As the February Calendar Flickers from One Day to the Next, the Eyes of The
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As the February calendar flickers from one day to the next, the eyes of the cricketing world become more focused on the South Pacific with the start of the 2015 World Cup looming on the horizon. This short review aims to give an idea to those entering the Fantasy Cricket competition of the top performers in the multitude of ODI series that have been played since the start of the year. Dubai Triangular Series: Scotland vs Ireland vs Afghanistan We'll start here as these matches gained little TV coverage over the start of 2015. With the continued inclusion of the associate nations and the benefits that strong performance can have on their development, this tournament was always going to be hotly contested. In the end, it was just a single point, gained from a rainout against Scotland, which saw Ireland crowned as winners of the Dubai Triangular Series. Scotland ended the tournament bottom, victim to the washout that benefited Ireland, but did post the only positive net run rate from their 4 games thanks mainly to Josh Davey's all-round performance against Afghanistan. The all-rounder's innings of 53 not out was quickly followed by 6-28 with the ball in a 150 run victory which also saw a half-century for Richard Berrington (62) and a 4-wicket haul for Iain Wardlaw (4-22). Wardlaw was the pick of the bowlers with 7 wickets in the competition while Matt Machan and Haimsh Gardiner showed some glimmers of potential with Scotland's other half- centuries in the series. Afghanistan had a mixed time in the UAE winning 2 and losing 2, one each to Scotland and Ireland, with the performances with the bat and ball echo such an inconsistent series. There was half- centuries for Samiullah Shenwari (50), Najibullah Zadran (83), Nasir Jamal (52 not out) and a pair for Javed Ahmadi (74 and 81) while the majority of other innings failed to make double figures. There wasn't a single 5 wicket haul as the wickets were divided between the Afghan bowling attack, for which Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan, Mirwais Ashraf, and Javed Ahmadi all collected 5 wickets with economy rates under 4.5 runs per over. As the top-ranked associate nation, Ireland have some World Cup history to their name with some fine displays against test nations and in the Triangular Series, a pair of Irish stars from those famous victories shone as Ed Joyce (51) and Niall O'Brien (80 not out) recorded their only half-centuries in the three completed games. Joining Joyce and O'Brien in the batsmen with averages about 25 are Andy Balbirnie and Alex Cusack although their strike rates are all under 75. With the ball, the best figures belonged to slow-left-armer George Dockrell (4-35), while C## Young claimed 7 victims and J### Mooney 5 himself. Special note should go to P### Sterling who posted a 2.5 economy rate from 22 completed overs. ============================================================================ New Zealand vs Sri Lanka & New Zealand vs Pakistan The "old dogs versus the young guns" would be an apt description of the 7 game New Zealand-Sri Lanka series. New Zealand have, yet again, developed a side with the firepower to stake an outside claim for the World Cup. This series was followed swiftly with a 2 game series between the Kiwis and Pakistan, who started the first of the two matches off the back of a pair of defeats by the NZ Cricket Board's PXI. Unless there is a sudden shift in the Pakistani form, there progression past the group stage of the World Cup is growing evermore in doubt, but they have the 2nd ODI to show something to the legions of fans around the world. It seems like every World Cup has the Kiwis listed as a dark horse and this year is certainly no exception judging by their performances against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. While fireworks were occasionally provided by the Brendon McCullum-Ross Taylor-Corey Anderson combination, it was the back-up work from the likes of Kane Williamson, Grant Elliott and Luke Ronchi that put the men from the Asian Subcontinent away. In the 7 game series, these 6 batsmen produced 1,382 runs where individuals batting averages were above 28 runs and their strike rates in excess of 70 with 4 centuries and 5 half-centuries. Seam and pace dominated the Kiwi bowling attack and accounted for all but 3 wickets in the series with Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Corey Anderson and Adam Milne claiming more than 5 wickets each while Mitchell McClenaghan reached double figures with 10 wickets. This impressive display continued into the Pakistan series as the 1st ODI was finished on a pair of half-centuries from Taylor (59 not out) and Elliott (64 not out) while, as with Sri Lanka, Pakistan had no answers to the New Zealander's quicks as all 10 wickets from the 1st ODI fell to members of New Zealands pace quintet, regardless of its components. For Sri Lanka it was the same old story, at times they looked like the world beaters who have played in 3 World Cup finals in the recent past and at other times they looked lost in the face of the seaming or swinging ball. The only batsmen to reach 100 runs in the series were Tillakaratne Dilshan (397 with 2 centuries and a half-century), Kumar Sangakkara (321 with a century and 2 half-centuries), Mahela Jayawardene (278 with a century and a half-century) and Lahiru Thirimanne (148 with a high score of 45). Nuwan Kulasekara was the pick of the bowlers with his 8 wickets doubling that of his fellow seamers Angelo Matthews and Thisara Perera, as well as the spin trio of Dilshan, Rangana Hearth and Satchitra Senanayake. Sri Lanka have a final pair of fixtures against South Africa and Zimbabwe to conclude their World Cup preparations where it is expected to see a fit Lasith Malinga return to add a much-needed cutting edge to the pace attack. Due to the timing of their domestic competitions, this two match ODI series is half of Pakistan's World Cup preparation with fixtures against Bangladesh and England to come. In the 1st ODI against New Zealand, the Pakistan XI looked thoroughly underprepared as only a pair of half-centuries from Shahid Afridi and Misbah-Ul-Haq saved them from a total disaster. When added to the pair of losses NZ Cricket Board's PXI, Misbah-Ul-Haq and Umar Akmal are the in-form batsman to watch while Mohammad Irfan and Bilawal Bhatti seem to be the more potent bowlers in the squad. ============================================================================ Carlton Tri-Series: England vs Australia vs India It's been a long slog for India who entered the series off the back of a challenging test series with Australia and never found their feet, crumbling to a last place finish. Meanwhile, a somewhat resurgent young England side showed the potential to launch a challenge once the World Cup starts fell short in the face of a dominant Australia side which made a strong defence as one of the favourites to claim the World Cup trophy. For perennial World Cup favourites, the performances of the Indians have raised questions about the ability of this side to challenge for the World Cup trophy. With a side boasting the likes of Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni it was a major surprise that only two batsmen Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane managed to collate over 100 runs in the 3 completed games with Sharma recording the teams sole century with Raina and Rahane scoring a half-century each. The bowling attack failed to fire as well with the top wicket taker, Stuart Binny, bagging a total of 4 wickets while there was 2 wickets a piece for Mohit Sharma, Axar Patel, Mohammad Shami, and Umesh Yadav. It was a collective failure in the series from India and with only a pair of matches against Australia and Afghanistan to stop this rot. England have exclusively played 50 over cricket as part of an extensive preparation period and have showed signs of serious improvement during the Tri-Series, culminating in their 2nd place finish. With the bat, key players stood up for England including centuries for Ian Bell (145 in addition to an innings of 88 not out) and Eoin Morgan (121) with a collection of half-centuries from James Taylor (82 and 56 not out), Joe Root (69) and Jos Butler (67). With the ball, it was all about pace with Steven Finn (11), James Anderson (7), Chris Woakes (8) and Stuart Broad (5) claiming 31 of their 40 dismissals as the bowling from the explosive all-rounders Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan recording the rest. In all honesty, the Australians cruised to their Tri-Series success with the ease and swagger of a team at the height of its powers. This came from a team whose captain spent the series playing club cricket and only released Mitchell Johnson in the series finale (where he claimed 3 wickets including Ali and Morgan in consecutive balls). Runs have been scored freely all around the batting line up with big scores from Aaron Finch (96), David Warner (127), Steven Smith (102), Glenn Marshall (96), Mitchell Marsh (60), and James Faulkner (50 not out). As with England, it was the pace bowlers who did the damage in this series with Mitchell Starc (12), Pat Cummins (2), Gurinder Sandhu (3), James Faulkner (6), Moises Hendriques (1), Josh Hazelwood (2), Mitchell Marsh (1), and Mitchell Johnson (3) claiming 81.08% of their dismissals.