General Cricket Thread (It's Come Home)

Only got to see the second half of the second innings as I slept in making up for the week's lack of it, but it was pretty fun all up. There are two ways of looking at what happened, that Australia's batting is pants yet again relying on Warner and Haddin to post half reasonable scores, or that Australia's bowling is so lethal they can almost defend a measly 150 odd runs with their current attack. I feel very confident in saying that with the sheer level of skill on display from the bowling attack that they'd have won with even another 30 runs on the board.

Still I never really was backing Australia to win this match, they haven't played for ages because of rain and New Zealand is on insane form, I just expected to see high scores from both sides really.

And England have now lost every game against a Test-playing nation in their group. Meanwhile SA have lost to India, and Zimbabwe, after a couple of spirited games, are out of it.

Both from a nationalistic and a sweepstake point of view, my WC is in ruins. What time do the Tests start again?

Judging from this thread and the BBC Sport articles I've skimmed, world cricket has been shaken up somewhat at this tournament. It's always fun when that happens.

Not really, as far as I could tell! Although the associates (i.e. four "worst" teams in the competition) have given really good accounts of themselves on the whole, and plans to exclude them from future tournaments may have been changed, so that's good.

On the other hand, things in the top ten are more or less the same as ever, with the exception of New Zealand coming really good.

• Australia are good;
  
• South Africa are good but have brain fades;
  
• England perform far below their theoretical potential;
  
• India suddenly come good in major competitions having been shocking beforehand;
  
• The West Indies are shite.

Honestly at this point I'd call England's performance a straight up embarrassment. Right now they suffer the same problem Australia has in reverse and more severe. They have a solid batting line up, but the bowling attack is downright pathetic. I can't speak about the specifics because I didn't see the match, but if you're letting the opposing team chase down over 300 runs while only losing a single wicket then you're doing something extremely wrong. Although I suspect it has more to do with awful field placing and less not having skilled bowlers to work with, the ones I've seen in the past seemed fairly decent and should have at least made Sri Lanka work for that win, although even the best bowlers in the world will have poor showings if the fielding and placing of the fielders is absolutely rubbish.

Afghanistan have a better bowling attack than England confirmed.

I AM SHAPOOR ZADRAN HEAR ME ROAR.



England seem to have disintegrated mentally. Again.

Shapoor does seem to be their big danger player having taken two wickets.  England should take notes.  On a side note I love it when bowlers have that hair style.


Wow, I just have to comment on that wicket just now and say that was one hell of a ripper Hassan just pulled, perfect yorker that went straight in to the stumps, awesome stuff.

My two teams are playing each other on Tuesday, I understand. Everything's coming up Zero!

Australia won a cracker of a match against Sri Lanka yesterday securing their place in the quarter finals.  Excellent play from both teams, Australia looking like they're about to enter lethal form with their batting finally picking up.  

Meanwhile the England v Bangladesh match is underway, this should quiet the even match!  So far Bangladesh are 4 for 184, a good start.  

So, for those wondering about current state of the rankings and which teams are doing well:

Pool A
-New Zealand are the top winning all of their matches thus far
-Australia are second having won three of the four matches they've played, joining NZ in reaching the quarter finals in pool A
-The final two quarter finalist spots are up for grabs with Bangladesh, England, and Afghanistan currently tussling over the fourth spot, Sri Lanka look set to claim one as well
-Scotland yet to win a match and unlikely to do so with their final two matches being against Sri Lanka and Australia in that order

Pool B
-India in to the Quarter finals to nobodies surprise having won five out of their six matches and poised to destroy Zimbabwae, their next opponents
-A close tussle between South Africa, Pakistan, and Ireland all of whom are on six points with the former two having played five matches and won 3 of them
-UAE yet to win a match, might have a chance against the West Indies




Bangladesh are now at 225, and Mahmudullah got a century!

And Bangladesh's innings is over!  7 for 275, a nice score considering the tier they are and the tier England is supposed to be.  The question is which England is going to show up, the farce of a team or the top 4 in the world caliber team.  If it's the latter then 275 should be fairly easy to get, if it's the latter... well, lets just say England's tournament could be over.  Realistically they should get this though, and that's where I'd be putting my money if I was betting on this match.  That said, I kinda want bangladesh to win.  

Yup, that's pretty much the state of things. Best second-string team looks like it's going to be Ireland or the Windies.

Oh my ceasar salad this is actually happening!    England are 137 for 5 wickets!  Can Root and Buttler save this?  We shall see.

Uh-oh, England is in serious doo-doo now, Root is gone and now the tail begins.  163 for 6.


IT'S OVER, England are out of the world cup, Bangladesh are through to the quarter finals! Bangladesh have won in a nail biter of a match, ten balls left, fifteen runs to chase, and it's all over. I had a feeling with the way England had been playing this sort of upset was on the cards, but I'll admit I didn't quiet think it would happen.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

From the moment that Morgan got out for a duck, the game became a farce. Good on Bangladesh, they deserve it.

So, Bangladesh are out of the world cup. I heard it on the radio and everything. Whoo! Cricket knowledge and shit.

Is all I have to say

That is honestly pretty much what I'm saying.

Bit of an update for those who aren't following this but have vested interests because of the sweepstakes, the four quarter finalists from Pool A have been finalized, and their placings are likely going to be:

1.) New Zealand, with 10 points they are now fixed as first of the Pool
2.) Australia, currently sitting at 7 points and are likely to finish with 9 after the inevitable trouncing of their next opponents, Scotland
3.) Sri Lanka, currently sitting at fourth position tied with Bangladesh with 6 points, after a ongoing match they will have 8 temporarily putting them second before Australia's final match
4.) Bangladesh, currently tied with Sri Lanka their final match will be against New Zealand, so despite currently sitting third on the tables they will be fourth once all the matches have concluded

Not much change but figured I'd do it anyway, once Pool B finishes some more matches their results will become clearer.

Another day, another match, or rather two matches.  The dead rubber between Afghanistan and England, and the showdown between New Zealand and Bangladesh.  England can finally have some consolation that they won two matches, granted the Afghanistan one was heavily impacted by rain, but given how pressured Afghanistan was it's unlikely that their score would have been much higher than the 111 they got. Figures that England finally gets in to top class fitness after they've basically been eliminated, going by todays match maybe they could have actually done something if they'd advanced.  Oh well, the previous results were absolutely appalling so their elimination is entirely deserved.

They can also take some consolation from the fact that Bangladesh's performance the other day may not have been entirely luck and suckage on England's part, the match they had today with New Zealand, a team that is currently playing far above England's level, gave New Zealand a real scare.  The match came right down to the wire, with less than two overs to spare and only three wickets remaining New Zealand just managed to scrape together Bangladesh's total of 288.  And remember, their tail isn't a tail known for wagging like Australia's is, so if they'd lost another wicket they would have likely lost.  Bangladesh are on crackling form, especially for a team of their stature.

All up a good day of cricket, with a thrilling match that almost saw the top ranked team of pool A upset by Bangladesh.  

Tomorrow: The two top teams in the tournament, India and Australia, take on two of the weakest teams in the tournament, Zimbabwe and Scotland.  I'm on the edge of my seat over these matches, especially Australia's!  

If I'm absolutely honest I'm actually more excited for sunday rather than saturday, as we'll be seeing the matches that will determine the final rankings of Pool B with the West Indies taking on the UAE (surely they'll win that!) and Ireland taking on Pakistan in a match that will not only determine who plays who in the Quarter Finals, but also whether Ireland or the West Indies take the fourth spot in Pool B.  In fact giving the pool another look Sunday could see some very unexpected results, right now Ireland and Pakistan sit with three wins each and the West indies with two, assuming the West indies win their match (which given the UAE is almost a joke entry in terms of skill you would assume they will) they will all for a short time have three wins each.  

So whoever wins the Pakistan v Ireland match will secure their place in the quarter finals, while the loser will tie with the West Indies and be potentially usurped depending on which team has the better run rates (Ireland would probably lose, Pakistan could go either way having better RR's against them but having noticeably less for them than the West indies).  All up it's safe to say that the fight for the final spot in Pool B is heating up, and a very exciting day looms!

At last the Pool matches are over, and the elimination round begins!!  The West indies were on form today and slaughtered the UAE, meanwhile Pakistan stomped Ireland in a pseudo elimination match sending them home.  Without further ado,

The Quarter Final Match Ups:

Match 1
Sri Lanka vs South Africa

Match 2
India vs Bangladesh

Match 3
Australia vs Pakistan

Match 4
New Zealand vs West Indies


All in all most of the teams expected to make it this far have, with the exception being the England team who after a downright pathetic showing in this tournament have, as we all already know, been deservedly eliminated.  A few surprises of course, who would have expected Bangladesh to make it this far when the tournament started?  Now the stage is set for the worlds top 8 teams to duke it out for the world cup in good old fashioned elimination style.  Let the games begin.

Shame about Ireland. I quite fancied them to get through. Athrun's crashed out, the rest of us still have a shot at the £20.

So, the £10 bracket is down to the WIndies (Dead Lemon) and Bangladesh (Treesmurf, who's well in the running to win both brackets despite being the only one of us who hasn't posted in the thread at all).

I think I'm going to tell him that he's won in this thread, and that he has to respond to my post to get the winnings.

Mas formally bows out of the sweepstake.

In other news, Jonathan Trott in the Test squad for the Windies! Kemar Roach is no Mitchell Johnson, but I'm really happy to see Trotty trotting about the pitch again.

I was laughing at the coverage of this on the news today, the bods on the ABC seemed to be acting as if Australia is definitely reaching the grand final and a showdown between South Africa or New Zealand, not even a mention of their strong possibility of losing in the semi's to one of the best teams in the world and reigning champs India, who because South Africa will be facing the winner of the NZ v WI match is therefore who Australia is facing in their semi final, should they even make it that far.  Which, granted, is likely, but we all know the phrase about Pakistan, you never know whether the team who shows up is top of the world material or the lower ranked team.  If it's the former Australia might well be packing their bags tomorrow.  

Honestly I half want to see Australia lose to India just so I can laugh at the commentators underestimating India.  Yeah, who I cheer for in a sports match can be that fickle and petty.

Oh, and India is through if my above rant didn't make that obvious.

Sorry Mas. And, go South Africa!

India is possibly the team I want to win the WC least. They won it last time, they have far too much money, and they're largely responsible for the excess of T20 cricket that crawls across our fair sport like a vile plague. I'd like to see NZ or SA win it, and of the two, I think that NZ is more likely.

Honestly I think NZ are about to start struggling after their next match.  They may be the number one team in the Pool, but they barely beat a extremely under-performing australia who weren't match fit, and I can't stress enough how much they struggled against them.  Every team from here on is heads and shoulders better than Australia was on that day.  Even Australia has its work cut out for it and it's the second best team in the world, but with how they played today they won't beat India unless they take their game up to the next level.    

As for t20, I'm fine with it as long as people like the ones I know irl don't expect me to give it even a slight amount of attention.  Having said that it did basically save both other forms of the game from death outside the sub-continent so it gets a bit of grudging praise from me for that at least.

Oh, and while I'm here, the semi's for those who aren't following this blow by blow are:

Semi Finals

Semi-Final 1
South Africa v New Zealand/West Indies

Semi-Final 2
Australia v India

Whatever happens my money is on semi 2 being the match of the tournament, the two best teams in the world going head to head, gonna be great to watch, pretty much the de facto grand final really.