I don't like cricket, oh no, I love it!


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It's South Africa.

Maybe it won't be a rain delay turning 22 off 13 balls into 22 off 1 ball.

Maybe it won't be Herschelle Gibbs dropping Steve Waugh.

Maybe it won't be Allan Donald forgetting to run.

Maybe they won't assume they've won when D/L makes it a tie and eliminates them.

But you know they'll mess it up somehow.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

...and the emergency departments of Australasia are swamped with a record number of heart attacks.


That 6.... Argh


I love cricket right now, but it isn't good for the heart...

Edit: Almost guaranteed for top qualifier from the pool now though. So that's nice!


I am wondering If we should change the title of the thread, It was a play on 10CCs Dreadlock Holiday "I don't like cricket, oh no, I love it!" ....


That's what I've always assumed the thread title was a reference to, don't change it as that's a great song. (And why my post had to start with 'I love cricket' just before.)

Though the English Paizonians part is a little dated now...


Well the England women actually managed to win their twenty-twenty series, to my surprise, and, once there weren't any more 2017 qualification points at stake, took the last two matches to actually win the 50 over series, too.
As far as the (men's) world cup in Australia & New Zealand goes, presumably New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka to go through from Pool A. And if Australia meet New Zealand in the competition final, presumably the 'recent result' (meaning the eight wicket win by New Zealand in the group game in Wellington) will spur the Baggy Greens on in their quest to take the trophy.


New Zealand won by 1 wicket.... And multiple heart attacks.


The 8th Dwarf wrote:
New Zealand won by 1 wicket.... And multiple heart attacks.

My apologies. I was sure I'd seen 'eight wickets' in a report somewhere. I have checked the official BBC scorecard, and see it was indeed only one.

Looks good for Australia to win the contest, then, at least out of the teams in their 'pool'.


I think the Poms can get their act together. I Watched a lot of the game against Sri Lanka. The batsmen did a good job, Root was a star obviously- if Joe can inspire your boys and your bowlers can focus you are in with a chance.

I think it maybe a South Africa - India final.

I can see the hunger in those two teams.


The 8th Dwarf wrote:

I think the Poms can get their act together. I Watched a lot of the game against Sri Lanka. The batsmen did a good job, Root was a star obviously- if Joe can inspire your boys and your bowlers can focus you are in with a chance.

I think it maybe a South Africa - India final.

I can see the hunger in those two teams.

I don't see India beating Australia in any one day match played in Australian conditions in this tournament; not if Australia have all their front-line players injury-free and available, and given the recent triangular series results. If an elimination match takes place in New Zealand, (I'm not sure at this point who is going to play who where) I'd have thought the conditions would still likely be friendlier to the Australians than India. But: I suppose it's possible that Australia might get South Africa, not India, in an early round elimination match, and that could be tough for the Australians. Otherwise, who else is going to knock Australia out, pre-finals? West Indies, maybe, if Gayle goes completely berserk and hits something like 200 runs off a hundred and twenty balls?

The England women's team's male counterparts are all but out of the competition now, having lost to Sri Lanka. Bangladesh got a point out of their game with Australia, due to rain, remember, and the women's team's male counterparts have taken an absolute hammering in some of their matches, which hasn't exactly helped their net run rate. All it needs is a further draw or win for Bangladesh in one of their games against New Zealand and 'England', (and a win of course for Bangladesh against Scotland) and the England women's male counterparts are completely stuffed, whatever else they do. They needed to beat Sri Lanka, they failed badly, and irrespective what they do now, they're not going to make the quarter-finals unless they get results elsewhere going in their favour.


And with Bangladesh's victory over Scotland, with overs and wickets to spare, the England women's team's male counterparts move one step closer to sliding out of their contest in an inglorious fashion...

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

And with Bangladesh's victory over Scotland, with overs and wickets to spare, the England women's team's male counterparts move one step closer to sliding out of their contest in an inglorious fashion...

Not all is lost for England though.

It won't rain in Adelaide, and England should beat Bangladesh to take out 4th spot in the pool. They'll line up against India in the first QF, who they've just beaten a couple of times in the recent Tri-series on the same grounds.


From where I'm sitting, the Adelaide game feels to me like a Bangladesh win at the time of this post. The recent tri-series games against India aside, 'England' are on a spectacular losing streak of late (they went down something like 1-6 in Sri Lanka), and games in the shorter format which they 'should win' seem to be ones in recent history which they have in fact ended up ignominiously losing. (E.G. the last game with Ashley Giles in charge, against the Netherlands.)
And even if 'England' beat Bangladesh by some fluke (and maybe with a couple of controversial umpiring decisions going their way), they still then have to somehow defeat Afghanistan and to cross their fingers and desperately hope that Bangladesh don't get at least a point against New Zealand at Hamilton and go through on superior net run-rate.


Well done Bangladesh. Deserved it. Perhaps with what's happened at this tournament the idea of cutting down the number of teams at the next will go away.

Now if only Afghanistan can put in a performance, it just might stop all the papering-over of cracks that's going on and force England to consider leaning how the One-Day game has changed.


And 'England' go down to Bangladesh. As I posted a couple of days ago, I had a feeling that that was going to happen...
If the England women's male counterparts aren't throwing matches, the entire setup when it comes to team selection and team management is called into question by this latest world cup exit. (And goodness help them if they lose to Afghanistan now.)
Unfortunately, I suspect the result at the England and WalesCricket Board may be either 'Paaaaanic!!!! We need MORE MANAGEMENT!!!!!!' (when as I commented in an earlier post, I suspect that over-management, and too many analysts and statisticians may be part of the current problem) or 'Meh. We got unlucky. No need to change anything, especially not with having changed coaches only recently.'
I hope Morgan doesn't get the sack as captain over this. He was tossed in at the deep end as captain with only a few months to go until this contest, and I'd like to see him captain a one-day series at home, at least, before they fire him, if they're going to do so.


Well that should be a relief for the England women's team's male counterparts. They managed to win in a rain-reduced match against... Afghanistan.
Meanwhile Geoffrey Boycott seems to have gone into controlled-panic mode about the prospects of the Test team. He's calling for the recall of Johnathan Trott. Trott was of course last seen at international level falling apart against the Australians. And with an Ashes summer coming up.
To give Sir Geoffrey his due, he isn't calling for Trott to be pitched straight in against the Australians; he wants to see him play in the West Indies, first. On my own part, I'm not sure if Trott will have had time to get himself back together yet and be able to cope with international level cricket again, given how badly it seems to me that the media portrayed that he fell apart 'down under', but maybe he's more resilient than I give him credit for. (I remember that when Marcus Trescothick had his trouble with mental illness, that that was simply it for his international career. :( )


Looks like an Australia vs Pakistan quarter-final unless I misread something. Should be an easy match for Australia (good team, home conditions), unless the 'cricketing geniuses' version of Pakistan turn up. (Trouble is, it's never clear which version of Pakistan are going to appear on the field on any given day.)


???
What just happened to Sri Lanka? (In Sydney.)
For a major one-day side to be walloped like that by nine wickets...
South Africa definitely *not* 'choking' in this quarter-final.

In the meantime, in other news, Charlotte Edwards' male test-team counterpart (as captain) has apparently been quoted saying he thinks it was wrong for him to be dropped from the one-day side. Not a good sign for his team, as it seems to me that at this point he ought to be focusing on the forthcoming West Indies tour, not going 'if' and 'maybe' about decisions taken months ago for a different format of the game.


And the 'other' Pakistan team turn up (with some exceptions in the bowling department) and Australia march relentlessly on... :)


Bluenose wrote:

It's South Africa.

Maybe it won't be a rain delay turning 22 off 13 balls into 22 off 1 ball.

Maybe it won't be Herschelle Gibbs dropping Steve Waugh.

Maybe it won't be Allan Donald forgetting to run.

Maybe they won't assume they've won when D/L makes it a tie and eliminates them.

But you know they'll mess it up somehow.

This time with AB de Villiers messing up a run out chance, though you also had two fielders colliding when going for a catch. But it's another entry in the Saffers fine tradition of mucking up semi-finals.

Even if a South African did hit the winning runs.


Bluenose wrote:
Bluenose wrote:

It's South Africa.

Maybe it won't be a rain delay turning 22 off 13 balls into 22 off 1 ball.

Maybe it won't be Herschelle Gibbs dropping Steve Waugh.

Maybe it won't be Allan Donald forgetting to run.

Maybe they won't assume they've won when D/L makes it a tie and eliminates them.

But you know they'll mess it up somehow.

This time with AB de Villiers messing up a run out chance, though you also had two fielders colliding when going for a catch. But it's another entry in the Saffers fine tradition of mucking up semi-finals.

Even if a South African did hit the winning runs.

Still: that's going to be one more South-African born player in this final of this contest than there have been England players in a final of this contest for goodness knows how long...


The Kiwis are looking very dangerous.


The 8th Dwarf wrote:
The Kiwis are looking very dangerous.

So do Australia. So long as Australia beat India to reach the final (highly probable to my mind), are in good spirits, and field a full-strength team, I think it'll need a miracle (getting the rub of the green in umpiring decisions included under that heading) for New Zealand to win.

Now, if the Australians reach the final but for some reason have had a collapse in self-belief, or panic in a most un-Australian fashion, New Zealand could thrash them.
Still, all other things being equal, at this stage I'd favour Australia.


I felt sorry for the SAs....odd feeling, when it comes to Rugby I don't think I could repeat it. The springboks must be crushed.


Oh god if the Kiwis win we won't hear the end of it for decades. They still moan about the underarm incIdent.

I would rather lose to India.


ME NEITHER


Well, India certainly had their moments - managing to break the Australian second wicket stand before it put the game completely out of their reach, and getting off to a good start when they batted - but it turned out in the end not to be nearly enough.
Final is Australia vs New Zealand.
New Zealand badly need the wheels to fall off the Australian one-day team juggernaut if they're going to have any chance of an even contest.


Was having trouble sleeping this morning, so turned the radio on and New Zealand soon reached 150 or so for three, and were going quite well. And then the powerplay struck, and New Zealand collapsed in a fashion that ought to have the England men's team scratching their heads over whether New Zealand have infringed one of their trademark styles of play?...
Congratulations to Australia.
:)


Australia is "the" One day format machine...sadly I don't enjoy their cricket as much because they are a bunch of dicks.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

The 8th Dwarf wrote:
Australia is "the" One day format machine...sadly I don't enjoy their cricket as much because they are a bunch of dicks.

C'mon, there's a certain satisfaction at being the villains of the pantomime.


I would if they wore the big false villain moustaches and twirled them....

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

Are you saying there's not enough mo's in Australian cricket?


Yes, Only one of those is a current moustache.


The England men's team are apparently so desperate for runs that they've just tied a two day warmup match with St. Kitts, having spent so long batting.
St. Kitts 59 all out (first innings)
England 379 for 6 declared (first innings - and only two of those were 'retired out')
St. Kitts 76 for 7 (second innings - St. Kitts only had to survive one session to draw the match, after England left it until teatime on the second day to declare)


Vale Ritchie Benaud you were Marvelous.


The 8th Dwarf wrote:
Vale Ritchie Benaud you were Marvelous.

<brief respectful silence>


Ahem. Well that was a new point in recent humiliations for the England men's test team. Going by the result of a 'draw' in the first test of their current Caribbean tour, they are now about as good as the West Indies.
Oh what that would have meant three or four decades ago.
Oh what a different thing it means now.

Low scores yet again for Cook. Trott failed to impress on his recall. (Personally I think they recalled Trott a season too soon.) Bell scored in one innings but fluffed his lines in the other. Oh, and the much trumpeted England bowling attack couldn't manage to take twenty West Indian wickets. (Only bright point on that latter count is that they did manage to get Chanderpaul out twice.) And in the meantime, apparently the selectors can't make up their minds which spin-bowlers to play, wanting another one out in the West Indies, but not being willing to send one they're not currently using back home.
The Australians are going to eat this lot on toast, come the England summer, unless they pull their socks up fairly sharpish.


Ditch trott, rest ok for now......flat flat pitch......

Sovereign Court

This test has gone weird: expecting spin and it rains so we get swing instead...
Windies final pair build the innings...

What do we have?
A middle order, a decent-length tail.

What do we lack?
An opening pair, an attack.

Best case scenario?
Cook finds form, Lyth comes in and proves he can cut it, Anderson and Broad play into their form of 2/3 years ago.

Worst case scenario?
Trott keeps being picked despite being Wafty McFidget
Cook snicks the ball after 10 runs every match
Anderson and Broad tire themselves out

Miracles we need?
A full-on pace bowler with sufficient accuracy
Cook getting back-to-back centuries
Jordan, Ali, Stokes to add 15 to their average each and take wickets reliably.


On 'Anderson and Broad tire themselves out', that seems to me inevitable given the summer coming up, unless they rest them from, say, the New Zealand Test series. (But could this England team beat New Zealand without Anderson and Broad???)


And West Indies come back and level the series, needing only three days to win the third and last match.
One statistic which has jumped out at me about this last test:
Buttler (English batsman/wicket-keeper) has scored 38 runs in total in this third test. In the second innings of this test, after Buttler missed a chance to stump Blackwood when Blackwood was on only 4 runs, Blackwood went on to score a total of 47 runs. Buttler has scored a total of five less runs in the match than a man he failed to get out made in the second innings made after Buttler missed a chance to remove him.
Now granted that Buttler was not out in both his innings, but if England are going to play a batsman-keeper who misses chances to get opposition batsmen out, maybe he should at least be playing higher up the order to try to score more runs to offset those misses?

Generally speaking, Trott seems to have fluffed too many of his lines this series, and on a pitch which turned in this third test England's selected spin-options seem to have been ineffective for too many overs (if not outright inexpensive at times).
Bell hasn't exactly covered himself in glory in the match either - two ducks. (Didn't do much in the second test either, but maybe he was still tired from his big century in the first innings in the first test.)

England still strike me as a team on the way down, or at least bumping along the bottom, whilst the West Indies (credit to them) seem to be finding some spirit/fight and on their way back to being at least one of the better, if not the best, teams in the world.
Unless Graves and Strauss (the latter rumoured to be appointed to England management soon?) can get a grip on things, England men's outlook not good for the summer. Wonder if things will get desperate enough for a recall of Pietersen to the side? (Even if the latter doesn't happen, by failing to win this series, England have certainly left it open as a topic of speculation for the summer.)


Nice to see James Anderson highlighted for England's man of the series. He's tried, and done his best to win the series for England, at every opportunity. Series might have been a West Indies win, without Anderson.


As the batting through the team strategy has failed its time to
Ditch trott
Proper spinner even if he can't bat
Drop broad for a bit
Proper number 11 needed.....so a big youth who thunders in for short spell
Butler up the order

For the love of my sanity.....make the English pitches this summer be lively.....we bowl terrible on lifeless ones

Sovereign Court

Charles, I'm not sure about your criticism of Butler. One missed stumping does not invalidate his talents and he should really be batting at six.
We should have started with Lith for Trott and dropped Stokes for Rashid in the final test:
Cook
Lith
Ballance
Bell
Root
Butler
Ali
Jordan
Rashid
Anderson
Broad

It's a shame the experiment with Moeen at 2 didn't work: hiding two secondary spinners in the batting would be alright with a decent front-line spinner.

I was discussing the summer with two colleagues, an Ozzy and a Pakistani. They both thought that the Ashes would be such a hammering that, from a neutral perspective, they'd rather watch the New Zealand tests. I had to agree.

Sovereign Court

On the flip-side.

It's nice to see the Windies play some proper test cricket.


Well, on the positive side for Cook and his Merry Mummers there's always an outside chance that due to the British weather this coming summer, the Australians might not be able to whitewash them 5-0. :D
On the negative side, the 134 run first innings lead that New Zealand ran up in the current test doesn't exactly inspire confidence of Cook and company providing sufficient resistance to even tie the upcoming Ashes series against the Australians. :(


4th day at Lords, and Alistair Cook has managed to lead something of a rearguard action. If he can last long enough on the morning of the 5th day, England might be able to amass too many runs for New Zealand to get a win in whatever overs are left.
Chances of a draw looking much better for Cook than they were 24 hours ago.

Liberty's Edge RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

Good setup for the last day, with all four results still possible. England losing 4-50 in the first 10 overs would set the match up nicely for a tense finish.


That was... unexpected.
An improbably good bowling performance by Alistair Cook's side, including by Anderson and Stokes, and New Zealand couldn't quite hang on.
Cook manages a win and the next 'coming of a NEW BOTHAM!!!!' bandwagon starts rolling, with Stokes this time being proclaimed as 'The second coming of Beefy!'

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