TOPIC:

58shark wrote:

UNKA2 wrote:

mikeh wrote: Lucky that NZ had Williamson, otherwise the Aussies may have snatched that. Just needed one more yorker from Starc...

Lucky Aussies put on 40 odd for the last wicket with Haddin, otherwise it woulda been all over way earlier

yeh unk and lucky they had this and unlucky we didn't have that and lucky the Queen doesn't have balls or she'd have to be our King.....yada,yada, yada.
The south sea poms will be shooting their bolt right about now....one more sux off the bit and we will huv wun the cup
If they are able to make the final (hopefully against the Aussies) I reckon they'll choke. The Aussies don't like to lose!
At the end of the day, they won the battle, but that doesn't win the war.

Agree if they make the final against aussie i think aussies will win. I like the bolded bit 58, confirms my thought, all other teams like to lose cept the aussies

It was a good game between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean English on the one hand and the South Sea English on the other hand. One thing I do know is that, if NZ do win they will be unbearable: they have won the rugby world cup, the rugby league world cup, and the Icc cricket trophy already. The thing is too, cricket is not their national sport, unlike Australia. Not bad for four million South Sea English.

Ps feel free to write back all, but let us not have a debate about Aussie Rules being the National Sport; it is played by a minority of the population; just in the same way, because a very large minority of Australians play Aussie Rules, people in NSW and Queensland cannot claim Rugby League as the national sport.

ArkRoyal wrote: It was a good game between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean English on the one hand and the South Sea English on the other hand. One thing I do know is that, if NZ do win they will be unbearable: they have won the rugby world cup, the rugby league world cup, and the Icc cricket trophy already. The thing is too, cricket is not their national sport, unlike Australia. Not bad for four million South Sea English.

Ps feel free to write back all, but let us not have a debate about Aussie Rules being the National Sport; it is played by a minority of the population; just in the same way, because a very large minority of Australians play Aussie Rules, people in NSW and Queensland cannot claim Rugby League as the national sport.

Unlike us (not) can hardly imagine an "un smug" Michael Thompson, gossage, barich etc etc spriuking it on media, plus of course the newspapers.

UNKA2 -- yep, the Australian press leaves a lot to be desired -- in fact I never inflict the Australian press on myself at all.

Beasley Hutton wrote: If Clarke had have bowled Starc out instead of taking him out of the attack for a few overs (replaced by Johnson who got carted all over Auckland) we would have won this bloody game. I wonder if Clarke's fan boy Warnie will have a dig at his lovechild for that crucial error of judgement where Starc was left high and dry having bowled only 9 of his allotted 10 overs, I doubt it tho he will try and pin the blame on Starc, Boof, Watson or anyone else but his beloved Pup!!

Furthermore to my initial post above we finally have someone in Mark Waugh questioning Clarke's captaincy on Saturday in not bowling Starc straight out not forgetting also there was a 45 minute lunch break half way thru NZ's innings so he was hardly going to be under duress bowling out.
Warne has been remarkably quiet for the last few days not a peep or tweet about how his beloved Pup farked that up completely!

Ark....the whole NZ mantra is based upon per capita mate......I constantly hear how can a country of 4 million beat a country of 22 odd million in rugby all the time......my response is because 4 million people will always produce better rugby players than the 1 million of folk playing rugby in Australia......they really do think everyone in Australia plays the game , watches the game and are passionate rugby fans.......

as for the cricket yeah I guess the law of averages will result in NZ winning a few games here and there eventually......I guess when you lose so many for such a long time the victories actually become more memorable.....TBH the fall when NZ do lose in the quarters or semis will be unbearable but its gonna be a lot of fun too!.......but come end of the day it is all about per head of capita.......NZ tel me how much they love the banter......well giving it......but definitely not receiving it..... ..and they really truly hate Aussies.....sort of what drew me to the place TBH ......always love a challenge

Freeze: it sounds like you are doing a good job -- keep it up. You are right to keep them honest on the Rugby Union front, it is their national sport and they are really only playing against QLD and NSW. They should be comparing themselves with South Africa, which as you know, has a white population almost exactly the same as NZ's total population. I would be quite happy to point out to them that it took them a long time to win their second RU Cup -- twenty years.

BH -- don't get too carried away on the Mark Waugh front, he is one of the selectors that will defend Watson to the hilt, insist on playing Marsh and Maxwell in the same middle order, and has give us the novel idea of have three captains in the one team. We lost the game because of the batsmen not the captaincy. Only Warner was actually dismissed by a good bowl, the rest played pretty bad shots.

These games are all very exciting but ultimately meaningless as far as determining the eventual World Cup winner. The tournament proper starts in the quarter finals and as unlikely as it sounds given their performances so far, England could still scrape into a quarter final by winning their last two games and then potentially do some damage in the knockout fixtures.

Realistically though I think there are 5 teams capable of winning the cup:

Australia: Their strengths are their power hitters, aggressive fast bowling and excellent fielding. Weaknesses are Watson at number 3 and their lack of a specialist spinner.

New Zealand : Strengths: Their top order batting, swing bowling and Daniel Vettori. Weaknesses : Inexperienced middle order which can panic as demonstrated last game. Also they have only 2 low key games in the next three weeks before their quarter final so there is the risk of them losing momentum.

South Africa : Strengths: Their batting line up led by Devilliers, two world class opening bowlers, a very effective spinner, brilliant fielding team Weaknesses: Bowlers 4 and 5 have been a problem, history of choking in big tournaments may play on their mind.

India : Strengths: Batting depth, Ashwin an economical spinner. Weaknesses : Fast bowlers tend to be expensive. Always a bit ill at ease on Aussie pitches, fielding can be ordinary.

Sri Lanka: Strengths : Top order batting, Malinga and Herath great ODI bowlers. Weaknesses : Back up bowling can be expensive, fielding as per India.

I’m not discounting West Indies and even Pakistan from causing an upset because both teams have match winners in their ranks but I doubt if either team is consistent enough to win the whole thing.

I would favour the South Africans if they can peak at the right time and keep the choking tag out of their minds.

UNKA2 wrote:

58shark wrote:

UNKA2 wrote:

mikeh wrote: Lucky that NZ had Williamson, otherwise the Aussies may have snatched that. Just needed one more yorker from Starc...

Lucky Aussies put on 40 odd for the last wicket with Haddin, otherwise it woulda been all over way earlier

yeh unk and lucky they had this and unlucky we didn't have that and lucky the Queen doesn't have balls or she'd have to be our King.....yada,yada, yada.
The south sea poms will be shooting their bolt right about now....one more sux off the bit and we will huv wun the cup
If they are able to make the final (hopefully against the Aussies) I reckon they'll choke. The Aussies don't like to lose!
At the end of the day, they won the battle, but that doesn't win the war.

Agree if they make the final against aussie i think aussies will win. I like the bolded bit 58, confirms my thought, all other teams like to lose cept the aussies

You know as well as I do unk, there's hating to lose and then there's HATING to lose.