Champions Trophy 2009

To me, the single biggest fault PAK made was talking themselves up before the game. NZ never play better than when the other team is expected, and expect themselves to win. 

Well, although I forgot to post this earlier, this is a huge opportunity for Vettori to stamp his authority on NZ cricket. Fleming did quite well with the team, getting them to semi's (and of course the 2000 CT win) but this a great chance for Vettori to grab the team by the scruff of the neck and say "we're not falling short this time lads".

well I forgot to congratulate NZL on a very fine victory. As I said prior to the tournament, a team with the likes of Bond, Vettori, McCullum, Ryder, Taylor cannot be counted out. The fact that they have made it to the finals despite injuries to some of their key players is also an indication of the depth in NZL cricket. All this despite being a small nation. Well done NZL, I;d love to see them win the trophy. Not because I hate AUS (in fact they are one of my favorite teams) but only because AUS have won a lot and I'd like to see a different winner this time.

we have said this before about Younus' poor captaincy, he simply is not a good leader. Rana can do so well on some days but the fact remains that he lacks the class of Asif or Gul. I agree Gul had a poor tournament but still he is the future of PAK and I don;t blame him for anything. PAK need to decide on their openers, I'm really getting ****ed off by watching the same old Imran Nazir failing and failing and failing sicne last 10 years, they also need to decide on their their batting line up and be very clear as to weather they want fake bowling all rounders like Rana or genuine all rounders like Razzaq (who coudn't have done worse with the ball than what Rana did in this tournament).

I would have Razzaq any day in my team but who told you that his fielding is decent mate? It is not even half decent. But I still won't drop him on his fielding. As pointed earlier - it was a wrong team selection and as I said earlier the team fielding first should have the advantage.

Younus drop catch and Umar AKmal's decision were the turning points. but we can't escape making it a reason for defeat. The senior guys except Yousuf disappointed yet again. Misbah would have been much better. I would rather drop Younus for Fawad. And I never understood the unnecessary criticism by everybody on Yousuf's innings. He was pacing his innings and holding one end. He was playing a similar innings to that of Elliott. the difference is that Elloit got a life at 42 and made the most of it while Yousuf could not turn it on. Anyways - losing in a semifinal is disappointing but I am not for wholesale changes.

There are no favorites in today's game. NZL have historically been tough opponents against Aussies. Vettori and Elliot hold the key in my opinion.

Claims of corruption and match fixing have been made against Younis Khan with regard to his dropped catch. Is this a legitimate claim? What's the reaction in Pakistan?

Next thing it will be Simon Taufel match fixing because he gave a very rare ordinary decision against Umar Akmal. It's probably Indian media trying to have a go at the Pakistani cricket team. Funny though, because Pakistan actually progressed to the semis.

Ponting is not the most versatile captain, but I felt he was really improved in this tournament. His field settings were solid, he changed his bowlers around more than usual and there was plenty of variation in his attack and Australia used the powerplay the best of all sides, although NZ used it well too. Ponting also led from the front, brilliant run outs, solid catching and awesome batting - he's probably front runner for man of the tournament.
For NZ it's the same story. Vettori bowled, as usual, wonderfully and was very hard to score off. He took wickets and bowled himself at the right times. He also batted extremely well and there's few men who can handle pressure better than him. The way he handled pressure with the bat , which is not his main discipline was supurb.
I defintely feel that having your best player as skipper is a massive positive and works pretty well.

When you're as depleted a side as NZ you need all the luck you can get. You can't say that they don't deserve a little bit of good fortune. Pakistan was definitely the better side , but unfortunately couldn't get through - they needed to make more runs , needed to field better and really should have cleaned up the lower order. But cricket's a funny game. I really doubt that there was any matchfixing, that's poor form from the media.

The Kiwis currently 81-4 and all their big guns are back in the hut, Taylor, McCullum and Guptil.  Elliot has the calmness required to get something decent but it will take a mammoth effort to post a decent score.  The ball was moving around, not sure what kind of so called batting pitch that is.

The might of Ausseis is back!! They really put a complete show.

RSA and SL were basically the favourites, both were full strength, well balanced, in pretty good form and SA were playing at home. At the end of the day none of that mattered. NZ, Aust and England were all without 2-4 key players each , but played superbly nonetheless. Full credit to Pakistan as well, they barely did a poor job with the ball and are never an easy beat at this level.
     Watson has come of age and I think Ponting is starting another page of his career after another away Ashes loss and full credit to him. Siddle is another young fast bowler to look out for in the ODI format and he was bowling seriously quick and was hard to play. Lee did a great job leading the pack and I hope to see him 2011 for the WC. Hauritz alongside Ajmal has been the big find when it comes to spin bowling in limited overs cricket, rarey concedes more than 4.5 an over and is a wicket taker - took 3 good ones yesterday in the final.  I also feel that Australia is a in a great position with it's keeping stocks, Paine , Manou are very neat with the gloves and I rate Paine as an opener. Haddin is  now 32 so it's good to have an understudy for him him who's 24.

Well done to NZ. Nobody expected them to do much, but they were a difficult side to beat throughout the tournament  and they did themselves no shame in this final. Watson is in top form after his ton in the semi final and they were without the services of their great captain.
Congratulations Australia!

Seven is over the top, even 5 is sometimes too much especially now that they seem to add 1 or 2 T20s to the start or end of the one day series these days. I like it when there's a trophy to be won at the end and it has some sort of meaning. Like the Chappell-Hadlee Series , the Border-Gavaskar Trophy or the Ashes, etc. It gives the series significance. I remember about 10 years ago Australia played 2 ODI series in a row against India. One was the 'Coca-Cola Cup' and the one straight after was the 'Pepsi Cup'. Absolutely ridiculous.

Edited by milkman - 06 October 2009 at 8:35am

West Indies will still fail to compete much because of the lack of batting when none of the trio shines.  The bowling, I think, will be very good in a few years to come.  Roach will be bruising a lot of batsmen along with Edwards.

Originally posted by zuhair_abbasi Originally posted by sam_ahmed it'll be a delight to see this Aussie team play 7 ODI's against IND later this month No Sam - you cant tell me this. seven match series is a waste and is hugely responsible for so much criticism on one day cricket. 4 or 5 one dayers do it for me. seven is just money grabbing - that is it.

Agreed. 7 is a bit too much. I think 5 is the limit, shouldn't be more than that.

I said It'll be a delight because as a fan I'd watch any good series so when it's IND v AUS or IND-PAK it's entertainment for we fans even if it is a long series. However as you and Milks have rightly pointed out this is not good for ODI cricket.

moreover, it's winter time here in IND and I just love this season, cricket on the evenings during these days is just what you want!


Edited by sam_ahmed - 06 October 2009 at 6:39pm

Well I've been quite busy, but I finally have time to congratulate the Australian Cricket team on a fine performance. NZ just wasn't good enough on the day. Hopefully the cricket world now remembers that we play some reasonable ODI cricket.

Quite rightly I feel we are up into 4th place in the rankings. We were as high as 2 (before slipping to 3rd despite not losing a series at that stage). At times recently we played like our 7th place ranking, but hopefully we have rediscovered our magic touch.