**2007 World Cup**

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

nah Smith seems made for OD cricket WI would be wrong not to pick him, he can give you some overs of lively medim-pace & is superb in the field.

Wrong not to pick him? IMO they're wrong to pick him, because they're rewarding substandard cricket. He has an obvious flaw technically and mentally, and they're basically telling him that it's okay to play like that, because he'll get selected anyway.

Smith v SA 2005

1st ODI -
46.6 Langeveldt to Smith, OUT: full ball, on middle stump, goes for the
big shot again on the on side, misses it and middle stump,
uprooted!

3rd ODI -
43.1 Nel to Smith, OUT: full, on line, tries to go across the line,
spreads the stumps

4th ODI -
Full and straight from Hall. Swing across the line. Bowled.

5th ODI -
Full and straight from Pollock. Swing across the line. LBW.

The man has absolutely no sense.

 

[aussie]

Wrong not to pick him? IMO they're wrong to pick him, because they're rewarding substandard cricket. He has an obvious flaw technically and mentally, and they're basically telling him that it's okay to play like that, because he'll get selected anyway.

Smith v SA 2005

1st ODI -
46.6 Langeveldt to Smith, OUT: full ball, on middle stump, goes for the
big shot again on the on side, misses it and middle stump,
uprooted!

3rd ODI -
43.1 Nel to Smith, OUT: full, on line, tries to go across the line,
spreads the stumps

4th ODI -
Full and straight from Hall. Swing across the line. Bowled.

5th ODI -
Full and straight from Pollock. Swing across the line. LBW.

The man has absolutely no sense.

lol i remember these dismissals but he is not the only WI batsman that plays brainlessly when they bat.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

lol i remember these dismissals but he is not the only WI batsman that plays brainlessly when they bat.

That doesn't make it any less acceptable. He's also by far the most brainless of the bunch. Gayle, Samuels and Sarwan have nothing on him.

 

[ramkumar_gr]

Some changes to the side

Sehwag
Gambhir
Tendulkar
Dravid
Venugopala Rao
Yuvraj
Raina/Kaif
Dhoni
Pravin Kumar/JP Yadav/S Bangar
Ramesh Powar
Murali Kartik
Piyush Chawla
Zaheer
I Pathan
Munaf Patel/ Sree Santh/VRV Singh/L Balaji

And for India, it will look like this -

Sehwag
Gambhir/ Dhawan
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Yuvraj
Kaif/ Raina
Dhoni
Pravin Kumar
Pathan
Harbhajan
Murali Kartik/ Piyush Chawla
Zaheer
RP Singh
Munaf Patel/ Sree Santh

 

[adharcric]

R Dravid (c)
M Kaif (vc)
V Sehwag
S Tendulkar
Y Singh
G Gambhir / R Uthappa / S Dhawan
S Raina
MS Dhoni (+)
P Kumar / J Sharma
M Patel
I Pathan
VR Singh / Sreesanth
A Nehra / Z Khan / RP Singh
P Chawla
H Singh / R Powar

 

[Tim]

I think its still a bit early to decide who the 4 semi-finalists will be come this time next year but if the World Cup was to begin tommorow who would everyone choices be to make the semi's?

 

[Natman20]

Australia, Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand

 

[Zinzan]

Australia, Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand

i agree with those 4....they are definately the most likely

 

[aussie]

i would 3rd that as well, but England wont be too far off

 

[need4speed]

Hey guys i am a newbie here, i found this thread quite interesting so i will start posting on this forum right here:

I think these teams will reach the semi finals: Pakistan-India-Australia-England ( South Africa may replace one of these teams)

I was a huge South Africa fan but i think they have lost the killer instinct, their current form isn't too great either.
West Indies will have home advantage but Australia can play well on any kind of pitches, England have played well there recently, Pakistan and India will ENJOY these kind of pitches.

Lastly i will add my two cents about Pakistan, i noticed that not many people think Pakistan will do well this time, mostly because they are inconsistent.
Their recent record suggests somethingelse though, we defeated India 4-2 (after being 2-0 down) in india, defeated WestIndies 3-0 in WestIndies, then defeated England 3-2.
We also performed well in Australia and could have beaten Aussies in evenly fought finals.

We have some hard hitting all rounders like Afridi, Razzaq, Malik, Yasir(haven't played much).
Strong middle order batsmen in Inzamam, Yousaf, Younis.
Some very good ODI bowlers: Rana, Akhtar, Asif, Gul, Sami.

We are 3rd ranked team in the world and i think we have a very strong chance of making the semis this world cup.

 

[honestbharani]

Hey guys i am a newbie here, i found this thread quite interesting so i will start posting on this forum right here:

I think these teams will reach the semi finals: Pakistan-India-Australia-England ( South Africa may replace one of these teams)

I was a huge South Africa fan but i think they have lost the killer instinct, their current form isn't too great either.
West Indies will have home advantage but Australia can play well on any kind of pitches, England have played well there recently, Pakistan and India will ENJOY these kind of pitches.

Lastly i will add my two cents about Pakistan, i noticed that not many people think Pakistan will do well this time, mostly because they are inconsistent.
Their recent record suggests somethingelse though, we defeated India 4-2 (after being 2-0 down) in india, defeated WestIndies 3-0 in WestIndies, then defeated England 3-2.
We also performed well in Australia and could have beaten Aussies in evenly fought finals.

We have some hard hitting all rounders like Afridi, Razzaq, Malik, Yasir(haven't played much).
Strong middle order batsmen in Inzamam, Yousaf, Younis.
Some very good ODI bowlers: Rana, Akhtar, Asif, Gul, Sami.

We are 3rd ranked team in the world and i think we have a very strong chance of making the semis this world cup.

Actually, I would even call the present Pak side as the second best in the world, atleast potentially. I will be very surprised if it isn't a Pak/Aus final in the WC.

My dream WC final would be Ind/Pak though. Aus/Eng have had their WC finals. It would be amazing to watch the already pressure filled Ind-Pak encounter take place in the biggest stage of them all.

 

[need4speed]

Actually, I would even call the present Pak side as the second best in the world, atleast potentially. I will be very surprised if it isn't a Pak/Aus final in the WC.

My dream WC final would be Ind/Pak though. Aus/Eng have had their WC finals. It would be amazing to watch the already pressure filled Ind-Pak encounter take place in the biggest stage of them all.

Well contested Indo-pak final will be a dream come true

Pak-Aus and Ind-Aus finals have been NIGHTMARE so far

 

[Deja moo]

haha the last time an Ind-Pak final seemed a certainty, it ended up being an Ashes final instead.

 

[honestbharani]

haha the last time an Ind-Pak final seemed a certainty, it ended up being an Ashes final instead.

No need to be reminded of those sorry times.

 

[aussie]

Actually, I would even call the present Pak side as the second best in the world, atleast potentially. I will be very surprised if it isn't a Pak/Aus final in the WC.

My dream WC final would be Ind/Pak though. Aus/Eng have had their WC finals. It would be amazing to watch the already pressure filled Ind-Pak encounter take place in the biggest stage of them all.

Yep a Pak/Aus final is what i'm looking foward to as well, as you said an Ind/Pak WC final would be a superb, but that could happen anytime after 2007 and i'll be cool

 

[godofcricket]

Unless Pakistan prepare themselves mentally to face the Aussies i doubt they can ever beat them consistently, we all know that potentially they are equally good but they really need to be tough. It could very well be a Pak-Aus final but they really need the mental strength to gain the world cup from that point.

 

[marc71178]

I think its still a bit early to decide who the 4 semi-finalists will be come this time next year but if the World Cup was to begin tommorow who would everyone choices be to make the semi's?

I have a feeling WI might be there. A good e/w bet?

 

[Natman20]

At the moment I am also thinking an Aus/Pak final although a lot can happen between now and the world cup. I think 3rd will be New Zealand and fourth either SAF or IND. What is it now a year and one month? It probably sounds better 13 months.

 

[aussie]

I have a feeling WI might be there. A good e/w bet?

nah. just like SA home pressure will get to them.

 

[Scaly piscine]

nah. just like SA home pressure will get to them.

I don't think so, teams perform in different situations - WI are erratic and can still perform on their day (especially at home) because they have their fair share of enigmas, I don't see pressure particularly effecting guys like Gayle, Lara, Bravo etc. SA & India are well known bottlers, Sri Lanka are weak at the moment and need to play at home to have a good chance of beating anyone, England need that extra motivation to perform. NZ perform to a good level in nearly all games, but are practically beaten as soon as they walk on a pitch against Australia's proper first team and don't seem capable of lifting their game to actually win anything of note.

Anyway, I still think the semi-finalists will be Australia, England, WI and Pakistan. Although I wouldn't be surprised if SA made the semis ahead of WI - but WI would be a much bigger threat than SA if they were in the semis for the above reasons.