ICC T20 World Cup
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Billy Tell" data-cid="569654" data-time="1459703097">
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<p>20/20 is awesome!</p>
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<p>Windies need 19 off 6. Cue 3 consecutive 6s!</p>
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<p>Edit: 4!!!!!</p>
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<p>Really thought the Windies were toast during that chase but they have players all the way down the order who can hit big. Stokes really contributed in that last over, leg stump half-volleys, no yorkers when he needed only a couple of good ones.</p> -
<p>WI men and women winning is soo much better then England men and Aussie women winning. Nice job WI :good1:</p>
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<p>The WI men are interesting. Seriously good in the T20s, but crap in the ODIs and tests. AB De Villiers has spoken about it recently, that more and more players will become T20 specialists because that is where the money is, which will hurt ODI and even more so test cricket as players choose BBL/IPL etc over playing tests for their country.</p>
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<p>I'm not sure what the answer to that is. You can't begrudge the players going for the money given how short professional sporting careers are.</p> -
<p>This is worth a read if you like your cricket. Reminder that West Indian cricketers have always chased the money away from their homeland.</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/995019.html'>http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/995019.html</a></p> -
<p>Women's cricket is really, really shit. It's great that it's getting a bit of exposure this year, and having their games as the curtain-raisers in the World Cup and Big Bash is a really progressive initiative.</p>
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<p>But it's never going to take off as a mass spectator sport. It's slow bowling, crap fielding and small hitting on fields with 40m boundaries. </p>
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<p>As for the guys, well done to the Windies, a hell of a way to win it. But i am not surprised they won, their T20 side is packed with talent, there are enough guys there who can go big that they can cover for the fact that half of them will fail every game. And their best players play enough T20 they should be fucking guns at it.</p>
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<p>My tournament highlight was how silent the ground was at the end of the Windies v India semi. That was awesome. </p> -
<p>Yeah. If Australia weren't going to win, then I was happy as long as India didn't.</p>
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<p>Samuels calling out Warne was funny as fuck. But victories like this for Marlon are to ignore that he never capitalised on prodigious talent. That's why people mark him hard I think.</p>
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<p>It doesn't excuse in any way Warne's utter boganity.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mariner4life" data-cid="569727" data-time="1459731151">
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<p>Women's cricket is really, really shit. It's great that it's getting a bit of exposure this year, and having their games as the curtain-raisers in the World Cup and Big Bash is a really progressive initiative.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But it's never going to take off as a mass spectator sport. It's slow bowling, crap fielding and small hitting on fields with 40m boundaries. </p>
<p> </p>
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<p>As for the guys, well done to the Windies, a hell of a way to win it. But i am not surprised they won, their T20 side is packed with talent, there are enough guys there who can go big that<strong> they can cover for the fact that half of them will fail every game</strong>. And their best players play enough T20 they should be fucking guns at it.</p>
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<p>My tournament highlight was how silent the ground was at the end of the Windies v India semi. That was awesome. </p>
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<p>In the shorter form it is a similar principle to the OZ team of the mid 2000s, my mate and I used to catch up over summer for a few beers and loved watching that team play cos you could guarantee two or three of that top seven would get big hundreds, a couple would fail but the rest would chip in enough for the inevitable mammoth total.</p>
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<p>Teams in this tourney feared Gayle obviously but a couple of other top order batsmen really kicked arse when he failed ( as inevitably happens in cricket )</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="569732" data-time="1459731818">
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<p>Yeah. If Australia weren't going to win, then I was happy as long as India didn't.</p>
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<p>Samuels calling out Warne was funny as fuck. But victories like this for Marlon are to ignore that he never capitalised on prodigious talent. That's why people mark him hard I think.</p>
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<p>It doesn't excuse in any way Warne's utter boganity.</p>
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<p>Yeah I have a feeling Warne may sit a bit higher in the echelon of cricketing greats in years to come than Samuels will.........</p> -
<p>And if Warne was anything but a gigantic chav, he'd be right up there with the gentlemen of the game.</p>
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<p>As it is, we can only admire his ability to bowl, and some of the women he's ploughed.</p>
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<p>His ex-wife - not bad for three kids through that, and mid-40s (also fairly boganish).</p>
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<p><img src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/03/04/264CD64400000578-0-image-a-86_1425448866388.jpg" alt="264CD64400000578-0-image-a-86_1425448866"></p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mariner4life" data-cid="569727" data-time="1459731151">
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<p>Women's cricket is really, really shit. It's great that it's getting a bit of exposure this year, and having their games as the curtain-raisers in the World Cup and Big Bash is a really progressive initiative.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But it's never going to take off as a mass spectator sport. It's slow bowling, crap fielding and small hitting on fields with 40m boundaries. </p>
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<p>I reckon that is changing as more real athletes come into the game - the Windies have some players who can clear the fence and not just the boundary rope and they also have strong arms in the field. Reading that article I posted above Matthews, who scored the runs in the final, picked cricket over track and field. Once there is money in T20, the standard will rise fast I reckon as it becomes a career choice.</p>
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<p>NZ Women really seemed to lack athletes in the team - plenty of plodders in the field. The Windies basically won that semi-final by consistently turning 1s into 2s and running singles when hitting straight to a fielder in the circle.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="KiwiPie" data-cid="569738" data-time="1459732503">
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<p>I reckon that is changing as more real athletes come into the game - the Windies have some players who can clear the fence and not just the boundary rope and they also have strong arms in the field. Reading that article I posted above Matthews, who scored the runs in the final, picked cricket over track and field. Once there is money in T20, the standard will rise fast I reckon as it becomes a career choice.</p>
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<p>NZ Women really seemed to lack athletes in the team - plenty of plodders in the field. The Windies basically won that semi-final by consistently turning 1s into 2s and running singles when hitting straight to a fielder in the circle.</p>
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<p>I agree with that. Some of our women are now earning around 6 figures for sport with endorsements, and while they'll probably always lag behind the men, making it a career instead of a hobby is massive.</p>
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<p>I can't begin to imagine how you'd nail down a fulltime job interview with "by the way I need 12 weeks off a year to play and train cricket!" if you didn't have any other income.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="569737" data-time="1459732252">
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<p>And if Warne was anything but a gigantic chav, he'd be right up there with the gentlemen of the game.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As it is, we can only admire his ability to bowl, and some of the women he's ploughed.</p>
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<p>His ex-wife - not bad for three kids through that, and mid-40s (also fairly boganish).</p>
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<p><img src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/03/04/264CD64400000578-0-image-a-86_1425448866388.jpg" alt="264CD64400000578-0-image-a-86_1425448866"></p>
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<p>She needs to practice the resting bitch face more then she'd have fewer wrinkles round the forehead.</p>
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<p>Definitely something for M4L to have a look at over lunchtime in the toilets though......</p> -
<p>I genuinely feared the West Indies might disintegrate as a cricket team (it might still happen...) but what a start to 2016 it has been!</p>
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<p>U19 World Champs</p>
<p>Mens T20 World Champs</p>
<p>Womens T20 World Champs</p>
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<p>Fantastic! </p> -
<p>Is T20 the future for minnow nations now? You don't need the same level or depth of talent, the cash and TV ratings are there, and you can actually win some silverware. And I am including the Windies in that minnow category, as their test side is atrocious.</p>
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<p>Why would a young WI/Afghan/Banga/Zimbo cricketer want to play test matches? You earn fuck all to get the shit kicked out of you. </p>
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<p>I wonder if Tests will just become the domain of Aus/Eng/Ind/SA and maybe NZ/Pak/SI. </p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="barbarian" data-cid="569766" data-time="1459738228">
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<p>Is T20 the future for minnow nations now? You don't need the same level or depth of talent, the cash and TV ratings are there, and you can actually win some silverware. And I am including the Windies in that minnow category, as their test side is atrocious.</p>
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<p>Why would a young WI/Afghan/Banga/Zimbo cricketer want to play test matches?<strong> You earn fuck all </strong>to get the shit kicked out of you. </p>
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<p>I wonder if Tests will just become the domain of Aus/Eng/Ind/SA and maybe NZ/Pak/SI. </p>
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<p>How much is "fuck all" exactly ?</p>
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<p>A guy like Jason Holder would be snapped up by a T20 side surely ? he seems to want to bring his team back to the glory days though, hard to see that happening in his era though......</p>
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<p>you put us in the "maybe" category too, ouch Barbarian, ouch.......</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="569770" data-time="1459739753">
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<p>How much is "fuck all" exactly ?</p>
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<p>A guy like Jason Holder would be snapped up by a T20 side surely ? he seems to want to bring his team back to the glory days though, hard to see that happening in his era though......</p>
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<p>you put us in the "maybe" category too, ouch Barbarian, ouch.......</p>
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<p>Well the word was that top Pakistan and WI players were making less than 100k a year, some as little as 60k.</p>
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<p>And as for NZ in the maybes, that was more about opportunity than ability. The 'big four' get a consistent supply of big-ticket test series, both at home and away. Unfortunately NZ seems a bit starved for content, especially longer series against the World's best.</p>
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<p>I could see why NZ players might start to see T20 as a more consistent and lucrative career choice.</p> -
<p>how much are the NZC contracts these days? It's not that long since we only had 20 professional players, and half of them were making fuck all</p>
