cricket

[BZINGA]

England - 154 after 48 overs
Sth Africa - 1/157 after 19.2 overs

What a hammering :

[XR8-260]

Wow andrew hall is a better bowler than I though - 5/18 :.

[BZINGA]

Ireland - all out for 77 after 27.4 overs
Sri Lanka - 2/81 after 10 overs

Sri Lanka played both Vass & Muralitharan.

[red_hotxr6]

Sri lanka dropped there 3 best players so they could lose to australia, play new zealand and beat them and then meet australia in the finals.Which is a bit like match fixing..

[Martyvan]

Originally Posted by 3

Wow andrew hall is a better bowler than I though - 5/18 :.

Maybe the opposition isnt as good as they appeared.....

[red_hotxr6]

Could be, but i am quite sure a lot of money has been changing hands on who is going to win this thing.

[XR8putts]

Originally Posted by red_hotxr6

Sri lanka dropped there 3 best players so they could lose to australia, play new zealand and beat them and then meet australia in the finals.Which is a bit like match fixing..

Yes, it's exactly like match fixing. :alien2:

[pb02]

Originally Posted by red_hotxr6

Sri lanka dropped there 3 best players so they could lose to australia, play new zealand and beat them and then meet australia in the finals.Which is a bit like match fixing..

Best three?? Jayawardene, Silva, and Jayasuriya all played. Vass and Murali are up there with the best for Sri Lanka but I wouldn't say they are the best. Malinga has been out for three games so far with injury so he wasn't dropped. The idea behind resting Murali and Vaas is two fold. Obviously the rest is good for anyone at this stage since they have played so much cricket. Also it doesn't give us a chance to see how they are to face on the W.I. wickets. Sri Lanka had nothing to gain by playing a full side and going for a win.

Common sense on the part of Sri Lanka, not match fixing.

[BZINGA]

Australia v New Zealand

Australia - 6/348 after 50 overs

Watson - 65* (32)

Hayden - 103
Ponting - 66
Clarke - 49
Hussey - 37

[BZINGA]

Australia - 6/348 after 50 overs
New Zealand - all out 133 after 25.5 overs

Only way to describe this match was - Aussies were simply Awesome.
***New Zealands biggest ever loss in ODI's***

SEMIS
Sri Lanka v New Zealand
Australia v South Africa

[exrtnz]

Im a kiwi fan but today the aussies were too good, and they'll be very hard to beat in the last 2 games. But we can beat sri lanka on the 24th if we dont play like that again.

[Night Runner]

Yupe, congrats to Aussie, that score was just too much to run down this time and you played the perfect game. BIG total and tight in the field. Still, I think a good loss like this is what we need, keep our heads level and not big going into a crucial match against Sri-Lanka. As I said from about January, if we made the semis that was a win in my books.....what ever happens from here I think we did well. India? Pakistan? West Indies? England? Bravo Black Caps, Bravo.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by [ NZTS50 ]

Yupe, congrats to Aussie, that score was just too much to run down this time and you played the perfect game. BIG total and tight in the field. Still, I think a good loss like this is what we need, keep our heads level and not big going into a crucial match against Sri-Lanka. As I said from about January, if we made the semis that was a win in my books.....what ever happens from here I think we did well. India? Pakistan? West Indies? England? Bravo Black Caps, Bravo.

if i was a kiwi i would expect to at LEAST make the semi's. ranked third in the world and coming off a 3nil win against aussies chasing 300+ scores each time.

last night was a mismatch and a dead rubber. aus had their best team on the park and everyone performed. made them look unbeatable, which i guess they are when they play like that. NZ were given a major blow when bond withdrew as they were already missing oram. couple of major cogs there. were prolly already focusing more on the game against sri lanka anyway.

i was so pleased for watson. the selectors would've breathed a bit of a sigh last night. symonds failed but he has been ok. hussey got runs, watson got runs. now we just need gilly to step up. maybe swap gilly and hussey. hayden has stepped into the punishing role at the top.

bring it on!!

[Bill_R]

Originally Posted by prydey

last night was a mismatch and a dead rubber. aus had their best team on the park and everyone performed. made them look unbeatable, which i guess they are when they play like that. ...

Yeah, agree with that. I watched it up until the end of the Australian innings and expected NZ to do something in theirs. Quite a shock to see what they were out for. Australia are in a class of their own. I can't see NZ getting past Sri Lanka.
A few brain fades from a few of the Aussies when batting- the shot Hayden tried when he got out was not on. Gilchrist still a bit out of form but makes up for it when keeping, Clarke went totally blank letting that one through ...

Watson's innings freaked me out (and him too).

It *used* to be that a few of the Australians could mess up and "someone" would come to the rescue. Now it's a case that most do well. I can't see the Aussies losign motivation from here on in. Sri Lanks and Australia final with Australia unbeaten in the series.

[Bill_R]

Originally Posted by prydey

.. maybe swap gilly and hussey. hayden has stepped into the punishing role at the top. ...

bring it on!!

I have thought the same but woudl have done this much earlier in the series. As it stands now I wouldn't change a thing - don't disrupt the momentum.

[prydey]

that clark dismissal had me scratching my head as well. stepped back to give himself room then jst shouldered arms and watched it cannon into middle stump. weird.

hayden needs 93 runs to become highest run scorer in world cups. should do it easy.

[BA GT-HO]

Pretty dismal performance from NZ, embarrasing actually.

Great effort by the Aussies again!

[XR8putts]

Although I'm not happy about the Kiwi's performance at all - it's no big deal in the grand scheme of things.

NZ are two wins from World Cup glory. So are South Africa, Sri Lanka and ofcourse Australia. If there was one game NZ could afford to lose, this was it.

Bring on Sri Lanka! And I think Aussie shouldn't be too coy about South Africa.. SA are bloody strong..

[BZINGA]

Sri Lanka - 5/289 after 50 overs
New Zealand - 208 after 41.4 overs

Sri Lanka into the final.

Australia v South Africa tonight.

[prydey]

i fancy our chances much better against sri lanka than nz. i'm pretty confident we'll get over south africa. the assies are mostly big game players so the occasion shouldn't get to them. tait's the only one who hasn't been there for too long and he's wayward anyway.

late night for me tonight. plenty of coffee at work on thursday. at least i do shift and don't start till 1pm.

[BA GT-HO]

Originally Posted by puts99

NZ are two wins from World Cup glory.

And that would be that then.. :

South Africa vs Australia tonight, this will be a ripper of a match I reckon, totally unpredictable. Remember how we made 400 and lost! You never know what will happen when these 2 play a big match. Can't wait to watch it.

[BZINGA]

We can only hope for the same result as last time -

Brief Scores: Australia 377/6 (Hayden 101, Ponting 91, Clarke 92) vs. South Africa 294 (de Villiers 92, Smith 74, Hogg 3/61)
Result: Australia won by 83 runs
Man of the Match: Matthew Hayden

[Night Runner]

Yupe, congrats Sri-Lanka.

NZ played another shocker. Oram ****ed me off the most. He should have stood his ground as I think Miltherean(?) didn't catch that bowl. At the very least it look suspect so he should have stood his ground. I have no idea WTF McCullum was thinking trying to sweep on his first ball getting a top edge and giving their fielder a lolliepop catch. Oh well, all has been done now. I'm not so mad, we made the top 4 with many a good country at home.


Take it away South Africa.

[prydey]

great start by aus. s.a are 4 - 27. dropping like flies. good to see the accurate tait has come to play, not his wayward alter ego.

[XR8-260]

5/27 Now!!! South Africa aren't chokers... /sarcasm :

[prydey]

guess i won't be too tired at work tomorrow after all. seems i'll get a reasonable amount of sleep in. they talk the talk but can't walk the walk. mind you the australians are playing the best i've ever seen them play this world cup. awesome team at the minute.

[Outbackjack]

Originally Posted by [ NZTS50 ]

Take it away South Africa.

Where's ya ANZAC spirit boy!! _2:

[bob 351]

ooh ah glen mcrath ausie ausie ausie

[ED Classic]

Oi oi oi

[MickyB]

Thanks Tait, now 6/87. Bye bye Gibbs