World Cup 2015

Warm Up game between Ind and Aus ongoing...
it's an official ODI...though after so much cricket why do these sides need a "warm-up"

India's bowling in melt-down and the two most dangerous guys in Aus side Warner and Maxwell get 100s

Looks like Ind will be chasing 375

Rahane playing a blinder...that those who have not seen him in IPL wouldn't know he was capable of

Eng bowls out WI for 120 odd and even without Braod and Anderson their bowling looked good....
Eng has a good bowling attack

Lanka got good practice.......put up a good total and SA chased it down in D/L.....

on pre-tournament form....WI and Ind look in tatters

Terrible waste of a warm-up game for England, we would have been better of playing the Australian U12s. Have learned nothing from steam-rollering the shambles that is the Windies.

I hate rain affected games, especially those where targets keep re adjusting all the time.

I'd imagine the west Indies would've rather stayed in bed than play a warm up game by the sounds of it

I hadn't realised that the whole squad appeared in all of these warm-up games. I can understand why but it still gives them a rather unreal feeling.

As the cricinfo summary says, a win for England 'with ridiculous ease'. You can only beat what's in front of you etc etc but even so England must have hoped for a more competitive outing. Ah well, I've tipped Ireland to reach the QFs at the West Indies' expense (on VTR's Charity thread) so shouldn't grumble too much.

Meanwhile, a good showing by Zimbabwe against New Zealand until the rain came down. Along with JD, I'm not as convinced about the Kiwis as many here.

Bangladesh so far putting up a decent showing against Pakistan.

Ireland over Windies is a very good shout. Also if Ireland make the QFs here, it will strengthen their case for full member status, especially as I think the original plan for this World Cup was to exclude them?

Yeah actually think the Windies might actually struggle to make the grade. Haven't really followed Ireland, but they should fancy their chances against an attack which conceded 440 in one innings, and 365 in 42 in another. Zimbabwe, in favourable conditions, should also back themselves to take it to the West Indies

I really wanted to see if we could chase a decent total.

Another pointless exercise!

Well done to Woakes though- I dont care how bad WI may have been- 19/5 is some going

A couple more warm up matches played today-this evening.
As expected, India had a big win over Afghanistan by 153 runs at Adelaide.
Scotland made 296/6 and skittled Ireland out for only 117 at Blacktown Olympic Park Oval.

Very surprised to see Ireland dismantled by Scotland. Maybe just a bad day for them as they will be competitive in a lot of matches.

VTR wrote:Very surprised to see Ireland dismantled by Scotland. Maybe just a bad day for them as they will be competitive in a lot of matches.

My Ireland tip not looking too clever today!

well i expect Ire to do much better....they are the ones who need warm-ups.

Ind showed they do not lack form with the bat....but rather competence against better quality bowling......not a good sign for Ind

Scotland are not too bad of a side, in particular there two opening bowlers on there day can be a right handful. Might pull up a tree or two

A slight stumble from SA in ChCh today. NZ scored on a very good 331 at Hagley Oval. SA all out for 197 runs in 44.2 overs.

Zimbabwe have produced an upset at Lincoln - beating Sri Lanka with just under 5 overs to spare.
A gutsy 117 from Masakadza with good support from Taylor and Williams got them across the line.

England have just lost Ballance (57) and Morgan in quick succession in their match against Pakistan at the SCG. 144/4 after 31 overs.

Australia are 202/3 after 37 overs in their match v UAE at the MCG.

A good dismantling isn't quite slight stumble. It's a beatdown. No Steyn, Morkel and Amla though. At least JP has clocked some runs at six.

England batting first and getting to an inbetween sort of score (so often seem to score 230-250 batting first).

Worrying ahead of the tournament as its such an area of weakness. At least they have something to work with, so hoping they can defend it today, but you feel 250 batting first is a certain defeat to any of Aus, SA, NZ and SL.

kingraf wrote:A good dismantling isn't quite slight stumble. It's a beatdown. No Steyn, Morkel and Amla though. At least JP has clocked some runs at six.

Need my eyes checked. When you wrote "clocked" I thought I saw something else. Yes, it was a total balls-up. Amla came in late?
They are talking about that concept on the Preview Show right now.

Yep no stumble. That's a thrashing.

Aus are the only consistent team out there..

Zimbabwe are deffo the surprise package.

They were all over NZ in the cancelled game and also have beaten SL

Pakistan require 77 off 10 overs with 6 wickets left ....

And they just got a 4. We need a wicket.

I cant see Jordan getting a start with this performance..

Pakistan win. Well done.

We didn't score quick enough and our death bowling just wasnt up to it.

Pretty routine bat first performance for England: post a below par but potentially defendable score, take early wickets with Anderson bowling well then not enough wicket taking options in the middle overs to cause problems.

Quite comfortable for Pakistan in the end, they managed the chase well once they were out of early trouble.

VTR wrote:England batting first and getting to an inbetween sort of score (so often seem to score 230-250 batting first).

Worrying ahead of the tournament as its such an area of weakness. At least they have something to work with, so hoping they can defend it today, but you feel 250 batting first is a certain defeat to any of Aus, SA, NZ and SL.

Hmmm  Those worries can only increase following today's result.

I'll spare myself and my laptop the work of many more Bopara comments. He continues to provide balance and back up on paper but little effectiveness on the ground.

Duck season for Morgan at the moment. Least Cook was getting starts

otehr than the one big 100 vs Aus Morgan just doesn't get runs...

Ali is proving to be soft at the top.....but hey they can't say they weren't told

Pakistan is getting warmed up....they are the ones I back to go all the way to the finals...because thei world cup would be won on the strength of bowling

KP_fan wrote:otehr than the one big 100 vs Aus Morgan just doesn't get runs...

Ali is proving to be soft at the top.....but hey they can't say they weren't told

Pakistan is getting warmed up....they are the ones I back to go all the way to the finals...because thei world cup would be won on the strength of bowling

Nor can all those who advocated the dropping of Cook (and prior to him Trott) not say they werent told that theres a disadvantage to picking aggressive hitters at the top of the order. Also see the new film " A brief history of Alex Hales".

The problem England continue to have is that they can only select the players available to them. (KP aside)

Strange old selection criteria. Not too many countries can claim to have dropped a former ODI player of the year because they put their faith in another player. Dropped that player (himself a former World ODI XI member), and left a guy averaging 50 in the format at home. Obviously there were extenuating circumstances with all of them, but it's still a rather unique feat for a country which is historically abject at ODI's to leave their only players with international pedigree off the plane.

KP_fan wrote:otehr than the one big 100 vs Aus Morgan just doesn't get runs...

Ali is proving to be soft at the top.....but hey they can't say they weren't told

Pakistan is getting warmed up....they are the ones I back to go all the way to the finals...because thei world cup would be won on the strength of bowling

I think the strength of our bowling is potentially better. Obviously we didn't utilise woakes or finn today.. And broad is getting better game on game..

I don't think either have what it takes to be the best,

Winning 3 games on the spin and this wc are however possible if we can really get at Aus with our bowling.

kingraf wrote:Strange old selection criteria. Not too many countries can claim to have dropped a former ODI player of the year because they put their faith in another player. Dropped that player (himself a former World ODI XI member), and left a guy averaging 50 in the format at home. Obviously there were extenuating circumstances with all of them, but it's still a rather unique feat for a country which is historically abject at ODI's to leave their only players with international pedigree off the plane.

Are you talking about the West Indies or Pakistan?


The problem England have is that they keep losing regardless of who gets selected. KP in this case is a bit of a canard, if theyd given him his way he would've withdrawn from ODI's ages ago, and his reputation is built on form of a long time ago. Bear in mind up till the Big Bash he'd been in woeful form in all formats for an extended period, not to mention injured, and has hardly played any 40/50 over cricket in years. Selecting him for the squad ( bearing in mind when this had to be announced) wouldve been a risk anyway (and involved leaving out one of the wonderkids everyone kept saying England should be picking)

I guess we can also look to Stokes as a lost opportunity, but again his form said otherwise and he missed out through being awful.

Morgan was of course exactly the kind of player England needed, aside form being in abysmal form.

Ultimately whoever they pick it comes down to them delivering on their potential, quite a number of the England players are falling well short at the minute. Bell who many had pegged as useless in this format is.

England might as well just pull names out of hat.

Pakistan are former World champions who made Semi Finals last time. They lost Ajmal to discover they had a small army of rather skilled spinners. The West Indies have a rather pathetic team out here, and Pollard is the definition of a nothing cricketer in 50-over cricket. Bravo is a bit of a blow, but really not much to write about.

We can't already be pining for Cook back?! I, amongst others, expressed some concern about Ali at the top of the order in Australia, but he deserves more rope than this. And at least if he does get a big score it has a chance of being a match winning one, and I'm so sick of England being woefully abject in ODIs I'd rather go out trying to be aggressive and win than the limp painfully to the quarters and go out with a whimper (see 2011).

An option would be Hales into open and Ali to 7 to replace Bopara, leaves us a bowler light though with Root as the 6th so I can't see it. Although if Bopara isn't going to bowl, it makes no difference.

And we are overlooking the real reason England lost today. No Taylor, no party.

I'm sorry but didn't Moeen top score in the west Indies game with basically a fifty?

And Morgan scored a century like three innings ago

Stop being prisoners of the moment people. Get ballance in fir Ravi bopara and we've a good side

If we stick with the bits and pieces player would probally go with jordan over ravi, otherwise anyone but him that can do a job- tredwell could offer something to vary the bowling, ballance obviously can add with the bat

I think we need the extra strength with the bat mysti thus get Ballance in the side at 6

he would possibly be my preferred option - especially now that broad seems to be getting better game on game and woakes and finn are also bowling very nicely

Cant play Ballance at 6, he needs to bat top order if he plays....

My side

Hales
Bell
Taylor
Morgan
Root
Mo
Buttler
Woakes
Broad
Anderson
Finn


Tredwell for Finn when it starts to spin more, E.G. Sydney..

scotland finished 310 chasing 313 against WI......second good game for Scotland in a row

and Ireland better BD relatively easily.

Scotland, Ire and Zim who have bowling to exploit seaming / bouncy pitches and experiences batting in these conditions are all looking competitive

Is Oddschecker playing up or have 26% of people actually placed bets on the UAE winning the World Cup at odds of 5000/1?

I think it is 5000/1 for a reason!

In all sincerity, I think the odds of 5/1 for Ireland to make it out of the group look sweet.

And the 10/1 on England to win the whole thing, of course...

don't talk about betting on here mate . You may get blasted at for no reason.......

But sod it. 10/1 isn't bad I suppose. It's just I can't see anyone but aus on these pitches. If some how we get swing we can beat anyone. But the Aussies will be preparing those tracks to there benefit.

I can't be the only one who hopes Bangladesh fail horribly. Completely pointless full member nation who haven't progressed one iota despite being a cricket mad country in donkeys years.

Get Ireland and Afghanistan in

or the Netherlands, right?

Odds on it raining a lot during some of these matches is quite high. I'm putting my money on Duckworth Lewis coming into the final equation.

Not sure how they could prepare pitches to suit Australia. The conditions are what they are... there's no secret there. Ignorance is no excuse.

Well the way Aussie media is talking in build-up to the Valentine's day encounter is over confident and arrogant.

If their team is bugged with the same mentality as their media exudes....which based on a few uttering from Lehmann I heard might be the case...then oxmoron as it sounds "An Upset is the most likely result"

I see Clarke being carried more an emotional  baggage , then being there on proven form and fitness.
A weak selection that digresses the team's attention just before a crucial game

Well, England arrive at this World Cup in pretty much the same condition as all England sides in any sport have arrived at every World Cup since RWC 2003 - underprepared and in a bit of a state of transition.

I think we have potentially a decent team, but one that lacks a bit of experience. So far in the warm up games we've had a few decent individual performances but have yet to put together a full game as a team. Need to work harder on starting and ending innings well with both the bat and ball, as these are now the key factors in making 320+ (as will often be needed to win matches) and in limiting opposition to 250 or fewer.

I think we're a team that could win any one-off game, but don't have the consistency to string results together. QF or maybe SF if we get lucky.

Struggle to see a winner other than Aus or South Africa. I think New Zealand have talent but are like a better version of England in being over-reliant on one or two players firing each match, and I think somewhere along the lines they will fall short..

The timing of the first fixture is a bit of an open goal for lazy journalism. How many times to we have to read "Valentine's Day Massacre", and this is before a ball has even been bowled!

I think it will be an interesting game and closer than a lot of people expect. I will say Aus for a narrow win.

I have given this a lot of thought, the Proteas will definitely win the cup because:

All fielders will put glue on their hands, sothat when they catch a ball and want to throw it in the air (like Gibbs did) it won’t come out as it will be stuck in their hands.

Batsmen who are not on strike (Like Donald) will be subservient to the batsman facing, they may only move when told, to safeguard that non striking batsmen comply, their junk will be connected to a Taser, which can and will be engaged in a case of non compliance.

Each player will have a Laptop at his side to assist the captain in a situation where Duckworth Lewis comes into play, they will all be backup for the captain in case (like Pollock) there is a need to verify the required runs if rain stops the match.

All players be it fielding or batting will be provided with the necessary Xanax to ensure a calm, measured and zoned out approach is taken to avoid any choking.

So there you have, Proteas will win if they follow those instructions.

Clarke wasn't a weak selection. Far from it. He's recovered in time to have been picked for the first game, which means he's a justified selection. Moreover, he's got the third highest average of all players to have played >200 ODI's. Picking a player who was stated to come in two weeks into a tournament slated to start proper in four or five weeks is a no brainer.