Am I allowed to start supporting Ireland in ODIs? I think I’ve got some historical family connections.

aracer – 🙂

There have been some good games between the minnows at this World Cup!

Afghanistan up next could also be close?

Morgan needs to do the right thing and go and play for Ireland.

Pitiful

Morgan needs to do the right thing and go and play for Ireland.

He’s not good enough to make the team.

Well could have gone either way… a few that never hit the rope and a few too many dots but in the end not bowling teams out was a bigger problem throughout.

But there’s only so many games where england can say that – and they played them a year ago. There’re reasons they’re not hitting the rope and why they’re picking out fielders and why they lose all their momentum in the middle of the innings and they’ve made no effort to correct them.

Yeah, and you can take Morgan with you.

Guess what England’s next ODI fixture is after getting beaten by playing Afghanistan?

When they were discussing Butler and where he should bat, great as a finisher but you have to get a start…. should have been in earlier to kick the innings off. Oh and stupid run outs

should have been in earlier to kick the innings off

Yup, same as any batter, if you make him start with the team already well behind then it makes it much harder for him to play his game.

edit:

Oh and stupid run outs

Well yeah, if you cut those out they’d probably have won today. Confidence though innit.

Actually looking at the forecast for Friday we might be in luck, it could get rained off.

should have been in earlier to kick the innings off.

He’s in the right place, but needed those ahead of him to play up so he could do what he is best at.

Not sure where England go now, but in general globally one day cricket seems to be on a bit of a high. Paradoxically the tempo in one day cricket has been ramped up so much as to make Twenty20 seem like a bit of a waste of time whilst a couple of years ago it was the 50 over variant that looked pointless.

He’s in the right place, but needed those ahead of him to play up.

The flip side, when the top order is not firing move up the ones who can hit it and play.

Not sure if the run outs were lack of confidence of just pressure stress and fear.

Maybe Twenty20 should be extended to Thirty30? That would allow more batsmen to “build” an innings while still having the spectacle of big hits.

Well the end of the group stages and the last chance for Ireland to get further than England…

Meanwhile down in Hobart
[url=https://flic.kr/p/rkJ3pb]Australia in the field[/url] by Mike Smith 79, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/qFhKA3]Closing in before the rain[/url] by Mike Smith 79, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/rCbJKL]And on come the covers[/url] by Mike Smith 79, on Flickr
The rain break and very expensive crap beer meant we ran away before the end, it only took a couple of hours to get it all dried out (and us too) and then it only took Australia a couple of overs to finally dampen the spirits.

Great atmosphere and not sure why Watson is still in that team.

NZ v Windies….. What a game! 8)

The Kiwi’s are playing out of their skins, Gupthill double century, catch of the tournament from Vettori. And the Windies needing a massive 394 to win, can Gayle rescue the Windies?

Don’t think there is a recuse in there…

Getting in there with the ball too.
Judging by how 1 sided some of these quarters have been the Semi’s might be the games to watch
SA vs NZ could go off in a big way for runs or wickets

Little chance now. Gayle has gone. Big shame as he is the only player able to take it to the Kiwi’s.

Windies have so much talent but are clueless

True but NZ are playing very well, seems to be no weak link if one of the big hitters is out another steps up. Then there is the bowling…

You’re right Mike, potential match of the tournament next Thursday in Auckland, NZ v SA. Here’s hoping both teams play to their current form and it’ll be a cracker! 😀

A shame WI couldn’t manage their wickets, their run rate was on course and one that England can only dream of. The upcoming test series in the Caribbean could be interesting, and a summer of suffering demolition at the hands of our antipodean visitors!

At least there will be about 30 less Aussies around down here to take the piss.

Off to check the odds on an NZ overall

Sure, nz are my second team and they are strong right through. And no doubt the wi had scoreboard fright from the start. But thats what i mean, nowadays 400 is the new 300, and the chase that down you need a strategy, getting a decent rate but keeping wickets back. The wi seemed to think they had to get it in 40 overs come what may!

I always had a rule of thumb that you’d double your 30 over score in the last 20, and probably exceed it with wickets in hand. As tms said yesterday, 20:20 and big bats has given batters the belief that boundary fielders don’t matter any more, anyone who’s any one can clear the ropes now, and the last 15 or 10 overs can be think of a number time. Windies didn’t get to the last 15 overs 🙁

Yeah seems true, and he’ll I explained 1 day cricket to a new yorker last night…

Some teams have worked out one day, they are still in the competition.

I absolutely loved Graeme Swann’s summing up after the game. The ’cause and effect’ bit I’m not so sure about, but the bluntness is absolutely appropriate.

He basically said the new fielding restrictions were the result of finger spinners who chucked rather than bowled. He reckoned the extra fielder that is now required to be in the circle was because spinners who chucked (and so could ‘bowl’ a doosra) were limiting the ability to score runs, particularly in the middle overs. I’m not sure about that (I don’t really give a shit about limited overs cricket anyway), but the blunt and matter of fact assertion that a lot of these ‘mystery’ finger spinners were just plain chuckers is spot on.

There was the ridiculous matter of journalists describing Swann as the best ‘orthodox’ off spinner in the world when he was playing. This was just cowed journo-speak for ‘he is the one who doesn’t chuck it’.

It seems that, at last, the powers that be are taking some action to remove a living insult to the game of cricket, rather than falling over themselves to change the rules to make actions legal, post hoc.

Well half way through, some moisture and what can AB do? Should be a good finish this evening.

Getting a bit twitchy here……

BBC website keeps referring to ‘Old Man Vettori’

Which doesn’t make me feel good, ‘cos I remember him making his debut looking like he’d been dragged out of a 6th form class.

Blimey, Twitchy twitchy twitchy!

South africans doing nothing for their reputation…

What a corking finish!

Great start to the chase by India, these two look in good form. Australia need to knock a couple over to keep in there. Not any Oz fans in at the SCG either, atmosphere sounds thumping.