Pro20
Bangladesh, for so long the perennial whipping boys of international cricket, will be hopeful of changing that perception when they arrive at the ICC World Twenty20.
However, they will have to achieve that on the back of precious little international T20 cricket.
Since the last World Twenty20 in 2009, in which Bangladesh lost both their matches, to India and Ireland respectively, they have only played two international T20 matches.
They lost to West Indies in August last year before being thumped, by 10 wickets, by New Zealand in February.
There can be no doubt about the sincerity and determination of Zimbabwe cricket to reclaim its place amongst the world's elite nations.
The appointments of Alan Butcher as head coach, alongside former national captain Heath Streak as bowling coach and Grant Flower as batting coach, are ample proof that no expense will be spared to reclaim the once proud status of "underdog but potential giant killer".
Things just did not go our way in the final. We did not bowl well with the new ball and Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince played really well to take the game away from us.
I thought we could probably chase down anything between 150 to 160 and I thought we were in the game when we held the Warriors to only 58 off the first 10 overs.
But, we gave them 30 to 40 runs too many and it was always going to be difficult to chase down 186.
What a great feeling to be Standard Bank Pro20 champions.
If you had asked us before the season we would have gladly taken one trophy but to do the double is something really special.
We have been trying to put a perfect game together all season but we could not quite pull it off.
In the final we did all three disciplines just about perfectly so we ticked all the boxes and the match we played was probably just about the perfect Pro20 game.
Even though we had posted such a big total we were not convinced the game was in the bag at the halfway stage.
It is a wonderful feeling to be in the Standard Bank Pro20 final. We have had a pretty tough season off the field but all credit must go to my team for their efforts.
Even though we are into the final we won’t be celebrating too much. I will say that we enjoyed the moment after beating the Titans but we need to stay humble because there is still one very important match still to play.
I must give credit to Jonathan Vandiar and Neil McKenzie for the way they batted against the Titans.
It is not easy to be out of the Standard Bank Pro20 but the guys did not play to their full potential against the Lions and if you are slightly off your game in Pro20 the chances are you are going to get beaten.
I suppose some people will question if I made the right decision to leave myself out for the Lions match but we actually had four tough decisions to make.
Faf du Plessis, David Wiese, Roelof van der Merwe and myself were all left out but that is the nature of playing for the Titans.
What a relief to be into the Standard Bank Pro20 final. After winning the first match against the Cobras we wanted to keep the momentum going but halfway though our innings in Cape Town it looked as if we had lost our way.
But the 50 partnership between Johan Botha and Craig Thyssen gave us something to bowl at and credit to my team for defending 121.
The first six overs of the Cobras’ innings were crucial and we managed to take a few wickets to slow them down and then our spinners really put them under pressure.
What a disappointing end to our Standard Bank Pro20 campaign. We just did not play good cricket at all and the Warriors were the better side on the night.
We only have ourselves to blame. I thought our guys bowled really well and our fielding was pretty good to restrict the Warriors to 121 and to be honest we really should have got those runs.
It has been the story of our Pro20 season really. We just haven’t scored enough runs. Our top four hasn’t fired all season and we have battled to get someone to bat all the way through our innings.
What a quality game of cricket against the Cobras although winning by just three runs was not great for my nerves!
After we had batted I thought we had enough runs but we missed a few chances and made life difficult for ourselves but it worked out in the end so I am very happy.
I thought we may have let the game slip a bit when Justin Kemp and Robin Peterson were at the crease because you are always in trouble when Justin is batting.
He is probably one of the best hitters in world cricket and there is no doubt that Lyall Meyer getting him out was crucial.
What a disappointing end to a good game of cricket. I really thought we had done enough to win the game but at the moment we are struggling to get over the line.
We are putting ourselves in winning positions but not finishing things off.
All credit must go to the Warriors for winning the match but while Robin Peterson and myself were batting, although I did not think the game was in the bag, I did think we were in a very strong position.
Even when I got out, which did no help matters, I still though the other batters would get the job done.
Popular content
- Catch Pro 20 on MXit (5,535)
- Graeme Smith on SA's final game (4,340)
- Riaz's view of Pro20 2008 (4,135)
- South Africa wins nail-biter at the bull ring (3,989)
- Preview Dolphins v Titans (3,794)
Sign up / Log in
Standard Bank Cricket on Facebook
Recent blog posts
Recent comments
-
St Edmunds School
-
St Edmunds School
-
Referring a no-ball to the 3rd umpire
-
Jackman to Richards
-
Great
Twitter feed
- StdBankCricket: RT @SuperSportCric: It is only the 2nd time in the history of test #cricket that 2 batsman have made DEBUT CENTURIES in two SEPARATE mat ...
- StdBankCricket: Hi @NickVDL cricket remains our key sponsorship in South Africa, and unfortunately we do not sponsor cycling nationally. Thanks
- StdBankCricket: Rudi Koertzen calls for UDRS in every Test | "You should have it in every single series," Koertzen. http://es.pn/9MjgJw
- StdBankCricket: RT @SuperSportCric: India avoid follow-on, Raina ton on debut: Suresh Raina has scored a fighting century on debut and Sachin Tendulka.. ...
- StdBankCricket: Koertzen appointed Regional Umpire Performance Manager for Africa http://bit.ly/cv7Kif











