ICC champions trophy.

The rain finally working for us!!! We fecked anyway though, we're not going to win this tournament. It's India's to lose IMO.
 
Yeah.. SA's bowling even with Steyn look too average to win this but you do have couple of batsmen to win any match for you
 
Ya, our bowling line-up is quite weak. Our batsmen will need to put up big scores but we do bat quite deep.

In a weird way it's an exciting team as there are hardly any senior players - just Amla, AB and Steyn.
 
Have a gut feeling that we'll play Vinay Kumar today. Death bowling is our weak point and Kumar is probably our best bowler for it.
 
crappycraperson said:
You only reached 293 yesterday because of that last over blitz by Bopara which was an anomaly. Other wise you would have been limited to 275-280 at best. That would have been definitely under par, even Cook said yesterday that 300 was par score on that pitch so that effort was nothing special and competent at best.

293 looks a good score but with new ODI rules and flat pitches about, you need 320+ on such pitches. Sri Lanka for me were never behind in their match as soon as that Dilshan-Sanga partnership took off, that tells you that runs were no where near enough.

The top 3 are good batsmen but Eng needs to mix it up a little. All the teams are facing two new balls, yet they are able to score runs at much more brisk pace at the start than England.
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So you'll call Bopara's run scoring an anomaly because it suits your point, but ignore the awful momentum killing lbw decision which was also an anomaly. In the position that England where in they were always looking to get close to 300, which they did.

Similarly, the comparative ease with which Sri Lanka scored runs, as I've already said, was due to bad captaincy and bowling I feel. Just because a total is chased down does not mean that enough runs were not scored. Case in point, the highest First Innings ODI score ever was successfully chased down. Conversely, Australia once defended 101 to win. Sometimes, more often than not I would argue, the bowling is more crucial than the batting.
 
Another batting masterclass from Pakistan. The top order got starts but no-one managed to kick on and get a big score. The rain delays did not help but we're at least 30 runs short of making it a competitive score.

On another note, just seen on SSN Bob Willis accuse England of ball tampering. Big accusation to make.
 
India's improvement in fielding and as a team unit has surprised me a little so far. Hope it is here to stay for a while yet.
 
NinjaFletch said:
So you'll call Bopara's run scoring an anomaly because it suits your point, but ignore the awful momentum killing lbw decision which was also an anomaly. In the position that England where in they were always looking to get close to 300, which they did.

Similarly, the comparative ease with which Sri Lanka scored runs, as I've already said, was due to bad captaincy and bowling I feel. Just because a total is chased down does not mean that enough runs were not scored. Case in point, the highest First Innings ODI score ever was successfully chased down. Conversely, Australia once defended 101 to win. Sometimes, more often than not I would argue, the bowling is more crucial than the batting.
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You are being obtuse on purpose. I called 28 runs off the last over an anomaly and even then you did not get to 300. Your captain himself said that 300 was at best on par on that wicket and you even did not get that much. Sanga too said that it was hard pitch for bowlers.
 
Pakistan's incompetence and the weather provided a damp squid.
 
One positive from the game was the atmosphere. Both sets of singing and dancing to the song "Yeh dosti hum nahi chhorenge" was sung all day during rain intervals.
 
Nice to see England once again not being able to push on from a strong start. Wouldn't be as galling if it weren't for the fact that every time a game is looking tight, our bowlers get smashed all over the place at the death of the game. Broad usually the main culprit. Good thing Cook and Root built that partnership because the rest of the team has been horrific.
 
Disaster for England! Put down the catch and leave Ronchi there to eat up some more overs...

Shocking start to his New Zealand career, scores of: 0, 2, 22, 7, 14, 2 from his first 6 games.
 
McCullum gone! Rain is now the big barrier to England.

Have to get 8 and a bit wickets sharpish
 
Ironically losing wickets is probably the only hope New Zealand have now, by taking as much time as possible between each wicket. Might just drag the game out long enough for rain to take effect.
 
That's a big call. Looked a no ball to me, nothing behind the line.
 
Brilliant catch. SL into the semis.

Reckon it will be India-England final. India to win it all
 
South Africa 4-2 after Finn and Anderson remove Amla and Ingram in their respective first overs.
 
Treadwell is a very good ODI spinner, Swann's injuries have been a bit of a blessing in disguise in many ways.
 
NinjaFletch said:
Treadwell is a very good ODI spinner, Swann's injuries have been a bit of a blessing in disguise in many ways.
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:lol: his nude balls certainly took a few wickets today. This is a good fightback from the tail. Will make the game interesting. Can see England really chasing 200 or under without any trouble though.

Another shit ball gets a wicket.
 
Trust England to let a team make the highest ever 9th wicket partnership at the Champions Trophy when a team is 80-8.
 
He's learning, and he's only been in the role a few months and has a good record so far... Sure he can be what appears to be too conservative, but when he gets criticised for that it hasn't backfired on him so far as far as I can tell so its hard to exactly slag him off for it yet. South Africa put on more runs than would be expected given their initial situation, but 176 should be a pretty straightforward chase, it wasn't like the people in that stand were no hopers, they could both clearly bat. Thing's like that happen from time to time. Look at the Aussies against Sri Lanka where they somehow nearly won and put on a last wicket stand of 41 despite neither of the batsmen having any pedigree.
 
JulesWinnfield said:
He's learning, and he's only been in the role a few months and has a good record so far... Sure he can be what appears to be too conservative, but when he gets criticised for that it hasn't backfired on him so far as far as I can tell so its hard to exactly slag him off for it yet. South Africa put on more runs than would be expected given their initial situation, but 176 should be a pretty straightforward chase, it wasn't like the people in that stand were no hopers, they could both clearly bat. Thing's like that happen from time to time. Look at the Aussies against Sri Lanka where they somehow nearly won and put on a last wicket stand of 41 despite neither of the batsmen having any pedigree.
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He's been ODI captain for more than a few months, 2 years in fact.

I think he's just a painfully orthodox captain, who won't deviate from the plan even when it needs to be done.

You're right that it hasn't come back to haunt him yet, but he's had a few lucky escapes where you would hope that that would have scared him into being a little bit more aggressive.

Don't get me wrong, I like Cook and think he's a wonderful batsman in the two formats he plays in and I don't think his captaincy is bad, I just think he's ordinary in a team where he gets away with it because the team is more often than not very good.
 
NinjaFletch said:
He's a very ordinary captain of a good side.

Thank god this England team doesn't need a top quality captain as much as it used to.
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Captaincy is over-rated - Brearley is still lauded for it while scoring a miserable average of 23 (cf Cook at 49).
 
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