Preview of the Ashes event

The Ashes is one of the most well known and exciting series of international test cricket played between England and Australia alternately in both countries. The first match of the Ashes was played way back in 1882 at the Oval in England and Australia beat England in the match and for the first time on England soil. England and Australia were the two dominant Test match playing nations for quite a few years, until as recently as the 50s, and so the series between them often defined the winners as the world’s best cricket team at that time.

The Ashes generally comprises of five test matches played at different grounds. The team which wins the series gets the Ashes trophy and if the series is drawn, the previous winner of the trophy retains it. The time gap between the series alternates between 18 and 30 months.

Since 1882, the Ashes series has been played 66 times with Australia winning the title 31 times, England winning 30 times and 5 times there were no results of the series. In terms of matches wins, total of 310 test matches have been played till now, Australian has won 123 and England has won 100 matches and remaining matches have yielded no result.

In terms of batting, Don Bradman from Australia has aggregated most runs in the Ashes with 5,028 runs with an average of almost 90. From England Jack Hobbs is the highest run getter with 3,636 runs at an average of around 54. Bradman also holds the record for most centuries which is 19 and next is Hobbs with 12 centuries.

In terms of bowling, Shane Warne from Australia has taken the highest wickets with 195 wickets and next is Dennis Lillee from Australia with 167 wickets. From England, Ian Bothom has been most successful bowler with 148 wickets.

The current winners and the holders of the Ashes trophy are England as they have won the series in both the 2009 and 2010/11 held in England and Australia respectively.

The next series will be held in 2013 in England between July 10 – August 25. The five test match series will be held at five different venues which are Lord's, Old Trafford, Trent Bridge, the Riverside Ground and The Oval. However there are speculations that the match may not be held at Lord’s and if that happens, it would first time that an Ashes match is not being held there.

The squad of Australia for the Ashes 2013 has been announced and will be led by Michael Clarke. England is yet to announce the squad for the series.

Going by the form of both the squads, Australia seems to appear weak in front of the mighty English team. In fact recently, Australia lost four match test series held in 2013 in India by 0-4 which was one of the worst defeats of Australia in very long time whereas England had won the four-match test series held in India in 2012-13 quite convincingly by 2-1.

Easy online cricket betting for cricket lovers

Cricket is only next to football in popularity all over the world. Football betting is extremely intense all over the globe and there is no reason that you cannot earn a lot of money via online cricket betting as well. The interest among cricket is sure to rise even more thanks to the various online cricket betting sites that are looking to tap into this market. Cricket lovers have long rued the fat that betting in cricket has not been as mainstream as in other sports such as tennis and football. But, there are no such problems currently since online cricket betting has taken off really well in recent times.

Cricket and Betting - iplcricketbetting.com

Offline cricket betting is still illegal in some places like India so fans are advised to turn to legal online cricket betting opportunities. This is the best solution to stay away from any wrongdoing while getting in the betting game. You may have a hard time trying to find a bookmaker on your own and hence online betting provides a much simpler option. More people can dive into the business of cricket betting by browsing through the various alternatives available on the net today. Even then, one should be careful to only select the legitimate cricket betting sites to avoid monetary losses.

Selecting an online cricket betting website is probably not so easy since not all sites cater to the needs of customers from different parts of the globe. Currency transactions can mean that you will have to deposit more money into your online betting account. It is better to join hands with a website that offers betting services in your local currency. Easy deposit and withdrawal options should be key features in online cricket betting. You do not want to win money and not be able to withdraw the winnings.

A great benefit of online cricket betting is that you do not have to take a lot of trouble for doing research. The betting site will generally provide match related information so that you are able to place bets conveniently. Research if the most important task for betting in any type of sport, somewhat like what we did with the article on IPL highlights. Hence, it makes sense to opt for a site that displays team and player information so that you can easily do the necessary research without any efforts. Check the performance of each player in the teams that will feature in the match you want to bet on.

Top 3 most exciting matches from the group stages in the IPL 6

The IPL 6 is about to end soon but it has given viewers a lot of exciting moments. There have been many close matches that would have kept you on the edge of your seats in the dying stages. Certainly, this is not the first time that IPL matches have been decided on the last ball or last over as it is a trend that has continued from the earlier seasons. Many one-sided matches are also seen in the IPL now and again but I guess that balances things out. So, let us take a look at three of the most exciting matches that we have been privileged to watch during the season six of the IPL.

Let us start with the top 2 teams in the IPL 6. Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings have always been involved in some close matches over the years. Who can forget the 14 runs hit by Dwayne Smith in the last three balls against Ben Hilfenhaus in last year’s tournament? That was at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai but this year Chennai saw an exciting match between these two giant teams. Not many would have expected Mumbai to pull it off especially in the absence of their premiere bowler, Lasith Malinga.

CSK and Mi faced off in their first match quite early in the tournament and it was indeed a cracking contest. A lot was expected from the dynamic duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting but Chennai bowlers struck early and both were in the pavilion quite soon. Mumbai Indians huffed and puffed their way to a score of 148 thanks to Pollard and Dinesh Kartik who was in sublime form at the start of the tournament. This score would have been considered much below par but Chennai batsmen did not seem in any mood to chase it down. MI bowlers bowled well and everything seemed going well for an MI victory until MS Dhoni stepped up to the plate. MS Dhoni blasted the bowlers for a number of 4’s and 6’s and looked on the verge of taking the team through unless something extraordinary took place. A Munaf Patel delivery in the last over looked like heading over the boundary quite comfortably till Pollard leapt like Superman to take one of the most brilliant catches in IPL history. That was game set match for Chennai as MI completed a victory by 9 runs.

Royal Challengers Bangalore has been involved in some close contests over the years and this year has been no different for them. The match against Hyderabad Sunrisers certainly makes it to the list as it went into the super over, which is not very common. Only Chennai beat Hyderabad at their home but RCB came quite close to doing it. Captain Kohli and foreign import Henriques played well to take the team to a modest 130 score. This was actually not a bad score as we saw Hyderabad winning many low score matches at their home ground. Riding on the knock of youngster Vihari, Hyderabad came close to win in 20 overs itself with 7 needed off the last over. But, Vinay Kumar was at the peak of his bowling form and made it extremely difficult for the home team. It was extremely lucky for Hyderabad that the match went into the super over as some sloppy fielding allowed them to equal the scores in the end. Vinay Kumar’s splendid efforts went to waste as Cameron White smashed a couple of sixes off him in the super over. Even the mighty Gayle could not get the team across mostly because the best bowler in the world, Dale Steyn bowled the super over for Hyderabad.

The final match that cannot be left out again involves RCB in a losing cause against multiple times IPL champions Chennai Super Kings. RCB batted first and made their way to 165. This looked like a good total since the RCB bowlers were doing well at the start of the tournament. Quite a few batsmen got going for Chennai as Raina, Badrinath and Dhoni made thirties. The gist of this match comes down to just one variable. 2 runs needed of the final ball. One common factor between the match against Hyderabad and Chennai is that Gayle failed in both the matches. In hindsight this could have been a contributing factor since RCB have known to be heavily dependent on him. Back to the final ball, Jadeja on strike, and RP Singh, a former bowler got Jadeja out caught at third man to spark off wild celebrations from Virat Kohli. But suddenly, Kohli realized that the umpire had signaled a no ball and it was the turn of the Chennai camp to bask in their new found glory thanks to Jadeja’s 38 crucial runs which also helped him bag the player of the match award.

Some highlights of this years Indian Premier League

The sixth edition of Indian Premier League (IPL 6) has entered the climax and now the teams are fighting to enter the play-off stage with its full power. Out of the 72 league matches till now, 58 matches have been already played and with 14 to go and qualifiers and final remaining, the tournament has been nothing less than exciting and at times even surprising.

Some of the highlights of IPL 6 till now:

Batting statistics:

Ø  Michael Hussey from CSK leads the highest run getter table with 574 runs from 12 matches and is closely followed by Chris Gayle from RCB with 570 runs

Ø  Chris Gayle from RCB has hit 40 sixes till now which is the highest for this season and the next is Rohit Sharma from MI with 25 sixes

Ø  Four centuries have been scored till now with Chris Gayle (RCB) again leading with 175 not out followed by David Miller from KXIP with 101 not out, Shane Watson from RR is third with 101 and Suresh Raina from CSK with 100

Ø  There are quite a few players who could not complete their century and were in their nineties with Suresh Raina (CSK) at 99 not out and Virat Kohli from RCB at 99 being the most unfortunate probably

Bowling statistics:

Ø  Dwayne Bravo from CSK is the highest wicket taker till now with 21 wickets from 13 matches followed closely by Vinay Kumar from RCB with 20 wickets. Next in the table are James Faulkner from RR and Mitchell Johnson from MI with 19 wickets each

Ø  The credit of best bowling figures goes to James Faulkner from RR with 5 wickets for 20 runs and next is Jaidev Unadkat from RCB with 5 wickets for 25 runs. No other bowlers have been able to take 5 wickets in a match till now

Ø  Anand Rajan from SRH heads the best economy rates till now with an economy of just 5.00 but he has played just one match. Otherwise Sunil Naraine from KKR has a superb economy rate of 5.59 from 13 matches played

Ø  Ishant Sharma from SRH achieved a dubious record of giving away most runs in a match when he gave 66 runs in 4 overs against CSK

With some more crucial and exciting matches coming up, we can expect the current records to be broken and some new records may be made.

The IPL 6 so far

The sixth edition of Indian Premier League (IPL 6) is in full swing with some of the greatest turn-arounds and quite a few nail biting finishes till now. There have been super overs also and they also have been nothing less than exciting.

The tournament started on April 3, 2013 with nine teams participating namely, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Delhi Daredevils (DD), Kings XI Punjab (KP), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Mumbai Indians (MI), Pune Warriors India (PWI), Rajasthan Royals (RR), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

While Deccan Chargers Hyderabad was the old team which is now called as Sunrisers Hyderabad is owned by a different owner and so in a way it is a debut of SH. In all 72 league matches will be played between the nine teams and top four will qualify to the play off stage. In the play-off stage, there will be two qualifier matches, one eliminator match and the final which will be held on May 26, 2013.

Till date more than 50 matches (57 matches to be precise) have been played already and still the four teams have not been finalized as to who will make it for play-off stage. Infact CSK is the only team which has qualified for the play-off till now with ten wins out of 13 matches played so far. They have been among the most consistent performers in all the seasons and it is evident from the fact that they are only team to win the trophy twice till now.

For remaining three spots, there is a fight between RR, MI, RCB and SRH and the equation is as follows:

Ø RR is currently second with 9 wins out of 13 matches

Ø MI and RCB are at third and fourth with 8 wins each out of 13 and 12 matches played respectively

Ø SRH is at the fifth position with 7 wins out of 12 matches played

Ø The other teams KXIP, KKR, DD and PWI have been eliminated and even if they win all their remaining matches, there are no chances of them making it to play-offs.

CSK also leveled the record of seven wins in a row which is held by RCB in earlier season. MI, RR and RCB are the only teams who have not lost a single at home this season.

Let us see which teams make it to play-offs and who wins the competition at the end!

Welcome to Cricket2X

Welcome dear reader, to my personal blog about a lot of different stuff. Why Cricket2X you might wonder? Well, it is because that was my nickname back when I was young and played online games. I love cricket. So much that I chose to have 2X behind it. I don't know what I was thinking actually, but it stuck with me and here I am, making a blog with the same nick.

Here I will post mostly stuff about me and things I want to write about. I love sports, and mostly cricket, but also have an affinity for american football as well. Love watching these two sports. I also like to watch e-sports, and I play some as well, mostly League of Legends. I study finance, so stocks are of interest as well. And I like to play SNES (Super Nintendo).

Other than that, I will explain as we go along!