Tag: UAE

Cricket World Cup: Day 12 Recap

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

Ireland and the UAE unexpectedly combined for the most exciting match of the Cricket World Cup so far; an absorbing contest that was ultimately decided in Ireland’s favour by just two wickets, and with four balls to spare.

Check out our quick review of the game below:

Day 12 Results

Ireland v UAE

One of the defining characteristics of the best test playing cricket nations is that they always find a way to win despite not playing their best cricket.  It happens time and time again when associate nations (a la Afghanistan against Sri Lanka) give the better teams an almighty scare before eventually losing composure and confidence or letting nerves get the better of them.  It has happened to Ireland in the past too, but last night they were able to get one over UAE in similar circumstances; displaying the winning mentality of a top 8 side that allowed them to scrape home against an excellent UAE effort.

UAE capitalised on a solid start to post 278 from their 50 overs and set Ireland a tricky chase.  The innings featured their first World Cup hundred to batsman Shaiman Anwar, and their first hundred run partnership in World Cup cricket too, between Anwar and Amjad Javed.  They were helped by some ordinary death bowling (theme of the tournament), and some strange tactics from Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien.

Ireland managed the tricky chase relatively comfortably despite a clump of wickets at the beginning and the end of the innings.  The key to Ireland overhauling the 278 was the partnership between Gary Wilson and Kevin O’Brien.  The pair put together 72 in no time, to guide Ireland from a position of uncertainty at 171/5 to a position of dominance that was never relinquished.  The tense scenes were tailor-made for the hard hitting O’Brien, but not so for the UAE fielders who went down like cramping flies (with cramp) and put down catches with the same regularity.

Ultimately, Ireland did the things the great teams do.  Win, when perhaps they shouldn’t.

Ireland 279 for 8 (Wilson 80, K O’Brien 50, Javed 3-60) beat UAE 278 for 9 (Anwar 106) by 2 wickets

 

Cricket World Cup: Day 12 Preview

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

It’s unlikely we’ll see another Cricket World Cup double century today, but there still could be plenty of action.  Read our preview of today’s match and the three big questions on everyone’s lips at the Cricket World Cup.

The Three Big Questions 

Does Eden Park’s weird dimensions suit Australia or New Zealand more for Saturday’s showdown? 

Many are predicting Saturday’s trans-tasman match at Eden Park to be a preview of the World Cup final in late March.  Both teams are confident, both have made a good start to the tournament and both are familiar with the conditions in both Australia and New Zealand.  Familiarity with Eden Park’s strange dimensions – the straight boundary is just 55m – will be crucial in deciding who runs out on top of Saturday’s pool game.  Australia feel that Tim Southee and Trent Boult’s swing threat is minimised by the small boundaries.  Mishits can still go for six, and edges will race to the straight boundaries and force fine leg and third man to be especially straight, opening up space in other ares of the outfield.  The ground suits left handers too, but with only Corey Anderson and David Warner goofy hitting, no team benefits there.  New Zealand obviously no the conditions well, yet still failed to defend 314 when they last played here (timing with India in a match featuring 23 6’s).  Accordingly, there is no clear advantage, but expect huge totals all round.

Where should bowlers be bowling?

Bowlers have had a rough time of it of late.  The pitches too flat, the balls to hard and the boundaries too small.  300 plus totals are good for fans vying for the Tui catch a million promotion at New Zealand grounds, but a bad look for bowlers.  So what can they do about it?  Short pitched stuff hasn’t worked for England, taking the pace off hasn’t worked for Zimbabwe, liquorice all sorts didn’t work for Andre Russell and the West Indies against Ireland.  That leaves one glaringly obvious strategy that appears to be a lost art these days.  Fire it in fats and straight into the blockhole and you won’t go too far.  Even though Malinga went fro plenty against New Zealand his death spell was excellent.  It’s the only viable strategy in the modern ODI game.  Sure you might get ramped a couple of times, but that shot will come off less than a bludgeon down the ground.

What’s our take on the commentary team?

Refreshing.  There’s a different insight on display with more neutral commentators voicing each game, and it’s something we could get used to. Having grown up listening to the infamous Channel 9 commentary team and watching them get more and more one-eyed (thanks to Ian Healey, James Bradshaw, Michael Slater), the change to Alan Wilkins, Pommie Mbangwa et al has only increased our enjoyment of the tournament.  If only the logistics could work full time on all international tours.  FTP for commentators?

Today’s Matchup

Ireland v UAE, The Gabba (Brisbane – cyclone gone should be fine), starts 1:30pm local time

Ireland – $1.20

UAE – $4.40

The green machine are expected to get the better of the UAE as World Cup cricket returns to the cyclone sodden state of Queensland.  The Irish are coming off a strong opening win against the West Indies, and have the players to get them out of any potentially sticky situations against the only amateur team in the tournament.  Joyce, Stirling and O’Brien are all in some handy form and could cash in against the associate side who, despite enjoying a solid opening effort against Zimbabwe, will probably struggle on the pace and bounce of the Gabba.

Today’s Bet

Ireland’s favourites tag means there are not great odds on any of the common betting options. If anything we like Ed Joyce / Khurram Khan to both to score for their teams at $12.00.

Odds from Sportsbet Australia.

Cricket World Cup: Day 6 Recap

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

Nelson delivered the closest game of the Cricket World Cup thus far courtesy of the Zimbabwe and UAE team’s collective batting efforts.  While the bowling and fielding on display wasn’t always of the highest quality, the decent turns at bat provided some tense times for both sets of fans in an exiting finish.  Check out who did what below.

Day 6 Results

Zimbabwe v UAE

UAE got straight back on the horse of Cricket World Cup’s today with a handy first up batting effort against a confident Zimbabwe side that nearly proved enough to sneak a second World Cup win.  Playing nice and straight initially, and holding wickets for the final assault, the UAE found an effective way of taking advantage of their opponents strangling field placements by manipulating the field and exploiting some of the smaller Saxton Oval boundaries.  The big runs were made by Shaiman Anwar and Khurram Khan, but coach, Aaqib Javed, will rue the fact that no one went on to an 80 or hundred.

Zimbabwe may have been ragged in the field but with bat in hand it was a different story.  The big chase could have proved difficult, with the regular wickets stifling threatening to compound them to an upset, but at no stage did the Africans panic.  Instead each new batsman contributed to the run rate and aptly supported the man in.  Contributions from most of the side, save for Masakadza and Mire, eventually got them home by four wickets with a couple of overs to spare.

This match was further evidence of the closing gap between test sides and associate nations.  Remember, just a few days ago Zimbabwe scared South Africa with a strong showing.  Here, they were almost on the receiving end of a similar scare.  It’s great for the Cricket World Cup.

Zimbabwe 286 for 6 (Williams 76, Taylor 47) beat UAE 285 for 7 (Anwar 67, Khurram 45, Chatara 3-42) by 4 wickets

Cricket World Cup: Day 6 Preview

Posted on by Online Betting Pro

Welcome to Day 6.  An early start in Nelson for a match featuring two of the Cricket World Cup underdogs.

The Three Big (Cricket World Cup Thus Far) Questions

Is Net Run Rate that important? 

New Zealand almost butchered an easy run-chase against Scotland the other day all in the pursuit of a superior Net Run Rate (NRR).  As the New Zealand public panic and critics slam their recklessness the New Zealanders didn’t care less.  You see, wickets lost is not used in the calculations of NRR.  Simply, the runs scored is divided by the overs faced and subtracted from the runs conceded divided by the overs bowled.  The Black Caps now have a health NRR of 2.62.  That’s important because if teams are on equal points after the round robin series, NRR will separate them.  The top four teams play off against each other in a traditional 1 v 4 scenario so it’s understandable NZ want to consider all factors.

Which team is better with their backs against the wall?  West Indies or Pakistan?

Write either of them off at your peril.  Both Pakistan and the West Indies play better without expectation.  They can relax, they can entertain, they can play naturally; aggressively.  Yes, both have suffered embarrassing defeats in their first games, but the tournaments a long one, they can atone for this in the latter more important stages.  Pakistan were semi-finalists in this tournament on 2011 and took out the Twenty20 World’s in 2009 in similar circumstances.  West Indies too have enjoyed big tournament wins as recently as 2012 (World Twenty20).

Is Duckworth-Lewis ever going to be a factor?  Is this World Cup being played in Qatar?

Certainly the lack of rain has been a pleasing factor of the first week of action.  Messrs Duckworth and Lewis left to work on even more complex algorithms, rather than meddle in international cricket. It probably won’t last forever mind you with Brisbane expecting showers for Michael Clarke’s return to action against Bangladesh on Saturday.

Today’s Match

UAE v Zimbabwe, Saxton Oval (Nelson – mostly sunny), starts 11:00am local time

Zimbabwe – $1.14

UAE – $5.75

Zimbabwe will take great confidence from their performance against South Africa into this one where they have been given the tag of strong favourites.  Zimbabwe were excellent in 70-80 overs against South Africa and will be looking to extrapolate that out to a complete performance today.  Not that this one’s expected to go 100 overs.

UAE are likely to struggle in their first Cricket World Cup since 1996.  They have been set-up in Napier fine tuning their games against club cricketers, but reports are they have struggled to beat Hawke’s Bay’s best club players in a series of one-daters.  That’s a worry.

Today’s Bet

Elton Chigumbura – Man of the Match – $11.00

Odds from Centrebet.