How KP saved England

Boy, they sure were glad to have him back. Well, him and Dimi and Graeme Swann. But KP's 58 off 38 balls gave them a shitload of confidence, and Adil Rashid coming on later also did a good job of containing runs.

Funnily enough, Stuart Broad didn't have all that bad of a match. In fact, I'd go so far as to say he had a good one. 3 wickets, lowest economy rate of England's bowlers, this:

I think he's pretty pleased with himself.

England are through to the Super Eights based on their NRR. The breathe a collective sigh of relief because they were so damn close to not making it that this escape from embarrassment will be more than well received. It was really a matter of one match that would have decided their fate. Nice compact format, this World T20.

There's a pretty funny photo of KP's dismissal:

Good one, Ajmal.

Is Ajmal a chucker?

The gods have spoken: he is not. The ICC have declared Saeed Ajmal can continue to play cricket after deciding his action is legal.

They don't want to sound like pushovers though, having just cleared Johan Botha, so they're making it clear that they're going to keep one eye on the guy:

"It is important to emphasise that no bowler is ever 'cleared' as it is impossible to predict how a player might deliver the ball in the future."

A good point, but that's half the difficulty of declaring an action legal anyway.

And I believe my tongue is firmly in cheek when I say he doesn't have an arm deformity either.

The Moment Saeed Ajmal Was Done For

Ducking Beamers has posted the video in which Ajmal's bowling action is first questioned, by none other than Shane Watson:

Watching Watson try to play spin makes me feel very squeamish.

So many suspect bowlers

Saeed Ajmal is next, after a string of perhaps 3 in the past month (SA, Oman, UAE). Ajmal was reported for a suspected illegal bowling action in the 2nd ODI.

Is he a chucker? His doosra is suspect. It's just as well the umpires and the ICC cracked down on this. Everyone's all too willing to call bowlers chuckers but actual evidence and testing is the right way to go. A fair game's a good game.

"Yes! Suspect!"

Do you know Younis Khan went home with half his match fee after that ODI? I didn't. The rest of the players were also fined 20% of their match fee for slow over rates. Hurrah for cracking down on slow over rates.