HehSo South Africa after that win against Sri Lanka have a better record at WC kockout matches than NZ!
Rob Steen on the thrill of knockouts | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo@Cruxdude, How so?
Not a knock on you guys at all. Was just stating something I found funny.Not like we have ever gone into any World cup being a hot favourite though.
Cheers guys, you're very kind. I'm strangely relaxed about this one, I expect to lose so anything else is a bonus but I know that we can win if a few things go our way. If New Zealand are indeed the WIndies side of the 80's reincarnate as Howsie seems to think and we get embarressed by them then fair enough, the better side will be going through and I will enjoy watching them in the semi-finals.Agreed. He's been putting things nicely in perspective. The two teams have seen quite a lot of each other in the last 3 years, so a bit of planning should be going into this game.
Wonder if the Windies are considering playing Benn, considering opening with Shakib worked for Bangladesh.
I have a feeling Gayle will desperately try and deadbat Boult, be a bit more positive against Southee and then aim to pulverise Vettori, Anderson, Elliot and co. The way he has been batting against the swinging ball I can't see him surviving but I reckon that's how he will go about the innings.If Gayle plays tomorrow, I would have a fly slip in place to him early. We all know that he's going to go hard at the swinging ball and there's a good chance that edges for his bat will go well over the slips (this was a common feature of his 80* in the second test and his 40-odd in the 3rd test last year).
Dunno, he tried that in the test series last summer, and it generally didn't work for him. The only time where he looked like surviving for long where the occasions when he looked to hit Southee and Boult off their length. I have a suspicion that with his back the way it is, and given his experiences last winter, that he'll probably swing from the hip and hope it comes off.I have a feeling Gayle will desperately try and deadbat Boult, be a bit more positive against Southee and then aim to pulverise Vettori, Anderson, Elliot and co. The way he has been batting against the swinging ball I can't see him surviving but I reckon that's how he will go about the innings.
I guess we'll find out soon. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does it anyway. If it comes off it's going to be tremendous fun. I hope Johnson Charles plays ahead of Dwayne Smith too. He's actually a much improved batsman having worked hard on his game and scored lots in our domestic competition whereas Dwayne Smith is just a bad batsman. T20 is his thing and he should stick to it.Dunno, he tried that in the test series last summer, and it generally didn't work for him. The only time where he looked like surviving for long where the occasions when he looked to hit Southee and Boult off their length. I have a suspicion that with his back the way it is, and given his experiences last winter, that he'll probably swing from the hip and hope it comes off.
the only way windies will be 40/0 is if southee and boult decide to bowl spinIf the windies bat first and are 40/0 ill start gtting nervous.
Im still confident we will get the job done even in a 260-280 chase. anything over is a tough ask ujnder pressure
Neither Harris and Johnson nor Steyn and Philander are playing this game.best opening attack in world cricket should eat the windies up.