Finals (QF's, SF's and Finals)

Chokers?

South African cricket team??

Surely not???

more hyperbole, how exactly did they "deserve" to win the tournament?

well Clobs it's easy to say that once they are out of it but as long as they were in, they were definitely the best side in the tournament and the favorites to win. Ok I must not have said they "deserved" to win because some other sides too have played pretty good cricket, but they certainly didn't deserve to lose to NZL, who barely made it to the Quarters.

The winner of the match tomorrow should almost certainly make it to the finals, I think this result now means that the WC is wide open.

Contrary to what many believe, I think Pakistan should be able to beat India and we might well see a Pak - SLN final unless ENG do something special, who will do it for ENG though remains to be seen, may be Morgan, may be Swann, but do they really have that X-Factor?

Originally posted by Zuhair_abbasi But now WHO CARES - it is THE MATCH coming up folks. Forget about The Ashes, forget about any other thing - cricket rivalry does not get bigger than this!! And both these teams have not played a bigger game ever before between themselves!! there is not much between the two teams - it will be all about handling and absorbing the pressure - which will be more on Indians than us!! So bring it on I say!!

Edited by spin wizard - 25 March 2011 at 4:53pm

wow! that was unbelieveable! SA was in such a good position and then the wickets began to tumble. This result is kind of a suprise because I believe they have a better team than NZ yet they were outplayed when it really mattered. those NZ bowlers successfully defended a small score. I'm sure that SA must have been very satisfied with their bowling performance....

Originally posted by Sledger We'll see v4p - they have history !

How did you do that? You wouldn't happen to be a match-fixer now would you .. Next time I'll take your word for it.

And the legacy continues.. They have choked again. I still can't understand it, Defies logic, when will it ever end. I really thought this time they would break free of those shackles. Feel sorry for them and their fans.

Very Glad for NZ though. 6 WC semi-finals some record huh.
NZ for me symbolizes Team Spirit & Unity. They haven't got the so called Big Names in their ranks(one or two at most) but yesterday they were their together hunting lack a pack of wolves out there. Their fielding such a beauty to watch. You watch teams for their batting some for their bowling But NZ you watch them for their fielding and their spirit( at least at the WC's).

Eng win toss elect to bat. Hoping for another humdinger.
This has been a honeymoon period for ODI's . Expect it to continue esp with Eng playing.

England's total should be challenging...They could have made a few more runs though. Their run rate during the beginning and probably middle was a bit low. Then there was the appauling Sri Lankan fielding. Morgan got 4 lives!!! I think SL dropped like 3 catches. that's kind of suprising because you won't expect that from a top class team like SL but I guess it just was not a good day for them in the field. Hopefully, this game would turn into a thriller!

ENG look to be on their way out, Lanka 116/0, I would have loved to see ENG win this, I thought 230 was a good score but SLN are making it look very easy, which is quite surprising as it normally is not easy chasing at the Premadasa.

SLN v NZL will be a repeat of the 2007 Semi Final if it happens. NZL have reached the SF's 6 times but never have they reached the finals... so are they also Chokers????

I hope they do it this time, make the finals, although it looks difficult, I have said this before a team with the likes of Ryder, McCullum, Vettori, Taylor, Mills (although he is injured now) can never be an easy opponent, the great advantage NZL have is that almost everyone in their team can bat and bowl and add to that they are an excellent fielding side.

Should it be NZL v SLNB, I expect NZL to give the lankans a very good fight.

That was as convincing win as you'd get ... loud and clear message by Srilanks to the remaining three opponents that they won't be easy to beat.

quite amazingly, except for India, all the remaining three Semi finalists are from Group A when it was Group B that was tougher!!! 

ENG were considerably weakened after the departure of KP, Broad, Shahzad and even Anderson was unnecessarily dropped. The bowling was nothing really, and the paid for it.

Looks like the ICC plan has worked perfectly, all three Asian giants have got through to the SF's, and NZL is the only outside team that has been able to make it. What a tournament this has been for the teams from the subcontinent.

Oooops!!! South Africa choked once again. Well done NZ. Their fielding was superb yesterday.
England played some really good matches in this world cup and I was expecting a close match today but it turned out to be a walk in the park for Srilanka at the end.

I thought the 229 would have been competitive but not say, Sri Lanka made it look all to easy.  They dropped some sitters off Morgan today, I couldn't believe it, seems like they were mixing up in butter prior to the game.

I had actually thought that England's total would be challenging. I think this is the first time in this world cup that a team batting second, made the required runs to win without losing a wicket!

^^or the opposite of it, in reality they used three batsmen though.

The build-up to Ind-Pak match grows at a frenetic pace with each day. Switch to any NEWS channel and thats all they discuss. In one if you've Aamer Sohail and Ravi Shastri having a go at each other, in another you've Imran Khan building up to the mind games and Kumble return it with a back hand. In a third channel things get really ugly with cricket analyst/journalist literally shouting at the top of their voice just to be heard. And they say it should be treated as just another cricket match, huh!! The PM of Pakistan has been invited for the match and to be accompanied by his Indian counterpart. Hope they don't end up in a fist fight towards the end of the game .
Just hope the players are banned from the TV, papers and the crazy media and fans for the next few days.