Group A Discussion

SL comprehensively defeated NZ today!! I guess that was expected. Personally, NZ isn't particularly that impressive and SL played really good cricket today. Nevertheless, both teams are through to the quarter finals so the loss is not detrimental.

AUS bowled out for 176, the winning streak may come to an end today, and once again it could be PAK beating them.

PAK have a great chance to win this, top the group and avoid playing RSA in the QF's.

Well played Pakistan. The austraians are really angered now, especially Ian Chappel (dont know why he has the license to criticize everyone in the world). He doesnt like Afridi staying on pitch after taking a wicket with his arms up. He is clearly hurt by this defeat. Instead of praising the winning team he talking about the bahaviour of the captaincy of Afridi. so funny. Hopefully he has nothing to do against Johnston (from Ireland) for his chicken dance :-)
Hopefully Pakistan will continue to play like this in the next 3 games.

All of Australia's batting hopes lies with Watson and Hussey.  As long as the both of them fails, so does the Australian batting attack.

Pakistan completes a commanding, hard fought but commanding win over Australia. But for that blip against NZ, Pakistan have looked like an impressive unit. They seemed to have spun a web well around the OZ to tangle them out of the match. Though their batting hasn't been as impressive I feel they've finally got the combination right. and could do them good later on. Shafiq seems to have a very good head on his shoulder. (not something you can say about many others in his team) Was very impressed not only with his talent but more so about the way he went about his job and applied himself out their. could be a good batsman in the making.

Australia clearly seemed to be a lil confused, stuck in two mind between aggression and caution, and hit the wrong buttons at the wrong times. Having once again started slow of the block mounted the pressure even more on them and lost wickets while trying to force their selves through. Afridi was very impressive with his bowling changes and kept mixing spin well with pace. Never had two pace bowlers bowl together in tandem.
They clearly have been struggling against spin since they've reached the sub-continents and will be be hoping to get a more conducive pitch come the QF which i doubt they would get.
Its imperative that they get off to a good start so they'll be under lesser pressure in the middle overs once the pitch gets slower and the ball gets softer, something they seem to be struggle to come to terms with.


Edited by vote4peace - 21 March 2011 at 7:22am

It was Erasmus, not Harper in that Ponting incident, if you are referring to the Pakistan game. I absolutely have no problem with those who do not walk and those who do. I think , it pretty much evens out in the longer run. And Sachin does not always walk mind you. I have seen that often.

Originally posted by Sledger Sachin walks , Ponting doesn't !  I thought it comical that Ponting waited for the inevitable - yet another umpiring blunder from Harper !

Hmmm.. To Walk or Not to Walk. The debate has reopened again!! Its a topic that has been debated a lot in past. And till the advent of the UDRS I've shared the same view of Zuhair. You never gonna be called back by anyone if given a wrong decision so why walk, helps even out those decions that went against you.
But now with the referrals it  just makes you look stupid out there and you still have to make the long walk back. Cos of the UDRS a batsman would hardly or probably never get a poor decision against him, no more making that an excuse. So in short I would just say Walk back gracefully pal if you know you out.

And that's very true Zuhair Sachin hasn't been the walker ( if that's an apt word) all his career. There have been many times I've seen him rooted to the crease after nicking it. Just whimsical to see the media butter coat and hail him and add this thread to their Sachin vs Ricky debate.  Yes there have also been many instances where he has done the walk despite been given not out( Sharjah vs Aus always comes to mind 1st ) but he has neva been consistent with that.

Don't get me wrong I too consider him to be a demi-god. But sometime you get tried of those media projections.


P.S: Should add Strauss too in the list of those who hasn't walked back, in this WC. ( refer to  IND v ENG game )

Edited by vote4peace - 22 March 2011 at 10:55am

Take it easy Zuhair, Ian was feeling the heat of losing for the first time in a long time...  I won't be surprised if he does the same again in the Ind-Aus QF.

As for the walking debate, spot on both Zuhair and V4P, Ricky did nothing wrong he just took a chance which didn't work out, sachin yes, very rarely does he walk, infact even I was surprised that he walked the other day... it is just a personal choice and to make it an issue is quite a poor attitude.

Afridi's only criticism from me is his brainless batting but I wouldn't go as far as calling him brainless (well, other than that ball biting incident too).  He seems a good chap and Pakistan team for me plays more united under him lately than anyone else.

Sammy the player is poor but Sammy the captain is pretty alright Daisy!

I am not convinced that captaining the side is Gayle's top priorities. they would be better off to hand it over to Brendan Nash if no one else is accepting it - or maybe any of the Bravo brothers. But Dwayne Bravo if I can recall did not sign the central contract - so there is not enough room there.

Originally posted by vote4peace I know I haven't watched or followed the Windies or Sammy as much as you've Spin. But from what I've seen at this world cup Sammy fails to impress. Did you notice how Sammy went after he won the toss. He was like Woohooo!! I know it was an imp toss and all that but you still keep your poker face on as a captain. The signal he was sending out wasn't the best. Showing it out that his team badly needed to win that toss. I don't think I've seen any other captain that elated after a toss. I think it would be best for WI cricket to reinstate Gayle at the helm. Not sure if Sammy would feature in the final XI after that.

I agree with everything you said in the first paragraph! In the end Sammy ended up looking like the idiot because after being so exuberant after the toss, it proved to be a failure for windies. Yes they won the toss and chose to bat first but they humiliated themselves and we saw in the end that the only ppl laughing were the Pakis! I do agree that he needs to be replaced. However, im not sure who would be the best choice for captain. Gayle has a lot of experience and was even captain of the team for while sometime ago. I dont really know if he'll be a successful captain for the windies but no doubt he will defintely be better than sammy !

It might be a lot easier just saying who hasn't captained the Windies in the last 7 years SW !!

it'll just be very interesting to see who they will choose next

Edited by daisy77 - 25 March 2011 at 6:07pm