2015 World Cup

First topic message reminder :

March

Semi-finals

24 Semi-final 1, South Africa v New Zealand, Auckland (01:00 GMT)

26 Semi-final 2, India v Australia, Sydney (03:30 GMT)

Final

29 Final, Melbourne (05:30 BST)

Root vs Kohli as captains will be glorious. I give it two games before their is a fist fight.

Duty281 wrote:Twenty-five from the over.

Beautiful innovation.

Absolutely.

Doubt if Jos would have added many more there ... but lets see what he can do now as Taylor goes! Good team effort from Taylor.

Have to disagree with Atherton for once, definitely think Taylor is better coming in at 3, needs time to get himself in before teeing off

Excellent innings from Root. Can we keep the momentum going for the last 3 and a half overs?

How many other teams could Herath bowl the 47th over against and do that? Not the wicket, more the economy!

JDizzle wrote:How many other teams could Herath bowl the 47th over against and do that? Not the wicket, more the economy!

Like I said earlier, teams should genuinely bowl 50 overs of spin to England

That looked seriously painful. Only 4 off his 5 balls though...

Would Perera be allowed to finish this over I wonder? Seen as he finished the last one. Presumably not, why they've gone to Dilshan.

Fairly competent effort by England in the end. No perfect by any means, but a good performance. Now to finish the job, early wickets needed.

Seems a genuine shame Buttler only got 19 balls of that innings, surely have to get him in earlier

Excellent stuff from England.

Exquisite by Joe Root and fantastic from Buttler at the death.

England have enough to win.

Very good batting in the closing overs from Root, Taylor and Buttler to post over 300.

Definitely a challenging total for Sri Lanka but not an impossible target given some of the batting giants they have in their line up. If we don't get 10 wickets, we'll be in trouble ....

Olly wrote:Seems a genuine shame Buttler only got 19 balls of that innings, surely have to get him in earlier

He's number 6 in my team, remember!

Off to bed now. I'll catch up with you guys t'row after I've watched the recording. Thanks for the chat.

New ball swinging a tad, still not given woakes the new ball over the erratic broad.

Blistering fifty stand for the opening pair in nine overs - Anderson looks bereft of confidence.

Need a wicket, do England.

Dilshan has made a horrific mistake, absolute gift - 100/1.

Sweet, blessed relief for England.

146/1 after 28 overs. England firmly in retreat.

Mind you, Pakistan are having a struggle as well against Zimbabwe.

Um...Pakistan 17/2 after twelve overs.

England look lifeless, dull and uninspiring. Limping to a rather pathetic defeat as it stands.

Damn you LD... moving this to sticky and such. Even though you said you did... the fact that the thread which said World cup 2015 was locker confused me. One shouldn't have to do so much thinking this early

Anyway, England and eclipsing West Indies for the worst rendition of defending a 300 total. Sangakarra announcing himself on the World cup stage (second greatest of all time for my coinage) and Raf's predictor will be back on track. Woo hoo

My apologies, raf. The thread was overflowing.

Australia play SL next Sunday and they must be treated with respect if we are to get the much needed win.

Another great partnership from Sangakkara and Thirimanne this time. England's bowling lacked that lethal penetration today.
The much hoped for swing never really eventuated and SL's top order was well in control on a fairly placid wicket.

A 9 wicket win. I was probably one of the few who had tipped them... but not by that much.

yeah I personally thought it was a 50/50 match, with England maybe slight favourites. India and Lanka showing there is something to be said for touring a host country and being there for an extended time before a world cup, even if you're being mercilessly mauled by the hosts. Good thing England decided that the pre Ashes world Cup was a bad idea the world cup where Australia was hosting it.

The Gabba doesn't seem a particularly cricket loving region. Looks rather empty every time I watch a match played there. Even the Big Bash. AFL strong hold?

The thing I worry about as an Oz fan: there's always a chance matches can be disrupted or washed out this time of year.

It was sunny and 37 degs here this morning (uncomfortably hot & humid!); then at 4pm a violent hail storm (TV pictures lost because the feed goes through here) and a much needed cooler change has arrived with lashings of occasional rain. Next Sunday is expected to be the same.
I hope the Bureau of Meteorology is wrong with their long range forecast.

We also have that game in Hobart against Scotland on the 14th.... and snow is expected on Mt Wellington (about 20km away from Bellerive) during the coming week. Maybe there is no need to panic just yet but one must always bear in mind that these sudden weather interruptions are inevitable at this time of year along the east coast of Australia especially.

It should be relatively stable in Adelaide for England's next match v Bangladesh on the 9th though.

Zimbabwe have taken the weapons of mass containment route this match, and it's working. Pakistan 135-5 off 35. Power play up, let's see how they play this. Misbah Ul Haq can when motivated, smack a very long ball. Might need to show it here

Zimbabwe will be looking to concede 250-270.

kingraf wrote:The Gabba doesn't seem a particularly cricket loving region. Looks rather empty every time I watch a match played there. Even the Big Bash. AFL strong hold?

Not sure how many locals would be interested in watching Zim v Pak. Most of the ex-pats would be located further south.
Also don't forget - they had a Cat 4/5 cyclone recently... so maybe there are other things on their mind.
True; more of a RL stronghold. Brisbane won 3 AFL flags (trophies) in a row in the early 00s... and the rugby season is also getting underway.

Did some research for you, raf. There's around 100,000 people of SA origin (75% immigrants, 25% claim SA ancestry) in Oz.
Sydney has the largest SA population... around 35,000 have moved here and another 15,000 claim SA ancestry. (2011 figures)

They are far outnumbered by those born in the UK (170,000 although there are well over 840,000 of UK ancestry), India (90,000) and NZ (80,000)

That is true. I admit I forgot about the cyclone a bit. Was the damage particularly bad, or was the city sufficiently prepared for it? Always try watching a bit of AFL, beginning to more and more get into what the hell I'm watching. Looks like a rather convoluted form of quidditch in the beginning.

Cheers mate, always thought there was a larger ex pat community in Perth. Should plan a road trip holiday in Aus in the next 18 months.

Damage was worse in central Qld. Lots of homes destroyed, power cut off, etc.
Perth has around 20,000 SA born residents... slightly more than Melbourne.

Pakistan seem so lacklustre and under-prepared for this WC. Zimbabwe are containing them really well.

At 171/6 after 41 overs (and Afridi gone for a duck) they'll be lucky to get around 230 runs on the board after 50.

AB could get you to 300 from here

kingraf wrote:AB could get you to 300 from here

Against this sort of bowling... easy. Maybe even 315?

I'm hopeful some of the more hostile fast bowlers will reign him in.
He hasn't been under any sort of pressure whatsoever from the Windies.

Well Eng lost with such ease.......and are well poised to finish 4th.
and that's why this format sukkks.......you lose all relevant games and yet are rewarded with a QF berth.

Pakistan are nudging towards a defndable total of 230ish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-RSj4RXy2Y

Is there anything AB can't do?

Maintain a full head of hair?

kingraf wrote:Maintain a full head of hair?

So what's your gut feeling, raf? Can Zim chase this total down?

Difficult to say, really. They're down a batsman with Chigumbura out, and Mire is back, so they have their finisher. Williams is a handy batter though, and Brendon Taylor is probably more at ease chasing 230 type totals than 280-300. It's a little more to his pace. Gut feeling is that they should really chase this down.

After bowling well for 75 % of the Pakistan innings, Zimbabwe yet again let things slip in the last few overs. This time there was no double ton/twin tons, but all those runs scored by Wahab Riyaz, think that will be the undoing of Zimbabwe this time.

What a limp effort from England. I backed us to make the semis on the strength of our bowling in these conditions.

Now I feel the wicketless wonders need to be sent home and replaced by the England women!

Zimbabwe trying to take this slow and steady in the initial overs. Sensible approach.......

Zimbabwe losing the plot early on, 22-2.

Just awful England, absolutely awful

Root's knock was very interesting to watch as a coach. Over the last few weeks I have wondered aloud whether AB was a freak one-off genius, or simply foreshadowing what's to come. Beginning to lean more towards him being the first of a new breed.

Well Pak's 3 lefzt arm seamers exterting pressure.
I feel they just have scored 15 runs too many for Zim to knock down

Zim in a decent position after 20. Masakadza and Taylor still in, run rate manageable. They'll be pleased with what they've done so far.

more embarrassment. root the only player to do ok, and maybe butters- but he didn't get enough overs to really hit a total. bell doesn't get how to construct an innings at odi level- we needed 350- plus.

ballance- = why??

hales must come in. Why didn't he?

we beat Scotland- no disrespect. but they are are just low level English county players at best, we cant sit on out laurels and think beating them is an achievement.

I can see the making of a half decent test side here. but thats it..

Zimbabwe are half way there, but they have lost 3 wickets including that of Masakadza. Taylor and Williams at the crease, they would need to do most of the work if Zimbabwe are to get through.

Crucial 50 from Taylor, but he has to see this through.......

Well, Pak look a little flat. Taylor playing well, but like I said, this type of
target is in his wheel house.
Well, I'm off, girlfriends little sister's birthday party in an hour. A whole
afternoon of sweet foods and Toy Story. With no sarcasm, I have to
admit that this is close to my dream day.

Another costly drop by Umar Akmal.

With the set Taylor and Williams gone, think Pakistan has to be the favorites now. Zimbabwe anyways can't get anything right in the last 15 overs of either innings........

The unraveling now on full flow as Zimbabwe are applying the finishing touches of a good day not quite good enough at the end situation yet again.......