T20 World Cup: Live Matches Discussion

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Please feel free to discuss every ball of the 2012 T20 World Cup here.

Who do you think will win?

that certainly wasnt out.. but !! thats cricket

looking at that Sangakkara wicket again, Swann and Bairstow go straight up in unison, which makes me think there's something there. Can't see what else it could be but bat on ball? and looking carefully at the ball I think there's a slight wobble in the seam position as it passes the edge, so I think that's a very good decision.

poor finish to the over from Broad unfortunately, rubbish full toss. too many dots for SL you still think though...

True Bairstow looks more backstop than keeper ...but in fairness those low snicked balls from fast bowlers often evade better men than him...the change of direction makes it tricky.

Broad very tight here...four dots...but then two fours ...

Not much running between wickets going on

this is a bit brainless from Mendis actually, he's just playing the big shot every ball for some reason, so far gets away with it. Bairstow struggling in that over, but they were both really tough takes.

Is it "good bye" to Bairstow as an international wicketkeeper?

Bairstow does well there, maybe a fumble but saves three runs...

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Is it "good bye" to Bairstow as an international wicketkeeper?

When are you leaving for Durham, Corporal?

So Swann is done now ...hope Bopara can do the business here as Sri Lanka could get away a bit , and I really don't fancy chasing 160 plus...actually very decent over from Ravi there.

But with six more overs , at 104/3 , I fear for England unless they can bag a wicket or two soon...

The odd thing about Bairstow the 'keeper is that Yorkshire have, in the past, trusted him with the gloves in 4-day cricket despite having the very competent Gerard Brophy also in the squad (Brophy has now been released, but I'd expect them to use Bairstow ahead of another good gloveman - Andrew Hodd - next season).

Either he is actually fairly decent, or Yorkshire just think its best for Jonny's career if he keeps as often as possible.

Patel looks to be the weak link today... I'd say we pull him out of the attack after this over.

very very poor over from Patel, who shouldn't have been bowling.

How much is this a "turning pitch"?

Enough that Mendis will actually get noticeable movement? Certainly you'd expect Dananjaya to be a threat.

Wheels coming off as Patel starting to make Dernbach look economical.....

there's the wicket, but it's come a good 20 runs too late. England desperately need a special finish here.

why did Patel bowl that over? Bopara clearly the better option...

Broad gets Mendis.

But chasing 160 on this pitch could be tough.

Disastrous over from Patel :

Not sure why he bowled it at all given Bopara was doing well...

(great , if fruitless , effort from Finn to "catch" that)

This is racing away from England now ...wicket ! Not before time , 126/4 Broad gets Mendis...and Matthews !!!

How quickly it can change

and that might just be the start of it, Broad makes Matthews play on and for the second time today an English bowler is on a hat-trick.

Now that makes things interesting, Broad on a hattrick

Perera the new batsman, nothing in his half please

brilliant from Dernbach

it is indeed all short at Perera, get it into his ribs...

Real Captain's effort there from Broad , 2/7 that over.

Big four overs coming up ...hope the three pace men are going to get this right

Finn up first...

Thirimanne at six is a poor option for SL. He's more of a classical player and Chandimal would therefore surely have been the better selection in that position.

Today would be a really good time for Derbach to live up to his ( rather dubious in my view) reputation as a "death" bowler.

That was an excellent over from Finn.

seriously SL? a short run? how very amateur...

brilliant finish from Finn, just two singles and a leg-bye from that over.

One handed sixes now !

Afraid Derbach is no Ryan Sidebottom ...

Dernbach coming back well from being whacked, but then bowls a length ball and is slapped over long-on for six. not good enough.

This could be 170 ...

Sorry but I reckon England are on their way home

He has the tools and has used them well before, but Dernbach's 'normal ball' is a real worry - at the top level his variations can only take him so far...

Could be Dernbach's last over for England for some time....

I think we can safely say that England's selections with regards to the bowlers backfired...

Dernbach's mythical England career coming to an end.

Do we give Dernbach the last over? Or go to Ravi? (or even Wright?)

Broad gets unlucky there, he outguesses Thirimane but it's edged for four more, everything going SL's way. Bowls him next ball, but this is going to be a huge ask for England to chase this down.

hindsight's a wonderful thing, but having produced their best bowling of the tournament in the previous game I'm staggered that England chose to make so many changes...

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Could be Dernbach's last over for England for some time....

Well, for at least five minutes.....

Personally I don't see why we dropped Briggs. Hopefully Patel will prve me wrong and get some runs, but I'd have much rather have had Briggs in the side tbh.

brainless from Broad, gifting an unnecessary overthrow.

good finish from England though, just 7 runs from the last 8 balls.

England will need something special from someone though to get close.

Not a terrible effort given SL's stronger suit is their batting.

If we forget England's troubles against anyone bowling off a run up shorter than five steps I'd give us a 50/50 chance. Sadly its more like 75/25 in the Sri Lankans favour when you consider that.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:I think we can safely say that England's selections with regards to the bowlers backfired...

Well as I said it before the game , I feel quite entitled now to suggest that swapping back to Dernbach and Patel after the last game defied logic and has quite likely cost England the match.
Of course I can't guarantee Briggs and Bresnan would have done better ...but hard to see how they could have been worse.

Much better last over from Dernbach , but the horse has bolted. 42 is way too many to concede. And Patel ...

Reckon this is 15-20 too many for England to chase.

We need a 70/80 from Morgan (or someone) here with good support from elsewhere.

I would add that how much the pitch turns has rarely been a significant factor in our recent spin travails - in the UAE only Abu Dhabi gave anything more than an ordinary level of assistance, and the pitches in SL weren't even exactly dust-bowls.

Hence its perhaps wrong to assume that because this pitch is a turner our (considerable) issues against spin will necessarily be exacerbated.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

hindsight's a wonderful thing, but having produced their best bowling of the tournament in the previous game I'm staggered that England chose to make so many changes...

Mad - that's not hindsight. Many here were unhappy with the bowling of Dernbach and Patel before the previous game. Having left them out for that and done well, it seems incredulous to have recalled them. Combined figures of 0-69 off 6 overs supports that.

Reading some madness from South African journalist Firdose Moonda, who thinks that dropping Amla and putting du Plessis up to open is a good idea...

SL have found an extra run from somewhere, maybe the short run was in fact a signal of "one for the over"?

England need to get after Matthews really...

that's OK, 7 from the first over...

Missed out on the entire Lanka innings. Dernbach is not good enough to play international cricket. The only change from the usual today was the all costly expensive over was his 3rd and not the 4th. Bresnan had done a much better job the other day.

Malinga should have opened the bowling. The 3 spinners and Malinga, England really have to get their act together if they have to progress.

Very surprised that SL haven't opened with Jeevan Mendis. Spin is much easier to play when off to a good start against the quicks.