World T20 discussion thread

[Duty281]

First topic message reminder :

Blimey, Cross takes five fours off the sixth over. 48/1 after the PP, Scotland still in the game.

[JDizzle]

Williamson has captained very well this innings. I think he has been bang on with his bowling changes and field placements so far.

I’d actually disagree Billy. Think he missed a trick not shutting off cover to Malan, Phillips bowling an over and Santner having only bowled one over… Not been his best day.

[alfie]

119 with four overs left. Think we can forget that 180...

Wickets in hand so they can go for the ropes ...still on for a decent score. Hasn't been easy batting on this.

[king_carlos]

130-3 with 3 overs to go.

England are still waiting for that massive over. When they have wickets in hand they back themselves to eventually find it.

Another 6 from the first ball of the over. This time Mo off Milne. Can they find the big over this time?

Southee came back very well after going for 6 off the first ball of his last over.

[Duty281]

Think we're seeing with Livingstone (and others) that it takes time to adjust to the pace of the pitch. Difficult to blast away from ball one.

16 from that over as Livingstone finally crunches one. First properly big over in a while. Couple more of those would be nice.

[JDizzle]

Don’t think anybody hits a ball like Livingstone in cricket. Buttler is more wrists, Gayle more languid - Livingstone just tries to wallop it as hard as he can.

[alfie]

Finishing well now...up to 146 with 2 left as the sixes have started to come in the latter stages .

Boult has been expensive today : what can they do to his last ?

[king_carlos]

16 from the 18th over. That's what England needed.

They need to keep this momentum going now.

Boult bowling the 19th. So presumably Neesham to bowl the final over!

[JDizzle]

Decent over from Boult to finish. Has to be Neesham.

160 would be about par with the dew factor so every run over that is crucial. And please don’t do a Santner in 2019 and not run off the final ball!

[Duty281]

Goodness, no Boult/Milne/Southee for the 20th. Could be carnage.

Boult getting taken for a few again. Horrific figures for him, but only 9 off his last. He'll be very disappointed with 0/40.

That 170 is still there for England if they clear the ropes twice. Clear it thrice and it's 175+.

[alfie]

Actually tidy finish from Boult. 155 and just Neesham to go...

[JDizzle]

Set yourself for the cutter vs Neesham.

[king_carlos]

Excellent from Boult. England needed more than 9 from that over.

They need something special of the last to propel them up above 170.

[VTR]

This is looking about 20 runs light to me

[JDizzle]

Why does it feel like Neesham only takes wickets vs England? 3 in the WC final and now Livingstone. I am sure he gets smashed every other time I watch him!

[alfie]

Neesham is quite a useful death bowler :

As he shows here getting Livingstone. Four balls left...come in skipper...

[eirebilly]

Personally, I feel 170 is par for this track. 175 and England would have been favourites but under 165 I think NZ are.

[eirebilly]

Congrats to Moeen on his 50

[king_carlos]

166. That's below par having gone in batting heavy I fear.

England will need to bowl very well. Wood in particular will need to be far better than he was against SA. Milne was a handful, if Wood bowls well he should be too.

[Duty281]

166. Hmm. That drop could be costly, two extra runs. There was a mis-field before that. Haphazard in the field today from NZ.

That should be enough. I'd say 150 is par. Difficult batting wicket, slow pitch, boundaries aren't tiny, Kiwis batting line-up isn't the best.

Having said that, England had a good platform to get 175+ and they missed out.

Good innings from both Moeen and Malan.

[eirebilly]

Grey area for me score wise. Feels like 10 runs to short but its runs on the board. As Billy Birmingham once said, this is hard to pick than a broken nose...

[alfie]

166 . About what I'd been expecting after those first few overs. I think it's actually a pretty good score on this pitch.

Whether it is a winning score remains to be seen. The snag is that bowling in the late session can get a bit difficult , as we've seen in a few games.

Think England can defend it - but they'll need to be on their best behaviour ...

[VTR]

Agree with the points about 175 or more. There were batting resources left unused, which suggests to me the risk/reward wasn't quite balanced correctly. Easy to say from an armchair though!

[JDizzle]

England slight favourites for me. But early wickets are crucial. If Woakes can knock a couple over early, then they can really apply the pressure vs Williamson and the less dynamic middle order compared to England as NZ would struggle to catch up. And the reverse applies, as I am not sure who England turn to if they need middle over wickets outside of Rashid.

Pitch is definitely a touch two paced, but not sure whether England have the bowlers did take advantage of that. Wood is skiddy and Jordan tends to bowl full looking for his yorker mainly.

Do think NZ let England off the hook in the middle overs. Moeen and Malan were struggling slightly then we didn't see Sodhi or Santner for three overs. Santer only bowling one over does appear a case of over thinking things.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Williamson has captained very well this innings. I think he has been bang on with his bowling changes and field placements so far.

I’d actually disagree Billy. Think he missed a trick not shutting off cover to Malan, Phillips bowling an over and Santner having only bowled one over… Not been his best day.

Yeah I agree he really overthought it a bit with Santner only bowling one over (Phillips is on paper a matchup to left handers, but this ignores that is a crap bowler to whoever he's bowling too).

Feels like a 7/10 effort from both sides to me - England will be disappointed to have not got 180+, never *really* got going fully, NZ handled their overs a bit strangely and maybe went a touch too matchup heavy in their approach and Boult was poor

166 if the conditions stay the same I'd have England just favourites - but if the dew comes down (as the slip by Phillips on the dropped catch would suggest), then NZ should be just edged as favourites.

England would've loved to have given Woakes the conditions up front that Southee/Boult got! Not sure there will be swing this late now

[JDizzle]

Nice long hop to start. I've changed my mind, NZ win with 6 overs to spare.

Plenty of swing for Woakes!

[guildfordbat]

Yeah, in line with most above, believe that 166 is a decent score but not decisive. Given we only lost 4 wickets, feel we could have put another 10 runs on the board.

Equally, if NZ had caught better and used Santner more and Phillips not at all, they might only be chasing 150 or so.

[eirebilly]

Woakes 

[alfie]

Ah now that's the start England wanted ! Apart from the boundary ball to start with , that is

Pitch still tricky and Guptill was found out. Big wicket ...

[Duty281]

Sound early wicket. Got Williamson to the crease in the PP...and Woakes nearly finds the edge first ball.

This is a tough batting wicket. No chance the Kiwis are getting this.

[JDizzle]

Wood from the other end? Or Rashid? I'd go Wood I think.

[JDizzle]

Good this from Jordan. Hitting that hard length and unlucky not too snag Kane.

Just realised it is Dharmasena and Erasmus standing as umpires! ICC have definitely done that deliberately.

[Duty281]

Unexpected Steve Bruce.

[eirebilly]

Woakes again 

[Duty281]

There we go! Woakes bowling magnificently again, creates the pressure, Rashid snares the chance.

Rock'n'roll, England are off to the final again.

[JDizzle]

That's not a shot I can ever remember Williamson playing. Pressure.

[alfie]

Jordan rather than Moeen with the new ball. Wonder if they might be thinking an extra seamer could have been handy tonight ? Will be a bit of a juggling act for Morgan getting his spinners on and off at the right times.

I see Olly , above , suggesting NZ might have been a bit "matchup heavy" : couldn't agree more. Sure it's nice if you can get , say , your left arm spinner bowling to KP , or whatever : but the priority surely ought to be using your own best bowlers and trusting them to do their jobs... Match ups are a bit of a commentator's darling but I think the best captains are using them only as a consideration...

Woakes getting Williamson and that really does give England the early edge . Batting not looking easy at all.

[king_carlos]

Williamson gone. Brilliant from Woakes. 3 dots to build pressure which prompts the risk.

[king_carlos]

Wicket maiden. Great stuff from Woakes.

[VTR]

That really is phenomenal at any time in a T20, let alone a powerplay over in a WC semi final!

[eirebilly]

These first 4 overs have increased the par score somewhat. Maybe England were not 10 short but were 10 above par...

Outstanding from Woakes and Jordan so far

[alfie]

166 looking better by the minute...

Fair to say pre-game expectations that this would be a big scoring pitch seem to have been a bit off. Scoring never looked exactly easy for any of the England bats and I reckon they did pretty well to get what they did.

Seen too many cricket matches to totally write NZ off yet but I think it's going to require something pretty special from someone now , with their two big guns already gone.

Woakes 2/16 from three. Saving his last , I suppose ?

Here's Rashid...

[JDizzle]

Couple of lovely shots from Conway off Rashid there.

Next 4 overs are big. England need to put a big squeeze on with the field back. If England can keep it to needing over 100 off the last 10 they will be very happy.

[JDizzle]

That run graphic is truly awful. It's truly awful before you even consider it's not even accurate! It showed a batter half way down on that last two before it cut to the pitch and they were both home seconds ago.

[alfie]

Ten off Rashid makes one wonder why he wasn't saved for this next over and Wood bowl the sixth ? No matter : let us see what Wood has up his sleeve tonight. Wouldn't have been happy with his SA game.

Starting well at least...nearly a wicket then.

[Duty281]

These two are probably NZ's best batsmen of the tournament so far, it's the key partnership for them.

Decent first over from Wood. Very important for him after the struggles v South Africa.

[Duty281]

That run graphic is truly awful. It's truly awful before you even consider it's not even accurate! It showed a batter half way down on that last two before it cut to the pitch and they were both home seconds ago.

Yes! Can't understand why they don't just show the batsmen actually running in a small box at the corner of the screen (I'm sure this used to happen), or show the zoomed out version of the ground.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

That run graphic is truly awful. It's truly awful before you even consider it's not even accurate! It showed a batter half way down on that last two before it cut to the pitch and they were both home seconds ago.

Legitimately think I played games in IT in middle school with better graphics - like 15 years ago. I like the idea, but why not just have a box swith a camera showing the live between the wickets?

[alfie]

Quieter over from Rashid. And Wood seems to be on the ball tonight (touch wood...)

England got 99 off their last ten.NZ won't want to be asked to chase much more than that.

The fifth bowler appears to be the remaining piece in the jigsaw. And here is Livingstone for the tenth...

[king_carlos]

Good stuff from Wood.

England are have held that 5th bowler back though. Livingstone should be targeted by NZ now.

[JDizzle]

Four of the last eleven from LL or Moeen. NZ can’t leave it too long before attacking - and there is a boundary. Decent from Livingstone though.

109 from 60. England well ahead. It will take a special innings from someone.

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