The Cricket thread

[Boycey]

Fair point Seanie, I guess what I was thinking was that It'd be nice to see the two hosts in the final of their own tournament especially with the keen rivalry between them. If you have seen any of Indias games you'll agree that whoever New Zealand play in the final it'll hardly be a neutral venue in terms of the crowd anyway.

Don't agree Lenny that its been a dull tournament. The World Cup always drags a little in terms of length with it taking quite a while to whittle down from 14 to 8 teams for the quarter finals but the high scoring and all round entertainment quality of the games has been high

[Sidney]

I'm not sure this tournament deserves a great final because it has generally been dull. The semifinal on Tuesday was a complete exception as it was an unbelievable match. I do fancy australia to be too strong v india and they will also be strong favs at home in the final. They probably have more potetial match winners than NZ although I would love to see NZ do it.

Thoroughly enjoyed:
Ireland v West Indies
Ireland v UAE
Ireland v Zimbabwe
New Zealand v Australia
England v Bangladesh
New Zealand v South Africa

I like New Zealand's aggressive style with both bat and ball and hope they win it.

[AZOffaly]

Could be a good one. Australia batted their 50 overs, 328 for 7. India have just started and are 30 for no loss after 6.3 overs

[Boycey]

Could be a good one. Australia batted their 50 overs, 328 for 7. India have just started and are 30 for no loss after 6.3 overs

This is going to go right to the wire I'd say. Looks like a very unproductive morning at work for me...

[AZOffaly]

Alt-Tab is your friend

[AZOffaly]

India's opening Batsmen are very good. You rarely see them get out for less than 20. This partnership I think had 170 against Ireland before they lost Sharma. Today it's up to 73, albeit with a drop. If they can make 150, I'd say this is very much on.

[AZOffaly]

Impeccable timing by me. 76/1. Dhawan gone.

[AZOffaly]

Can this be true, or am I misunderstanding something?

"Virat Kohli has been a man for a run chase as of late and he will hold the key for India now, he has scored 13 consecutive hundreds in ODI run chases..."

[magpie seanie]

Some of the stats relating to India in recent times in ODI's are simply nuts. Especially in ICC tournaments. That's a ridiculous one if true.

[AZOffaly]

Can't be true. Did he bat against Ireland? They lost a wicket at 170ish, and they didn't need another hundred at that stage, so he can't have come in 3rd and got 100.

[AZOffaly]

Not true now anyway. Gone for 1. He faced 13 balls or something, and had 11 dots, 1 single to keep on strike(!) and then the wicket. India in trouble now.

[magpie seanie]

Not true now anyway. Gone for 1. He faced 13 balls or something, and had 11 dots, 1 single to keep on strike(!) and then the wicket. India in trouble now.

Wouldn't say they're in trouble - they've a great batting lineup and several top class players to come - but Australia won that psychological battle.

[deiseach]

The only way I can parse that stat is that his last 13 hundreds have been in run chases. As you say, moot point now.

[AZOffaly]

In trouble in the sense they will need someone to come in and quickly settle. You could tell Kohli never felt comfortable. Another wicket in short order would be trouble.

[AZOffaly]

It's interesting. I'm on 'lync' with a couple of work colleagues from India, and they are frantic about it. Apparently this new guy Rahane 'can be a settler'. We'll see