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So the 2nd T20 World Cup is over, and it had everything. England getting beaten by the Netherlands before beating the eventual champions. Australia getting kicked out within the first 72 hours. Glamour boys India getting a cushy draw early before also bowing out. Jesse in hospital. South Africa choking at the stage you’d expect them to. Kallis batting for the average. A Pakistani bowling full and straight and New Zealanders not being able to handle that. England losing in the rain. All those over-the-shoulder flicks from Dilshan. Ponting’s face on elimination. Dhoni, the captain, getting shown up. Holland proving that sporting teams in orange will always look cool. Stuart Broad saving her worst moments for when it mattered. Guptill’s tears. The winning captain immediately retiring from this form of the game. An S7 match.
So here were the questions, and the answers. 1. Tournament winner. Pakistan did it. With its unique blend of teenagers, players returning from the ICL quarantine, a captain with a recently changed name, a bearded superstar who had previously fallen short on promise, and a bowler who got the ball to swing enough for Vettori to start seeing things. No IPL hangover for these guys; just a side playing as a team making the most of a rare opportunity to play with other countries. Well Pitched got patriotic and picked this. Sportsfreak and Cricket with Balls picked them to be beaten finalists, but no cigar there. 2. Runners-up. Sri Lanka were unbeaten, had previously beaten Pakistan in the Group of Death at the Super 8 stage, but couldn’t repeat the dose in the final. To a certain extent, they were a victim of their own success. With Dilshan, Kumar and co scoring so heavily in the early games it meant their middle order didn’t really get much of a bat. So when Dilshan went in the first over in the final, the undercooked players to follow got exposed. At least they came closer than the beaten finalists in the Women’s World Cup. No-one picked it. 3. A semi-final exit for NZ? (Yes / Will go further / Won’t get that far) It all seemed so pre-ordained. The easy side of the Super 8 draw, history on its side. But it was not to be; an inability to play spinners not turning it, and a woefully out of sorts middle order meant that the losses to Pakistan and Sri Lanka were right up there in the embarrassment stakes. And Ryder was missing too. Not one single person predicted this. 4. Highest scorer Dilshan easily. Not even Kallis, who batted with exemplary selfishness in this tournament, could catch him. It was a masterstroke to move a hit-and-miss middle order batsman to open. He totally dominated every bowler aged 18 and over in the tournament. Not a great start from the tipsters. Another blank sheet. 5. Most wickets Umar Gul. He really got under Vettori’s skin, didn’t he? This was a good example of a player being more successful because of Pakistan’s isolation. Even Mendis, 2nd on the list, had been exposed to most of the batsmen in the last year. 12th Man picked this one. 6. Who will be the highest scoring wicket keeper? Kamran Akmal. He might be a bit erratic behind the stumps, but he can bat. Another Pakistani to fly under the radar. Once more, Well Pitched’s patriotism got him the points. If he’d been totally patriotic he’d have won the overall competition. 7. Who will take more wickets – Vettori, Harbhajan or an Australian spinner? Harbhajan. Vettori only played in 2 matches, and the Australian reference was obviously a joke. So India’s second spinner won that 3 horse race. And Sportsfreak, Cricket with Balls and Naly D got the points. 8. Who will be the most expensive bowler? JA Stander from Scotland. Went for 43 runs in 2 overs in the competition. Tournament Econ Rate: 21.50. Special mention to Iain O’Brien’s one over for 19, and Brett Lee going for 95 off 8. Who? 9. Who will hit the fastest 50? It’s not often you get to slip Chris Gayle and Aaron Redmond into the same sentence, but there we have it. A 23 ball fifty each. Noizy got the points here. Guess which of the two he picked... 10. How many matches will be washed out? (to the nearest 3) This one is unbelievable. No matches were rained out. Yet another great thing about T20 cricket; you can play it in the rain. Crucket and Mallet get a bonus point here for putting their necks out and getting it spot on. The Englishman was the one to go too high. So for the second year in a row, and totally unlike their team, an Indian blogger wins the Tipping Competition. Congratulations to 12th Man from Chinese Cut . Although it’s hard to take any competition that sees Cricket With Balls in 3rd place too seriously. Final Leaderboard
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