Semi Finals and Finals

[Athlai]

What happened to Vincent?

Hit in the head by a Patel throw, caught in the cross fire.

 

[Athlai]

We both know that it is a reverse-woof.

Don't tell anyone though.

 

[Turbinator]

I'm going to hold you to this, India have played well. Any side with a player who can hit six sixes off a decent bowler stands a shot in any given game in this format. I mean come on, Zim beat Aus. This isn't the strongest Aussie side, it'd be silly to count your chickens before they hatch.

Exactly, India have looked great this tournament. In fact South Africa have looked far better than Australia this tournament. And if we can beat RSA, we can beat Australia here today. Don't write us off just yet. India have come back from behind against both Pak and RSA and won the games.

Plus an India vs Pak final would be a dream come true.

 

[Days of Grace]

It was awful to see, Vincent should really have been paying a bit more attention though. Hope there are no consequences from it.

Sometimes these things have long-time reactions. I remember a story of a player in W.G.'s era that got hit on the head. Went home. Collapsed two days later, dead.

Not worth thinking about really. Surprised they didn't take him straight off. Game was almost gone anyway.

 

[Athlai]

Really think Nathan McCullum should have got a bowl in this tournament, would've been hard to get away if nothing else. Not to bad with the bat as well. We never really tried our options, Fulton and Oram promised to much but delivered almost nothing.

Wasn't an awful tournament for us but it wasn't particularly good. Ah well, NZC for you.

 

[Laurrz]

Im sorta glad Pakis won coz

1) If Australia win it will be a rematch and i want us to get revenge on ****
2) If India win it will be a classic

cant wait for India/Australia!

 

[irfan]

Well, well to be expected really both New Zealand & South Africa had a bag of pretzels before their matches and no prizes for guessing both teams's preffered method of ingestion.

 

[The_Bunny]

Exactly, India have looked great this tournament. In fact South Africa have looked far better than Australia this tournament. And if we can beat RSA, we can beat Australia here today. Don't write us off just yet. India have come back from behind against both Pak and RSA and won the games.

Plus an India vs Pak final would be a dream come true.

Aus played clinical cricket in the 3 games they won, and they played **** in the 2 they lost..
If they play their best cricket they will win this tournament, of that I have little doubt.
The question is will they play at their best?

 

[Laurrz]

We all know now that it will be an Australia/Pakistan final.

Only a fool would really think that India have a chance against Australia. I will give you the script:

India bat first. All out for 102. Australia win in 12 overs with 2 wickets down.

Australia bat first. Make 232/5. India all out for 146.

Take your pick really. Two really one-sided semis. Two big chokes. Poor advertisement for world cricket really.

it will definately not be as easy

although i do think we are favorites... it will be tough.. especially if we bat first looking at our record

 

[sideshowtim]

We all know now that it will be an Australia/Pakistan final.

Only a fool would really think that India have a chance against Australia. I will give you the script:

India bat first. All out for 102. Australia win in 12 overs with 2 wickets down.

Australia bat first. Make 232/5. India all out for 146.

Take your pick really. Two really one-sided semis. Two big chokes. Poor advertisement for world cricket really.

Only a fool would make such a bold prediction about a game as unpredictable as Twenty20.

 

[Bahnz]

Well, well to be expected really both New Zealand & South Africa had a bag of pretzels before their matches and no prizes for guessing both teams's preffered method of ingestion.

I wouldn't say we choked. Choking implies losing from a position of strength or dominance. New Zealand went into this match as underdogs, in terms of both the player talent and form. At no point in the match did they look like getting on top of Pakistan, with the partial exception of a few overs early in the first innings, and in the end were (as expected) comfortably beaten. We didn't choke. We just weren't good enough.

 

[pasag]

Only a fool would make such a bold prediction about a game as unpredictable as Twenty20.

I don't think it's as unpredictable as people not knowing enough about it to make accurate predictions. If that makes any sense. Gotta love those people putting thousands of dollars on Aus Vs Zimb at 1.01 though

 

[irfan]

Haha Vettori " I didn't think when he (Nazir) jumped into a team mate's arms he had any problems with his groin. "

 

[Fusion]

Congrats Pakistan!!! In the end, they won the game convincingly. After the horrific past year we've had, it's good to reach the finals of a tournament. Even when the tournament is Twenty20!

I hope the Aus/Ind semi is a classic. Though I would prefer for India to win and set up a rivalry final with Pak, I wouldn't mind facing Aus either. We need to avenge the '99 WC loss to them!

 

[Unattainableguy]

NZ needed at least another 20-30 runs to make a game out of it. Will be interesting to see who wins in the Aus vs Ind game. I think maybe for the first time, I'll be supporting India. Don't want Aus to win because Pak might have a hard time beating them even though they've looked like the best team so far. And the worst possible loss for Pak is losing to Ind in a WC final( although I think if Ind make it to final, we have a greater chance of winning), so I don't really know who to cheer for in Ind vs Aus.

 

[Days of Grace]

I wouldn't say we choked. Choking implies losing from a position of strength or dominance. New Zealand went into this match as underdogs, in terms of both the player talent and form. At no point in the match did they look like getting on top of Pakistan, with the partial exception of a few overs early in the first innings, and in the end were (as expected) comfortably beaten. We didn't choke. We just weren't good enough.

But what pisses us off is that nZ never seem to put in a half-decent performance in a sudden-death match. It is no longer a coincedence. If we played half-decently, and lost, fair enough. But losing 5/30 in 6 overs after a good start is just pathetic, even for a minnow. You know that, surely.

 

[sideshowtim]

Haha Vettori " I didn't think when he (Nazir) jumped into a team mate's arms he had any problems with his groin. "

He's right. Pakistan's dirty little cheating ways came out there. There was no way Nazir was injured in this match. Carrying the injury from last match and shouldn't have had a runner.

 

[Flem274*]

Gotta laugh at that closed thread down the page. "Pakistans big faliure"

 

[Bahnz]

But what pisses us off is that nZ never seem to put in a half-decent performance in a sudden-death match. It is no longer a coincedence. If we played half-decently, and lost, fair enough. But losing 5/30 in 6 overs after a good start is just pathetic, even for a minnow. You know that, surely.

In an ODI or test match, yes it is. But in 20/twenty it happens all the time as batsmen are forced to try and accelerate or chase down ridiculous totals before they become settled. In fact New Zealand have been extremely lucky in this tournament that it hasn't happened to us more often. McMillan saved us from humiliation in each of our last three games. It was inevitable that he would eventually fail, and unfortunately he did today, and we were left without a saviour. In that way, our performance wasn't at all dissimilar to in any other match we've played in this tournament.

 

[GGG]

He's right. Pakistan's dirty little cheating ways came out there. There was no way Nazir was injured in this match. Carrying the injury from last match and shouldn't have had a runner.

Thats a bit harsh, heck we are the masters of using the sub fielder in ODI's/