Hampshire Comment: Finding a Balance

One of the biggest challenges for any county cricket club is having a squad that can be competitive in all three disciplines of the game. Counties at least can recruit high-profile overseas players for the Friends Life T20 tournament, ensuring exciting cricket for packed houses and TV audiences alike.

The other two disciplines need to be considered as well though, with the LV County Championship still the cornerstone of the English domestic game ad Clydesdale Bank 40 overs cricket offering participants another chance of silverware.

For Hampshire, their 4-day game has come up short  in recent years whilst failure in the CB40 format has really only left the Friends Life T20 tournament as a possible avenue to success, one they took in 2010 of course. 

The Plunder Games – Week 4 Recap

Have you been too busy studying for your exams to take note of what has been going on in the IPL? Or have you been too engrossed in searching for a job to know who has hit the most ‘DLF Maximums’ over the past week? Maybe all your time is being taken up by stalking your ex-boyfriend; or you could just be some closeted IPL fan who likes to keep up appearances by publicly denouncing the ‘pajama cricket’ but want to know how your favorite IPL team is doing?

Never fear. For the attention-deficit IPL fan in you, I present to you ‘The Plunder Games’ – a weekly recap of all the IPL action. Here, you can catch up with all the past week’s action in just 10 minutes.

Game 33: MI vs KXIP

Match in 140 characters: Hussey and Miller’s late burst propels Kings XI to 168; MI stutter in their chase but Peterson and Rayadu batter Chawla to steal a victory

#TrottsFault: Once upon a time, Chawla was considered to be Anil Kumble’s successor; but in the years past, his performances have been unconvincing, and culminated today in a disastrous over yielding 27 runs and a stunning win to the Mumbai Indians

Charlie Sheen Winning Moment: In hindsight, the wicket of Harbhajan Singh turned out to be a blessing for the Mumbai Indians. It brought in Robin Peterson, whose switch hits coupled with Rayadu’s brilliance sealed the fate of the Kings XI Punjab.

Viagra Performer of the day: Ambati Rayadu, for as long as he was there, Mumbai Indians believed; and he didn’t disappoint.

Hants Comment: Hampshire vs Leicestershire LVCC

When the rain hit the borough of Eastleigh last Friday it seemed as though it may never stop. It did of course, for a bit, but with only ten overs bowled on days three and four of Hampshire's match against Leicestershire at the Ageas Bowl, there was no chance of a result being reached in Hants 3rd game of the season.

Drawing against Leicester might  have been considered a decent result before a ball was bowled last week but, having restricted the visitors to just 234 in their first innings having been 148/3 earlier in proceedings, as well as reaching a promising 217/4 themselves with the bat, the Royals will wonder what could have been from the match.

The Only Way Is Up

The only way is up for Glamorgan. We could split hairs and admit that, actually, the Dragons aren’t bottom of the table in the embryonic stages of the campaign. But based on three results alone, Things Can Only Get Better – and if you can’t hear D:Ream playing at the back of your mind right now, you’re not trying…

The margins of defeat have been 52 runs, 130 runs and two wickets in that order. It’s tempting to jump in with an ill-conceived rant when things aren’t going well, but you can end up looking stupid. Just ask Tottenham fans when the gap between them and Arsenal was 10 points in their favour not so long ago.

But enough about football. It’s the cricket season, right?

A recurring theme so far this season for Glamorgan has been the inability to put runs on the board. Marcus North is currently the most anticipated Welsh arrival since Brunel brought the railway to town. And I’m pretty sure no-one was saying that as Australia came to the SWALEC Stadium for the 1st Ashes Test in 2009.

The Plunder Games – Week 3 Recap

Have you been too busy studying for your exams to take note of what has been going on in the IPL? Or have you been too engrossed in searching for a job to know who has hit the most ‘DLF Maximums’ over the past week? Maybe all your time is being taken up by stalking your ex-boyfriend; or you could just be some closeted IPL fan who likes to keep up appearances by publicly denouncing the ‘pajama cricket’ but want to know how your favorite IPL team is doing?

Never fear. For the attention-deficit IPL fan in you, I present to you ‘The Plunder Games’ – a weekly recap of all the IPL action. Here, you can catch up with all the past week’s action in just 10 minutes.

Game 22: KXIP vs KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders 127 for 2 (Gambhir 66*) beat Kings XI Punjab 124 for 7 (Gilchrist 40*, Lee 2-26, Narine 2-24) by eight wickets 

Match in 140 characters: Kings XI struggle to 124, as Gambhir and Kallis lead KKR to an easy win

Viagra Performer of the day: It is a wonder why Gambhir hesitates to open the innings more often, considering his success at the top which usually converts to wins for his team; a typical innings ensured no hiccups in a steady chase.

Best tweet of the game: There are so many mosquitoes in the field at mohali. Probably, thats why KXIP players wanted to get ALL OUT!   #ipl (by @coolfunnytshirt)

Game 23: DD vs DC

Delhi Daredevils 162 for 5 (Pietersen 103*, Steyn 2-19) beat Deccan Chargers 157 for 8 (Parthiv 45*, Nadeem 3-16) by five wickets 

Match in 140 characters: Nadeem and Morkel restrict Chargers to 157 after a good start; despite a top order wobble, KP powers DD to win, with some generous help

#TrottsFault: Deccan Chargers would have felt that they were in with a chance, as they left the Daredevils staggering at 65/4. All that changed in the space of a Duminy over, where he conceded 21 runs to hand the momentum back to DD.

The IPL so far

Nearly 30 matches in, and we're finally a third into the IPL. It's great to see that, for once, one or two teams aren't running away with it. How often do we have a six-way tie for anything? Usually, if there are six incompetent teams sharing points, it's the bottom 6. All the better to slate the Deccan Chargers - they really must love that basement. Here are the standings, as I write this. In 15 hours or so, two out of the current top three will share the lead with 10 points.

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR
Delhi Daredevils	6	4	2	0	0	8	+0.681
Kolkata Knight Riders	7	4	3	0	0	8	+0.432
Pune Warriors	7	4	3	0	0	8	+0.290
Rajasthan Royals	8	4	4	0	0	8	+0.190
Chennai Super Kings	7	4	3	0	0	8	+0.033
Royal Challengers Bangalore	7	4	3	0	0	8	-0.192
Mumbai Indians	6	3	3	0	0	6	-0.117
Kings XI Punjab	7	3	4	0	0	6	-0.467
Deccan Chargers	5	0	5	0	0	0	-1.032

Surprise packages

By "surprise packages", I don't mean an unexpected parcel delivered to your door, with a clearly audible ticking noise coming from it. Or maybe I do. I'm not sure.