Bad feeling England just might get lucky again.

[prakesh]

It seems ricockulous that they should even still be in with a chance, seeing as they've lost to every proper side they've faced & failed to do a an emphatic job on ANY of the minnows...but the way these other results are going so outrageously in favor of them...

I'm beginning to sweat & fart a bit that they may fluke another CB by just managing to hang in there, and then effectively turn it into a 3 game world cup, where on the day they might get lucky.

By the annoying way they keep winning the toss in this tournament too...I can just see them inserting SA and the game being decided on that, like todays was against NZ.

[Pratters]

Originally Posted by prakesh

It seems ricockulous that they should even still be in with a chance, seeing as they've lost to every proper side they've faced & failed to do a an emphatic job on ANY of the minnows...but the way these other results are going so outrageously in favor of them...

I'm beginning to sweat & fart a bit that they may fluke another CB by just managing to hang in there, and then effectively turn it into a 3 game world cup, where on the day they might get lucky.

By the annoying way they keep winning the toss in this tournament too...I can just see them inserting SA and the game being decided on that, like todays was against NZ.

England haven't played well but neither have South Africa, have they? Name one side which deserves to get to the semis ahead of England IF England defeat South Africa..

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Originally Posted by Pratyush

England haven't played well but neither have South Africa, have they? Name one side which deserves to get to the semis ahead of South Africa IF England defeat South Africa..

South Africa haven't played well, but they've played far better than England. They've dispatched the minnows they've faced with ease (Bangladesh is not a minnow side), shown good spirit against Australia, and held their nerve against Sri Lanka. As mentioned above, England have lost by easy margins to the big teams and struggled to dominate the small teams (except Sri Lanka, who they struggled against for more than half the game).

Neither team has played champion-worthy cricket, but the best four teams of the tournament deserve to be in the semi-finals. Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand are clearly the top three. South Africa is the best of the rest. It doesn't matter what England do against South Africa, it's pretty clear which has been the better side in this tournament to date.

[Swervy]

Originally Posted by Mr Mxyzptlk

South Africa haven't played well, but they've played far better than England. They've dispatched the minnows they've faced with ease (Bangladesh is not a minnow side), shown good spirit against Australia, and held their nerve against Sri Lanka. As mentioned above, England have lost by easy margins to the big teams and struggled to dominate the small teams (except Sri Lanka, who they struggled against for more than half the game).

Neither team has played champion-worthy cricket, but the best four teams of the tournament deserve to be in the semi-finals. Australia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand are clearly the top three. South Africa is the best of the rest. It doesn't matter what England do against South Africa, it's pretty clear which has been the better side in this tournament to date.

so even if England slaughter SA ( I have seen stranger things), and eventually go through to the semis thanks to a far superior run rate, you will still think SA have been the better team.

the thing is though we know England actually have another gear to slip into (as proved by the recent one day success vs both NZ and Australia in Australia), do we really know if SA can step it up, or are they playing at their level?

[Goughy]

If, and its a bif IF, England go through it will be virtue of beating the teams they have had to.

They obviously still have to beat South Africa and possibly WI.

If they do that they clearly deserve to go through. If they lose to WI and squeeze through on NRR then they still obviously deserve to go through by virtue of the rules.

I still expect SA to qualify, but if they dont they can look at the Bangladesh game as the reason. As bad as England have played so far they would have to be seen as above SA in peoples recogning as a) they beat SA and b) SA were defeated by Bangladesh

[Blaze]

England will win the World Cup

[pskov]

England ans SA haven' had all that different World Cup performances so far if you look at it by the common teams they have faced.

vs Australia: England were in it for about half their innings batting well but a tame finish backed up by some average bowling meant a comfortable loss. SA bowled medicorely, then had a right go but fell well short batting. Result: Even

vs Sri Lanka: England bowled and fielded very well and batted very well until the halfway mark and still nearly scraped out a win. About as well as a team could perform in a loss. South Africa bowled and fielded very well yet nearly threw it away chasing, just holding their nerve for a narrow win. Result: Edge South Africa

vs New Zealand: England batted first and made hard work of it posting a poor total. Early wickets on a pitch doing something for the bowlers gave them a chance but NZ were calm and finished it off comfortably. SA made even harder work than England and also got some wickets but drops and missed opportunites made it more comfortable for NZ. Result: Slight edge England

vs Ireland: England made hard work of it but were never in any danger of not winning. SA won comfortably without blowing Ireland away. Result: Slight edge South Africa

vs Bangladesh: England cleaned them up in the field but got home awkwardly. SA were ok in the field but were a bit sloppy before batting very poorly indeed. Result: Edge England

Obviously England haven't played the Windies yet but whose to say they won't smash a dejected team in similar fashion to the way South Africa did? I think basing the fact that SA have had a better tournament than England so far on the basis that SA annihilated a dreadful Netherlands team whereas England only comfortably beat a better Kenya side is a bit misguided. The whole point of this tournament's length schedule was to produce a fair reflection of who the best 4 teams for the semis are by everyone playing everyone else. I think it has worked perfectly fine.

To put simply, whoever wins when these two face each other deserves to be in the Semis. That's assuming that Bangladesh or WI don't sneak in....

[Scaly piscine]

vs New Zealand: Both teams well and truly stuffed by losing the toss.

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by Pratyush

England haven't played well but neither have South Africa, have they? Name one side which deserves to get to the semis ahead of South Africa IF England defeat South Africa..

England.

[Pratters]

Originally Posted by Prince EWS

England.

Haha good spot. Edited.

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by Pratyush

England haven't played well but neither have South Africa, have they? Name one side which deserves to get to the semis ahead of England IF England defeat South Africa..

Australia.

[Pratters]

Leaving aside the other three of course. Now you are just picking straws.

[LA ICE-E]

you know what though? this wc already had enough. This wc needs England to win against SA or the rest of the matches will all be dead matches after that.

[nightprowler10]

Originally Posted by LA ICE-E

you know what though? this wc already had enough. This wc needs England to win against SA or the rest of the matches will all be dead matches after that.

An Australia vs South Africa semi final doesn't sound yummy to you?

[PY]

It actually doesn't as much as it used to. South Africa appear to have lost their spark a little, I'm not saying they aren't still awesome but they are definitely struggling currently and would get thumped by Australia if the same set of circumstances occurred.