Presentation Ceremonies

Nasser Hussain has conducted the presentation ceremony of the last 3 ICC World T20 finals

England Hoping to Break 40 year ODI Drought in 2015

World Cups

1975 = Semis and hosts

1979 = Finalists and hosts

1983 = Semis and hosts

1987 = Finalists

1992 = Finalists 

1996 = Quarter Finalists

1999 = Hosts 

2003 = First round

2007 = super eights

2011 = Quarter Finalists

2015 = Returning to land they last played a final and reached semis

2019 = Hosts 

Champions Trophies

1998 = First round

2000 = First round

2002 = First round

2004 = Finalists and hosts

2006 = First round

2009 = Semis

2013 = Finalists and hosts 

England Captains in World Cups After 1996

1996 = Michael Atherton

1999 = Alec Stewart

2003 = Nasser Hussain

2007 = Michael Vaughan

2011 = Andrew Strauss

5 finals
Hosted 6
Not won one in 17
Only one of the top eight not to have won one
Only team to have played WC finals without a win

Nasser Hussain Won't Be Commentating in Preliminary Round of 2014 World T20

Nasser Hussain won't be covering the initial stages of the Bangladeshi carnival, but may join the team later.

Commentators for ICC Champions Trophy 2013 (England and Wales)

England

Michael Atherton
Nasser Hussain
David Lloyd
Alan Wilkins

India

Harsha Bhogle
Sourav Ganguly
Sanjay Manjrekar
Sunil Gavaskar

West Indies

Michael Holding

Australia

Shane Warne
Tom Moody

Pakistan

Wasim Akram
Ramiz Raja

Sri Lanka

Russel Arnold

New Zealand

Simon Doull

Azhar Ali After 25 Tests Author: Analyst Maaz; Views: 2554; Date: 4-02-2013, 06:34;

World T20 Commentators 2012 Author: Maaz; Views: 1449; Comments: ; Date: 15-09-2012, 03:36;

Sourav Ganguly, Sanjay Manjrekar, Wasim Akram, Ramiz Raja, Ian Chappell, Tony Greig, Mark Waugh, Damien Fleming, David Lloyd, Nasser Hussain, Ian Bishop, Simon Doull, Pommie Mbangwa, Russel Arnold, Harsha Bhogle and Alan Wilkins via ESPN

Spin maestro Ajmal bamboozles England Author: Maaz; Views: 1623; Date: 17-01-2012, 07:29;

Commentary team: 3 former Pakistan captains: Aamir Sohail, Ramiz Raja and Waqar Younis. From the Sky Sports crew from England it was: Botham, Atherton, Hussain, Lloyd and the Presenter in the studio David Gower.

Sessions: P | E | P

Pitch and conditions: Hot, humid, placid track, low key atmospheric surroundings although the Barmy Army were in full tune during phases.

Quote of the day: It's disappointing as fans rightly feel it's a case of sour grapes. Ajmal has ICC certification & license to bowl. Why point weapons at him. – Ramiz Raja

Scorecard: England 192 AO |Pakistan 42/0 | Pakistan trail by 150 with all 10 wickets in hand

Prediction For Stumps Tomorrow: Pakistan 300/4

Star of the day: Saeed Ajmal who after pressurising the English batsmen with his talk of unveiling a mysterious ‘teesra’ and after the hype he had generated from not only his inventions, but his performances in 2011 where he dominated the bowling charts by a distant mile was undeniably the stand out performer on day 1 of the series as Misbah ul Haq’s side rattled England out for a total of just 192 on a decent track.  Saeed got his first 3 wickets in quick succession as he came into the attack in the 19^th over and from there on in made inroads frequently. His control was splendid and for the batsmen he became unreadable for most of the time.

Bad day at the office: Ian Bell received a golden duck which is unarguably one of the worst feelings in cricket and not the start he’d have wanted to the tour without troubling the scorers and heading back to the changing rooms after nicking off immediately.

Ball of the day: Saeed Ajmal dismissing Ian Bell with a beautifully disguised and pitched doosra which found the edge and Adnan held on before going up for the appeal which the umpire agreed on.

Shot of the day: Trott flicking Gul off his pads in the 9^th over of the innings to open his account with a well timed stroke past mid wicket and square leg. It was the first delivery of the over and Gul had only conceded 3 from his fist 4 before bowling this delivery which was dealt with to the fence by the Warwickshire batsmen. It was his trademark stroke and incidentally was the first boundary of the innings, match, series, and tour.

Statistics:

On a full 90 overs day of batting in the first innings Pakistan have been extremely solid and consistent and added totals of: -241/4, 232/1, 239/4, 247/4, 282/4, 205/2 (69) on their first full day of batting in a test match in the last 4 months. Therefore if form is anything to go by England will be out in the field for a long time.  

In the 12 tests that MUH has captained, his side have won the first innings on 8 occasions. Surely MUH is on track to win his 9^th  first innings as captain in just 13 tests after bowling out England cheaply on the opening day of the series?

Pakistan have fielded first in a test match 20 times in their last 22 tests. The two times they did bat first at stumps on day 1 they were either shot out for 80 or concluded on 180/6.

Out of their last 8 victories in tests, 7 have come when fielding first.

This is the 2^nd successive test where a side has been shot out for fewer than 250 when batting first after winning the toss at the DSC which is surprising considering the batter friendly nature of the wickets.

Toss: Strauss called correctly and unsurprisingly opted to make first use of the surface. Misbah incidentally actually said to Nasser at the toss that he would have done the exact same had he won the toss which surprised a few considering he has bowled first when winning the toss normally, trying to exploit the early moisture in the wicket. However, this time he briefly alluded to playing 2 spinners and racking up the runs and then unleashing them on a deteriorating wicket was the thinking behind the decision.

However, we shall never know as honest a man Misbah might be if this what actually he would have done or whether it was just so called talk to defend himself should the opening day in the field be a flat out one for the hosts.

Selection: The hosts played exactly the same 11 players that played the two tests in Bangladesh in December – going in with 2 seamers and 2 front line spinners. Aizaz Cheema was given the nod ahead of left arm pace options Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz. England opted for Tremlett ahead of Finn and didn’t give Monty a place, although he bowled impressively in the 3 day warm up which created some debate, although deep down Strauss and Flower were having none of it and stuck by their policy which has worked for them getting to ‘world beaters.’

Further observations: Here is what I would say is a rating for a first innings score in the UAE from what I have seen here:

Below 200 = disastrous

250 = not bad

300 = about par – you are still in the game or will be at
least for a while

350 = generally a good total, a competitive total

450 = a winning total

The English Pundits will now come down hard on challenging the legitimacy of Ajmal’s bowling action – it’s going to be the main talking point of the series – they won’t let this issue go as long as he takes wickets …heading towards another controversial series

Looking Ahead: Pakistan batsmen will be looking to get stuck in, apply themselves at the wicket, work their socks off, dig in long and deep,
pile up the runs, wear out the bowlers and gain a sizeable first innings lead to put the visitors under pressure. They can afford to take their time. Grit,application, solid temperament, determination, mental toughness and the ability to value their wicket and scrap hard for their runs is the strength of the current Pakistan top 6 which they will be looking to portray again here. They should be rewarded for this discipline, stamina, patience and sound defences. A total of approximately 400 will be very pleasing. They’ll be looking to bat to around lunch time on day 3. They’ll be looking for a centurion or two.

400 is the magic number Pakistan will be targeting at least. A lead of at least 200, they will also want to try and kill some time through stodgy and resilient crease occupation to ensure the possibilities of an England win go completely out of the window and England have to go into the 3^rd innings with a “draw mentality” where only two results are realistically possible so all they have to concentrate on is bowling out England with sufficient time and if England bat out of their skins and hold on, then they can still salvage a draw which would have been a fine result considering the difference on the rankings, but currently after day 1 Pakistan should be thinking about pushing and enforcing a win and nothing else. The situation is in theirs and the moment is theirs to take. They are in the driving seat. I’ve called a win from here already.

English commentators are also underestimating Pakistan’s batting heavily – this is not the same team which got bowled out under 100 3 times in the space of 4 tests in 2010 when the likes of temperamentally deficient test batsmen  like: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik were waving their fashy blades and providing catching opportunities every other over…this is a completely different line up who average 387 in their first innings under Misbah  and even higher on the UAE tracks where they have posted 400 3 times in 5 innings and once 340.

Timing Was Right

Yet again a South African captain sees the back of a 3^rd English captain after winning a test match on away shores, leading to a resignation. Andrew Strauss stepping down on Wednesday 29^th August, the day of the Paralympics opening ceremony, completed an astonishing hat-trick for Smith. It’s a testimony to his leadership skills and longevity and a product of elongated stability.

Strauss led England in 50 tests, winning 24 and drawing 15. As a player he completed his 100^th test, at the place where his test career started. It was round numbers to conclude with. He lost only 3 in 14 series as captain, 13 which were full time when he was handed the job in early 2009 after the KP-Moores fiasco.

Strauss is England’s 3^rd most capped captain, behind Vaughan (51) and Atherton (54). He has led England to the 2^nd most test wins as captain, behind Vaughan with 26. As a successful and capped leader, surely the Middlesex man is up there in England’s finest 4 along with Hussain, Brearley and Vaughan. His highlight will be the Ashes back to back series victories, particularly the 3 innings ones down under in 2010-11 to regain the urn after 24 years down under and taking England to world number 1 in the highest form of the game the following year on home turf.

Not only was Strauss a fine player and leader, but a good respected role model, leader of men and ambassador for the world game. After 8 English summers, debuting and concluding at Lords in his 1^st and 100^th, the timing was right after a declining loss of form and surprisingly poor team results in 2012. He really did take a liking to the prestigious venue and made it his own.

Next year’s back to back 10 Ashes tests are nicely set up now, with Cook and Clarke leading in their first Ashes series. Both of who have demonstrated impressive credentials up to now in the opportunities they have been given. Clarke did captain in Punter’s absence during the last Ashes test match at the SCG though, but the Ashes had already been decided by then.

He was a strong back-foot player who loved cutting and pulling and favoured short pitched bowling. Strauss worked anything on his pads away and regularly picked bowlers off if they erred in line. The England captain was a hungry performer who set high standards. His slip catching was excellent, as safe as houses for most parts.

He will be glad that he chose cricket over accountancy and can always look back at his test record with pride. He will be wishing his long term opening partner well and will be hoping he can consolidate on his achievements and take English cricket forward. As the Sabina Park test defeat under Strauss’s regime showed, things won’t be easy to start with.

It’s been a year of big retirements with Ramprakash packing up after over a quarter of a century in the first class county game, Dravid calling it a day, VVS joining him despite being named in the squad to take on New Zealand in the 2 test match series which has just recently finished and unfortunately Mark Boucher being forced to call time on his career after a severe eye injury during a warm up fixture at Somerset prior to the test series. Some important and influential cricketers have departed this year and Strauss is certainly amongst them.