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)

For a moment there I thought there might be an upset of grand proportions.
Would have made for some interesting QF match ups given that SL have played their 6 matches.
Apparently there will also be some inclement weather in Hobart tomorrow. It could be a point each for Australia and Scotland.

Well that was closer than the Black Caps would have wanted but they got the win in the end.

NZ win a tight game vs BD.....Anderson's hitting ability at the end was the difference.

A happy result for all...BD beaten but not disgraced...have given a good account of themselves against NZ and lanka even in defeat and off course scalping Eng.
BD can hold their head high....go into QF on merit

BD released the pressure when the 48th and 49th over they persisted with slow bowlers.......just a  little bit longer usage of slow bowlers than they should have.

Ind happy to recieve BD in the QF

Eng should be happy if rain washes out their game v Afganistan for who knows what might have happened in a 160 odd chase with morale down against some good seamers and pacers in moist conditions.

Now we only need the no. 4 in our group to be decided on merit.....i.e Ire should beat Pak and not walk in because the WI game gets rained off.

PS* I see Eng have a 100 runs t get under D/L in 25 overs.......little room for upsets here

England still proving that though they don't belong to the level of the test playing sides in ODI cricket, they are a bit too strong for associates!

The other game was a fantastic one. Bangladesh showed they most certainly deserved to get into the next round above England. Can someone please remind me how many overs did the England-NZ game took in getting done!?

England going out on a high!

It was an excellent innings from Mahmudullah, took him 113 ODIs to get his first ODI hundred, now he has 2 in 2, and both in the World Cup, both against test sides....... And today's knock has came against one of the best bowling attacks in the world at present.
Shakib was quite good with the ball, even on a smallish ground, on a track that didn't have much for the spinner, he took 4 wickets, and leading in the absence of Mortaza, he was brave to take the new ball, and even Guptill got after him a bit, he kept himself on, took out McCullum and Williamson in one over, and then added 2 more at crucial points.
Thought his captaincy and bowling changes were pretty good up to the 49th over. With Anderson in, thought spin was the best way to limit the damage, but the moment he was gone, thought Rubel should have been brought on to try and dislodge Southee, Vettori and the lower order. A wicket in that over, perhaps could have made a difference in the end result.

Now Downton can feel vindicated, England were undergoing a transition up to the Bangladesh game, now they are ready to take off!.

England plodding alone to that massive victory target of 101!.

I think we all get it at this point msp, thanks for that.

msp83 wrote:Now Downton can feel vindicated, England were undergoing a transition up to the Bangladesh game, now they are ready to take off!.

sometimes you match the English blow for blow in dry humor

The bd innings was one of the most exciting one I saw all tournament, top bowling, then countered with top batting, shows the inexperience of using a review from Bangladesh guptil was plumb in front before he had made 20, changed the game. Should have finished with rubel.

They could have had a chance vs south Africa, India are just a better version of Bangladesh, so no chance

India scheduled to face Australia in the semis, right ?

Didn't realise Taylor is retiring after this. Played fantastically well, and been a real servant for Zimbabwe. Probably their second best cricketer after Flower. It is really unfortunate for them that a player retires entering his prime, but I guess this is the politicoeconomy which is the reality for Zim

If the rain persists, which it shouldn't, we face Australia.

Rohit fails to get his due ton against the minnow!.

It was a fabulous innings from Taylor. Never thought he would be retiring at this age, but you never can say anything about Zimbabwe cricket. Perhaps like others before him, he will come back at some point.
Pretty good knock from Williams as well, has been a fine world cup for him this.
Another good performance from the Indian bowlers. Of course 287 is a pretty decent total, but considering the pitch and the ground, it is nothing massive. And 6 out of 6, the Indian bowling unit have bowled the opposition out!. Now who would have thought that possible? Even when they had a couple of good games, not many expected them to be able to sustain this level of pperformance so far.
The batsmen now have to take the responsibility and play proper cricket and see the chase through.

The in-form Dhawan is gone, and Rohit Sharma, who should by right, should have scored runs here, has failed, so a bit of early pressure on Kohli and the middle order.

At 48-2 in the 13th over, they are a bit under the pump at the moment.

India in trouble at 72-3 as Rahane the last man out.

kingraf wrote:Didn't realise Taylor is retiring after this. Played fantastically well, and been a real servant for Zimbabwe. Probably their second best cricketer after Flower. It is really unfortunate for them that a player retires entering his prime, but I guess this is the politicoeconomy which is the reality for Zim

poached by a county ......by some kind of implicit carrot dangled of being eligible to play for Eng in 3 years when he will be 31

Did you hear the news about KP, KP_f?

No IPL this year, he'll concentrate on County cricket with Surrey (Guildford take note) in a bid to get reselected for the Test team.
If he succeeds and scores some runs; then that should put some awkward pressure on Downton and his cohorts. Better than a soap opera!  

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/kevinpietersen/11471832/Kevin-Pietersen-poised-to-ditch-IPL-deal-and-play-county-cricket-to-secure-England-Test-return-and-Ashes-chance.html

Apologies for being off-topic... maybe I should have put this on the other thread.

The Loaded Dog wrote:Did you hear the news about KP, KP_f?

No IPL this year, he'll concentrate on County cricket with Surrey (Guildford take note) in a bid to get reselected for the Test team.
If he succeeds and scores some runs; then that should put some awkward pressure on Downton and his cohorts. Better than a soap opera!  

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/kevinpietersen/11471832/Kevin-Pietersen-poised-to-ditch-IPL-deal-and-play-county-cricket-to-secure-England-Test-return-and-Ashes-chance.html

wow...i sense the "patriotism" test has been rolled out again in front of him......wanna play for country...show you care by giving up a lucrative IPL contrcat...

seems he will be back sooner

Raina is not looking comfortable out there, and Kohli has not been fully focused though he has 36 on the board to his credit. Not looking good for India here.......

KP! This is good news!.
Think they'll pull the rug from under his feet yet again though....... Hope he'll just show them up for what they are yet again.......

Kohli plays on!. Think that's it for India.......

Dhoni in at 6.
Played a typical Dhoni hand in the chase against the West Indies, but he hasn't been in great touch of late.......

KP_fan wrote:

The Loaded Dog wrote:Did you hear the news about KP, KP_f?

No IPL this year, he'll concentrate on County cricket with Surrey (Guildford take note) in a bid to get reselected for the Test team.
If he succeeds and scores some runs; then that should put some awkward pressure on Downton and his cohorts. Better than a soap opera!  

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/kevinpietersen/11471832/Kevin-Pietersen-poised-to-ditch-IPL-deal-and-play-county-cricket-to-secure-England-Test-return-and-Ashes-chance.html

wow...i sense the "patriotism" test has been rolled out again in front of him......wanna play for country...show you care by giving up a lucrative IPL contrcat...

seems he will be back sooner

Yes, it's a gutsy "I'll show you what I can do" move (if he can do it) and would also be a slap in the face for them by committing himself to Surrey and being seen to be doing things by the book. I wish him well.

Australia have a lot of respect for him... he could be the catalyst for England's Ashes revival if things go according to his plan.

Super catch from Michael Leask on the boundary to dismiss Clarke, who was looking to up the ante as some light rain begins to fall.

Here we go... the covers coming on and only 13.2 overs have been bowled by Scotland.

Looks like Taylor wants to retire in style....could be an EQP in a couple of years ....

The Loaded Dog wrote:Did you hear the news about KP, KP_f?

No IPL this year, he'll concentrate on County cricket with Surrey (Guildford take note) in a bid to get reselected for the Test team.
If he succeeds and scores some runs; then that should put some awkward pressure on Downton and his cohorts. Better than a soap opera!  

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/kevinpietersen/11471832/Kevin-Pietersen-poised-to-ditch-IPL-deal-and-play-county-cricket-to-secure-England-Test-return-and-Ashes-chance.html

Apologies for being off-topic... maybe I should have put this on the other thread.

Cant believe he didnt take up Leicestershires offer.

He obviously believes Moores is going to get sacked, which quite possibly isnt a bad bet. Or is just totaly deluded. Or realises how crap the life of a journeyman T20 player is and realised that he would be better served living in the same country as his children.

I think he can still do both... a final swansong for England (maybe he is dreaming) and then at least a few more years plying the T20 circuit.

If Eng are serious about ODIs....they should offer KP limited over captaincy.....he's only 34 and can lead them on a path of devlopment for 3 more years

Zim and ire have batting of good quality but bowling really sukks....in every game their bowlers have allowed the opponents to recover from really troubled positions

Ire and Zim do not have the bowling to defend even 300ish totals......esp Zim ..they have had opponents in bother many times but can't choke them out because of their gentle medium bowling.

For India chasing is bothersome especially when 4 wkts go down and there is awareness of weak Jadeja coming next.

Jadeja is weakest of the 8 batsmen and weakest of the 5 bowlers.....

Dunno why India chose to chase today......

India should bat first and pile 350 in the QF vs. BD

So mathematically speaking, the West Indies still have a chance to overhaul Ireland into 4th place in Pool B - if Pakistan win.
Subject to NRRs of course.

You'd think Pakistan can hold on to 3rd and Ireland/WI will be battling it out for 4th.

If Ireland somehow destroy Pakistan (which is unlikely, imo) and WI win big; then Pakistan could miss the cut altogether.

Is that right?

Did he turn down the IPL or did they make him a derisory offer because they reason that they dont need to offer a massive financial package to lure him away? Perhaps gambling that he's burnt his bridges entirely.

So Australia have avoided SA haven't they? Rain was making life tough for them.......

Good finish from India, MSD yet again seeing the job through, as he has done ever so often. And finished it off with a 6 for good measure, did the Indian captain. 2 tricky chases, and Dhoni was there to save the situation both times.
A very fine knock from Raina also. He was struggling in the initial part of his innings, than got stuck into Williams, then had his share of real good fortune when he was put down, and then batted with sense and saw the chase through.

Shami continued to bowl well. Yadav and Mohit gave him good support. Ashwin had his first poor game of the tournament though. Jadeja was off-color too, second game on the trot. Agree with KPF, that at the moment, he's the weakest of the 5 bowlers and weakest of the 7 batsmen+Ashwin. But Binny or Patel are not viable options. Binny I believe is a better bat, but his bowling is not up to mark, can't really expect him to bowl the 10 overs at the first place. Raina had one good game with the ball, but don't think he should be expected to bowl 5 6 decent overs at the start of a game, if it happens, it has to be a bonus. Besides, the rest of the batting lineup is just not good enough with the ball, Dhoni is the best of the lot with the ball!!.
As for Patel, at this stage of his career, he's more of a slogging number 8 rather than a proper batsman. He might offer just as much as Jadeja with the ball, but with the bat its a different story. So I think all that they can hope is that Jadeja will step up when on the big stage.......

I would have binny ahead of Jadeja and fill up 10 overs with Rohit, Raina and binny.....but too late now....we've gotta go with jadeja and he has been less bad on drier aussie pitches and larger ground.

Hopefully jadeja with ball....will shine and make up for batting weakness.
Hopefully the top 6 won't leave much for jadeja with bat..
Hopefully he will score a 30 or 40 odd when needed and if he has to bat.....
Hopefully if he flops also with the bat....ashwin will cover up

3 more games at most

KPF, Rohit is useless with the ball. Not that he's been of any decisive use with the bat, has been his usual self, not even coming to the party against the lower ranked side with a weak bowling attack. In a way that was not surprising, a target of 288 meant there was that little bit of pressure, and we all know that is not his domain.......

Yes Rohit also hasn't performed at any high level yet.
Hopefully in knock out games he can deliver a 70+

The 3 seamers and ashwin have lead India's position of strength so far

msp83 wrote:So Australia have avoided SA haven't they? Rain was making life tough for them.......

I think SA would be more relieved since Australia is their bête noire... and perhaps Pakistan is ours - w.r.t. our last World Cup match against them.

Winner of India Bangladesh face winner of Aus vs B3 in the semi-final, right ?

It Must Be Love wrote:Winner of India Bangladesh face winner of Aus vs B3 in the semi-final, right ?

Yes, that's correct. I've updated the OP.

Right, so after the disappointment of the rugby, lets hope the cricket team can get the win.

Will 07 repeat itself.
Lets hope so.

Biggest day in Irish cricket history. Perhaps a huge day, also, for the brave associate nations.

I trust all neutrals, and of the course the Irish, will be wishing them well against Pakistan.

(And if the UAE can score the biggest upset of all time, or possibly the rain lashes down in Napier, so much the better!)

Whatever happens, this has made me love cricket again. Not that I didn't love it before, just it made me more interested in all forms of the game.

I've been watching old Natwest trophy and Sunday league games. And I'll be heading out to either Sion Mills or Kesh to catch a local game, both 20 to 25 minutes away!

UAE put into bat - presumably, the West Indies are of the mindset that they need to get this game to a finish as quickly as possible, just in case of any bad weather.

No Chris Gayle, either.