Cricket V

[Sir Thursday]

Oh. Dear.

[delete this account pls]

:wideeyed:

:stunned:

I did a double take when I saw the scorecard on Sky news.

[sh_wulff]

[quote]I could just weep.[/quote]
I on the other hand, feel a glimmer of optimism... to have the WI back as they were in the 80's

it's worth a little pain, no??

[Stubby]

Heh. I feel a little better about our summer now. :P

[Jeor]

Going to be a hot day for the NZ vs Aus ODI this afternoon. Whoever wins the toss is going to have to bat, otherwise their team will basically die out there on the field in the afternoon sun.

[Paxter]

I am absolutely stunned by the England scorecard. What a terrible start to the tour for England and, more importantly, a terrible start to what was supposed to be a confidence-boosting Ashes build-up.

Is this the start of a resurgence in WI cricket? Or just another false dawn (like the Champions Trophy win in England)?

[Jeor]

I think everything's a false dawn until they can maintain form over three consecutive series. It's happened too much with Windies cricket lately and I'm rather pessimistic. ;) That being said, now is probably the time if they want to do it - Gayle and Sarwan still have some years left, Chanderpaul can probably hang around another couple of years or so, and the fast bowlers are young.

[Paxter]

Normal service appears to be resumed in Australia with the home side setting themselves up for victory by posting 301. Australia should win this as long as Hopes and Bracken continue to be stingy with their RPOs. Haddin and Clarke looks like a good combination at the top of the order (better than Warner and Marsh anyway) and M Hussey has found some excellent ODI form out of nowhere. D Hussey and White continue to underwhelm though. Ferguson played quite nicely, and he looks a good prospect.

BTW, I suppose I will have to give some credit to Broad for finally contributing with the ball in a test match. That sort of performance is what will now be required on a fairly regular basis if he wants to maintain test selection.

ETA: And the decision to move McCullum down the order has backfired, with NZ already 2 down. This game is virtually over after just 6 overs of NZ's innings!

[Hereward]

As is so often the case, the [url="http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/sport-headlines/england-beach-tour-interrupted-by-cricket-200902061563/"]Daily Mash[/url] sums it up well.

[Jeor]

Well, Australia get the win, but NZ can take some big positives out of the match.

1. The Australian win was very ugly. For a long time it looked like NZ were well in the hunt chasing 300, and that simply should not happen on an SCG day-nighter. Right until Elliott got himself out, they needed a gettable 70 off 55 or something like that, and it was a sloppy performance by Australia to let them get that close. Vettori made a mistake at the toss and should have batted; it was hot in the afternoon and his bowlers turned in a bad performance, whereas if they had bowled at night on an SCG pitch that was getting lower and slower, particularly with two accomplished spinners in Vettori himself and Patel, it may have been a different story.

2. Elliot has come into his own, a magnificent century tonight. Prior to this match I imagined him as a bits and pieces all-rounder, but with a century like this it seems that he has the goods to make it as a proper international batsman in the middle order. Toss in the fact that he can bowl some handy overs and get the odd wicket, and it looks like New Zealand have a like-for-like replacement for Scott Styris.

The next match at Adelaide will be interesting. In today's match the NZ bowling let them down, but their batting showed some real fight. They're definitely not out of this series, and despite the Australians winning at last, I really don't think the momentum in this series has swung back in their favour yet.

[Horza]

There's some wierd symmetry here, both teams learnt to bat for this match after two low-scoring games. Credit also to McCullum for going out there doped up on cortisone, batting one handed and still managing a good knock.

[DemonKing]

Up to this point I actually thought England might be clear favourites to win back the Ashes, but they're looking pretty ordinary about now.

[Paxter]

Despite Haddin just being run out, I can't help but get the feeling that NZ were just 20 or 30 runs short of a good score on this wicket. Having said that, Australia haven't been doing much chasing in ODIs recently, so maybe they will find themselves in a difficult situation later on tonight. It's up to the two Husseys now...

[Horza]

[quote name='Paxter' post='1681136' date='Feb 10 2009, 20.14']Despite Haddin just being run out, I can't help but get the feeling that NZ were just 20 or 30 runs short of a good score on this wicket. Having said that, Australia haven't been doing much chasing in ODIs recently, so maybe they will find themselves in a difficult situation later on tonight. It's up to the two Husseys now...[/quote]

Yep, they needed one or more of Guptill, McCullum or Elliot to stick around to post something properly defensible. As it is I think we've regained enough mental stability to see this one out. A tiebreaker at the Gabba would be immense.

[Jeor]

Yeah, I think NZ were a few runs short. They had a solid opening but a terrible spell in the middle overs. Even though they piled on some runs in the acceleration in the last 10 overs, they only got themselves to 245 because the middle over lag and loss of wickets was so bad.

Australia once again are making tough work of it themselves, Haddin's runout is just another case of letting an opponent back into a game that they should have been well out of contention of. I still think Australia are very well set to win this, with 7 wickets in hand and only 125 off 131 balls needed.

Commentators are having a field day with Broom. ;) First of all they talk about Broom sweeping, and then note that "Mills and Broom" are fielding close together (Mills and Boon being a famous publisher of trashy romance novels).

[Multaniette]

I dunno about it - I reckon this game will go down to the wire.

[Jeor]

With both Husseys looking well set, 7 wickets in hand and the big hitting White to come (as well as a batting powerplay) I don't think 83 off 78 is a particularly tough ask. Then again, I've said that of Australia a few times and they've made it look much harder than it is...

[ithanos]

Big win for Australia tonight, well played. Though I thought NZ's best chance to take the series was last Sunday it's still good for a game 5 to be the decider.

Glad heaps was raised for the bushfire relief too.

[Paxter]

Very comfortable win for Aus. The NZ bowlers did a decent job, but 240 was at least 25-35 runs short of a par score. They really do miss Ryder and Oram.

Australia should go on to win this series now - they are the team with all the momentum heading to the decider, while NZ will be wondering where things went wrong after enjoying a very handy 2-0 lead not long ago.

BTW: Hussey is in incredibly good ODI form now. The big question now is whether he can transfer this form into the test arena in SA...

[Paxter]

Wow, massive news today with Jayawardene stepping down as SL captain. This came as a real surprise to me as he has been a fantastic captain for SL, particularly in the test format:

[quote]Sri Lanka's away record improved under his leadership, as the team drew Test series in England, New Zealand and the West Indies. He led the team in 26 Tests, winning 15 and losing seven and his win ratio of 62.5% is the highest for any Sri Lankan captain in history. Although his recent one-day form had been patchy, he still scored heavily in Test cricket, averaging 64.70 as captain. Nor did he let his wavering form in one-day cricket affect his captaincy. In 94 ODIs under him, Sri Lanka won 54 and lost 35.[/quote]

Anyway, one door closes and another opens - I'm sure Sanga will also be an excellent captain. But it is needless instability really - Jayawardene should just have kept up the good work.