32nd Match - England v Australia

[GoodAreasShane]

Yeah, I predicted England would implode while everyone else said they were favourites to win the whole thing; said they were an excellent chance of missing the finals before they even played SL and the side I support is currently fielding its weakest WC side since 1992 yet is top of the table, assured of a finals spot and is going to win the thing anyway.

The only thing I'm tasting hard atm is the backlash from the kebab I went and bought at about 1 am this morning.

Your prediction regarding England is on the money so far, and I am extremely glad for that. It is excellent to see this Australia team lifting when it matters the most, this country has a proud record of always saving our best for the big games, long may that continue.

You saying Dorff isn't FC standard is junk analysis though, simply not true.

I am well familiar with a late night/early morning kebab, never an especially wise choice but it's worth it.

 

[Gob]

Not so sure tbh. May be a close thing.

I've often thought the 96 side was pretty over rated, but I think that's because I expected them to win at the time and they went out and disgraced themselves, their country and their people by losing a final. Losing!. So I kind of consigned them to mediocrity, which is probably a bit harsh, but you can do that when you're Australian, because winning. But now when I look back, that was a good side also, and my perception is tainted by Taylor being in the team and skipper when he really wasn't an ODI player's arsehole, despite making 70 odd in the final. But a side with both Waughs, Ponting (albeit young), Warne, Fleming, McGrath, Reiffel, Bevan and Healy should really have won it. They certainly let every Australian - living, dead and not yet born - down that day.

Nah give it to the little Sri Lankans

Arvinda deserved it. Gun player

 

[Borges]

I'm supporting individual players for this rather than teams: Root, Buttler, ATVG Moeen vs. Warner, Maxi, Cummins.

Absolute disaster, with most of them being big disappointments. Warner being the exception; the only saving grace.

 

[Burgey]

Nah give it to the little Sri Lankans

Arvinda deserved it. Gun player

Oh for sure. They were terrific, no two ways about it. But it's still a disgrace for an Australian side to front up for a final and not bring home the bacon.

 

[Burgey]

Watching the lol-lights aws. Why is the fence in so far at the Nursery End at Lord’s? In by about 12-15 metres by the looks.

 

[Woodster]

Not a great day yesterday for England, again, and we really need to show the form we are more than capable of in the last couple of group games in order to qualify!

Defeats against Pakistan (on their day) and Australia are not the embarrassments they are almost being made out to be, but the defeat against Sri Lanka probably rocked us the most, in terms of confidence.

We need that swagger back, that belief of being able to knock anything off, and that will only come with a couple of good wins.

As for the composition of the team, Bairstow opening is absolutely fine, he's not had an outstanding tournament to this point but he is certainly worthy of his spot at the top. Vince on the other hand was the beneficiary of Roy's unfortunate injury but has really struggled and we desperately need Roy back for India.

A middle order of Root, Morgan, Stokes and Buttler is still exceptionally good, yes we've struggled chasing down totals we should have done with relative ease but we have the right players in the rights spots, they just simply have to get it right before it's too late and we're out of the tournament.

Archer and Wood are leading the way for us with the ball and I thought Woakes bowled very well yesterday. We're really not far that off the best performers in this WC but we need Roy back asap, his approach epitmoises what this England side is all about.

 

[Burgey]

They’re flat track bullies. They’re cooked unless the sun bakes every deck they play on from here til the final. Gone.

 

[Woodster]

They’re flat track bullies. They’re cooked unless the sun bakes every deck they play on from here til the final. Gone.

Our one-day cricket approach has changed significantly and we are now (despite our problems so far in the WC) more than capable of chasing 300+ scores, something that would have been unheard of years ago with a comparable chase.

Admittedly we have shown frailties, but confident we can turn this downturn in form around.

 

[Burgey]

Nah, they’re cooked mate. Even if they make the semis they can’t cop it under pressure. They’re done.

 

[Victor Ian]

So, here and there I am seeing fielding stats, either on TV, or sometimes referred to in articles. I can't find the full list. I'm curious which team has saved most runs, which player, and all that stuff. Does anyone have a link for them?

 

[Woodster]

Nah, they’re cooked mate. Even if they make the semis they can’t cop it under pressure. They’re done.

Time will tell I guess. I think if we do qulaify it shows we can perform under pressure as we have two huge games coming up and to get a result in both (or one if that is enough) probably demonstrates an ability to deal with the pressure as we're under a huge spotlight right now.

 

[a massive zebra]

I thought England were supposed to be good now?

 

[Burgey]

Disappointed this thread is no longer stickied. Can a Mod re-sticky it on the top of the WC and CC pages forever please?

 

[Spikey]

introduce forum that allows A) Tweets to be embedded and B) particular posts to be embedded at the top of each page so a tweet of the video of the Starc yorker can be on top of this page and every other page ever

 

[stephen]

So I've been watching what I slept through last night and I'm pretty sure that Buttler was dismissed off a no ball. It's all academic now but it could have been a game changer.

 

[Burgey]

introduce forum that allows A) Tweets to be embedded and B) particular posts to be embedded at the top of each page so a tweet of the video of the Starc yorker can be on top of this page and every other page ever

Lol I spent some time trying to embed that ****ing thing and wondered what was going wrong

 

[Burgey]

So I've been watching what I slept through last night and I'm pretty sure that Buttler was dismissed off a no ball. It's all academic now but it could have been a game changer.

Not likely mate. The pommie press would have been on about it two minutes later

 

[tooextracool]

Not sure I really understand the flat track bully stuff in this thread or from George Dobell. Yes, England are unquestionably a better team on 300+ tracks but we've won enough 250 meets 250 games over the past few years to suggest that we are no pushovers on other tracks either. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, our fielding has been a shadow of what it has been over the past few years which has nothing to do with the conditions. Someone posted this on Twitter a few days ago and it is absolutely shocking for anyone who has followed this team over the past few years:

https://twitter.com/cricvizanalyst/status/1142832146819821569

To me this has everything to do with bottling it under pressure. How else does a team go from being the best fielding unit in the world to rivaling Pakistan overnight?

 

[Burgey]

They absolutely are push overs when it counts. There's no point smashing every **** for three years then getting crushed like a Sao in a blender at the business end of the one tournament which counts. The slightest whiff of grapeshot and they've crapped themselves. In other words, they're FTBs of the highest order.

 

[Victor Ian]

Catches dropped doesn't mean much without catches created. I want to find that list of fielding runs conceeded. So far, I'm failing.