CWC - actual cricket talk!

As mentioned in the other thread we should have a thread for genuine cricket discussion.

First couple of decent games coming up in the next 2 days. Pretty certain South Africa will out muscle the Windies, unless Gayle or Pollard explode and they get a massive up front total. Unlikely though, I think. Dirty Saffers just have too many weapons... Almost certain finalists IMO.

Very poor starts to the tournament for Australia and England, but I'm expecting them to improve. I don't want to hold too much false hope, but I'm pleased that we're playing Australia at this point in the tournament. Also they don't really have a fearsome spin attack so I think we have a decent enough chance.

India still favourites for mine, but will have to track the Saffers closely.



gc.

As you say no really interesting matches to gauge real Final shot potential or current form in WC sub continent conditions

WIll be interesting to see if SA can get up tonight. I expect them too but you never know with the Windies and as with Netherlands against Eng and the way that the Aussies got tied down for first 10 overs the other day there seems to be way too much caution and overthinking at this early stage so maybe an upset......

I really can't see WI getting over SA tonight. For obvious reasons, I never get too confident when the WC rolls around, but the Proteas look a really well balanced team at the moment. Ideally, it'll be them and India in the finals with Graham Smith lifting the trophy at the end of it all

As much as I would like to see some suprise victories I dont think there will be too many. There have of course been some in previous Cups, but I think the conditions on the subcontinent make it harder for lesser teams to suprise.

Having said that...I dont think NB beating Australia would be "a suprise" ...Im talking more about the minnows getting up vs someone big

My understanding is that if we lose all our games vs regular nations and win all vs the minnows that will pitch us against either India or SA in the quarters? Has anyone done any analysis on how a couple of big victories by NZ in pool play would change that?

Is net RR likely to come into play? (ours being awesome right now) I am too lazy and basically over reading up (tnks to the fantasy comp) to check this out myself

Chances that Allan Donald is helping Black Caps with running between the wickets before Friday's big game? :>

Yeah where has this ridiculous problem with running between the wickets come from!?



gc.

Jessie Ryders belly, Brendon McCullums ego and Ross Taylors clumsiness

I'm going for India.

What time is NZ vs Aussie on? 4AM?

Whaaaaaa? I got told it started at 5pm NZT

Knobs. It starts at 5pm. Thats 4am GMT to you plebs out there.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Netherlands get up over one of the big nations, I'vebeen predicting it for ages, on the back on Ryan Ten Doeschate's performance the other night now people are starting to listen. I got a pool going here at work and I'm backin Banga to get into the top 4 and Netherlands to surprise someone, it was almost England but it will porbably be WI.

Get your head out of your fucken ass Dale. They did not almost take England down, England was piss poor in the field YES, but it NEVER looked like they were not going to get the total like I have said before.

WI is going to get crushed tonight. SA will early on be trying to stamp some authority on this cup and this is the only way to do it. They have been doing well in India and love the pitches, good spin players and loves falt tracks they can bully people on.

Im feeling good about NZ vs Aus, something telling me it going to be a ripper with NZ coming out on top.

You're right, Netherlands did not put almost 300 runs on England and England did not get there with only an over to spare. WTF? I said they almost beat England, they almost did? You can look as good as you want but if you only just scrape in the required overs, it's still a close thing. You don't get bonus points for looking good.

I don't agree, England got to that score with no real hassle and I can assure you that even if it was 350 they would have chased it down. They paced the reply pretty well ... NED getting to 300 was just a testament of how shit England was in the field on the day and we all agreed on that. IOW NED looked way better than what they really were ...

In total agreement with the filthy safa

# NZ to beat Australia

# SA to pound WI for reasons mentioned

# England were poor in the field but they dominatd with the bat and coasted home, you often cant judge a games closeness just by reading the scorecard when the chasing team wins, and this was one of those times. If they had lost 7 wickets then its a different story

Netherlands wont win a game vs any of the big guns dalai! pfffft mate , I'll give you 2-1

I'm thinking the only game they have a chance will be Ireland and even that might be a stretch to far for them.

I thought England looked pretty panicky at times against NED and while I dont think they were going to lose it definitely could have gone that way they hardly had it under control. Every other major vs minnow the majors have SMASHED the bowling and/or finished the game early. With the length of this tourney any game you can finish quickly to reduce the overall game time the better which is why I think ENG struggled.

Gupp and McCullum had the right idea. Lets smash it in 8 overs and go have a nap

NZ to beat Aus would be sweet but not sure I can see it happening. Our batting has been awful against quality bowling and I expect us to struggle.

if we get put into bat we'll get rolled for >265

GREATBATCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh ok then so I guess when you started watching the game you thought to yourself, yep I bet Netherlands will get to about 300 and England will only just get there in time huh?

I stand by my earlier statement. They will knock over a top team. Mark. My. Words.

BTW I don't think you're giving Ryan Ten Doeschate nearly enough credit for how good a player he actually is. It's his form which started my line of thought several weeks ago. The guy is a top performer in county cricket and played HRV Cup and Big Bash cricket. When he performs, he's a game breaker. In fact I would put out there that he's better than any single player in the NZ side right now.

BOOM! I said it bitches.

I think we can beat Australia but we pretty much have to bat 1st and hope one of our guns fire early, then our middle and even lower order are well capable of getting us up to 310-315 = Pressure

If Australia bat 1st they will have no problem smoteing our attack for 320+ and our batting just will not get there

It kind of helps which Mitchell Johson turns up too....

Nooooooo we're much better chasing against Australia, well against anyone really. We're a much better chasing side. Especially with how deep we bat.

I think people in the know realise that he's awesome, and have known this for a while... and i'm not just saying that because he's south african (born in the same city and me no less)

bah. Us having a reputation as a good chasing side is so 2005 McCullum opens now and Oram is mud

Dale somehow became our resident "know it all' in the sports forum and the rest of us know nothing. SO FUCK UP YOU DID NOT KNOW!

Yeah but look at how deep we bat. I mean we have among the best tail enders in the world, it just makes sense. If we're setting a target, we're not going to know until it's too late whether 300 is really enough, or if we need to be pushing to 350 etc. If we're chasing, we can plan the second innings pretty much perfectly. We know exactly when we have to press, when we can afford to settle for a couple overs etc.

Are you wearing a dress?


Cos if you're gonna act like a bitch, you might as well dress like one. :>

But here, allow me to retort in kind... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!



In response to Neil, fair enough!

"by how deep we bat" I assume you mean tail enders scratching out a HS of 30 in support of Vettori who has to throw tha bat at everything because the top order is out for a collective 50?

Or do you mean that we bat deeper than say.... Kenya

Becayse while having the best avg scores for out tailenders in the world may sound fantastic all it means is we have an average of 83 runs (havnt looked) for the bottom 4 in the lineup when other teams have an average of 70 or so

But their team Aus/SA/IND have a top 5 combined avearage of 250 whereas NZ has a top 5 avg of 120(again havnt checked)

So saying we bat deep is great it just doesnt mean jack shit,........grrrr gets all angry at the state of NZ Cricket

First time I've seen this Darren Bravo on the tele, read about him but never seen him. I must say, he looks good!

SA playing 3 spinners, keen to see this Imran Tahir...

Thanks, dick. I heard it was on at 4AM. Glad it's not!

Wow how podgy and unfit did Kallis look with the ball! Totally lethargic! Smtih was clearly unimpressed

AB is a badman! EZ win

Fuck he was playing some glorious strokes.

Probably quicker between wickets than ryder too......

That Tahir was a pretty lethal googly!

He looks the same bar a full head of hair. Nothing has changed, still a big man, still not the fastest between the wickets ... end of story.

That was also his fist couple of over bowling since the start of January so having a guy thats in form smack you around ...

Great game last night, the guys looked the goods.

Welcome back to reality, Crap Caps.



gc.

Yup ... feel so fucken deflated.

I hate to quote myself but fuck me - here comes "how deep we bat"

Urgh, disgusting performance as per from the top order.

SPINELESS!

We appear to have lost all confidence now. Taylor and Guptill both faced at least 10 balls without scoring. That's unacceptable at this level - we can't even defend positively and work singles. When a bad ball comes they're waving meekly at it outside the off stump and getting those woeful nicks through to the keeper. Pretty pathetic really, and if you've been keeping an eye on the speeds they're not even bowling *that* fast (for them anyway).



gc.

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE! OI OI OI!

I was really looking forward to getting home and watching the game. Now it's all over before I even leave work. This puts me in a bad mood. :-/

At least the good tail occasionally prevents horrifically embarrassing scores.



gc.

yehaa our 7-8-9 top scored for the innings.

Im so glad we bat deep.........

I had hoped allan donald would have been able to do more with this bowling lineup...


also, what's with bennett's action... looks a bit like an injury waiting to happen.

With or without Donald, NZ are just a huge let down at the moment. Seem to have lost whatever fighting ability we used to be known for.



gc.

Yep and thats the most dissapointing part. Even things like just then when Kane Williamson didnt really attempt to take that tough one in the outfield, for some reason the NZ Cricket team to shot to bits upstairs, and we all know thats lethal fault in cricket

Its also what John Wrights appointment as coach is supposed to sort out...

and again...that same lack of confidence/nous results in us making a total screw up of the review system

urgh. Just remembered that was a Chappell-Hadlee match as welll

I lol at this peice of PR bullshit. Just another chapter in the "Why ponting is a little worm" saga

Punter has a tantrum and smashes a TV set after being run out vs Zimbabwe rigth?....check out this for PR BS
.



A "peice of cricket equipment"

Whats that? A bat one would assume? It "ricocheted" onto a TV set? cmon?

Also...he apologised ."Shortly after"?....If it really did rocochet and was a total accident a normal human being would put their hand up IMMEDIATELY, "shortyl after" basically means by the time management had a word in his ear

i think it was a cricket box he threw

Maestro is right, we haven't been known as a good chasing side for years now. When was the last time we chased down anything over 250? Our tail-enders aren't all that.. India, Australia, SA and Pakistan are all much better. Besides, by your logic any team should be better on the chase.

Ponting threw a box apparently, not really a major by the sounds.

If it broke a tv, Ponting must be hung like a fucking horse :>

lol yeah, there's no way a box can smash a fkn telly :/

You could so smash a LCD tv with a box. I'm dubious about doing it via a ricochet tho, you would have to throw it with some force and score a direct hit.

of course it was a bat you idiots.

You didn't happen to read it was a box on "page 2" the cricinfo satire site did you?

yeah....can you imagine a steaming batsman stomping into the dressing room, then reaching into his pants and fishing out his box, then throwing that across the room?

That would just be comical, the dressing room would break up

What a game last night!

Yeah would have loved to watch it. England blew it really - 280/2 with 10 overs to go?



gc.

It was also pretty incredible how India managed to get bowled out from 305-3 and 4.1 overs left ....death batting failures ahoy!

Yeah when I saw the scores I thought having Yardy and Pathan in my team they might have got some decent runs!

Alas.



gc.

Wrong thread smf

Relevant to actual posts though!

Shuddup.

:>

gc.

Just watching CGW and Rigger raises a good point.

Bit worried about the Zimbos on Friday. They have 5 spinners and we have proven, without fail, to be pretty much incapable of playing spin. With that many spinners in the team it will only take 2 of them to bowl well and she's curtains.

Fuck we're shit atm.



gc.

Yeah he scared me too.

Also lol at the pisstaking of the Black Caps batting strategy.

yeh, watched their whole bowling innings last night, 3 of them are decent, Price, Utseya and Cremer, the others were a bit loose, but not dominated by woeful Canadian batting, and they did hold Aus to 260 odd in Ahmedabad. I still think we are better though, and this wicket is not really a classic Indian dustbowl, plus the Zim batting is average, but if the wheels fall off like vs Aus, then they could beat us no doubt.

Rigor always makes good points....hes the man! mofo averaged ~50 for most of his career in test cricket with like 0 talent!

Even now....hes all over the media**, is funny as fuck, runs marathons, fathers children and flys planes! SICK work ethic

** (CGW, cricket program, commentator, radio sport, writes columns in the paper, whatever i missed out....seriously its like there are 3 of him)

Agree with all of the above except funny part.

:>

gc.

The face he pulled when Mulligan asked him what his views on having a Zionist state in the Middle East was hilarious!

hahah yeah that was so awesome... he's by far the funnier of the 2 imo

He's funny in a simple 'I don't get it' kind of way. So much shit goes over his head, I just don't find him funny. I just think Mulligan is heaps more relatable, plus knows a shitload more about sport in general than Rigor does.



gc.

Mulligan is awesome too but you can't deny the Rigor's got game!

What a fucken game by England! ahahahahhahahahahah ... they had what? 5?6?7? drop catches ... catches win matches!

Mooney at the end played a brilliant game ... so stoked right now!

Holy shit!!



gc.

So fkn awesome on so many levels!

Makes that group pretty interesting man... crazy times. Good on them, can't wait to watch the highlights of that second innings.



gc.

Holy shit... Just woke up now... wtf happened

Fastest 100 in WC history my friend! Craziness.



gc.

WTF went to bed after Strauss and KP let me down, but Eng looked pretty in control, then this morning flatmate comes out and says


"did you have any Irish players in your fantasy team"

me "No why"

FM " Cause they smashed Eng including 2nd fastest 100 ever"

me


Finally an upset at the world cup. out the earlier thread convo about Eng vs Netherlands into perspective me thinks......

Just watched the highlights on Sky Sport... Quote of the game from commentry: "ohh and he got murdered through mid-off... literally!"

nah tha canadian has i. 47 balls or something

You are wrong.

SMF is right
http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/211608.html

When you realise how awesome that century was, it puts into perspective just how impressive Afridi's 37 ball century was!!

Obviously he was given a list before the game started for where every delivery was going to be bowled

Yeah it's funny looking at the number of sixes - he hit 11 out of 102 runs. Ridic. The only 2 other people to hit double digits with their sixes in that list both scored at least 130! And Afridi features 3 times in the top 10!

(Oh and shut the fuck up Vads, you know nothing about cricket!)



gc.

You are looking at the wrong stats? Pretty sure he only hit 6 sixes last night! (Though I was pretty sleep while watching and could have missed it)

Out of memory, I remembered the 2nd fastest ever wc ton and wha was the fastest until las night
whereas you were actually told during the game by the stats guys

me = knows more
you = can read onscreen graphics

wtf are you on about? before last night it was Hayden that had the quickest with 66 balls ...

vads

You are confused - we were (briefly) talking about Afridi.



gc.

You = getting everything wrong
Me = knowing everything



gc.

LOL at Pakistan. 71/4 against Kenya.
I hope they get rolled for 140-ish to read about all the match fixing allegations tomorrow :>

No way a Canadian can lbw Younis fkn Kahn in a fair game heh

Tahir gets one... Just need him to clean tail!



gc.

I must say, it's nice to finally have a decent leggie in the team. it's a very strange experience for a south africa cricket supporter of my generation....

Well any national team supporter of our age other than Aussie's I would think mate?



gc.

Tahir is good but he's no Brooke Walker. ^_^

well forget about leggies, it's strange to have a decent spinner of any sort as a south african...

...or a Mark Haslam for that matter. :>

... SA is looking good. And now I hope Canada can take out Pakistan.