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The Cricket Thread Part Deux

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Yeah, WI were just plain poor with the bat, and that is why they lost. SI bowling was decent but still, WI got themselves out more often than not.
 
It's going to be a very interesting final, Sri Lanka v. Pakistan. I'm supporting Sri Lanka (stereotypical, but whatever). The Sri Lankan top order is really something to be feared, and if they play well, they shuld easily be able to set up a 150+ total. The match is going to be played at Lord's, and many of the batsmen (Jayawardena, Sangakkara, Jayasuriya) have experience there, so they won't have the same problem they had today against WI at the Oval.

Sri Lanka did exactly what India should have done. I just cannot understand why India dropped the senior players over people like Rohit Sharma, Jadeja, and Raina. I'd take Tendulkar and Dravid anytime, even in T20. Look at Sri Lanka, their entire top order is pretty much composed of batsmen over 30, and Dilshan did more than fine! The youngsters just couldn't perform under pressure, whereas I think the seniors wuld have done better in that kind of situation. And Dhoni really was a horrible letdown as a captain, he made no good runs at all, he foolishly sent Jadeja out against England when India badly needed runs (what did he expect the 20-year-old to do?), which ultimately lost the game.

Pakistan haven't really come on to me as a solid team. Shahid Afridi can definitely bat, but the Pakistani top order is nowhere as ferocious as the Sri Lankans. Malik and Younis Khan typically play a bit too slowly for T20. Of course, Pakistan have Gul and his reverse swing, but they lack the dangerous spin of Murali and Mendis. Afridi really doesn't classify, to me, as a quality spin bowler.

All in all, it's going to be a good match, that's for sure. Both sides just need to give it their all.
 
Draco Zephyr said:
The Sri Lankan top order is really something to be feared, and if they play well, they shuld easily be able to set up a 150+ total.
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Not really actually. Jayasuriya has been off-colour throughout now and Sanga/Mahela haven't been able to push the run rate when needed to (apart from one game). Plus, the middle order is amazingly bad. I still think SL will take this, but it isn't a strong batting line-up.

Draco Zephyr said:
Sri Lanka did exactly what India should have done. I just cannot understand why India dropped the senior players over people like Rohit Sharma, Jadeja, and Raina. I'd take Tendulkar and Dravid anytime, even in T20. Look at Sri Lanka, their entire top order is pretty much composed of batsmen over 30, and Dilshan did more than fine! The youngsters just couldn't perform under pressure, whereas I think the seniors wuld have done better in that kind of situation. And Dhoni really was a horrible letdown as a captain, he made no good runs at all, he foolishly sent Jadeja out against England when India badly needed runs (what did he expect the 20-year-old to do?), which ultimately lost the game.
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Firstly, the senior players had opted out of the side the last world cup and continued to do so this year. Last time it was more because T20 was considered a joke format then and they would rather take the rest. This time it was because why the fuck would you mess with a winning combination? Plus, Sachin has commented that he'd rather play ODI/Test cricket because he doesn't have a lot of cricket left in him and he'd rather do that.

Also, yeah, Dhoni was a terrible captain. I've never liked him much but he used to captain well. This was mostly because initially he was an unknown, so he really captained well and made a name for himself. Now, he's like a fucking superstar here and this whole series he was busy glory-hunting rather than actually making decision that makes the side win.

Examples? Every match India got a good start from Rohit/Gambhir, Dhoni promoted himself to #3, hit 20 odd runs and 'finished' the match. The first time India had ANY issues (vs WI) he sent out Raina to the wolves. Knowing that WI will pepper him with short balls and giving him virtually no match experience, there really wasn't gonna be anything else happening. When finally he did bat, he made like 11 (25). Next game he did the same thing, this time sending a 20 year old kid in his first match to go beat on a charged up England side. If he wanted to save Yuvraj for later, he could've come in himself, but that isn't an option when India isn't dominating it seems!

Draco Zephyr said:
Of course, Pakistan have Gul and his reverse swing, but they lack the dangerous spin of Murali and Mendis. Afridi really doesn't classify, to me, as a quality spin bowler.
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Are you mad? Just because he doesn't turn it like Warne used to he isn't amazing? How many times do you want him to perform to prove he's top class? Hell, Mendis doesn't spin the ball for shit, is just fast and accurate with little variations. Afridi is a fucking monster, he is the only spinner who can bowl as slow 80 kph and as fast as 125 kph. I mean 125 kph from a spinner dude, that is just fucking insane.

Anyway, SL still have this in the bag, Pakistan really lack good batting.
 
Shiv said:
Not really actually. Jayasuriya has been off-colour throughout now and Sanga/Mahela haven't been able to push the run rate when needed to (apart from one game). Plus, the middle order is amazingly bad. I still think SL will take this, but it isn't a strong batting line-up.
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I agree with this, the top-order batsmen besides Dilshan haven't been performing well, especially Jayasuriya. All said and done, however, the SL batting line-up is much more intimidating on paper and in practice compared to the Pakistanis, that's all.

Shiv said:
Firstly, the senior players had opted out of the side the last world cup and continued to do so this year. Last time it was more because T20 was considered a joke format then and they would rather take the rest. This time it was because why the fuck would you mess with a winning combination? Plus, Sachin has commented that he'd rather play ODI/Test cricket because he doesn't have a lot of cricket left in him and he'd rather do that.
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I don't think it's his fault, necessarily. If Sachin doesn't want to play, what can I do about it? I'm just saying that I believe the team would be much better with the seniors playing, but that's just my opnion. They did mess with the winning combination - a lot, although most of it wasn't voluntary. The team no longer has Sehwag, Zaheer, and Uthappa. The current team relied too much on IPL stars who couldn't deal with the strain of playing internationally.

Shiv said:
Examples? Every match India got a good start from Rohit/Gambhir, Dhoni promoted himself to #3, hit 20 odd runs and 'finished' the match. The first time India had ANY issues (vs WI) he sent out Raina to the wolves. Knowing that WI will pepper him with short balls and giving him virtually no match experience, there really wasn't gonna be anything else happening. When finally he did bat, he made like 11 (25). Next game he did the same thing, this time sending a 20 year old kid in his first match to go beat on a charged up England side. If he wanted to save Yuvraj for later, he could've come in himself, but that isn't an option when India isn't dominating it seems!
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Exactly. The first time India faced a real team, it was WI, and their strategy worked to the fullest. The only matches where Gambhir and Rohit played well was against Bangladesh and Ireland, which shows how much India has gotten worse. The first time they were faced with an actual competititve team, they fell apart. Then England used the exact same strategy and forced them out easily. I really think India has to up their game; in 2007, T20 was a totally new format and many teams didn't think it would last, so they didn't play at the top of their game. India were an explosive side, and thy clinched the title. Now that the other teams have upped their game, India must repond as well.



Shiv said:
Are you mad? Just because he doesn't turn it like Warne used to he isn't amazing? How many times do you want him to perform to prove he's top class? Hell, Mendis doesn't spin the ball for shit, is just fast and accurate with little variations. Afridi is a fucking monster, he is the only spinner who can bowl as slow 80 kph and as fast as 125 kph. I mean 125 kph from a spinner dude, that is just fucking insane.

Anyway, SL still have this in the bag, Pakistan really lack good batting.
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After watching the replay of the match, yeah, Afridi really was influential to Pakistan's win (bowling-wise, we all know how well he can bat). Being a leg-spinner myself, I was really impressed with the way he bowled. Yeah, Afridi's good xD. Mendis may not spin much, but there's a lot of psychological strain when facing him (more so with Murali). The fact is, he gets wickets.
 
My prediction: SL have lost. Razzaq is a crappy bowler, he just got really lucky when Jayasurya nicked it onto the stumps. I don't think there's any way Sangakkara can save this now, they'll probably stumble to 100-110. Nothing short of a bowling miracle will save SL in my opinion.
 
With Pakistan's batting VS Sri Lanka's bowling, even 120 is defendable.

This is exactly what I meant with the middle order! If Afridi/Kamran fail, they can still win!

Edit: yeah!! 138, monster total imo! pakistan now NEED afridi to fire, SL is too good to not be able to defend 138!
 
Im sorry but if Pakistan mess it up from here then they suck bad. Pak has this game and the trophy unless.....

EDIT: yep I knew they couldn't possibly mess this up good job Pakistan. Sri lanka played well too and a very good tournament comes to a fitting end.
 
Vote for the most bs man of the series award ever... what the hell?
It's not like Afridi had 11 wickets in the tournament ( and mind you, they were ALL extremely important, the wicket of villiers and gibbs in the semi were pretty much the last straw for SA ) and it's not like he had two match winning 50's both in the final and semi final! There should have been no doubt to give him the trophy.
They gave it to Dilshan who failed in the final, and his score wasn't even THAT amazing through the tourney... some serious stupidity IMO.
Sri Lanka need to come down from their self-made superiorty chair.. Sangakkara " We have the best bowling lign up in the world and our batsmen should totally have taken up their bowling! "
Yeah you really have the best bowling! Second only to Pakistan obviously, it's not like our top 3 wicket takers have MORE wickets your top three in the tournament.I really didn't understand why so many people said Pakistan lacked good batting.. maybe ya'll need to take a good look at the card.. we have batting all the way down to Alam.
Anyway, the tournament was great and I obviously am very pleased with the result.Pakistan Zindabad!!!!!!!
 
lol Sri lanka DOES have the best bowling line up in the world. And pakistan's batting is still not very good. Its only afridi and kamran akmal doing stuff. Its only because Sri lanka's battling failed in the final that they lost. If the score was 150+ it would have been Sri lanka all the way..
 
I'm glad that the 20/20 Tournament is over. T20 Cricket for me is a side of the game I detest. Test cricket really embraces every beautiful aspect of the game that purists like myself enjoy watching and playing. There is talk, purely revenue driven, that this is the future of the game. Nothing could sicken me more. I hope we have an Ashes series to inspire the test lover in all of us. If Australia's bowlers are not up to it they will be in for surprise. Strauss is in solid form and has a brilliant temperament, able to bat for days if needed. Australia are heavy favorites, deservedly so. I just wish to see a well fought contest. A 5-0 is great for Australians like myself, but it isn't good for world cricket. Call it un-Australian though I was happy when India and South Africa beat Australia. It added some interest and re-ignited passion of many in Test cricket. Where the passion NEEDs to stay.
 
Any real cricket fan prefers tests to 2020 or odis but where do you stand on odis vs 2020. Cause personally I think odis seem pretty stupid now. 2020 has everything an odi has, but doesnt drag on the same way. It also generally leads to tighter contests which, although they make it less likely the better team will win, it makes it much more interesting in general..

Have a nice day.
 
Idk I still like ODI's. They are not that bad I mean with batting side able to take the power play adds more interest. But test cricket is still the best. Although Australia won't 5-0 England anytime soon thats for sure.
 
I'm glad you agree with me on the test v short form arguments.

It is an interesting thought and I understand some people believe that ODIs have become somewhat obsolete. I find it interesting that the average ODI score has decreased in spite of the introduction of T20. I mean any cricketer knows that 2 Overs is no where near enough time to be fully set and ready to punch boundaries most of the time. Junior cricket still play 50 overs. It is, in my opinion plenty of time to establish an innings while playing sensibly and still scoring quickly. T20 almost has no room for sensibility. So for me ODI still has a place.

Ashes countdown begins. Australia's batsmen are still out of form. Should be great.
 
England don't look too promising, to be completely honest. Hype here is nothing compared to that of 4 years ago, for obvious reasons.

I think Hip makes a good point about the T20 vs tests debate, if test matches were to lose out the Twenty-20, it would be a huge crime, but I don't think I would bat an eyelid if they replaced all 50 over matches with 20 over matches. 50 over matches are OK, but nothing special.
 
Thats pretty much how I feel about this too. I mean, Tests hold a special place, they're the true test of a good side. While I used to enjoy ODI's a lot, after the recent mass-exposure to T20's I've started to realize that they provide all that an ODI provides but are faster and more exciting.

T20's are surely the way for the game to expand and gain new audiences. And tests are still the ultimate form of the game. It leaves me in doubt as to what the ODI's are anymore.

And while I make this argument, I remember what Arjuna Ranatunga said recently, "If T20's replace ODI's, India's great players won't be Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar but will rather be Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni" which kinda makes me wonder if this is a good thing for cricket.
 
Cook really has let England down, He started his career with such promise. He's still young and hopefully will learn. I am talking in a long term sense and not just this innings btw.

Hilfenhaus will have a good time with the Duke it seems. He moves the ball better then any other bowler in the Australian side. Good start to it all.
 
3/109 - I only saw the start of the days play, but things are looking ominous for England, Hilfenhaus has looked really good when he's got the ball swinging and Johnson and Siddle were also bowling well.
 
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