*Official* Group B Discussion - South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, England

[straw man]

Let me guess: NZ manage to qualify for the semis and come up against....Pakistan. Again.

Or Australia - read somewhere that they've knocked us out of the last three Champions Trophies*, so that would be annoying. And India if they go through beat us in the super sixes of the 2003 World Cup too if I remember right.

Probably shouldn't get ahead of ourselves - need to beat England first.

* can remember one of those had some horrid umpiring decisions and I was fuming.

 

[Athlai]

**** it NZ to take the CT comfortably.

 

[Jono]

**** you Foxtel

 

[straw man]

**** it NZ to take the CT comfortably.

No Athlai NO!

Now you've done it :-/ . Didn't you see how the negativity before the Sri Lanka match translated into the best performance in ages?? Expecting Luke Wright to bowl us out for 51 now.

 

[Athlai]

No Athlai NO!

Now you've done it :-/ . Didn't you see how the negativity before the Sri Lanka match translated into the best performance in ages?? Expecting Luke Wright to bowl us out for 51 now.

We bowled poorly on the most part besides Franklin and Vettori and our batting was carried by Ryder, Guptill and Vettori (admittedly McCullum and Franklin gave valuable cameos).

We're losing Ryder so that will count against us.

To beat the Poms we're going to need one of our confidence boys to fire. Taylor/Baz/Franklin/Guptill need to think that they are the bees knees and ton up.

 

[Flem274*]

Swings it, tbh.

He's really a pure wicket-taker. At international level he's somewhat bizarrely got a reputation as an honest trundler with accuracy but not much else. Truth is, he rips teams apart more ruthlessly than any other bowler on the county circuit, but is somewhat inconsistent and can often go for runs because of his full length.

Its not bizarre at all. There's so many people that think to be a wicket taker you have to be able to bowl 140+ and thats it. Swing, seam, variation or accuracy don't matter apparently.

Am a big Onions fan tbh.

 

[Faisal1985]

Strauss you little insecure b*tch! hate you for dening a runner!

 

[aussie]

Swings it, tbh.

He's really a pure wicket-taker. At international level he's somewhat bizarrely got a reputation as an honest trundler with accuracy but not much else. Truth is, he rips teams apart more ruthlessly than any other bowler on the county circuit, but is somewhat inconsistent and can often go for runs because of his full length.

Onions is a rubbish ODI bowlers regardless, he just got favourable conditions vs SRI. We have seen this before with Hoggard vs SA in 2004. Get Sidebottom back into the side ASAP.

 

[Hurricane]

Yeah when Franklin was in the India test series I thought he was bowling in the 120s. Maybe he has lost some pace this year. Makes you realise just how fast 120 kms is for club cricketers to face.

I am very happy the guys won the game. Makes me feel proud when we win and can compete against the best. I also like it when we post a big total without leaning on Taylor takes the pressure off him a little bit and ensures he won't burn out from the responsibility. I don't fancy our chances without Ryder in the next game though. But anything can happen as I didn't rate us for this game.

I actually turned on the radio to hear the game when we were 110 without loss. 15 minutes later we were 4 down and I thought great a collapse then went to sleep. Then went to work today and eagerly went to cricinfo. I read the title of the bulletin -"New Zealand pushes SL to brink" and figured that we had almost won the game but lost. But then when I read the bulletin quickly learned the good news.

Would have picked Ryder for MOM not Vettori.

 

[Hurricane]

Onions is a rubbish ODI bowlers regardless, he just got favourable conditions vs SRI. We have seen this before with Hoggard vs SA in 2004. Get Sidebottom back into the side ASAP.

Yeah I don't fully understand why sidebottom fell out of favour.

 

[pietersenrocks]

Sidebottom was nowhere near his best in the Natwest Series.

He'll probably be given a chance against New-Zealand, and if he bowls well, England will certainly start with him & Anderson in the semi-final.

Things are going perfect ATM.

 

[straw man]

Then went to work today and eagerly went to cricinfo. I read the title of the bulletin -"New Zealand pushes SL to brink" and figured that we had almost won the game but lost. But then when I read the bulletin quickly learned the good news.

Haha, thought that was confusing too. Fortunately I'd already read through the CW comments from where I left to the end (the drama, the excitement!) before looking at cricinfo so was not fooled .

 

[straw man]

I see NZ v England is at Johannesburg (where NZ played Sri Lanka). Not sure whether this is a good or bad thing for us.

Also I still don't know if Redmond will be included in the side or not (perhaps too jetlagged and only there for the semis if we qualify?) as the news articles don't seem to say. If he is then it's a straight swap for Ryder and I guess he'll be asked to bowl a few overs.

If not then there are no other batting options in the squad so for me Butler would have to come into the team. If it was at Centurion then Patel or Diamanti (I would choose Diamanti since we lack batting), but at Jo-berg would have to be Butler. Either Franklin or Vettori would bat 6, so we'll be extra reliant on the top order firing.

 

[inbox24]

What is happening to England at the moment is the same which Australia experienced post 2006/07 Ashes, losing 5-6 in a row before winning a tournament unbeaten etc. Certainly got some goodass momentum going.

 

[Athlai]

McCullum
Guptill
Taylor
Elliott
Broom
Franklin
Vettori
Mills
Tuffey
Bond

is fine lets just play with ten.

 

[Athlai]

What is happening to England at the moment is the same which Australia experienced post 2006/07 Ashes, losing 5-6 in a row before winning a tournament unbeaten etc. Certainly got some goodass momentum going.

They didn't win the common wealth series unbeaten.

 

[straw man]

McCullum
Guptill
Taylor
Elliott
Broom
Franklin
Vettori
Mills
Tuffey
Bond

is fine lets just play with ten.

McC
Guptill
Taylor
Franklin
Elliott
Vettori
Broom
Butler
Mills
Tuffey
Bond

not serious btw

 

[Athlai]

Who will score more runs? Redmond, Diamanti, Hopkins, Patel or Butler?

 

[GIMH]

They didn't win the common wealth series unbeaten.

Read his post again, he's talking about the way England won the finals of the CB series than NZ whitewashed ye crims in CH series before Aus won all 76 games at the WC

 

[inbox24]

They didn't win the common wealth series unbeaten.

There were no ODIs between the Ashes and the Commonwealth series.

?

Obviously I was talking about the WC.