Champions Trophy - England and Wales 2013

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Jayawardene does bugger all but scratch around for 18 balls looking horribly out of form, then comes down the track and smacks the bowler straight over his head for a six. Class!

Ball again. Jesus umpires, get on with it

Yeah msp it's meant to be belting down in Cardiff tomorrow

Kamran Akmal is gone, Ravichandran Ashwin strikes for India. Akmal edging an attempted sweep, the ball deflecting of Dhoni's pads for Kohli to take the catch. Kamran has walked as well, without waiting for the umpire's call. I am not one of those who insist players walk in the name of the spirit of the game, but I like those who do it.

6 fingered tractor boy wrote:Yeah msp it's meant to be belting down in Cardiff tomorrow

Will be a terrible shame if rain has the final say in who all progress from the other group.

Dhoni has taken Kumar off after an 8 over spell in which he had figures of 2-19. Umesh Yadav replaced him. Misbah-ul-Haque in a familiar damage control role. Perhaps he should bat one position up?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/22919249

Anyone shed any light on this? I missed England in the field so this is the first I've hears/seen of this. Anybody know who the player is who Giles/Willis are referring to?

If Willis really knew what was going on, he'd name the player. England were throwing it in on the bounce, which is pretty much what most do I think.

I didn't see any scratching of the ball, and with all the cameras around surely it'd have been picked up by one of them

Stupid Rain 

what a disgrace

OMG An indian fan has come onto the pitch and punched dhoni in the face. Bloody hell - he's poured his blood all over the pitch.

its bloody chaos, hes been jumped by the security guards and the pakistani fans have invaded the pitch. What the hell is going on

Someone needs to get Dhoni out f there, his nose is still dripping blood. Oh thank god, the riot police have arrived.

Finally Dhoni is taken care of, the pitch is just churned to pieces and covered in Dhonis blood - Ah - yeah Match abandoned - fair enough.

You b'stard, you had me believing you.

For anyone who fell for it - I'm sorry  the match is dull and I was making my own entertainment.

Been watching on & off but missed overs 30-35 & was cursing myself for not seeing the "incident".  Your posts were a bit more entertaining than the rain it has to be said.

I was watching bits of the India Pakistan game in the gym. This games sums up both sides campaign IMO

Short and Simple

India = Class

Pakistan = Crap

Another thing with India, they looked superb in the outfield. Can't look pass them to win this competition.

Rain had taken a lot of thrill out of the game but in between India found enough time to bowl Pakistan out for 165 under 40 overs and achieved the revised target of 102 in 22 overs quite easily, with 17 balls and 8 wickets remaining. Shikhar Dhawan leading the way yet again, with a 41 ball 48. Kohli, Sharma and Karthik also making contributions. With the ball Bhuvneshwar Kumar was superb up front. The spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja again came to the party, and Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav also didn't disgrace themselves. The fielding too remained good. So India win all their league matches to emerge as the clear toppers from their group.
Hopefully there will be a proper game of cricket tomorrow.

And that early spell of 8-2-19-2 has gained Bhuvneshwar Kumar the man of the match award.

Suspicions and an allegation from Bob Willis have brought about some questionmarks on England's revers swing skills. I really don't think there is much to those allegations and I don't think it is unfair to throw the ball on the bounce. If it helps reverse swing, its a perfectly legitimate tactic, and other sides should try doing the same and the umpires shouldn't get involved.
But there is a certain amount of irony here, England were at the forefront when wild charges were leveled against the Pakistan bowlers in the 1980s.

Cricinfo reports that Jonathan Trott is back to fitness and should be available for England tomorrow. But Tim Southee is a doubtful starter for New Zealand. The cricinfo preview expects no changes from England, but I will be seriously annoyed if they don't play Steven Finn.

By the way India's win today is their first, and as things stand the only one against Pakistan in the Champion's trophy.

Finn surely has to play? I mean come on, Bresnan is decent but Finn is a match winner

If we've been scratching the ball then well I'm ashamed. But seems to me we just throw it in on the bounce and generally don't take too much care with it. Nothing wrong with that.

Isn't Bob Willis just needlessly stirring? The cameras didn't pick anything up, and surely the umpires would have penalised England if they thought they were tampering. Nothing in it.

I think bob willis is trying to do england a favour and remove bops from consideration

Can everyone pray for sun in cardiff!

The only change is Tredwell for the injured Swann. No Finn amazingly

NZ have won the toss and put England into bat. Forecast is looking ok

No Swann? No Finn? England batting first? Pass the sick bucket, it's going to be a long sunday.

And here comes the rain

Duty - Has the england managemnt been on the raz!!

extra finger- balls..

I WANT SOME CRICKET

England are unfortunate to lose Graeme Swann for this very important contest. But James Tredwell is a more than handy replacement. However, they are being really stubborn with not playing Finn. Why does continuity in selection not apply to Finn? What has Bresnan done to merit selection over Finn? Has he promised to switch to Warwickshire from Yorkshire at the end of the season?

Losing Swann, losing the toss, and early rain. The odds are getting stacked against England. They need some positive batting up front if they get to bat at all. D/L does give the chasing team an advantage most of the times.

The report from cricinfo is that heavy rains should land around 1 PM UK time and last for a couple of hours at least. The rain has already delayed the start of the game. Looking more and more like a free pass for New Zealand into the next round.

WHY CAN'T THE RAIN JUST urine OF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

No start yet, and the rain has gone nowhere. Will we at least get to have a T-20 slugfest?

Weather looks awful for today. Weather also looks awful for tomorrow's game, so England might still be OK.

Bob Willis refused to name the player because he's not 100% sure about his allegation, and naming an individual could land him with a slander case to fight.


On today's match... what exactly is the point of playing cricket in Wales? It always rains and no-one in Wales is actually interested in watching international cricket. ECB need to have a serious rethink about using Cardiff as an international venue.

We have stitched ourselves up in every possible way in this CT!!

i just hope if we get some dry they start of with a 20/20

No signs of any cricket from Cardiff as yet.

England should have the better NRR at this point, so a couple of washouts should be to their advantage.

whats the chance of the other game being washed out?

According to BBC the rain is set in until mid-afternoon. Touch and go whether we can fit in a T20.

How good was Tresco btw !!

(replaying the 2004 eng v wi game)

I do think in the event like this, of the game being reduced before play even starts, both teams should be allowed to reselect lineups.

God I hope we wrap it up today, and don't have to wait for the Aussie/Lanka match tomorrow

It hasn't stopped raining as yet says cricinfo.

I suppose if both games get called off that will be decent enough.

But i want to see some cricket!!!

If both games get rained off, England will have to play India in the semi-final.

The rains getting heavier, suggests the latest update from cricinfo. New Zealand are getting closer to qualification. They hadly batted 50 overs in the entire tournament!.