Cricket at the Commonwealth Games (1998 and 2022)

Men’s cricket was an event at the 1998 CWG at Kuala Lumpur. 16 countries took part, and India failed to get a medal. South Africa won the gold, followed by Australia (silver) and New Zealand (bronze). India did not get beyond the group stage. And these matches were List A, not ODIs

More details can be seen here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_at_the_Commonwealth_Games

That does not include scorecards and other details. They can be found here:

http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1998-99/OTHERS+ICC/CG1998/

We should be more concerned about the 2022 CWG, where the cricket is restricted to women’s T-20s. They do have T20I status, though that doesn’t mean much nowadays.

More details (including the match schedules) can be seen here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_at_the_2022_Commonwealth_Games

India is one of the 8 teams participating. Today India has an ICC ranking of 4 (after Australia, England and New Zealand) so one can think there is some chance of a medal. To get to the semi-final round India will have to finish 1st or 2nd in a pool which also includes Australia, Barbados and Pakistan.

Low scores in international cricket

Opening the gates of T20Is to virtually all countries who play a bit of cricket has had predictable results, particularly in women’s cricket:

These lists of lowest totals are correct on Dec 8, 2019:

Women’s T20Is:

Note the single-digit and near single-digit scores by Mali and the Maldives in the past few months. The men’s T20I teams have fared slightly better:

Men’s T20Is:

Note that these sub-50 scores include entries from major teams such as the West Indies.

Are things any better with ODIs and Tests, which still have considerable entry barriers? :

Women’s ODIs:

Well-established women’s teams have had their share of low scores.

There are even some sub-50 scores in men’s ODIs, mainly from minnow teams who were out of their depths in World Cup matches:

Men’s ODIs:

Take the cases of Canada (twice) and Namibia above in World Cup matches.

For comparison, we look at Test matches. There have been very limited Tests in women’s cricket:

Women’s Tests:

Mainly from the earlier days. Both England and Australia recorded their lowest scores in the same Test in 1958.

Men’s Tests:

While the majority of these low scores are from the times when South Africa were the whipping boys, there are some from the past few years (Ireland’s 38 in 2019, Bangladesh’s 43 in 2018). Not to forget Australia’s 47 in 2011, which needed Siddle and Lyon to reach this total from 21/9. It had a chance of lowering the mark of 26 set in 1955.

 

 

 

 

Making sense of the Women’s T20 World Championship of 2020

This is one area where Wikipedia is more informative than Cricinfo.

With the conclusion of the qualifying rounds, Bangladesh and Thailand join the “big 8” to make up the 10 teams.

Whatever you need to know is here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_ICC_Women%27s_T20_World_Cup

Also see the results of the 2018 championship, when India lost in the semi-finals to England, who in turn lost to Australia in the final:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_ICC_Women%27s_World_Twenty20

Unusual dismissals-obstructing the field

One of the sore points of India’s defeat in the Asia Cup final against dismissal was the unusual dismissal (obstructing the field) of Anuja Patil for 3. She thus became the first player to be so dismissed in a women’s T20I match.

There is no such instance in women’s Tests.

There is one instance in ODIs, again from India. D Kamini (2) was dismissed the same way against the West Indies in 2016.

This mode of dismissal is quite rare in men’s cricket too.

Tests: Only one instance, Len Hutton (27), E v SA in 1951.

ODIs: 6 instances, starting with Ramiz Raja (99) against England in 1987. This was in an ODI series after the 1987 World Cup. The last instance was by Ben Stokes, E v A in 2015.

T20Is: Only one instance, Jason Roy (67), E v SA in 2017.

The fine art of minnow-bashing

The term “minnow-bashing” was often heard in World Cup cricket matches where the non-regular teams often came to grief against the major teams.

Now the women’s T20I teams of India and Pakistan have shown that they are better at minnow-bashing than their male counterparts. The occasions came in the course of  the ongoing Asia Cup which is a T20I tournament in Malaysia. As we will see, the Malaysian team have been very gracious hosts.

The 6 participating teams are India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia. As the last 2 are not regular teams, their matches are not counted in women’s T20I records.

India started the process by dismissing Malaysia for 27 and thus winning by 142 runs:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/1148042/scorecard/1148048/malaysia-women-vs-india-women-1st-match-womens-twenty20-asia-cup-2018/

Pakistan did almost as well, dismissing the hosts for 30 and winning by 147 runs.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/1148042/scorecard/1148058/malaysia-women-vs-pakistan-women-11th-match-womens-twenty20-asia-cup-2018/

Thailand has also done quite badly, without ever crossing 100. But they did beat Malaysia by 9 wickets:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/1148042/scorecard/1148055/malaysia-women-vs-thailand-women-8th-match-womens-twenty20-asia-cup-2018/

The league matches continue on June 9, which features Ind v Pak, SL v Th and BD vs Ma.

The final on June 10 will probably be between India and Pakistan.

Summary of the Women’s World Cup-3

More statistical highlights of the Women’s World Cup in 2017.

Fielding:

Most dismissals (6 and more):

The lesser-known S Verma of India has the most dismissals, catches by a keeper and stumpings. AJ Healy (Aus) and niece of a famous male keeper is next, while India’s J Goswami and NZ’s AE Satterthwaite  have the most catches by a non-keeper.

Most dismissals in an innings (3 and more):

While S Verma has 4 dismissals in an innings, several non-keepers have 3 catches.

Most dismissals per innings (minimum 6 innings fielded):

S Verma and AE Satterthwaite lead the keepers and non-keepers respectively.

All-round:

At least 6 innings batted and bowled, one 50 and one 4wi:

Only one such instance. Let us modify the criteria to

At least 6 innings batted and bowled, 100 runs and 5 wickets:

This gives a better idea of all-round performances throughout the tournament-though van Niekerk misses out here. EA Perry (Aus) leads here.

All-round match performance (minimum 30 runs and 3 wickets):

Only 2 cases, including one from the team which finished last.