Australia Squad for T20 World Cup 2010

Australian selectors announced their final squad for the upcoming ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2010. In this squad, they have given more importance on young and experienced players. No uncapped player has been included in this 15-man squad. Look at the squad at glace-

Australia Squad: Michael Clarke (captain), Cameron White, Daniel Christian, Brad Haddin, Nathan Hauritz, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Dirk Nannes, Tim Paine, Steven Smith, Shaun Tait, David Warner, Shane Watson.

Australia has been placed in Group A along with defending champion team, Pakistan, and giant killer, Bangladesh. Australia can face strong protest against Pakistan only. There is no guarantee if Bangladesh can make any upset again or not. However, Australia will try their best to be the group champion putting other two teams behind them. Australia will play their first match against Pakistan on May 2, 2010.

Australian squad is full of young but experienced faces. It seems that the chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, keeps faith on young blood. I have not found so many old players like Ricky Ponting. There is no place for Ricky Ponting. It makes me surprise for he had not been selected in the shortest version of cricket game. He is the most successful captain in the history of the Australian cricket. He has more knowledge about all forms of cricket game. I think that they could call Ricky Ponting to be with Australia team as an advisor. However, Michael Clarke was named captain as the successful ancestor of Ricky Ponting.

I am not hopeful about the performance of Australian cricket team in the third edition of ICC Twenty20 World Cup. But this year they look much strong and they are more confident to get their maiden trophy in this tournament. Australia is the highest four times ICC World Cup winner. They dominated the cricket world for long time but their performance in the last two T20 versions was not satisfactory. So, naturally the question can come up to your mind is that if they could win the champions trophy this year.

Three experienced fast bowlers have been included in the squad. Brett Lee is one of them. He has got a surprise call in the squad. This 33-year-old player did not play much cricket this summer. Selectors expect that he will regain his fitness before the start of T20 World Cup 2010. This prominent bowler has played only T20 match for his IPL team King's XI Punjab after returning from elbow injury. He won selection ahead of the in-form Ryan Harris.

Brett Lee will continue playing cricket in IPL as the preparation of this tournament. He has taken retirement from Test cricket earlier this year so that he can extend his career in both ODI and T20 form of the cricket game.

Dirk Nannes, who plays for Delhi Daredevils in IPL, is in good form. His form brought him in the Australian squad. He is a leading wicket taker in his club. No doubt, he will be a big asset for the Australian cricket team. Despite being a good bowler, he will have to face a tough challenge by Brett Lee or Mitchell Johnson to get place in the main squad. If selectors select three fast bowlers in a match then he will not have to compete for a place.

Mitchell Johnson has become a part of Australian cricket team. He has been included in all forms of cricket game on a regular basis. I think that, as a bowler, he will be the main choice for the selectors.

The exclusion of in-form player Ryan Harris was very shocking. He was very unlucky player to miss selection despite showing his strong performance in all forms of the game in recent times for Australia. Travis Birt is also another unlucky player. He had limited opportunity to catch the selectors’ attention.

Nathan Hauritz is the only experienced spinner. He has good performance in T20 cricket but I am not sure if selectors will give him chance to play anymore.

This T20 World Cup will be a big challenge for Michael Clarke. Perhaps it will be his first cricket tournament as a captain. Cricket lover are waiting to see if he could lead his team successfully as a captain or the burden of captaincy will affect his batting skill.

The selection of Daniel Christian is perhaps a mystery. However, his all-rounder skill with bat and ball gave him a place. He has the experience of playing only 3 T20 international matches.

Hussey brothers- David Hussey and Mike Hussey, is also a part of this tour. David Hussey is a professional T20 batsman while his brother Mike Hussey is a permanent member in all forms of the cricket game.

Brad Haddin is an experienced wicketkeeper-batsman. He has the experience to play for Australia. However, Tim Paine was included as the second wicketkeeper. If Brad Haddin picks up an injury, Tim Paine will replace him.

Cameron White and Shane Watson are two most experienced all-rounders in Australia team. With the bat, Shane Watson can score huge runs and take wickets with the ball. Shane Watson can play in opening or middle order position. Perhaps it is the only advantage of him. He will be a big threat for the opponent teams.

David Warner is an aggressive opening batsman. When he is in good form, he can demolish any bowling line up. I hope that he will make the match more exciting with his aggressive style.

Compare with other teams, Australia looks much stronger and balanced. Let us see how long they can proceed in ICC T20 World Cup 2010.

Schedule of Pakistan vs England T20 Series 2010

Pakistan is going to play two Twenty20 matches against England in Dubai international stadium on February 19 and 20, 2010. Thus, it has become Pakistan and England Twenty20 series 2010 and it will perhaps attract a lot of viewers on Television than the attraction on crowd in stadium. The two matches will be live broadcast in TEN SPORTS TV channel in South Asia and from now TEN SPORTS is giving advertisement of the matches. These matches are not that much important for any of the two teams because it is only two matches. However, they have some significance considering the fact that Twenty20 World cup 2010 will take place in April and May in West Indies.

You may wonder that why the matches are taking place in Dubai of UAE. If you are a cricket fan and collect information about world cricket then you should have known that for many months no foreign team has been touring to Pakistan because of security concern. So, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are becoming the second home for Pakistani cricket. In UAE, thousands of people of Pakistani origin work as emigrant workers and they are always happy to be in the stadium on a Friday. Here is the schedule below:

Date	Teams	Time	Venue
19 February 2010 (Friday)	Pakistan vs England- 1st Twenty20 match	GMT 14:00 Local Time 18:00 Indian Time 19:30	Dubai International Cricket Stadium
20th February 2010 (Saturday)	Pakistan vs England- 2nd Twenty20 match	GMT 14:00 Local Time 18:00 Indian Time 19:30	Dubai International Cricket Stadium

The organizers are hopping that many fans will come up for the two matches. The organizers have also tried to decrease the ticket price so that more people come. The price of the ticket is just AED 75 and this price is for the 19 February match. 19 February is going to be Friday and it is the holiday in UEA. So, you can expect a good turn out for the match. For the next match on Saturday, the ticket price has been just AED 50. Well, I think that the ticket price should have been decreased even further for Saturday’s match because in Saturday not many people will turn up for the match.

Pakistan’s recent performance is very bad. They can not play in their home stadiums for many months and this is perhaps one of the main reasons. They have less match practice than other countries. Pakistan just finished a very miserable tour of Australia in which they played three matches and lost all of them. Pakistan also played five ODI matches and lost all of them and they played one T20 match and even lost that one too. In the final Twenty20 match, Shahid Afridi was found guilty for ball tempering and he had been banned for two T20 matches. So, most probably Pakistan will have to play against England in this series against Shahid Afridi. This will surely make the Pakistani team weak. I am not sure if Afridi and Pakistani team has appealed against the ban and would be able to play. Another notable player who cannot play is Mohammad Asif.

Many people in Pakistan are very unhappy because of the way their national team lost against Australia. The Pakistan cricket team could not even secure one draw or one win in the entire tour. Now, Pakistan’s coach and captain have been called in the country to explain the bad performance. However, I don’t think the coach and the captain had anything to do with the bad performance.

The players are not in good shape and what Pakistani government and cricket board need to do is arrange more matches for the team in places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

I really think that Pakistan cricket board and Pakistani government should now focus on the England series in stead of investigating the reasons of humiliating defeat in Australian tour.

On the other hand, England recently went to South Africa for a four-match test series. The two teams also played five ODI matches and two T20 matches. The test series was draw. England won the ODI series by 2-1. The t20 series was also a draw. So, England had a very good tour of South Africa because South Africa at this moment is the number one ranked country in the world.

This series is t20 series and Pakistan is the current world champion in T20 cricket. Just a few months ago, in England Twenty20 world cup cricket took place and Pakistan was the champion. So, Pakistani supporters are now expecting that their team can defeat England easily. On the other hand, English cricket fans are hoping that England can win because Pakistan’s recent performance is very bad in world cricket. So, it is a very good opportunity for England to take advantage of the situation and win the t20 series.

I think that the series is taking place mainly for money rather than playing cricket. First of all it is only just two T20 matches and there is no ODI or Test matches. So, it is a sad matter for cricket fans of both the countries. Pakistan cricket board is under serious financial stress and they will get some decent amount of money from TEN SPORTS who will broadcast the matches live. I think that they will also get some money from the sponsors and that is perhaps why the two matches are taking place.