The Kevin O’Brien World Cup hundred – three positives for England fans

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Kevin O'Brien can middle a cricket ball

  • Plenty of opportunities to appreciate the beautifully patterned grass at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
  • Illusions of subcontinental bowling adequacy extinguished
  • He could have been out after just 45 balls (admittedly, he was on 91 at the time)

DON'T BE LIKE GATT!

Mike Gatting wasn't receiving the King Cricket email when he dropped that ludicrously easy chance against India in 1993.

Coincidence?

Why risk it when it's so easy to sign up?

17 comments

  1. More importantly, he beat Matthew Hayden’s record for fastest World Cup hundred.

  2. That is an insane amount of extras for this day and age (especially for a test playing nation).

  3. The result should be overturned. No-one with a haircut like O’Brien’s should be allowed anywhere near the field of play.

    1. I know it is a different form of the game, and perhaps they are tired (or something), but as most of these bowlers reduced the Australian test side to (Aeroplane) jelly, that makes Oz batting seem even more feeble. (And I think their ODI series success was a fluke.)
      PS Anderson Sreesanth?

    2. The symbols didn’t print – Anderson less than or equal to or greater than Sreesanth?

    3. Anderson and Sreesanth are perhaps the only bowlers who can swing the ball without having to rely on pace. No matter how crappy their world cup returns are, and no matter what they say or write about these two, I enjoy watching them. It is hardly their fault – subcontinent is not their niche.

    4. Thanks for that – if the subcontinent isn’t Sreesanth’s niche, somewhat of a problem, even if he is more useful away from home and immediate environs!

    5. I’ve also realises that I associate the two for a completely stupid reason – similar pained expressions when things are not going well. Yes, most bowlers grimace, or at least display some shade of “not best pleased-face” when results are, say, less than optimal – but these appear to be similar grimaces.

  4. It looks like Andy Strauss adopted the Dhoni school of defensive captaincy to defend a more than adequate score.

    1. I was waiting for someone to catch onto that.

      Take a leaf out of the aussies book and select their best player (hell take the 2 or 3 best players) about 2 years out from the world cup in an inconsequential match against an associate nation.

      That way it’s highly unlikely they will embarrass you next time around. In that vein I expect Tommy Cooper to make his debut against a giant like Canada before the next world cup.

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