2015 World Cup

First topic message reminder :

March

Semi-finals

24 Semi-final 1, South Africa v New Zealand, Auckland (01:00 GMT)

26 Semi-final 2, India v Australia, Sydney (03:30 GMT)

Final

29 Final, Melbourne (05:30 BST)

Hi Duty - good start by Ireland. 47/0 off 7. Neither Porterfield or Stirling being overawed.

Heard someone on Sky suggest par as 295. My immediate thought is that's on the low side. Seems a small ground with short boundaries. Kevin O'Brien might enjoy batting here although I fear for his bowling.

Nice start.

Cannot bowl short on this wicket.

It has been a nice batting effort from Ireland to post 259, but another good collective bowling effort from India led by Shami and Ashwin yet again, has kept Ireland below the par score.
But Ireland have been poor on the field with a couple of early drop catches. proclaimed FTB and minnow-basher Rohit Sharma is getting into the swing of things, he hasn't surprised ones in this world cup, duly failed against SA and Pak, and did the same on a lively track against the West Indies. Missed out on a much deserved double ton against the mighty UAE just because the UAE batted first and the stupid Indian bowlers did not back up their prime batsman!.

Must say I did enjoy reading it!.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/846833.html

Surprise, Rohit fails to get a hundred against the minnow!.

msp83 wrote:Must say I did enjoy reading it!.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/846833.html

[quote=]How did it begin? I watched England when they were - briefly - at the very peak of the Test match rankings. I watched them destroy Australia in Australia, I watched them hammer India in India, and in both these efforts, Kevin Pietersen was at the heart of it. [/quote]

Indeed Cook being the leading run scorer for both series be damned. KP was at the heart

kingraf wrote:

msp83 wrote:Must say I did enjoy reading it!.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/846833.html

How did it begin? I watched England when they were - briefly - at the very peak of the Test match rankings. I watched them destroy Australia in Australia, I watched them hammer India in India, and in both these efforts, Kevin Pietersen was at the heart of it.  

Indeed Cook being the leading run scorer for both series be damned. KP was at the heart

He was also at the heart of their 2 x 5-0 obliterations.
Despite those records, I still believe he should have been included in the Test side after the last flogging... and he might have added something special in the ODI arena too. Then again, I'm not too familiar with the intricacies of the all the politics with the ECB.

Comfortable win for India. Hundred for Dhawan, 50 for Sharma, runs for Kohli and Rahane.
Thought they should have send someone like Jadeja up the order to spend some time out in the middle and get a few runs under his belt, could come in handy later on........

The Loaded Dog wrote:

kingraf wrote:

msp83 wrote:Must say I did enjoy reading it!.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/846833.html

How did it begin? I watched England when they were - briefly - at the very peak of the Test match rankings. I watched them destroy Australia in Australia, I watched them hammer India in India, and in both these efforts, Kevin Pietersen was at the heart of it.  

Indeed Cook being the leading run scorer for both series be damned. KP was at the heart

He was also at the heart of their 2 x 5-0 obliterations.
Despite those records, I still believe he should have been included in the Test side after the last flogging... and he might have added something special in the ODI arena too. Then again, I'm not too familiar with the intricacies of the all the politics with the ECB.

One of the politics being that KP wanted to retire from ODIs some time ago.

The Loaded Dog wrote:

kingraf wrote:

msp83 wrote:Must say I did enjoy reading it!.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/846833.html

How did it begin? I watched England when they were - briefly - at the very peak of the Test match rankings. I watched them destroy Australia in Australia, I watched them hammer India in India, and in both these efforts, Kevin Pietersen was at the heart of it.  

Indeed Cook being the leading run scorer for both series be damned. KP was at the heart

He was also at the heart of their 2 x 5-0 obliterations.
Despite those records, I still believe he should have been included in the Test side after the last flogging... and he might have added something special in the ODI arena too. Then again, I'm not too familiar with the intricacies of the all the politics with the ECB.

Its obviously a mess when you ostensibly fire KP because youre going with Cook and giving him full backing. Then you kick out Cook, basically retire Prior (probably the one person who had an irreparable relationship with KP... And youve basically taken the spine of your team. Why? Poor planning. And I think caving into public pressure

kingraf wrote:

The Loaded Dog wrote:

kingraf wrote:

msp83 wrote:Must say I did enjoy reading it!.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/846833.html

How did it begin? I watched England when they were - briefly - at the very peak of the Test match rankings. I watched them destroy Australia in Australia, I watched them hammer India in India, and in both these efforts, Kevin Pietersen was at the heart of it.  

Indeed Cook being the leading run scorer for both series be damned. KP was at the heart

He was also at the heart of their 2 x 5-0 obliterations.
Despite those records, I still believe he should have been included in the Test side after the last flogging... and he might have added something special in the ODI arena too. Then again, I'm not too familiar with the intricacies of the all the politics with the ECB.

Its obviously a mess when you ostensibly fire KP because youre going with Cook and giving him full backing. Then you kick out Cook, basically retire Prior (probably the one person who had an irreparable relationship with KP... And youve basically taken the spine of your team. Why? Poor planning. And I think caving into public pressure

Did I dream that someone said Trott may be coming back? Australia has a lot to answer for. They are excellent at de-boning sides at times.

Gooseberry wrote:

The Loaded Dog wrote:

kingraf wrote:

msp83 wrote:Must say I did enjoy reading it!.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/846833.html

How did it begin? I watched England when they were - briefly - at the very peak of the Test match rankings. I watched them destroy Australia in Australia, I watched them hammer India in India, and in both these efforts, Kevin Pietersen was at the heart of it.  

Indeed Cook being the leading run scorer for both series be damned. KP was at the heart

He was also at the heart of their 2 x 5-0 obliterations.
Despite those records, I still believe he should have been included in the Test side after the last flogging... and he might have added something special in the ODI arena too. Then again, I'm not too familiar with the intricacies of the all the politics with the ECB.

One of the politics being that KP wanted to retire from ODIs some time ago.

I am aware of that but I felt as though he was offering them another chance this time. An olive branch combined with Lifeline if you will.

Alas India to strong for us.

So it comes down to Pakistan. A repeat of 07 would be fantatic.
We could win this one.

If we lose, than 3 wins from the tournament isnt a bad effort. I dont think.

msp83 wrote:Comfortable win for India. Hundred for Dhawan, 50 for Sharma, runs for Kohli and Rahane.
Thought they should have send someone like Jadeja up the order to spend some time out in the middle and get a few runs under his belt, could come in handy later on........

It clearly was a comfortable win but it didn't look like that from the very start. I watched the first 15 overs and, whilst Ireland didn't get off to a complete flyer, they were more than holding their own. Unfortunately Stirling fell to the last ball I saw to make it 89/1. The wicket was taken by Ashwin. He had bowled 3 overs at that stage and was already looking the difference with clever variations.

From looking at the cricinfo stats, Ashwin went on to produce a highly effective first spell of 8-1-19-1. Given the small ground and short boundaries, those are really tight and potentially match winning stats. Although he got a bit of tap in his last 2 overs, he also picked up then the important wicket of Balbirnie (he's having a good tournament).

I've now watched highlights. Inevitably, they are never able to properly convey the impact of a controlled spell and so I suspect didn't do Ashwin justice. I note that Dharwan got the Man of Match award - understandable given his century although there was never that much pressure as Ireland were well short of a par score and, in reality, needed to score above that to compensate for the weakness of their seamers. I hope Ashwin at least made the MoM short list! Too often, I feel the MoM award is decided by stats alone.

For Ireland, credit to Nobby O'Brien and Porterfield for their knocks but no one fully came to the party and the late middle order fell away badly. Their total never gave their bowlers much of a chance. Add to that a couple of dropped catches and it's not surprising the game finished early.

This match and result showed Ireland are a long way off being in the top four of world ODI cricket. However, that's only to be expected and they are hardly unique in that (looking at you, Mr Downton and Mr Moores).

Yes Guildford, bowlers hardly get the credit in the game these days, so a chancy hundred on a flat track would be counted more than a good spell of bowling.
Ashwin bowled really well yet again, and equally importantly, Shami continued to lead the seam bowling unit well. Jadeja, Yadav and Mohit were not on top of their games, and as Dhoni wanted to give the parttimers a go, they didn't have to do a great deal later on.......

Ireland were never going to win this one today. But they surely have a chance vs the highly inconsistent Pakistan

msp83 wrote:Comfortable win for India. Hundred for Dhawan, 50 for Sharma, runs for Kohli and Rahane.
Thought they should have send someone like Jadeja up the order to spend some time out in the middle and get a few runs under his belt, could come in handy later on........

I also thought so...but seeing BD having qualified.....India wanted to ensure with zero possibilities of any glitches, that they finish top of the table and confirm QF against BD and almost guaranteeing a semi-final berth
Now even if they lose to Zim in the last game...India will finish top...so Zim game might see a few experiments and Ind taking some liberties.

although personally for Dhoni now there is a proud record of consecutive number of wins in world cups...that he must be trying to protect and extend

KP_fan wrote:

msp83 wrote:Comfortable win for India. Hundred for Dhawan, 50 for Sharma, runs for Kohli and Rahane.
Thought they should have send someone like Jadeja up the order to spend some time out in the middle and get a few runs under his belt, could come in handy later on........

I also thought so...but seeing BD having qualified.....India wanted to ensure with zero possibilities of any glitches, that they finish top of the table and confirm QF against BD and almost guaranteeing a semi-final berth
Now even if they lose to Zim in the last game...India will finish top...so Zim game might see a few experiments and Ind taking some liberties.

although personally for Dhoni now there is a proud record of consecutive number of wins in world cups...that he must be trying to protect and extend

Still a considerable way to go to reach Ricky's 24 consecutive WC wins of course.

MS should get close to it by about 2023... if India don't stumble in the meantime.

The Loaded Dog wrote:

KP_fan wrote:

msp83 wrote:Comfortable win for India. Hundred for Dhawan, 50 for Sharma, runs for Kohli and Rahane.
Thought they should have send someone like Jadeja up the order to spend some time out in the middle and get a few runs under his belt, could come in handy later on........

I also thought so...but seeing BD having qualified.....India wanted to ensure with zero possibilities of any glitches, that they finish top of the table and confirm QF against BD and almost guaranteeing a semi-final berth
Now even if they lose to Zim in the last game...India will finish top...so Zim game might see a few experiments and Ind taking some liberties.

although personally for Dhoni now there is a proud record of consecutive number of wins in world cups...that he must be trying to protect and extend

Still a considerable way to go to reach Ricky's 24 consecutive WC wins of course.

MS should get close to it by about 2023... if India don't stumble in the meantime.

England will be trying to start a bit of a run vs the Afghans. Hopefully that will be one win, and we can carry it over to the next World Cup!

westisbest wrote:Alas India to strong for us.

So it comes down to Pakistan. A repeat of 07 would be fantatic.
We could win this one.

If we lose, than 3 wins from the tournament isnt a bad effort. I dont think.

Regardless, you've done a damn sight better than England! I think Ireland can hold their heads high, whatever happens now.

Massive game versus Pakistan now. I'll probably be a wreck all weekend.
Couple of things; our bowling is the worst from any side in the tournament. We miss Rankin and Murtagh so much, but Simmons selections are not helping at all. Craig Young was our top wicket taker in ODIs and List A cricket last year; and standout bowler on our acclimatisation tour for the world cup (in fact him and balbirnie were the only two players to standout). He bowls mid80s so its madness to not select him. I watched him in the domestic interpro series and he stoodout compared to the other bowlers like Mooney (and KOB also) who played in the match I saw.
When you think Stu Thompson who got picked ahead of him for theIndia game is seen more as a batting allrounder it doesnt make any sense. Some fans are calling for Durham's Peter Chase (also bowls in the 80s) but only time I saw him was against Sri Lanka A during the summer and he sprayed it all over the place. Ialso think not bringing McCarter was a mistake, for me he is much better than Mooney and Cusack as a bowler.
Anyway rant over can't wait for the Sunday, but also praying for rain over the next few days as well as the UAE!!!

A note on the weather:

Pakistan-Ireland will be played in glorious, Adelaide sunshine.
West Indies-UAE looks like it will be a sodden mess - cracking news for Ireland if that gets rained off!

Scot-Lanka is a meanginless game

and the Eng-Afg game as well......Eng hasve to show resolve and win that one comprehensively

If the WI win against the UAE and Pakistan wins against Ireland, then what would be the situation? WI and Ireland will have 6 points. Is it the NRR or the winner in the mutual game that determines qualification?

msp83 wrote:If the WI win against the UAE and Pakistan wins against Ireland, then what would be the situation? WI and Ireland will have 6 points. Is it the NRR or the winner in the mutual game that determines qualification?

Net Run Rate, then winner of the mutual game in the unlikely event of that being even

Sangakarra is now averaging 124 at the tournament. 4 back to back centuries, one of his wickets yielded 326 runs across 3 games.

Not bad for a keeper who shouldve retired ages ago

If Afghan dont go home with Englands scalp at least they can celebrate getting him out for 7!

atletico86 wrote:Massive game versus Pakistan now. I'll probably be a wreck all weekend.
Couple of things; our bowling is the worst from any side in the tournament. We miss Rankin and Murtagh so much, but Simmons selections are not helping at all. Craig Young was our top wicket taker in ODIs and List A cricket last year; and standout bowler on our acclimatisation tour for the world cup (in fact him and balbirnie were the only two players to standout). He bowls mid80s so its madness to not select him. I watched him in the domestic interpro series and he stoodout compared to the other bowlers like Mooney (and KOB also) who played in the match I saw.
When you think Stu Thompson who got picked ahead of him for theIndia game is seen more as a batting allrounder it doesnt make any sense. Some fans are calling for Durham's Peter Chase (also bowls in the 80s) but only time I saw him was against Sri Lanka A during the summer and he sprayed it all over the place. Ialso think not bringing McCarter was a mistake, for me he is much better than Mooney and Cusack as a bowler.
Anyway rant over can't wait for the Sunday, but also praying for rain over the next few days as well as the UAE!!!

Bookies don't hold out much hope for Ireland against Pakistan - have Pak at 1-4 and Irl at 11-4. Handy odds if you think Irl can do an upset once again although I think while our batting can post a decent score if we bat first our bowling is too lightweight and not enough pace. Still 11-4 on a two-horse race is worth a punt

pakistan will steam roll Ireland...they are the strongest bowling side in the tournament.
However..somehow if IRE do put 250 runs on the board they can choke Pak

brennomac wrote:

atletico86 wrote:Massive game versus Pakistan now. I'll probably be a wreck all weekend.
Couple of things; our bowling is the worst from any side in the tournament. We miss Rankin and Murtagh so much, but Simmons selections are not helping at all. Craig Young was our top wicket taker in ODIs and List A cricket last year; and standout bowler on our acclimatisation tour for the world cup (in fact him and balbirnie were the only two players to standout). He bowls mid80s so its madness to not select him. I watched him in the domestic interpro series and he stoodout compared to the other bowlers like Mooney (and KOB also) who played in the match I saw.
When you think Stu Thompson who got picked ahead of him for theIndia game is seen more as a batting allrounder it doesnt make any sense. Some fans are calling for Durham's Peter Chase (also bowls in the 80s) but only time I saw him was against Sri Lanka A during the summer and he sprayed it all over the place. Ialso think not bringing McCarter was a mistake, for me he is much better than Mooney and Cusack as a bowler.
Anyway rant over can't wait for the Sunday, but also praying for rain over the next few days as well as the UAE!!!

Bookies don't hold out much hope for Ireland against Pakistan - have Pak at 1-4 and Irl at 11-4.  Handy odds if you think Irl can do an upset once again although I think while our batting can post a decent score if we bat first our bowling is too lightweight and not enough pace. Still 11-4 on a two-horse race is worth a punt

Ireland were 3/1 to beat the West Indies, so you could view it as not so bad!

Keep your eye on the weather in Napier on Sunday, it may just be that Ireland won't need the win after ll.

Also keep an eye out for tomorrow's match (if anyone is still interested) at the SCG.

Typical day here: blue sky in the mornings, increasing heat during the day until about 4pm... then the heavens opens up with spectacular electrical storms, lots of thunder and a quick deluge of rain.

Funny thing is it all clears up rather quickly (rain stops after an hour or so) and then the cycle repeats itself again the next day.

Maybe something to take note for the QF and SF as well.

They gave it a half-decent scrap, but now South Africa have overpowered the U.A.E.

192/3 after 34 overs. Delightful platform.

Miller has just thrown away his wicket going for a rough slog.

Depending on how AB is feeling they should get anywhere between 320 and 450.

One more wicket and they could be struggling to post a big total. After Duminy theres a pretty long tail. UAE have done really well to keep the wickets coming. Obviously with AB in anything is possible but he wont be able to hit 100% freely with so many wickets down and just 200 on the board.
Next wicket is a big one, if this partnership doesnt happen then UAE could keep this score down

About 28 runs since your post 4 minutes ago, Gooseberry, but yeah... if he gets out then it could be a different story.

I think that horse has bolted! The guy is incredible really. It shouoldbe considered cheating to pick him.

Posters curse, firstly I cost UAE 50 cheap runs now AB his wicekt on 99

Im sure SA will still post in the high 300's and UAE get bowled out cheaply though

I was having a quiet read in the off-topic section but saw his wicket fall at 99. Loved the way he walked off (he must have been a touch annoyed) with that calm and self-assured expression.

Looks like they'll get somewhere between 330-340 now.... or maybe a touch over 340.

341 it is.

More than enough, certainly, but perhaps a little light of the ideal score for the Saffers.

anotehr one sided bashing....
a game that has not competitive edge....nor any cricketing context

Afg 34-3 14.4, England easy win

Nz bowled the best first 10 overs I've seen so far, it was ridiculously good, bd make 288, surprised they went past 100 the way Boult and southee started, flattened out towards twee end

NZ 43/2 now. One or two more wickets and the NZ tail are finally going to have to answer some tough questions

Freudian slip there. Meant middle order

NZ-Bang is looking interesting....

Clearly, Bangladesh have played like they deserve to be in the mix for the knockout stages.

NZ have to work very hard from here and a win is only 50% probability at 80-2
And should BD pluck out williamson in the next 30_40 runs......they would have enhanced their probability to 80%.
Mahmudullah.....back to back hundreds.....against non Minnows is great batting effort

Guptill playing a fine hand for New Zealand here, and Taylor is spending time at the wicket anad he looks set now. Bangladesh need to find a couple of quick wickets, otherwise this will slip away.

With Guptill gone, Bangladesh has an opening now, but they need another quick wicket.
All the 3 wickets to Shakib, he needs support from the rest of the lineup.
Hasn't been a typical Ross Taylor innings as yet, but importantly for New Zealand, he's still there.......

England are doing well to contain the Afghan batsmen , no runs for over an hour now

Just be typical if this got rained off levaing England equal on points with them.

Bangladesh are at least making Englands loss to them look slightly less embarrassing even if there is a suspicion new zealand are coasting a bit

Gooseberry wrote:

Just be typical if this got rained off levaing England equal on points with them.

The weird thing is that only 1.6mm has fallen in the rain gauge at the airport (about 6-7km away). It has looked miserable all day though.
Today was the first time I've had to put on the trackie-dacks on in the evening since about last September.... even though it is not really cold.

NZ need 40 off 30. An exciting finish coming up. You'd think Anderson will get them over the line.

32 from 4 overs 4 wickkets left. Bangladesh have just kept taking wickets

Bangladesh humbled NZ a bit there