Cricket World Cup thread

Great game that turned out to be! Such a shame our openers failed again at 12-2 we were always fighting to stay in it. Did their usual job of getting us behind the rate and then getting out!!

Mahmood today showed a big improvement. For the first time he seemed to show line and length control for sustained periods. His line and length to Jaya I though was very good.

Nixon is doing a very good job down the order (what a 6 off murali!!) but Bopara showed some class today, the way he kept his head and nearly pulled it off was something to watch.

We need a performance and a big one at that from the top 2 if we are to stand any chance against the Aussies and the South Africans.
 
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Am I dreaming or has Bopara opened for Essex? Might be worth trying out. Gutted about yesterday, really is time for Vaughan to either give up one day cricket or at least drop a spot down the order and let someone else open. Joyce should be swapped for Strauss, although having said that, we don' really know if Strauss will find his form quickly. Great bowling performance from us today, shame the openers couldn't get us off to a good start, really is our weak point right now.
 
Rosbif said:
I think England are a very good team. The only weak link is that useless opening pair and to a lesser extent Bell at #3. We bat nicely down to #7 and the bowling looks pretty sweet. Mahmood finally looking like a bowler.
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Bells been performing pretty well in the last couple of games. Has come in after the openers have failed and nicely held things together. His run out yesterday was just pure bad luck.
 
id personally like flintoff to open, i think he favours playing against faster bowlers and it gives him freedom for big hits, even if he gets 30 off 20 balls imo thats a good start, not doing anything down th order anyway
 
Ideally Big hitters getting a fast quick score... Hopefully before they get out if they get out they have totalled something comfortable on comes someone with a bit of a knack to keep it steady and ticking over.....

Flintoff seems to be doing nothing in the middle.. and as you say might help being further up.
 
Would be a gamble. First 5-10 overs the ball does swing a bit and Flintoffs technique, especially his footwork isn't great when hes out of form so could just edge it to the keeper straight away. Same with Pietersen, think its a good idea they're shielded from the new ball even if it is just 5 or so overs.

Thing with Bell is I think he has improved a lot. He said halfway through the CB series that hes coming out with more intent and his footwork shows that. He isn't being troubled in that channel outside off stump early on as much as he used to. If he can get one big score it could be the making of him and even now when he's not getting the big scores he is making decent contributions.

Its just the top two that need sorting and its a problem. You can't drop Vaughan and moving him down the order could be a problem. Unless you swapped him with Bell. I think we should have brought Mal Loye with us. Just don;t think Strauss is a one day player. he find it so hard hitting in front of square. As the aussies showed if you bowl in that chanel outside off stump all he can do is block it or try and run it down to third man before getting out trying to do that shot.

Bopara could be a real find. He's a wristy player so can hit the ball all round the park compared to a Strauss again who has limited scoring areas.
 
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A real suprise on the cards at the moment, Bangladesh only needing 2 wickets to beat the world's number one, South Africa, who are 155-8 with just over 6 overs left, chasing 252 for the win. :eek: :eek:
 
Stunning victory by the Bangaldeshi's yesterday, beating a so called number one team in the world:p. Ive always said the SA didnt deserve to be called the number one team in the world...they got lucky with their victories over India and Pakistan before the WC and then the Aussies losing the ODI series to England and then getting beat comprehensively by the Kiwis.

Anyways stunning victory nonetheless and i was more than pleased to see the racist SA's get brought back down to earth with a massive bump:p

An interesting game today, the Aussies vs England. Hopefully looking forward to a good match...another English loss and they are more or less out of the WC. So the pressures on England...
 
Spawn said:
An interesting game today, the Aussies vs England. Hopefully looking forward to a good match...another English loss and they are more or less out of the WC. So the pressures on England...
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And we crumble under pressure it is the English way, I predict an aussie win by 30-70 runs.
 
Great to see the Saffas get stuffed, Smith seemed far too cocky in the press conference. Stunning innings from Ashrufel, would have been an innings worthy of any of the top batsmen (well except maybe Hayden, he'd probably have got 120 from that many balls :p). De Villiers getting out was fantastic, completely missing the straight on ball and trying to cut when the ball was on middle stump :D
 
It's actually not really make or break for England today the South Africans getting rolled over yesterday has opened the 4th place spot right up.

1 Australia 6
2 Sri Lanka 6
3 New Zealand 6
4 South Africa 4
5 England 2
6 West Indies 2
7 Bangladesh 2
8 Ireland 0

If England lose today they'll have played 4 same as the West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh and still be 2 points behind but bare in mind they will have played all of the top 3 sides in the group leaving matches with South Africa, West Indies and Bangladesh the 3 sides we are battling with for the fourth place.

If we win all of those then we'd be in the semi finals pretty much. Winning today would really make life easier though.
 
Ooops Vaughan the flop has gone again:p...10/1 and Tait takes his wicket.

Amazing that he cant even get a decent score these days...have to feel to sorry for the lad though.
 
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