World Cup 2011 (II)

Considering the gaps each team has between matches, surely they could have scheduled reserve days?

There is some talk that Jerusalem should be England's national anthem (it currently has none).

What song is played when united Ireland appears at sporting events?

Dearg Doom.

The Irish rugby team use Ireland's Call which I believe was written specifically for that purpose - I believe the cricket team have done the same this tournament at least (when the rugby team play in Dublin they play the Republic's anthem as well).

England used Jerusalem at last year's Commonwealth Games, controversially replacing the traditional Land of Hope and Glory - but it seems for all other purposes the "English" national anthem is the same as the "British" one.

seems like it was going very well for SL

Not really. Were on course for about 270. Not enough.

PeterCS wrote:Not really. Were on course for about 270. Not enough.

Dunno Pete - the ball was turning enough to make Smifffy look like a competent spinner. I think the Lankan spinners would have had some fun on that pitch.

Basil wrote:

PeterCS wrote:Not really. Were on course for about 270. Not enough.

Dunno Pete - the ball was turning enough to make Smifffy look like a competent spinner. I think the Lankan spinners would have had some fun on that pitch.

Aye, the pitch was custom made to suite the 'Lankans. Ponting described it as 'rolled mud'.

The Duckworth Lewis score had Sri Lanka at the equivalent of 154 in a T20. Aust should have been comfortable chasing that.

Also, SL had a very long tail with Malinga at 8.

Drunky didn't hold back in the post match press conference.

"Australia escaped their most serious spin challenge in the tournament so far, thanks to the wash-out in Colombo, where they shared the points with Sri Lanka on a pitch Ricky Ponting described as "basically rolled mud". The ability of Australia's batsmen to handle top spinners in helpful conditions is one of the questions that has surrounded Ponting's side, which now has two wins and a no-result and sits third on the Group A table."

and...

""That wicket is vastly different to the wickets that have been used in the previous games that have been played here in this World Cup so far," Ponting said after the washout. "It seemed that they had a pretty good idea that it was going to be that slow and low and was going to spin a fair bit, hence the reason they played their spinners.

"You could tell that it was going to be a lot different than the wicket that was played on the day before, because you could see that one right beside it. That one had a bit of grass on it, and the one we were going to use today was basically rolled mud. It spun quite a bit early in the game. What you associate with most one-day wickets is they generally don't do much in the first innings of the game and they might just spin a bit towards the latter half of the second innings of the game. It appeared that this one was going to be a difficult one to chase runs on."

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Should he really have been surprised? I wasn't. And Sanga was playing Krazy and Smiffy easily.

Basil wrote:

PeterCS wrote:Not really. Were on course for about 270. Not enough.

Dunno Pete - the ball was turning enough to make Smifffy look like a competent spinner. I think the Lankan spinners would have had some fun on that pitch.

yeah and they were playing 3 frontline spinners

Genius bit of scheduling to have the England v South Africa match on at 9.30am Indian time. That means it starts in England at 4am and South Africa at 5am.

I wish Ponting would just shut up. EVERY game these days he's bitter or angry about something. It's around this time that a player of Ponting's age starts to think about his legacy, and he seems intent on being remembered as an angry, bitter fool.

When was the last time anything positive was written/said about Ponting?

And I reckon Aus would have struggled to chase anything over 250 on that pitch against Sri Lanka's attack.

God I love watching Sanga bat. It's amazing how much time he seems to have. Incredibly for a Sri Lankan batsman, he's a better player of pace than spin.

Henry wrote:Genius bit of scheduling to have the England v South Africa match on at 9.30am Indian time. That means it starts in England at 4am and South Africa at 5am.

so what? People in SA and England don't get up to pray Fajr?

No. A few people might still be up from the night before. Pissed, laughing, breaking furniture and tearing through packets of crisps whilst rollling joints and getting freaked out that Hashim Amla's beard appears to be talking to them.

Henry wrote:Genius bit of scheduling to have the England v South Africa match on at 9.30am Indian time. That means it starts in England at 4am and South Africa at 5am.

Means English fans only have to endure one innings. It's mercy scheduling.

Henry wrote:Genius bit of scheduling to have the England v South Africa match on at 9.30am Indian time. That means it starts in England at 4am and South Africa at 5am.

You say that like you're surprised, Trev. Since when did the Bannies and the ICC (interchangable) ever GAF about anyone but Bannies?

Henry wrote:I wish Ponting would just shut up. EVERY game these days he's bitter or angry about something. It's around this time that a player of Ponting's age starts to think about his legacy, and he seems intent on being remembered as an angry, bitter fool.

When was the last time anything positive was written/said about Ponting?

I have to agree, Trev. He seems to have to have a bleat at every press conference. I saw the press conference and in this instance he didn't come across as angry and bitter - he was quite calm - but it was still a whinge nonetheless. Clearly suffers from small man syndrome.

Not sure why he's moaning about a Lankan wicket being low slow and taking spin? Standard fare surely?

As for the Eng/SA game, it's more about regaining a bit of confidence than the result - Englands world cup is going to hinge on beating the Banglas. SA seem to be everyones favourites for the tournament, despite which we've won 6 of the last 8 meeting I think.

I'll not get to see this as i'm out tomorrow morning but I wont be surprised if we take a total hammering or we play a blinder and beat them.

I don't know what team England will play. Surely Anderson must be dropped for Shahzad, and Bopara for Yardy.

England seems to have the wood on SA of late.

The sad fact is (sad as regards the scheduling) it is probably not going to matter one way or the other for the tournament.

Yes, okay, if England also continue their NL/IRL form into the Bangla game and lose that too, then they are probably out.

But the Poms could beat SAf and simply get hammered once the QF comes, or else get buried by SAf and still qualify. .... and then get hammered in the QF.

Unless they shake off their lethargy, inertia and general appallingness.

Still the poms would prefer to make the quarters than not, regardless of what might happen then. In any case they could find themselves playing Pakistan on an 'off' day for the men in green.

To be honest, in big matches i'd back England to come to the party ahead of quite a few other sides.

England just struggles against the minnows. You'd expect them to play much better against the saffers than they did against the Irish or Dutch.