World Cup 2011 (II)

So whose fault was that runout eh?

So, what now for SA & Eng - both will qualify of course.

For SA, they need a hitter like Albie Morkel at 7 or 8 and to bat a bit deeper. Other than that they look a well balanced side but its such an obvious flaw in their game.

For England, again we look a hitter light like SA. The lower middle order isn't working, i'd seriously think about putting Swanny up the order instead of the hack Yardy coming in at 7. He's a bit hit or miss but we've nothing to lose. The bowling can come good - on their day Jimmy, Bres & Broady can perform at the highest level and Swanny is a gun. The 5th bowler is a killer though, we have a problem there.

Finally the captaincy is a problem too. Sure England won, but i've just watched the final stages and Straussy was at it again - SA needing 25 to win and still bowling Yardys darts.

taipan wrote:

JKLever wrote:Well I did say we're capable of that. Now watch us lose to Bangladesh...

Only seen a few highlights but looks like we didn't bat very sensibly at all. As for SA, well Taips said before the tournament started that playing such a long tail will bite them in the arse at some stage.

Difficult crumbly pitch by all accounts, but 171 shouldn't have been enough.

Thanks JKL, but as usual the addled qunts like batman and red will trot out the tired choker line. One wonders why people who know SFA about cricket waste their time frequenting a cricket forum.

If that wasn't a choke then nothing is taips. Like I say, less than 50 to win with 7 wickets in hand after your openers got you off to a decent start is a choke. Even at the end, 12 to win with 3 wickets in hand is pretty choketastic.

Yeah, if we had lost that game - then the finger would have been fairly pointed at Strauss for not getting more overs out of his best bowlers. Sadly, England seem wedded to playing Yardy come what may - you just have to hope that the others can pick up the slack as it's like playing with 10.5 players.

JKLever wrote:So, what now for SA & Eng - both will qualify of course.

For SA, they need a hitter like Albie Morkel at 7 or 8 and to bat a bit deeper. Other than that they look a well balanced side but its such an obvious flaw in their game.

For England, again we look a hitter light like SA. The lower middle order isn't working, i'd seriously think about putting Swanny up the order instead of the hack Yardy coming in at 7. He's a bit hit or miss but we've nothing to lose. The bowling can come good - on their day Jimmy, Bres & Broady can perform at the highest level and Swanny is a gun. The 5th bowler is a killer though, we have a problem there.

Finally the captaincy is a problem too. Sure England won, but i've just watched the final stages and Straussy was at it again - SA needing 25 to win and still bowling Yardys darts.

Well, Yardy needs to be ditched. I think Strauss finally realises this as well considering he had more faith in KP's part time off breaks towards the end there than Yardy's non spinning nonsense- and Yardy is being picked as a bowler. Yardy also offers nothing with the bat. Shahzad should come in, considering the only other alternative is James Tredwell, who they've obviously realised should not be in the squad at all. If they didn't play him today on that pitch, then they'll never play him. I like Shahzad. Apart from his ability to reverse swing the ball, he has a bit of mongrel in him and can get under some skins. Good lower order hitter as well.

Yes, we are probably short of a hitter with a decent technique at six or seven, however we don't have any other options left in the squad that we're not utilising. Well, we have Luke Wright. But I think you can put him into the Tredwell category of "WTF did we pick him??". In form Colly can hit the ball cleanly. I think that might be it for his career though, barring an injury to one of the batsmen.

Basil wrote:Yeah, if we had lost that game - then the finger would have been fairly pointed at Strauss for not getting more overs out of his best bowlers. Sadly, England seem wedded to playing Yardy come what may - you just have to hope that the others can pick up the slack as it's like playing with 10.5 players.

More like 9.5 actually as I think we would perform better with just 10 players.

We do have one option and that is to play Colly instead of Yardy.

Better bat, better fielder and if conditions suit a better bowler.

As for the lower order hitter, we just need Tredwell to take one for the team and we can bring Morgan back for him. An imaginary pulled muscle would go down a treat atm. Though I presume the ICC like doctors opinions to pull sh!t like that!

What a Trojan Trent Johnston is.

That's not just a nearly-portmanteau btw. He is worth his weight in balls.

India coasting it now nevertheless.

Colly's cutters would haven handy on this pitch. Then again, how many more raging bunsens are we likely to play on?

JKLever wrote:We do have one option and that is to play Colly instead of Yardy.

Better bat, better fielder and if conditions suit a better bowler.

As for the lower order hitter, we just need Tredwell to take one for the team and we can bring Morgan back for him. An imaginary pulled muscle would go down a treat atm. Though I presume the ICC like doctors opinions to pull sh!t like that!

I'd be interested to see Colly's last 10 efforts with the ball compared to Yardy. I think you'll find there's not much difference between them economy and strike rate wise. Add to that the fact that even out of form Colly is a better batsman than Yardy, a miles better fielder, and England's most experienced ODI cricketer of all time, you really wonder why they're picking him then dropping him, picking him and dropping him again, and yet pile of crap Yardy has been a fixture in the side for the last couple of months despite doing next to nowt.

Chivalry Augustus wrote:England have an amazing ability to do half a job really well. I'm sure this really suits Strauss when he 'looks for the positives' after we've lost.

Paul Keating wrote:Strauss is the weakest link in this team.

Sorry but as the person who is guaranteed a spot, he really is your weakest link.

Not Yardy, not Prior. It is Strauss.

The time for Swann and Anderson was four overs ago. The game is now lost.

Okay, we all end up looking like prize idiots sometimes, but given what actually happened is anyone prepared to give Strauss any credit this time? You don't have to say he's brilliant or anything, but maybe, just maybe, he made a few good calls (such as bringing Broad on at the end)? No?

Last 10 innings-

Yardy-

0/39, 0/53, 2/61, 0/45, 0/36, 1/47, 2/59, 1/64, 0/49, 1/46

Collingwood-

1/16, 1/26, 0/10, 1/8, 2/25, 1/22, 1/36, 1/46, 0/20, 0/26

Not much difference at all. Both with economy rates around 5. Doesn't make sense.

eowyn wrote:

philcric wrote:

Batman wrote:And has India committed suicide by choosing 5 bowlers and letting Irish get to 200+? I was all gung ho about seeing them sink below 100 against our spinners.......

5 bowlers?? Which match are you watching/following ?

The one in his addled brain.

Shut up!

philcric wrote:

Batman wrote:And has India committed suicide by choosing 5 bowlers and letting Irish get to 200+? I was all gung ho about seeing them sink below 100 against our spinners.......

5 bowlers?? Which match are you watching/following ?

An error. Watching it on and off between assignment and didn't pay attention to the fact that Pathan was bowling early with Zaheer. Seeing that piethrower Chawla made me think we were playing a 5th one.

If the famed Indian batting is going to lose 5-6 wickets to chase a modest target of 200 odd against Ireland and take up a bulk of the 50 overs to achieve it than we might as well pack up now and leave the cup to more deserving teams to fight for. When will this team learn to be ruthless enough.

PeterCS wrote:India ctoasting their NRR now nevertheless.

Hate to say this but the way we have been playing one heavy defeat here from a team like WI or SA and we would be really behind in NRR aspect. I really dread to think the result had Ireland managed 240-250 runs to defend.

I know it's a small thing, but it was nice to see Ireland removing their caps to shake hands with the Indian players and Umpires. Good old fashioned good manners. And no other team does it.

Good work by Ireland. They really pushed us right back as close as possible. One more win in their account can really blow up big for other big boys.

I still can't imagine why we chose to field first instead of batting first or did Dhoni think that Ireland would pull off another successful chase off us?

Basil wrote:Colly's cutters would haven handy on this pitch. Then again, how many more raging bunsens are we likely to play on?

Well our next game against Bangladesh for a start.

taipan wrote:

skully wrote:PMSL - the choke is on BIG TIME!!! Yarps now 7 down after straight-break Yardy gets Peterson.

Fark Skully and I used to think you knew something about cricket.

Beefy went on and on about it, but I heartily agree with him, you simply don't get this level of excitement from a T20. England only made 171, yet it turned out a cracker of a game. That rarely, rarely happens in a T20.

T > J > TT

So we've pretty much held our own against the 2 pre-tournament favourites, yet struggled like no one else has to put away the associates (as we always do!)

kind of surprising to see the saffies choke so early in the tourney. the knock-outs are still a fair bit away ffs!

Interesting game

Good decision to keep Anderson in the team, he is too talented to be dropped.