Group B Discussion

Ooopps!!! Banana Skin. Aahhh we've got our first banana skin victims in this WC. Oh My did i just refer to the Irish as banana skin, not anymore, not with a player like Kevin O'Mighty' Brien. He smacked the leather of that ball.
Wonder if the Brits would want him to go the Eoin Morgan way.

What this loss has done is that its taken the sheen and good work of the previous run chase for Eng. Back to square one. I still do expect them to reach the QF's but a lot of work to be done.

Damn those Irish. What've they done to this group. Opened it up really wide. Six teams in the hunt now. And they said the real tournament would begin from the QF's.

Just how can a team that caught brilliantly throughout a 5 test series turn into complete buffoons in the space of 6 weeks ?   Taking nothing away froman inspired Ireland I found England's bowling and catching almost comical.  That I wasn't laughing was because my blood pressure was so high my wife was on the verge of calling the funeral director!  As pointed out by others here , England will probably still qualify for the knock out stages but they're making it mighty difficult.   Three times they've played , three times they've scored a more than decent total only for the "attack" (and I use that term very loosely) to bowl without seemingly having any plan whatsoever.  Swann was tidy , Broad rusty and Anderson nowhere.  Yardy showed that the term "spinner" is not in his vocabulary and if he plays on Sunday will get pasted.  Collingwood bowled alright , but not well and his batting was dreadful.  It's time for a change and both Anderson and Collingwood have to go - Shazhad and Bopara must get a start and maybe , just maybe , they'll have a chance against SA.
               To say I'm disappointed doesn't come close , anger is still overwhelming me , but my late father will be chuckling as all other Irishmen and women must be this morning.

Originally posted by sam_ahmed and hope some of us here who wanted 8 teams for the WC are also taking a note and hiding somewhere!!!

Originally posted by zuhair_abbasi play Shehzad in place of Broad - who does not seem fit.

Originally posted by -JP- Originally posted by sam_ahmed never said about you Spinny! This WC has been boring only because of kenya and canada... But does this not show that finishing the qualification period for the World Cup two years before doesn't give a true picture of the top 12/14/16 teams by the time the tournament comes around? While Canada and Kenya were performing well in 2009, I highly doubt that Afghanistan or Scotland - the teams that missed out - would be performing as badly this year. Look at the ICC WT20 - the qualifiers were held a couple of months before the tournament and Afghanistan and Ireland were far from embarrassed when they came up against the big boys.

exactly my point JP. Having the qualifiers 2 years pprior to the event is a joke, I wonder what the ICC comes up with in April, they may well have a Qualifying tournament for the WC to make up that 10 teams.

Kiran, I simply do not agree with your argument, associate teams need exposure and they cannot get that playing all their life against each other, moreover the WC has only become more interesting by involving these teams.

I agree 14 is a bit too many, 12 (with qualifiers in place) is just fine, but then the format needs to change, if you are having quaterfinals after involving just 6 teams per group then the league phase becomes very boring. Super Sixes would be the way to go with a proper "Carry forward" system; preferably carrying forward all points gained in the group stage (making every game meaningful)


Edited by sam_ahmed - 03 March 2011 at 4:51pm

And this is also the worst I have seen BD bat - and that takes some doing

And the word is that the Bangladeshi fans are stoning the West Indies Bus.  That's downright foolishness of the highest calibre, those fans have to be retarded.  They should be stoning the Bangladesh Bus.  When someone win you fair and square, they should be congratulated.  No bad umpiring decision made Bangladesh get routed so badly!!!

I don't think i've really heard fans attacking the opposition players unless they thought they cheated or they did cheat.  Clearly there was one team that was way better and didn't do anything wrong.  This is insane!  Already casting a far worse image on countries in that part of the world than has already been the perception of most people.  Really ridiculous!

Reports are that the players are safe and back at their hotel.

The team's media manager, Philip Spooner, confirmed that two windows cracked, but none shattered, and hence no stone made its way inside. "We left the ground, and on our way back to the hotel, a couple of stones did hit our window," Spooner said. "Two windows were cracked, but not shattered. We are now back at the hotel, both teams are back at the hotel and are safe."


A Bangladesh police official said the fans had mistaken the West Indies bus for the Bangladesh bus.

Now though that explains a lot... still totally childish and stupid. Peace....

Another serious question.. Where was the security???

Edited by vote4peace - 04 March 2011 at 1:56pm

Well i believe the windows are usually tinted. I could be wrong. I remember the only one time i saw a team bus entering a stadium it was tinted. That could've been the case.
Really find it hard to digest the agitators targeting the opposition camp despite no foul doings.

Edited by vote4peace - 04 March 2011 at 2:18pm

One thing that has worked for Windies against the Neds and Bangladesh is the sharp pace of Roach!  Especially the Neds, they hardly ever get to face that kind of stuff.  I expect him to do a bit against Ireland too!

WOW, amazing game. England just beat South Africa by 6 runs. Game went to and fro so many times and now Broad has just taken the last wicket to win it. Great watching. England back in the mix after losing to the Irish.

ENG win a thriller and that is well done to them, they create breathing space for themselves, but I certainly wouldn't go as far as saying they will win the WC from here, that is nothing more than optimism Hammond.

RSA would be disappointed but they are still very comfortably placed and I am sure that they would be happy to lose a game in the league phase rather than losing in the KO's as has happened in the past. In fact the more I watch this south african team, the more I feel that they will be the champions. Still my favorites for the title followed by Pakistan and India.

HoHo What a cracker of a game. We are having it all in this WC. High scoring tie, unbelievable chases big upsets and now this low scoring triller at chennai.

England's WC campaign back on track. SA have yet again lost another close game after being in the driver's seat for 70% of the match. Like it or not they gonna hear that dreaded C-word a lot again.

Just what the doctor ordered for the English bowlres. The seamers particularly impressive with the old ball. Well Done!!!

its high time India started using R Ashwin instead of Chawla who with his flight is just too expensive to be counted upon, he could bag a handful of wickets once in a while but looks like a bowler who would go for plenty most of the times which doesnt fit into this team.

if it wasnt Ashwin then India might try a third seamer in form of Nehra as Yuvraj and Yusuf might be handy and keep on the filling in the space of a spinner.

personally my first choice will be Ashwin but three seamers might not be that bad considering all India need to have are bowlers who dont got for more then 5.5 RPO and for all the talk about spinners being the operative force on these pitches good seamers are still harder to smack around  when compared to people like Chawla.

i think inclusion of a containing bowler in whatever form (more likely Ashwin) will make a huge difference in Indian bowling which seemingly is becoming a huge loophole in Indian quest.