TOPIC:

The Pakistani quicks loved Optus tonight.All 3 of them bowling in the high 140's., tonight.

gtrxuone wrote:

The Pakistani quicks loved Optus tonight.All 3 of them bowling in the high 140's., tonight.

So did the Zimbabwean bowlers mate haha.
Gee you have to wonder about the Pakis sometimes, all the talent in the world but......

I posted at the inning's change BH..The Zimbabwe keeper done an amazing stumping, great match.
The Optus wicket made us play our Wafl GF at an alternative location.But what a beautiful cricket wicket,can't wait for the test match.

Good double header at Optus yesterday.The Dutch bowled and fielded well again.There just a few batsman short of challenging,the test ranked nations.Good to see Pakistan open there account.
Huge allmost capacity crowd Sunday night at Optus.India V RSA..RSA have a awesome fast bowling attack.India pushed them to the last over but didn't have enough runs.
Interesting listening to Darren Sammy on Abc radio commentary yesterday.DS believes Optus is the best Cricket wicket in the World.And by far the best T20 wicket as it gives the bowlers something,and not just a bat fest.
The Zims and Bangladesh played a thriller at the Gabba ,last ball finish.
Thank fu#k games are now to be played in Brisbane and Adelaide.Melbourne domestic cricket hasn't started yet.Its been washed out 5 Saturdays in a row.

Last nights result means that it is pretty much all she wrote for Australia unless Ireland beat the Kiwis, Sri Lanka beat England or there is more rain. It has been a very patchy performance by Australia even in the games they have won. They had a chance to dramatically improve their net run rate when they reduced Ireland to 5 - 25 but they took their foot off the throat and Ireland reduced the margin to 40.   They are now battling injuries and its likely that Smith and Green will play against Afghanistan in what now shapes as a dead rubber.
India, South Africa, England and New Zealand are the best teams and are likely to be the 4 semi finalists

Spot on mikeh, the NZ loss hurt, but the number crunching would be far easier for Aust, if they had rolled Ireland for under 100. Starc going for 30 in his last 2 overs didn't help. I have no doubt fatigue, injuries and rain will come out as the main excuses for Aust coming up short.....but realistically the selection policy has been pretty poor and blinkered.....too many have done to little leading up into this comp.....the selectors just keep dealing the same hand over and over again......India v Eng would bring in a huge crowd if they make it to the final.

The run rate was destroyed by the margin of the NZ defeat. Once they had lost a few early wickets chasing 200, the team talk should have been on damage minimisation, lets get to 160 so the NRR wasnt so affected. Maybe they did aim for that but they just appeared to keep swinging away and got bowled out for 120.
The whole team have stuttered through this tournament, relying on individual performances to get their wins. Their fielding has also been below the usual standard.

Mikey, I wonder if people are getting too comfortable because the players are chummy with the coach and taking shortcuts rather than putting the head down and working hard

Pretty sure JL would of kept the same players from last years WC win.....JL is loyal as they come, and no way Finch, Warner, Smith, Maxwell, Cummins, Starc, Stoinis et al weren't going to have first crack at defending the cup....especially at home.

premiership hangover wrote:

Mikey, I wonder if people are getting too comfortable because the players are chummy with the coach and taking shortcuts rather than putting the head down and working hard

This could well be the case PH. I think there is an element of predictability about the team which oppositions have prepared for, some players are past their use by date and others are not suited to the T20 format even though they are good test and ODI players. There has been no opportunity for guys like Ellis, Phillipe and Mcdermott who have excelled in the BBL competition over the last few years so it does appear like a closed shop