Champions Trophy - England and Wales 2013

First topic message reminder :

We have had a few prediction/ speculation type threads but this will be the discussion thread for matches in the Champions Trophy which starts this morning.

The first game is India v South Africa at the Swalec Stadium, Cardiff.

The Aussies are really getting back in to this

Australia 85-3 in the 23rd over. The NZ bowlers are maintaining good control. Bailey is playing a good hand, but there is a long way to go for the Australians.

Couple of decent partnerships from Australia have gotten them right back in this - importantly they've all been busy with looking to score, rather than last time when intent was very much on survival. Thought Wade looked more solid than Warner at the top of the order. Hughes run-out was his own doing, his call then he hesitated. These two need to kick on and then let the likes of Maxwell, Marsh and Faulkner have a bash. Hard to tell what a good score on this pitch is, but it looks a bit on the slow side. Australia's attack looks a bit better balanced, so 250 or so should be competitive.

Bailey has got out right at the stroke of the batting powerplay. Voges is still there on 50, and Marsh has joined him. Surprised to see Marsh batting ahead of Maxwell. The NZ spinners did a pretty good job, Nathan McCullum with 2 wickets, and Vettori was as stifling as ever, just 23 of his 10 overs.

Last few overs Australia have stopped looking to score, and that told with the Bailey wicket. Clearly the plan was to see off Vettori, but you still have to try and rotate the strike, use your feet to knock the bowler off a bit.

Williamson 0-15 off 4 is a poor effort.

Only India can bat in ODI.

Maybe i was to harsh on trot and bell- The rest(bar India) are just as bad!!

Ok then ...

from here on you would expect Aus to hit 250. and that also could be the balancing point IMO

Anything more Aus favs, anything less I would back NZ to chase

Poor shot from Marsh - plenty from the over and him and Voges just looking to start ticking. 3rd time a partnership has been broken before it could do real damage.

Marsh has just got out and Australia are 193-5 after 42. Good time for Maxwell to come in and play a few shots.

voges gone. NZ favs.

Great bat by him, but no one doing there bit at the other end

2 quick wickets and New Zealand are on top again. Aussie momentum has stalled.

This lad McClenaghan certainly is a wicket taker. Goes for a few time and again, but a sure wicket taking option for the skipper. Faulkner and Maxwell has to take Australia to at least 250 here.

too many dots at the moment for Aus, need a big last four overs here you feel...

Well David Warner is certainly doing his best to ruin his international career

McCullum being brave and he's bowling Williamson in the 47th over, and he doesn't let his captain down, gets Faulkner to further trouble the Australians. Australia 210-7.

Couple of boundaries, and then Mitchell Johnson goes, to provide the other Mitchell his 4th wicket of the day.

Maxwell with some big blows. McCullum gambling with Williamson again, but maybe the wrong call there. 18 from it, and 250 is back on again. Nice little cameo from Maxwell here...

Maxwell at last on the attack. Taking Williamson on a couple of 6s and a boundary, 18 of it so far an over too many for KW. Australia 238-8, 250 still within reach.

I'd back Aus to win this, not convinced by NZ's batting at all

Australia finish with 243. McClenaghan kept Maxwell in check in that last over to deny Australia the 250 mark. But Australia do have a decent score on the board. After the horrendous collapse in the last game, an early wicket or 2 can create panic in the NZ ranks. The spinners proved to hard to get away, and Australia today have Doherty as well as Maxwell. So they are not out of it at all. NZ have to bat really well to win this one.

Guptill, Williamson and Taylor are the key for New Zealand. If they manage a platform in decent time, McCllum and the lower order can finish this.

I agree, that looks a defendable total on here for me, though Aus will have to bowl very very well. Interesting to note that so far I think only three teams have passed 250 in this tournament, I honestly don't think these are 300+ pitches, but sides are maybe guilty of looking to smash the ball around a bit too much rather than score off as many balls as possible (Aus guilty of playing out way too many dot balls throughout IMO).

New Zealand marginal favourites for me.

Its all about Guptill for me.. If gets a start NZ should win

Mitchell Johnson going for a few here. Good timing so far from Ronchi and Guptill

Big wicket.

Oz favs

Massive wicket for Australia, Guptill gone.

NZ 38-2 at the end of the powerplay. Both openers gone. Williamson and Ross Taylor at the crease. Another wicket here, a comeback will be very difficult for the New Zealanders. Australia ahead at this stage.

Pretty much even at this stage.

The damn rain, back yet again. Unlike yesterday, we haven't even reached a point where
we could have  a DL result. NZ are 51-2 after 15 overs.

Voges and Bailey saved the Aussies innings. Both batted superbly well and have got them up to a good and very defendable score. 

I still fancy NZ to win this game, once and if the stupid rain clears away. Does anyone in this country like rain during the summer?

New Zealand will have to floor it pretty much from the resumption, in case the rain returns. They're pretty far behind the D/L target as it is.

They are only 2 wickets down. so if they floor it and lose wickets the job could be even harder if a D/L target is applied

Local knowledge anyone? Any chance of a finish today?

http://www.raintoday.co.uk/

The rain might clear soon, fingers crossed for at least another 5 overs.

Thing that annoys me more than anything else about the Warner story and it's probably a bit immature on my part, is that he's gone for Root. The guy looks about 12 and is tiny. If he'd had a pop at Finn say I'd have just accepted he's a dumb thug but going for Root makes him much worse in my mind.

Was he peed out of his head though?

TBH Hibbz i was going to say the same thing. Root likes like a child. Warner looks like a chavy type.. Easy target type thing

Match abandoned. England can claim a place in the semi-finals with victory tomorrow, and knock Sri Lanka out in the process.

Bloody rain has the final say. Incredibly frustrating!. New Zealand up to 3 points, and Australia are on the board with 1. NZ are left with a game against England. Australia have a must win game against Sri Lanka. If England win tomorrow then Sri Lanka are out. If Lanka win, then the group will be wide open

NZ will take that result.... Australia are pretty much out of this

If England win their 2 remaining games and Australia beat Sri Lanka, then they have a chance. But NZ's NRR is pretty good so Australia have not only to win, but win big, and hope NZ lose pretty badly against England. So Australia's fate largely dependent on England!.

Not going to comment on Warner until I know more of the facts - which will probably be never.

A shame about the weather, because the game was shaping up nicely. As it is, Australia need England to beat Sri Lanka (probable) and then New Zealand (more debateable), with the latter by enough to compensate Australia's defeat (so 50 odd runs or 10 overs), then beat Sri Lanka (possible) by a largeish margin (unlikely).

In short, a lot of things will need to go right for them to qualify.

Sri Lanka need essentially to win their last couple of games (possible).

New Zealand look the most likely, unless they underperform seriously against England.

India look a class above with the bat so far, and the dry and slowish wickets are really making their bowling more potent. 

England probably look the next most likely.

West Indies look a bit all over the place, but have enough match-winners to remain a threat.

Not sure about SA's credentials, but one good win against the West Indies and they'll be in the semis, from there...

Haven't seen anything from NZ or SL or Aus which suggests they can win 2 high pressure matches, so I'd say between those 4.

Of course, Sri Lanka will now tonk England tomorrow (England never seem to do well against SL in these major tournaments) and I will look silly.

And if England somehow lose their next 2 games, again the Australians have a chance, all that they then need to do is to beat Sri Lanka.

Sl is all about Malinga..

Now tbh he seems to baseball throw- he can dip the ball like pitchers do..

Why does no one else try this method??

Because it's bl00dy hard!!... basically. I've seen a few guys with similar actions around the circuit, and they tend to spray it around quite a lot.

It's not really a baseball throw (his arm is essentially straight throughout the action) but you're right, because of where he releases the ball from his slow ball acts a bit like a slow throw in baseball.

Mysti, the problem with Malinga's method for mere mortals is that you have to release the ball at precisely the right moment or you're bowling wides. With a more traditional action a slightly mistimed release only results in the ball being too full or too short.

A quote from Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale about the Warner-Root incident which I have no use for but I thought was quite funny:

'He couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. He's more the Milkybar Kid than Mike Tyson. He's not one for staying out late, he's not one for drinking a lot'.

Shelsey93 wrote:A quote from Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale about the Warner-Root incident which I have no use for but I thought was quite funny:

'He couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. He's more the Milkybar Kid than Mike Tyson. He's not one for staying out late, he's not one for drinking a lot'.

A friend posted on Facebook that 5ft6in Warner vs 6ft Root sounded comical. Why 3 English players would want to be in a Walkabout after midnight is beyond me. Actually, why anyone would want to be in a Walkabout at any time is beyond me

If the reports are true I suspect Warner's going to have a fair amount of time available for the T20 circuit

Well considering how harshly the Aussie management dealt with late homework, I think Warner is facing a lengthy time out of the side lol