4th Quarter Final - New Zealand v West Indies (21st March)

[Zinzan]

Well played to the black caps..it was a deserved victory against side of whom most of those players will probably not be wearing the WI jersey again. Once Samuels dropped that catch i knew the game was up...they have no passion, no competent tactics, no professionalism and basically was found wanting when it came to game awareness and basic skills.

My detractors will rejoice tonight and laugh at my expense...that's fine. But the bottom line remains that we had no head coach here and were missing around six top players during this world cup. Does that mean if we had them that we would have won the world cup? no...but lets just say NZ were missing Williamson (Darren Bravo) , Boult (Rampaul) , Mccullum (Pollard) , Elliot (Dwayne Bravo), and one of the best spinners in the limited overs formats in the world (Narine) how does everyone think they would do?

Call it an excuse...but those are the facts.

I was honest in my previous post when i said i wasn't all that bothered!!..we'd have only been embarrassed by SA anyway...so for the competitions sake this was the best outcome. Moving forward we can only hope that Phil Simmons can rally our guys, install a real team spirit and implement a philosophy where tactical wisdom and improving the players as individuals are of the utmost importance.

Gayle= That's his last world cup and hopefully he'll be retiring from one dayers and tests shortly

Smith= He was exactly what he's always been..poor and a liability

Charles= one good innings but wasn't good enough today

Simmons= done ok at this world cup i guess

Samuels= Another one who should think about calling it a day in the shorter formats imo

Carter= Clearly has talent but needs to push on now as he's 27

Ramdin= Absolute rubbish on this competition and i hope he's replaced

Sammy= Done his usual stuff but if he's not bowling well is his place really justified? i don't think so

Russell= the guy has talent but his tactical mindset is shambolic

Holder= Done as well as he could with both bat and ball...he's got a big future imo

Taylor= Can't complain about the number of wickets he got in the end

Benn= A complete disaster...and i don't want to see him in a WI jersey again

Miller= Like Benn utter rubbish

Roach= Wasn't fit and should't really have been at this world cup

And even though he's an absolute legend in our cricket and i respect him loads i think questions needs to be raised over how effective Ambrose has been as our bowling coach in recent times.

In closing...to the gloater's!!..what comes around goes around. When we beat NZ in the 2012 t20 world cup a lot of hypocrites on this very thread were silent...did me and the other WI fans try to call out names and run our mouths? no!!..i guess that's the difference between supporting a team who has won everything cricket has to offer and supporting a team that's not done so well in that regard.

Also I'd urge Flem to refrain from trying to ridicule my screen name and character!!..you've been banned before for trying to insult me...you'd be wise not to go down that road again no matter how "hilarious" you and your equally immature buddies think it is .

Grudging at best. Shame, read the first sentence and thought you were going to be gracious for a moment.

 

[Mike5181]

Surprised Kraigg Brathwaite hasn't played ODI cricket yet.

 

[Daemon]

Charles against Boult and Southee is going to be epic

Called it. Highlight of the match for me.

Oh and Guptill's cameo was nice too, though of course due to the first chance average rule he doesn't get any credit for it.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Surprised Kraigg Brathwaite hasn't played ODI cricket yet.

He really should be playing imo. Has the ability and more importantly the temperament to be an excellent player down the line, regardless of format

Instead the selectors use the eternal logic of "Oh he has a **** technique? He must be awesome at ODIs" and pick Charles.

 

[Zinzan]

The doubles...

 

[Athlai]

Guptill
Tendulkar
-----------
Sharma (B)
Sharma (K)
----------
Sehwag
Gayle
?

 

[Daemon]

Seems about right. Would have daylight between Sehwag and Gayle though.

 

[Athlai]

Seems about right. Would have daylight between Sehwag and Gayle though.

Yeah thats fair.

I'd say You'd be looking at top 5 ODI innings, top 15, top 30ish in the overall breakdown between the tiers.

 

[Dan]

The only West Indies players coming out of this tournament with their reputations enhanced, IMO, are:

1. Jason Holder -- shocking captain, but there were a few times with the bat where he went all Baz-vs-India and looked so pissed and committed to salvaging the bunch of underperforming ****s he was stuck with, but didn't have a Watling or a Neesham to help him dig things out of the hole (and it all came too late). Decent enough with the ball as well, provided he doesn't feel the need to man up and bowl at the death when he ****ing sucks at it (i.e. don't make him the ****ing captain)

2. Jonathan Carter -- mostly because he had no international reputation whatsoever. Looked decent enough

3. Russell -- He's gone from "well he's a better version of Ben Cutting" to "well he's still just a better version of Ben Cutting, but he's actually worth bowling"

4. Sammy -- I think the West Indies were missing his leadership big time here.But he always seemed positive and committed to doing his best. Bits-and-pieces cricketers unite!

5. Simmons -- Didn't look entirely useless, and at least looked like he was trying.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Not sure what to make of Jerome Taylor. Bowled some good spells and picked up wickets regularly. Bowled his heart out against India but got done by Holder's poor captaincy at the end. His campaign could have been much worse though so I guess he gets 'Ok' nod.

Pick of the bowlers from wi for me

 

[Beamer]

Fair enough Howsie . Well played New Zealand. The better side won and handsomely at that. Good for the tournament that the 4 best sides got through and I shall enjoy watching the rest of the tournament. Guptil played the best ODI innings I've seen. Just unbelievable.

As for us, well we didn't deserve to go any further. In fact, I'd say we didn't really deserve to be in the quarters. At least Ireland play like a unit. I thought we looked disjointed in the field and whilst our batting reply was amazing to watch it was without a plan and never had a chance of actually reaching the total.

It was good to see Gayle bat like that against such a good bowling attack. Hopefully that means he will be around for a while yet. We do need him.

 

[Daemon]

I don't understand why Holder is the captain when Sammy is in the side

 

[GGG]

Guptil's average jumped 3 runs to a tad over 40.

 

[Beamer]

I don't understand why Holder is the captain when Sammy is in the side

Clive Lloyd might have been a fantastic cricketer and captain but he is an absolute disaster of a cricket administrator. He has basically ruined our ODI team, which wasn't actually that great anyway. Since dropping Dwayne Bravo we have almost conceded 400 on 4 occasions and we have gone from being quite good at the death to absoutely useless. It is telling.

This was not the time to rebuild, this was the time to put our best possible foot forward. Boneheaded cricket selection and it's pretty soul destroying for West Indies fans. I know what it sounds like to opposition fans that we are always bemoaning whose not there as if their presence would make us almost unbeatable. That's obviously not the case, we're not that great anyway but I would just like our sides to be selected and managed with a bit of common sense to give us the best possible chance. As things stand, with that side and with this set up, we don't stand a chance of winning consistently.

 

[GGG]

.but lets just say NZ were missing Williamson (Darren Bravo) , Boult (Rampaul) , Mccullum (Pollard) , Elliot (Dwayne Bravo), and one of the best spinners in the limited overs formats in the world (Narine) how does everyone think they would do? .

Ryder for Williamson, Mills/Matt Henry for Boult, Colin Munro for Elliot, think we would of done fine thanks.

Oh McCullum, well the captain, form over the last year and his inspiration, you can hardly compare him to Pollard.

 

[BeeGee]

Did Ian Smith seriously compare the devastation in Vanuatu to Martin Guptill's innings? What a ****.

Over stuff the Elliot effigy, call it Ian Smith and burn it.

 

[Sarun]

Quite interesting that New Zealand have climbed up from 9th ranked ODI team in late 2012 to being the favorites atm. Since 2019 format gives even greater importance to rankings (only England + Best 7 automatically qualifies) and the 8 auto-qualifiers are decided by 2017, it does disadvantage teams that could improve New Zealand did.

 

[Flem274*]

didnt read but credit for showing up

 

[_Ed_]

didnt read but credit for showing up

I thought the same thing, but then I read it.

 

[Dick Rockett]

The doubles...

What do the numbers in circles mean?

On last night's game: all the hyperbole and superlatives have been handed out, so I'll not bother with that. An unforgettable experience with all the noise and activity and enthusiasm. I don't think we'll ever see crowds like this for cricket in NZ again, even if we do win the cup. I was just drinking it in and will be trying my best to remember as much as I can.

The Windies have some promising players, and I really admired their attempt to run down our total. It was the only reasonable approach and it says a lot that they kept bringing the required rate down - before Samuels got out I have to admit to some anxiety. But sadly, the Windies are a rabble; their fielding couldn't even be described as pathetic because they weren't even trying. Obviously they have serious problems on the administrative side that's stifling their potential. I hope for the sake of a healthy world game that they can sort it out.

Kia kaha NZ. I've waited my whole life to see us perform like this. It's literally a dream come true. There's a special air about this team - let's go on and win this thing.