Cricket......

[Mntboy]

Lets hope it is a case of choke now and win the final.

A choke would imply that we had the better of the match, which is not the case with this match. But ja I'm hoping this is a blip along the way. We should have the beating of the remaining teams in our group. This was always going to be our hardest game prior the 1/4's.

[GLuvsMtb]

We were comprehensively beaten by an Indian side who had their plans worked out and stuck to them. De Kock, Amla and Duminy fell to known weaknesses in their armories and our bowlers failed to capitalize on a solid start. Today I missed Jacques Kallis with his good cricket brain and ability to change the game with bat and ball. India remained aggressive with their field placings, much like NZ and Aus have been in this WC. Perhaps we can learn from this. After today we are probably not noted as one of the favorites anymore. Maybe not a bad thing. Hopefully Parnell played his last game in this WC. He clearly struggles in big games and teams like Aus and NZ will exploit that. Lets hope Vern can make a quick recovery as I think his injury cost us about 20 runs. The positives are much less extras, Tahir bowling well and our fielding looks to be sharp.

[dev null]

Actually, this was not unexpected if you look at it from afar.  A bad loss against NZ in the warm-ups and stumbling past Zim should have warned us that this game was going to be tough to win.  The way they lost was the shocker.

[Oxter]

Dammit, its sad to see so many people cry. 1st match against zim. Alot of people underestimate zim as a team, yes they are not consistent but when they get things together they can be very dangerous. The pitch we played on favoured them (similar to their home conditions where they beat Aus a while ago) and i think our problems came in just that, underestimating them just as alot of people do. we did however recovered well and won convincingly. The game against india. It was a very important toss to loose, and you dont need to go far to see that. India reached their par score for first innings, but we needed to keep them to 270 and below to chase. 300+ was always going to be difficult in those conditions. If the vern did not get injured we probably would have achieved that, but due to his injury our attack got exposed and they scored 30-40 more runs. This was always going to be a close match and the few small things that just did not go our way made a big difference. Chasing such a big score in those conditions meant we had to take a few risk to keep up, it did not pay off and thats where the margain came from.

[dev null]

Dammit, its sad to see so many people cry. 1st match against zim. Alot of people underestimate zim as a team, yes they are not consistent but when they get things together they can be very dangerous. The pitch we played on favoured them (similar to their home conditions where they beat Aus a while ago) and i think our problems came in just that, underestimating them just as alot of people do. we did however recovered well and won convincingly. The game against india. It was a very important toss to loose, and you dont need to go far to see that. India reached their par score for first innings, but we needed to keep them to 270 and below to chase. 300+ was always going to be difficult in those conditions. If the vern did not get injured we probably would have achieved that, but due to his injury our attack got exposed and they scored 30-40 more runs. This was always going to be a close match and the few small things that just did not go our way made a big difference. Chasing such a big score in those conditions meant we had to take a few risk to keep up, it did not pay off and thats where the margain came from.

 

 

I disagree.  We were uncharacteristically sloppy in the field, and Parnell did not pull his weight, in batting, fielding and bowling.  You do not take a risk and run an on form batter out for just one run.  Yes, winning the toss helped, but that would be a valid excuse had we lost by 20 odd runs. Good cricket teams learn to adapt.  India were just superior to us in all forms of the game on the day.  SA looked like they were sleepwalking, and they once again showed that they can't handle WC pressure.

[canfan]

I disagree.  We were uncharacteristically sloppy in the field, and Parnell did not pull his weight, in batting, fielding and bowling.  You do not take a risk and run an on form batter out for just one run.  Yes, winning the toss helped, but that would be a valid excuse had we lost by 20 odd runs. Good cricket teams learn to adapt.  India were just superior to us in all forms of the game on the day.  SA looked like they were sleepwalking, and they once again showed that they can't handle WC pressure.

Well the WC is not over yet. This might be the best thing to happen to SA. Lets hope .

[dev null]

Well the WC is not over yet. This might be the best thing to happen to SA. Lets hope .

 

If they were in the army they would be getting a proper oppie today. 

[Shebeen]

Remember south africa beat India (in india) in the group stages of the 2011 world cup, see how that movie ended.

 

The end result from yesterday is that we will probably not be able to top the group, which came with it a reasonably easy 1/4 against bang (or maybe england). instead we will come 2nd and play sri lanka.

[GLuvsMtb]

Remember south africa beat India (in india) in the group stages of the 2011 world cup, see how that movie ended.

 

The end result from yesterday is that we will probably not be able to top the group, which came with it a reasonably easy 1/4 against bang (or maybe england). instead we will come 2nd and play sri lanka.

Provided that we don't have an oopsie against WI and / or Pakistan... mind you, if we lose another game we deserve a spot against Aus / NZ in the QF. 

[dev null]

Well, SL are themselves struggling to find form at the moment.  As long as we don't again get the jitters as soon as Malinga starts his run-up, like what happened in the 2007 CWC.  And I quote the one caption from a photo on the ESPN CricInfo Page for this match:

 

 

 

Lasith Malinga is congratulated by his team-mates for becoming the first bowler in ODIs to take four wickets from four balls, South Africa v Sri Lanka, Super Eights, Guyana, March 28, 2007

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/wc2007/engine/match/247482.html

 

This is the one game I almost thought we were going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  We were on a canter to win the game when Malinga struck at the end.  We made it with one wicket remaining, which Malinga almost had by a whisker.

Edited February 23, 2015 by Moridin

[Shebeen]

9th Super: Australia v South Africa at Leeds - Jun 13, 1999

South Africa 271/7 (50/50 ov); Australia 272/5 (49.4/50 ov)

Australia won by 5 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)

Scorecard | Commentary | Article index (2) | Photo index (4)

Big game here in the grand scheme of things – (being the final super six game) if South Africa win they top the log and play Zim in the semis. The other being pakis vs new Zealand (both teams we beat in the super six stage). Australia go home if they lose, a win getting them in through the back door and a repeat match against SA in the semi (zim go home).

This is lost in the memories of this game now, it’s only remembered for this incident –

Also forgotten is the century scored by Herschelle in the SA innings. I’d like to see what would have happened if Hersh just walked away and claimed the catch as it wasn’t really dropped. Definitely a grey area.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/193900/193919.jpg

Zulu moers it to the boundary

 

Anyway, we played Nicky Boje in this game for his first world cup appearance – this was because kallis was injured and Gogga was a bit of a risk. Batting went pretty well after a patient start, Herschelle got the only 100 of the tournament for the proteas, with decent contributions from Cullinan(before his bunny bowled him) and Jonty. But it needed that Zulu guy to really put a cherry on it – he came in at #6 with five overs to go and we got 47 off those last five – which was a lot back then. Defendable total. Australia got a foot on the plane back home.

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/120800/120860.jpg

gobbs got a hundred

 

The chase started pretty badly for Oz – mark Waugh and gilchrist both gone with 20 on the board –

1.4

Elworthy to Gilchrist, OUT, and thru him, off stump goes cartwheeling out of the ground, Elworthy around the wicket, Gilchrist came with so much of a reputation, and he'll be flying home with none of it

AC Gilchrist b Elworthy 5 (6m 7b 1x4 0x6) SR: 71.42

 

with Warne batting at 8 it was up to the middle order to produce the goods. And they did, mainly to Ponting but mostly to Steve Waugh. This would be his highest score in all of his 325 ODI career, showed really why he is remembered as one of the greats more for his BMT and swagger than actual record (we choose to look past his above 50 test average here and he remains a prime tjop. naturally).

Oh well, so they sneaked back from here – 

End of over 21 (1 run) Australia 68/3 (204 runs required from 29 overs, RR: 3.23, RRR: 7.03)

 

and ja, guess who was bowling when Gibbs spilled the chance?

30.6

Klusener to SR Waugh, no run, DROPPED! inside edge, easiest of easy catches for Gibbs at mid wicket, he had it in his hands, but got too excited and somehow dropped it

the ball seemed to slip out as he was about to throw it in the air and celebrate, amazing Australia have to win now, they owe it to Gibbs

 

 

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/118100/118143.jpg

can read more about it here – 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/wctimeline/content/story/280931.html

[Shebeen]

maybe AB should go watch himself on youtube?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-RSj4RXy2Y&noredirect=1

 

If they were in the army they would be getting a proper oppie today. 

 

 

"I don't want to think about it now. I just want to to feel sad in my room for a while," AB de Villiers

Edited February 23, 2015 by Shebeen

[Baldrick]

Elton Chigumbura has just bowled 20 deliveries to complete his last two overs.
Haven't seen that before.
 

[Baldrick]

200 for Gayle. Hopefully this is his big knock of the tournament.

[hboli4]

I will probably be slated for this and not many would agree, but I think that WC games should be played as day games only. Yes, all the arguments like 'if you are good enough you should be able to win regardless of batting under lights or not' etc etc are valid but:

 

I just think that conditions should be the same or near as close as possible for both teams and in day/night games this simply is not the case, I don't think the toss should play that big a part in deciding who wins.

 

Ok, flame away guys!

[GLuvsMtb]

I will probably be slated for this and not many would agree, but I think that WC games should be played as day games only. Yes, all the arguments like 'if you are good enough you should be able to win regardless of batting under lights or not' etc etc are valid but:

 

I just think that conditions should be the same or near as close as possible for both teams and in day/night games this simply is not the case, I don't think the toss should play that big a part in deciding who wins.

 

Ok, flame away guys!

Its a tough one. Cricket in essence was a gentlemen's pastime that migrated over the decades into a highly competitive and lucrative sport. Filling up stadiums is as important as TV schedules. The reason Aus, England and India are now the big three is because of their ability to fill stadiums and sell TV rights when they compete, not because they are necessarily the best in the game, so commercial sense will always precede aspirations for a fairer contest. 

 

The basic concepts of cricket namely the toss, playing out a long innings before changing from batting to fielding, the cricket ball losing condition quickly, pitches degenerating, etc. is not meant to be fair, but to test different skills at different times. The toss alone plays a role, but to make it fair, sides should probably bat in 10 over innings, change over from batting to fielding, bowl the next 10, and change over again (like a baseball play). I don't know if I would like to watch that, maybe it should be given a go and lets see what happens?

 

Another option is to handicap the side that wins the toss somehow. If they bat first, deduct 10%, if they bowl first, add 10% to the side that lost the toss and batted. Now this handicap differs from ground to ground and with varying conditions on the day or seasonal (dew for instance) changes. It is very difficult to take all the factors into account to calculate the handicap.

 

Perhaps the fairest system is one where the World Cup becomes a World Championship or league where sides play each other home and away and at the end of the series they either win based on a log standing, or they play a final where the inequalities will come to the fore again. 

 

Perhaps we should just abide by the fact that cricket is not designed to create an even playing field.