First/Group Round - Group B - Scotland, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Hong Kong

[weldone]

Campbell's slow inning in the powerplay was the difference imo. He has no idea how to play on slow Indian pitches.

 

[turnstyle]

Tough luck Honkers. Lost it at the end of the Zimbo innings.

 

[andruid]

Interesting how relatively young the core of the Zimbabwe still is. Guys like Chigumbura, Masakadza and Sibanda have been around for ages, yet their are mostly still in their early 30s.

 

[cnerd123]

Tons of experience, media savvy, good for sponsors, one of the best 6 bats in the country. Who would you replace him with?

Bolded isn't true.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Tons of experience, media savvy, good for sponsors, one of the best 6 bats in the country. Who would you replace him with?

He might be the best bat in the country but that's not the point. Making debut for one tourney only. Don't know if we are going to see Campbell after WC though. It looks like a short sighted move by HKCA

 

[turnstyle]

Bolded isn't true.

That's how it was quoted by Charlie Burke in the media.

 

[turnstyle]

He might be the best bat in the country but that's not the point. Making debut for one tourney only. Don't know if we are going to see Campbell after WC though. It looks like a short sighted move by HKCA

I can see why they did it although not sure why he didn't play in the Asia Cup (other than he didn't come out of retirement in time to be put in the squad).

 

[Stapel]

Though 170 might very well be enough, I have some reservations. Stanikzai's innings will be judged by the outcome of the match. If Afghanistan win, he was the brilliant anchor of the innings, otherwise, he was consuming 40% of all balls available for a run-a-ball.

 

[Prince EWS]

I can see why they did it although not sure why he didn't play in the Asia Cup (other than he didn't come out of retirement in time to be put in the squad).

He actually was in the Asia Cup squad; he just wasn't selected in the eleven.

 

[Prince EWS]

He might be the best bat in the country but that's not the point. Making debut for one tourney only. Don't know if we are going to see Campbell after WC though. It looks like a short sighted move by HKCA

I can't really get behind this at all. I think people take the idea of being long-termists too far sometimes to a point where they're always just looking X years into future without ever reaching a point where they consider the now to be of critical importance. It doesn't get much more important than this tournament for a team like Hong Kong, particularly given the fact that the ICC seems very determined to make it hard for associates to qualify for the ODI World Cup.

It's fine to take a long-term view if you're building towards a set goal that actually gets closer by the day, whether that means a big limited overs tournament like this, or something like a three year plan put in place for a Test side. But I think you have to be working towards some sort of set point, else you get stuck in a perpetual cycle of constant rebuilding with the full strength team never ever on the field at any point.

Now, I actually question whether Campbell really is one of the best six batsmen available. He looked awful today and did very little in HK domestic cricket either other than take some jammy wickets and play some pretty slow knocks in the middle order for scores of 40-60. But whether he's good enough to make the side on merit should absolutely be the criteria he'd judged on at this point. This is the tournament HK have been building towards with their prior long-term planning.

 

[cnerd123]

That's how it was quoted by Charlie Burke in the media.

Not as I recall it? He said he's one of the best batsmen in HK, which fair enough he is (averaging 40 odd in the domestic comp iirc), but I don't think he's even in the Top 10.

 

[Compton]

53-0 through 5. Great start for Scotland!

 

[theegyptian]

The 17 year old sure looks older. Then again you probably grow up pretty quick in Afghanistan.

 

[weldone]

Uh, those 5 wides are immensely costly just when the pressure was building!

 

[Compton]

Scotland have probably lost 10+ runs and the wicket from hesitant running in this match.

 

[Compton]

Nick Knight just called a hip height full toss from the spinner outside the guideline "excellent bowling"

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

I can't really get behind this at all. I think people take the idea of being long-termists too far sometimes to a point where they're always just looking X years into future without ever reaching a point where they consider the now to be of critical importance. It doesn't get much more important than this tournament for a team like Hong Kong, particularly given the fact that the ICC seems very determined to make it hard for associates to qualify for the ODI World Cup.

It's fine to take a long-term view if you're building towards a set goal that actually gets closer by the day, whether that means a big limited overs tournament like this, or something like a three year plan put in place for a Test side. But I think you have to be working towards some sort of set point, else you get stuck in a perpetual cycle of constant rebuilding with the full strength team never ever on the field at any point.

Now, I actually question whether Campbell really is one of the best six batsmen available. He looked awful today and did very little in HK domestic cricket either other than take some jammy wickets and play some pretty slow knocks in the middle order for scores of 40-60. But whether he's good enough to make the side on merit should absolutely be the criteria he'd judged on at this point. This is the tournament HK have been building towards with their prior long-term planning.

My post sounds over the top to me on second read but my position on this is that it's a short term solution. Guess HK's position from their pov is a difficult one; they would really want to send a message by performing well on world stage

 

[Stapel]

Nick Knight just called a hip height full toss from the spinner outside the guideline "excellent bowling"

So?

It's Nick Knight!

 

[YorksLanka]

cant believe that Scotland don't do better considering the number of players they have playing in county cricket..they really should perform better than they do..

 

[Lokomotiv]

Scotland scored 1-run in 13 balls in a row. Isn't it funny?