2022 T20 World Cup thread

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

First topic message reminder :

We're now just over a fortnight out from the qualifying round, and team news is ever changing around the teams in the tournament.

Unfortunately today Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the tournament (and a while after) with a back injury. Big blow to India that one, and a World Cup with no Archer/Bumrah (arguably the two best t20 fast bowlers in the world) is a huge shame

[eirebilly_01]

New Zealand playing Zampa absolutely perfectly.

Except Kane for that last shot. Too creative and paid the price... a la Maxwell going for the (unnecessary) reverse sweep.

I really should keep my mouth shut

[Pal Joey]

New Zealand playing Zampa absolutely perfectly.

Except Kane for that last shot. Too creative and paid the price... a la Maxwell going for the (unnecessary) reverse sweep.

I really should keep my mouth shut

Aye man. Leave all the jinxing to Ian Smith!

[KP_fan]

this guy Phillips holds the bat like a sledge hammer and uses it also like one

[Pal Joey]

this guy Phillips holds the bat like a sledge hammer and uses it also like one

Yeah, he's got huge arms... bludgeoned it baseball style.

Sorry... jinxed him!

[alfie]

Phillips departs so 152/3 with just four to go.

Quite a contrast to the qualifiers , this : they were mostly bowler dominated but this looks like being close to 200. Which might not be enough , of course...

[alfie]

this guy Phillips holds the bat like a sledge hammer and uses it also like one

Yeah, he's got huge arms... bludgeoned it baseball style.

Sorry... jinxed him!

Lot of jinxing going on

Conway is still motoring but the new bats coming in haven't really been able to get going. NZ would really like Neesham to cut loose these last few overs...

[KP_fan]

Conway has overstayed his usefulness

[alfie]

Cummins concedes another 15 in his last...been a night to forget for him with 0/46.

176/3 and two to go...can they crack 200 ?

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Great wicket for NZ to lose. Williamson's innings was atrocious.

Sure I saw somewhere (Cricviz) maybe that of batters to face 300 balls in t20s this calendar year he has the lowest batting “impact” and his strike rate is basically a run a ball. He’s playing a different sport in this format at the moment, and will need to improve his strike rate in this tournament if he’s gonna play. Eating up 4 overs today at a run a ball when it’s a near 200+ score…not great

[alfie]

Starc came back pretty well after that expensive opening over. NZ haven't quite been able to go to town in these death overs. Some good fielding from Australia too

[eirebilly_01]

Bang on 200. Very decent effort indeed. Australia do have the firepower to chase this but its a daunting total.

[alfie]

Good finish from Neesham takes it to exactly 200 ...

Not impregnable , perhaps . But won't be easy to chase. Conway an excellent 92 off 58

[KP_fan]

Well they get to 200.....might have looked like getting a bt more....but I think it's enuf

The pitch is offering something  to bowler who bend their back by way of lift off the length
and that the ground is quite big...makes it hard to slog length balls out of the park.

[Duty281]

Classic Jimmy Neesham pushes them to 200. That's the minimum they should have got after Allen's lightning start, but I think they've still left a few runs out there. Williamson should not be coming in when his side are 56/1 after 4.1.

NZ should defend this. The pitch seemed to slow up towards the end, not the smallest boundaries, and Aus don't have the most in-form line-up.

[alfie]

Santner (not everyone's idea of a t20 star bowler) strikes and Finch is on his way to leave Austtalia 30/2 off four. Not the start they wanted !

Marsh and Maxwell together though and I reckon they are the home team's potentially most dangerous players...

[Duty281]

Aussies are done.

[alfie]

But Marsh is gone too ... Southee with his second wicket and the hosts in a bit of trouble , one might say , at 34/3.

Still have several bats who can score big and fast : Stoinis , David , Wade...but the RRR is going up as the wickets go down...

[eirebilly_01]

Now with Marsh gone, the Black Caps are huge favourites.

Is this where the Aussies miss Steve Smith? Really do not get the hype that surrounds Tim David.

[Pal Joey]

For all his big muscles, Stoinis isn't hitting the ball far. His timing is horribly out.
If they don't get a move on in the next few overs or lose another wicket, then this will be all over pretty quickly.

Super catch from Phillips. Game over.

[alfie]

If it rains now it will be curtains for Australia as they must be a mile behind on D/L ...

Better hope those clouds don't start dripping.

Oh blimey ! What a catch by Phillips . And Stoinis is gone . 50/4.

[alfie]

Now with Marsh gone, the Black Caps are huge favourites.

Is this where the Aussies miss Steve Smith? Really do not get the hype that surrounds Tim David.

If David is to justify the hype , now would be a good time...

[Duty281]

It's going to be tough for Australia to make the semis after this. One more defeat and it could be curtains.

Probably need to prioritise NRR here and try to get to 160/170, rather than getting shot out for 120 in a now-futile chase.

[KP_fan]

It's a non contest
200 is a mountain and if pitches and grounds will be like this ...160 is more the par.
I can't understand how Aus sits Smith and Green on the bench and puts Marsh, Stoinis and Maxwell in the 11

[alfie]

Another great outfield catch....another wicket for Santner. Six and out for David so eirebilly will continue to doubt his pedigree

NZ tightening their grip.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I've seen this script before

Aussies start slow, everyone writes them off before they somehow scrape through the group and go onto win the thing
whilst
NZ cruise through a group, everyone starts to believe in them before they eventually bend over in a semi or final (usually to Australia)

Change it up for once @ICC

[Pal Joey]

It's going to be tough for Australia to make the semis after this. One more defeat and it could be curtains.

Probably need to prioritise NRR here and try to get to 160/170, rather than getting shot out for 120 in a now-futile chase.

Yes, just get as close to 200 runs as they can. NRR will be very important as always.

It's only game 1 though and I recall them also starting poorly in previous white ball world cups - then finishing strongly when it counts. They'll have to win their next match v Sri Lanka and then they meet their old adversary, England, next Friday in Melbourne. It would be silly to write them off so early. After all NZ batted very well... got off to a flyer and have now wreaked some havoc with the ball.

See what Olly wrote above. That's been true up until now but maybe things will be different this time.

[alfie]

It's going to be tough for Australia to make the semis after this. One more defeat and it could be curtains.

Probably need to prioritise NRR here and try to get to 160/170, rather than getting shot out for 120 in a now-futile chase.

I did say this was the Group of Death... Everyone always underestimates NZ .

That said , this is just game one. And it isn't actually over yet ...though I agree it will take a bit of a Maxwell Miracle from here .

Santner did a great job 3/31 off his four

[alfie]

Wade falls to Ferguson and Australia are in serious danger of copping a major blow to their NRR from this game ... That could be significant , given the possibility of washouts at some stage in the group games.

They won't panic yet ; but the batting looked dodgy in the England matches and has been no better tonight. The case for Smith might look a bit stronger now .

[Duty281]

It's going to be tough for Australia to make the semis after this. One more defeat and it could be curtains.

Probably need to prioritise NRR here and try to get to 160/170, rather than getting shot out for 120 in a now-futile chase.

Yes, just get as close to 200 runs as they can. NRR will be very important as always.

It's only game 1 though and I recall them also starting poorly in previous white ball world cups - then finishing strongly when it counts. They'll have to win their next match v Sri Lanka and then they meet their old adversary, England, next Friday in Melbourne. It would be silly to write them off so early. After all NZ batted very well... got off to a flyer and have now wreaked some havoc with the ball.

See what Olly wrote above. That's been true up until now but maybe things will be different this time.

Yeah, certainly not writing them off, but they have very little margin for error now. Have to win all four remaining games or be reliant on Eng/NZ slipping up against the smaller teams.

[Pal Joey]

Got him! Maxwell's gone!

Oh well. On to the big match of the day shortly. The one in Perth.

Lucky I didn't go out there tonight. Wouldn't have been miserable to see this all unfold... live.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Aussies really needed to pivot to thinking about playing for net run rate here when it was 50-4 off 8.1 overs really - game has been long gone, and they don't want to go out with a 4 win, 1 loss record similar to South Africa in last years competition due to one heavy defeat.

[Pal Joey]

Aussies really needed to pivot to thinking about playing for net run rate here when it was 50-4 off 8.1 overs really - game has been long gone, and they don't want to go out with a 4 win, 1 loss record similar to South Africa in last years competition due to one heavy defeat.

Maybe they should have gone after Santner and Sodhi from the off. Too much respect was shown. Should have gone after them straight away and put some pressure back on NZ. Finch's dismissal in particular was pretty lame hitting one at perfect catching height to Kane. Then Stoinis was far too tentative as well... and was fairly easy prey for the hungry Kiwis.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Aussies really needed to pivot to thinking about playing for net run rate here when it was 50-4 off 8.1 overs really - game has been long gone, and they don't want to go out with a 4 win, 1 loss record similar to South Africa in last years competition due to one heavy defeat.

Maybe they should have gone after Santner and Sodhi from the off. Too much respect was shown. Should have gone after them straight away and put some pressure back on NZ. Finch's dismissal in particular was pretty lame hitting one at perfect catching height to Kane. Then Stoinis was far too tentative as well... and was fairly easy prey for the hungry Kiwis.

Yes for as good as the kiwis batted, the Aussie batting performance has been the opposite - extremely poor, might not even make 120 here.

[Pal Joey]

Aussies really needed to pivot to thinking about playing for net run rate here when it was 50-4 off 8.1 overs really - game has been long gone, and they don't want to go out with a 4 win, 1 loss record similar to South Africa in last years competition due to one heavy defeat.

Maybe they should have gone after Santner and Sodhi from the off. Too much respect was shown. Should have gone after them straight away and put some pressure back on NZ. Finch's dismissal in particular was pretty lame hitting one at perfect catching height to Kane. Then Stoinis was far too tentative as well... and was fairly easy prey for the hungry Kiwis.

Yes for as good as the kiwis batted, the Aussie batting performance has been the opposite - extremely poor, might not even make 120 here.

Duty, what price 111?

[Duty281]

Aussies really needed to pivot to thinking about playing for net run rate here when it was 50-4 off 8.1 overs really - game has been long gone, and they don't want to go out with a 4 win, 1 loss record similar to South Africa in last years competition due to one heavy defeat.

Maybe they should have gone after Santner and Sodhi from the off. Too much respect was shown. Should have gone after them straight away and put some pressure back on NZ. Finch's dismissal in particular was pretty lame hitting one at perfect catching height to Kane. Then Stoinis was far too tentative as well... and was fairly easy prey for the hungry Kiwis.

Yes for as good as the kiwis batted, the Aussie batting performance has been the opposite - extremely poor, might not even make 120 here.

Duty, what price 111?

Odds on, probably! And it was the 117th anniversary of Nelson's death yesterday.

[alfie]

111. Oh dear...

Not the start Sydney wanted to see. Congrats NZ

Too early to say "one foot in the semis " : but they could hardly have made a better start.

Hosts have some thinking to do.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Defeat by 89 runs, great win for the Kiwis, about as disastrous a start to the tournament as the Aussies could have imagined - their NRR has taken a proper pasting.

Going to need to lick those wounds quickly, because if they perform like that again they might not make it past Sri Lanka in 3 days time!

[Pal Joey]

111.  Oh dear...

Not the start Sydney wanted to see. Congrats NZ

Too early to say "one foot in the semis " : but they could hardly have made a better start.

Hosts have some thinking to do.

Indeed. And perhaps some tinkering too!

[Duty281]

That was a smashing. Aussie NRR down at -4.45.

Pressure will be on Australia all the way through the competition now. Sri Lanka next is a must win and then the England game is huge.

NZ? Nearly perfect. Congrats to them.

On to En-ger-land next.

[eirebilly_01]

Well,

I kept my mouth shut whilst everyone was slating Williamson for slowing the scoring rate because I truly think he is one of the best batsmen out there. What he did was to secure up one end bring an element of calmness to the middle. That role is exactly what the Aussies missed today, a role filled perfectly by Smith.

I am not sure there is a very good balance to this Aussie team, I know its early but the lack of balance is very clear to me. As much as i rate Cummins, I am sure the look to him as more of an allrounder than a bowler who can bat a bit and that, to me, is what is affecting his game.

Finch, he is not the man to lead the Aussies. During the New Zealand innings, he was all over the show and did not lend an air of calmness or confidence in the field.

Tim David, as I said before I do not understand the hype. Granted he came on very well at first but it did not take bowlers that long to figure him out.

It actually does not look good for the Aussies at all.

[Pal Joey]

Maybe Australia should have batted first.

Funny, I was watching a few of the mini Aus-NZ games this morning and on one of them dear old Richie made the point about teams batting first at the SCG went on to win about 70% of the time.

Albeit, this was in the mid 80s and it was 50 over cricket... but it did catch my attention when thinking about what a captain might do this evening - even if there was a hint of rain about. Set the tone with the bat and hope that it comes off as it did with NZ this evening. Positive play, imo.

[alfie]

111.  Oh dear...

Not the start Sydney wanted to see. Congrats NZ

Too early to say "one foot in the semis " : but they could hardly have made a better start.

Hosts have some thinking to do.

Indeed. And perhaps some tinkering too!

How to tinker , though ? Probably not going to change the bowling , for all it got monstered today. But the batting really isn't firing at present so I think there is a case for Smith even if this isn't his format. And Green maybe ? But does that mean ditching the skipper ?

Sri Lanka , with all due respect ,to them , should present a chance to get some form back. Question then whether to tinker before that game or give the incumbents another shot...

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

England win the toss and bowl first - and they have gone with the batting heavy approach!

Buttler
Hales
Malan
Stokes
Brook
Moeen
Livingstone
Curran
Woakes
Rashid
Wood

Legitimate batting all the way down to 9!

[Duty281]

Looks like England have deceived us as they've plumped for the extra batsman.

Woakes fit to play as well. Bowling first, but I wonder if we'll see batting first as the preference as the tournament wears on?

[alfie]

By the way I agree with you , eirebilly , that the criticism of Williamson was overdone. He might have liked to go a bit faster ; but essentially did a job to ensure that fantastic start wasn't wasted. And as we saw later , nobody got near matching that initial burst from Allen and Conway.
One might actually say in retrospect that NZ won this in the first three overs !

[eirebilly_01]

For me, alfie, i cannot rate Williamson higher. The stability, calmness and leadership he brings to New Zealand is special. It could have been so easy for New Zealand to continue to go crazy and maybe even lose quick wickets after the first one but Williamson consolidates. Australia missed that today in Smith, maybe they would not have won but i am pretty sure they would have scored a lot more and their NRR would not be in a shocking position now...

On to England, well loaded up the batting. This could be an entertaining game.

[alfie]

Looks like England have deceived us as they've plumped for the extra batsman.

Woakes fit to play as well. Bowling first, but I wonder if we'll see batting first as the preference as the tournament wears on?

Not too surprised. Given the loss of Topley and the fact they will want to rest Wood at some point , they'll want to test out their "part time" bowling options and see whether this approach will work. Glad to see Woakes is fit.

May be a different story in some of their other games of course , but it seems they do want to bat deep. Confess I would have preferred to play Willey - or even give Mills a run ; but will see how it goes...

[Pal Joey]

111.  Oh dear...

Not the start Sydney wanted to see. Congrats NZ

Too early to say "one foot in the semis " : but they could hardly have made a better start.

Hosts have some thinking to do.

Indeed. And perhaps some tinkering too!

How to tinker , though ?  Probably not going to change the bowling , for all it got monstered today. But the batting really isn't firing at present so I think there is a case for Smith even if this isn't his format. And Green maybe ? But does that mean ditching the skipper ?

Sri Lanka , with all due respect ,to them , should present a chance to get some form back. Question then whether to tinker before that game or give the incumbents another shot...

To be frank, alfie, I'd only just begun thinking about tinkering.

I'd keep the bowling as is. Tonight was a little scratchy, yes, but that was probably their worst performance in a long time early on. Credit that they pulled it back somewhat; otherwise we could have been looking at NZ scoring around 240! I'm sure the Australian bowlers will find their radar again next time.

As you say for the batting... Smith or Green perhaps? For David, probably, which seems a bit cruel.

With Smith we'd have more experience at a lesser strike rate - though David didn't hit his straps and Smith can accelerate when set. He's not too slow for any long period of time if he gets into his groove.

With Green, say, we'd have another bowling option and when he gets set he's no slouch with the bat either.

Or maybe just stick with the same team and hope they can perform better v Sri Lanka... then take it from there depending on that result.

So yes, they need to think about tinkering (a little) or leave it as is and hope to reduce that disastrous NRR - winning game by game.

[eirebilly_01]

I am not sure I see Afghanistan scoring too many today. 130-140 is about what i would expect from them if I am going to be honest.

[Duty281]

Yeah, I'd be hoping for a strong bowling performance to limit this kamikaze batting line-up to below 130. Interesting to see Stokes bowl the first.

[Sponsored content]