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Cricket 34: Bring Your Own Sandpaper


Paxter

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2 hours ago, Raja said:

Are y'all listening to any decent review podcasts for the WC? I know the Guardian have a 'The spin podcast', but any others? 

Cricinfo’s Switch Hit podcast is quite good although they come out less often than they used to.

 

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Sri Lanka may be about to pull this match out of the fire...Afghanistan has made a mess of what should have been a straightforward chase.

Podcasts-wise, I would second The Switch Hit if interested primarily in English cricket. Mark Butcher is a regular on there and he offers a good balance of punditry/game scholarship as well as real test match experience. Cricket Unfiltered is the podcast I listen to for Australian cricket news but, beware, it’s very partisan (and Murdoch funded!)

The Final Word is a more neutral, fun podcast doing a World Cup diary.

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2 hours ago, Paxter said:

Sri Lanka may be about to pull this match out of the fire...Afghanistan has made a mess of what should have been a straightforward chase.

I think they definitely got lucky there after such a weak batting performance. I'm not sure I can see Sri Lanka winning many more matches if they continue to play like that.

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Murdoch funded might be a no go! But thank you all for the recommendations! 

Yeah, cricinfo sounds good! I'm going to give them all a try, tbh and see which ones I like. I was mostly looking for a WC diary kinda thing, so will look into the final word. 

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Well that's an underwhelming total by South Africa. They're doing their best to exit this tournament quick-smart by opening with potentially three straight losses.

At this rate my safe prediction would be India, Australia, England, New Zealand for the semis, roughly in that order. I have India and Australia nailed on for semis. England next. NZ based on their excellent tournament record.

Windies and Pakistan are the wildcards who might edge out one of England or NZ for a spot.

I don't see South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or Afghanistan making it.

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1 hour ago, Jeor said:

Well that's an underwhelming total by South Africa. They're doing their best to exit this tournament quick-smart by opening with potentially three straight losses.

South Africa are actually bowling really well but I just can't see them defending 227 against India even with Kohli gone.

1 hour ago, Jeor said:

At this rate my safe prediction would be India, Australia, England, New Zealand for the semis, roughly in that order. I have India and Australia nailed on for semis. England next. NZ based on their excellent tournament record.

Windies and Pakistan are the wildcards who might edge out one of England or NZ for a spot.

I'm not sure I'd rate Australia that highly. Starc and Cummins are excellent bowlers but I'm still not convinced their batting is good enough.

On the other hand I'm not sure I'd rank the Windies as low as a wildcard, it's a toss up between them and New Zealand for the 4th semifinal spot for me. They've got some excellent pace bowlers and their batting is very explosive, the only thing they're really missing is a reliable spinner for the middle overs. 

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9 hours ago, ljkeane said:

I'm not sure I'd rate Australia that highly. Starc and Cummins are excellent bowlers but I'm still not convinced their batting is good enough.

I think Langer’s influence on the Australian team is starting to tell. They’ve won 11 or so ODIs in a row, including an impressive series win against India. It will take longer in the test arena, but in ODIs Australia is starting to flourish.

(West Indies will probably thrash them now that I’ve written the above).

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12 hours ago, ljkeane said:

South Africa are actually bowling really well but I just can't see them defending 227 against India even with Kohli gone.

I'm not sure I'd rate Australia that highly. Starc and Cummins are excellent bowlers but I'm still not convinced their batting is good enough.

On the other hand I'm not sure I'd rank the Windies as low as a wildcard, it's a toss up between them and New Zealand for the 4th semifinal spot for me. They've got some excellent pace bowlers and their batting is very explosive, the only thing they're really missing is a reliable spinner for the middle overs. 

I don't know as much about this particular West Indian team so you may well be right there.

I do think that Australia are actually in pretty good shape though. The ODI team had a bad run a little while ago but they seem to have sorted it out now. As @Paxter mentions they're on a big winning streak and I think they probably have one of the most balanced teams out there. The batting lineup looks good with Finch (regained some form), Warner and Smith, plus the late order power of Maxwell and Stoinis. Maxwell is as good a finisher out there as anybody and is a one-man wrecking ball in the final overs or in a chase that's getting out of hand. And the bowling attack with Starc and Cummins could challenge anybody. The weakness is probably Zampa as the frontline spinner, but he seems to have been bowling well lately.

I've recently gone off the boil with England but they're still a very very good ODI side. It would be considered an upset if they didn't get a semifinal spot. And I'm still rating India as the favourites for the tournament - tremendously powerful batting lineup and a good all-round bowling attack now that they have Bumrah.

I do hope that in this elongated group stage there are some twists and turns though. I'm going to watch at least the first innings of this Australia vs West Indies game tonight - that's going to be an unpredictable one.

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What an abject performance from South Africa. They desperately need AB back in that batting lineup.

Difficult game to forecast coming up between Australia and WI. On paper it’s Australia comfortably but you never know.

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Oh dear - what's happening here! Windies must have been fired up by my post talking the Aussies up and dissing them as wildcards.

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9 minutes ago, Jeor said:

Oh dear - what's happening here! Windies must have been fired up by my post talking the Aussies up and dissing them as wildcards.

Inept stuff really on Australia’s continual nightmare pitch at Nottingham. Finch got a beauty but what on earth were Usman and The Big Show doing? It’s like watching Pakistan all over again.

While Smith is still there, there is still some hope for them but really the Windies should be able to restrict Australia here.

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If Australia can scramble up to some sort of total, their bowling will still give them a chance. But a lot depends on how long this current partnership can hang on. Starc, Cummins and Coulter-Nile are okay for a bit of a biff later on but you don't want them having to come in before 45 overs.

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That was some recovery. Coulter-Nile would arguably have been the least-known member of Australia's team but his innings has made a defensible total. Credit to Smith and Carey as well for doing the initial repair work.

Initially I thought sending in Coulter-Nile at 8 was a mistake. Cummins would have been a better 8 as he's more defensive and they needed to rebuild. Turns out I was wrong! Puts other teams on notice that Australia bat very deep so it'll take a lot to really knock them out. Cummins and Starc didn't show it but they both also have the potential to hang around as much as Coulter-Nile did (although Cummins doesn't quite have the same power and Starc probably doesn't quite have the defence). Even Zampa at No. 11 has half a dozen first-class centuries and a first-class average of 20.

Anyway, this Windies side is more than capable of returning fire. With Russell, Holder, Brathwaite and Nurse they also bat very deep and with some power. So unlike in previous years, this side is probably not as dependent on Chris Gayle making a score.

Should be a good chase! But unfortunately it's close to midnight and I have work tomorrow...

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Wow, Chris Gayle given out twice and reviews successfully twice. One of which he was given out caught and it turns out the ball clipped the stumps without disturbing the bails. On top of that he gloved one over top of the keeper in the same over.

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All over for West Indies now I’d say. That was epic from Coulter-Nile - great to see him playing like this as he’s been underrated and unlucky with injury for many years.

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3 hours ago, Paxter said:

All over for West Indies now I’d say. That was epic from Coulter-Nile - great to see him playing like this as he’s been underrated and unlucky with injury for many years.

I think you jumped the gun a little bit there Pax, the Windies were well in that until Starc got Braitwaite and Holder, but they'll still be very disappointed with that. They had plenty of chances to win the game and let them slip away. Russell in particular has let the side down for me, if he reins it in slightly and bats for 5 or 6 overs they probably win.

On the other hand that's a great result for Australia. They were under pressure throughout so to come out with a win will be great for their confidence.

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