ICC 20/20 Cricket Tournament Off to a Flying Start

The 2010 ICC 20/20 Cricket Tournament bowled off this afternoon in Guyana with a tense down to the wire match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, which the Kiwis eventually won and the West Indies versus Ireland which turned out to be a more one sided match than it originally appeared.

The Irish team looked set to give the West Indies a run for their money when, Windies batting first,they restricted them to 138/9. At age 17 young George Dockrell showed what the future of Irish cricket is made of with his 4/16. Darren Sammy top scored for the Windies with 30 and it was down to the last four overs before any of the batsmen let loose with the type of batting synonymous with the West Indian team. Once again Pollard came in late down the order but on this occasion was unable to get going and quickly returned to the Pavilion. With the last man out on the last ball of the 20 overs Ireland must have felt that they had some chance of defeating the Windies.

This thought was quickly dispelled as the first wicket went tumbling before the first over was completed and the Irish wickets started to tumble. A brief break for the rain interruption did nothing to help their situation and they found themselves all out for 68 runs after 16.4 overs.

Darren Sammy was the hero of the match for the Windies. He showed his all around ability as batsman with 30 runs, bowler with figures of 3/8 and fielder with four catches.

Winides go up against the more formidable English team on Monday, when they will have their regular captain Chris Gayle back in the side. This win, under the captaincy of Dwayne Bravo, will certainly boost their confidence but there is still much for them to improve upon. They gave away 19 extras with 11 being wide balls; with another team in opposition those 19 runs could be the difference between winning and losing.

Ireland are known to be "giant killers" after their last experience in the 50 over version of the game during the 2007 World Cup. They did not win on this occasion but surely have shown the heart and determination required to take them to the top of this game.

Chennai Super Kings are the IPL 2010 Champions

The Chennai Super Kings beat the Mumbai Indians to win the 2010 IPL trophy. To say that I am disappointed would be an understatement. Not that I have anything against the Super Kings but all season long I've been a Mumbai supporter and they've led the rankings all the way through but at the last lap they just could not make it.

Why they waited so late to send in Pollard I don't know. His 22 runs off one over gave Mumbai hope for a moment there when all seemed lost. Once he was out that was the writing on the wall for Mumbai.

Super Kings have played consistently well and have always been the "bridesmaid" in this tournament. Congratulations to them on finally being the "bride".

Caribbean Cricket and the Icelandic Volcano

With 11 days left before the start of the ICC 20/20 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean it looks like some of the teams may well be affected by the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano that has caused European airspace to be closed down for the last five days.

While the ash cloud itself might not be a factor the fact that so many flights have been cancelled over the past few days leaves a logistical nightmare for the individual teams as well as the airlines.

England is one of the teams due to fly out to Barbados on Sunday. Should the ban on flying remain they would have to look to alternative methods of getting to Barbados. They also have players who are in India for the IPL tournament, which concludes this weekend, that will have to make their way to Barbados. Afghanistan is one team known to be directly affected by the volcanic ash situation as they had planned to arrive in the Caribbean early to acclimatise. While some of the other teams may find alternative routes those that have to travel through European airspace will be most affected.

ICC 20/20 2010

Yes, folks its that time of the year again when the ICC 20/20 cricket tournament bowls off on April 30th. This year the event is taking place in the Caribbean, with the opening match being played in Guyana, so there's another great opportunity for folks to take a well deserved holiday.

Both the men and women's version of the game will be played simultaneously. The women will play all of their first round matches in St. Kitts. The women’s tournament will be contested by eight teams, which have been split into two groups of four. The teams are: England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

The men’s tournament will be contested by 12 teams, which have been split into four groups of three. There are two seeded teams in each group. The teams are: England, Australia, West Indies, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, New Zealand and Ireland.

Each group will be played on a round-robin basis with the top two sides progressing to the Super Eight stages.

The top two teams from each group will progress to the semi-finals, with the winners of those matches contesting the final.

The finals of both the men and women's tournaments will take place at Kensington Oval in Barbados on May 16th.