TOPIC:

Great start by the Aussies before the rain,delay.
Hazlewood + Starc where fantastic in the first spell.
Outfield looks lightning quick.Looks like a 300 run wicket.

Both sides lucky to get to 200 mate. A win set up by excellent Aust fast bowling and batting starts. So Aust make another WC ODI final. Not sure how Aust are even there, especially since this is a proverbial Dad's army, led by a spineless, ballad singing, cuddling coach and a woke, tactically inept captain. Wonders never cease to amaze in sport, especially cricket.

Big mountain to climb in the final v the hosts though, but I guess you gotta be in it to win it. The Indians are due a loss, hopefully it's in their next game.

I will put my hand up here and say I was wrong about the current team and coach. I gave them no hope of getting this far in the WC but the results speak for themselves. Looking at their body language they are obviously a happy group and you have to give the coaching staff some credit for that and Cummins has carried himself brilliantly in this campaign. Whatever criticisms you have about their tactic and selections, they are now in a position that 8 other teams would love to be in.
I doubt they can beat India with all the "advantages" that they enjoy but hey who knows, Ive been wrong before!

Good toss to lose in hindsight. The Saffers had no option but to bat and the conditions suited our quicks. Starc and Hazlewood were both excellent with ball. Aussie fielding deserves a mention. David Miller gave them at least something to bowl at.  Great start to our chase but spin threw a spanner in the works. It became a real grind and very tense one at that. Some of our batters threw their wickets away which didn't help in that respect. Maxwell being the worst offender there though Labuschange went close to topping him. Inglis had a good night with gloves and bat deserves some credit. Starc and Cummins held their nerve in the end and got us home. On to Ahmedabad and another WC final. 

So great to see a true battle between bat and ball in an ODI instead of the slogathons where both teams score 375+ and the bowlers are almost irrelevant. Hazelwood and Starc both bowled superb line and length and got the reward on a great cricket wicket which gave batters and bowlers a chance. Miller showed that you can make runs and poor Zampa coped a spanking The Australian fielding was next level especially Warner and Loosebuschange, saved so many boundaries and kept SA under huge pressure. Head and Warner too them apart until spin was introduced which I think the Saffer's waited too long to do. That 10/over start meant when the inevitable fall of wickets came, the batters could slow it down and grind out the win.
On to India, it's a 2 horse race but one horse will get lots of help from the 120k+ crowd and a pitch that will prepared exactly how they want it. If Australia get up, it will be a win for the ages.

South Africa definitely missed a few tricks by being over cautious. They should have sent the Aussies in and backed their bowlers to make inroads into the Oz top order. Then as SS said they delayed the introduction of spin until the 7th over, by that stage the score was 60. Markram should have been on at the start to make Head and Warner make the pace. Mind you their bowlers did create a lot of opportunities but their fielding let them down. The Proteas are very fixed to their system which generally works well in bilateral and group games but to win knockout finals teams need to be brave and take risks. Perhaps do something that the opposition may not expect.

This is the mantra that Australia need to remember when they take on India. They need to find a way to disrupt the way that India have been batting and bowling during this tournament. For example maybe get in Kohlis face and get him emotional, you never know he might do something stupid. If they let him just bat in his bubble he will get another century. Australia need to bat first and get close to 300 to be in the game then maybe the pressure of chasing might get to India. A very hopeful scenario I guess but if they can put some scoreboard pressure on, their players might start feeling the nervous vibes from the crowd which might work against them. 
I don't think Australia will make any changes from the semi final unless they want another bowling option in which case they may bring in Stoinis for Marnus

it really will come down to whether India have a bad day 
or not
the pitch will not offer the foreigners one iota of assistance and will be heavily tampered with
so winning the toss will be huge because I think the runs might be there for the first 25 overs or so before the surface starts to fall apart and batting second becomes a subcontinent nightmare

In the last 30 matches in this ODI WC.
15 sides batting first have won
And 15 batted second have won.
So if we win the toss ,what do we do.
Recon we bat first
Set a minimum of 325 runs.And take some early wickets in India's innings. 
We do have some X factor in our side
M Marsh,Maxwell,Zampa,Starc.

I think they will roll out a pitch which gives India maximum chance in the game, in other words a raging turner. Travis Head may well bowl 10 overs tomorrow as well as Zampa and Maxwell, leaving the other 20 overs to the pace trio.

mikeh wrote:

I think they will roll out a pitch which gives India maximum chance in the game, in other words a raging turner. Travis Head may well bowl 10 overs tomorrow as well as Zampa and Maxwell, leaving the other 20 overs to the pace trio.

Never ever trust Indians. They are the most untrustworthy and bad mannered humans on the planet. I don’t find this trait in older Indians but young Indian men today have one thing on their mind. Cheating. They are filthy scum that shouldn’t be let into this country. India will win they will make sure of it. One of the most corrupt societies on the planet.