second stop and lose more time than he would eventually lose the race by. Action at the start of lap 49/56 saw Norris (in 2nd) make a late move to cut off the inside of corner 1, but Hamilton made the most of his extra traction and made the move round the outside of corner 2 to move into second place. Hamilton would narrow the gap to Verstappen in the closing stages of the race but fall short by just two seconds, allowing Max Verstappen to join Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost on 50 Grand Prix wins.
In an unexpected twist post race, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc would be disqualified for excessive wear on the underfloor skid blocks. These are in place to prevent cars from running too low and thus gaining an aerodynamic advantage. So despite making steps forward in performance due to upgrades including a raise to the leading edge of the floor in an attempt to improve airflow quality to the rear of the car, Mercedes find their progress checked for the time being.
Mclaren’s pit team got the 2nd place they deserved after a 2.0 second pit stop for Norris to match their World Record 1.8 pit stop in Qatar a few weeks ago. The British team moved up into 4th in the Constructors Championship with the podium from this weekend, now 6 points ahead of compatriots Aston Martin in what is shaping up to be a close battle in the midfield.
Barcelona
Marc Guiu – remember the name. The 17 year old became the youngest Barcelona debutant to score after he slotted home the winner against Athletic Club with his second touch just 33 seconds after being brought onto the field. The precocious talent from Catalunya will undoubtedly have a huge pressure on his young shoulders to follow in the footsteps of previous Barcelona greats and, if he can stay injury free, he has all the right ingredients to do just that.
No Room for Rugby
Unable to write about two crushing defeats at the hands of South Africa, I was forced to choose. However unlikely, there is an outside chance the side make a late surge for the Semi Finals in India whereas, despite a heroic performance, the Rugby World Cup has run its course as far as England are concerned. Not to worry rugby fans, I will soak in what promises to be a thrilling contest between The All Blacks and The Springboks in the Stade de France on Saturday.
Sayonara
