Group A - Australia, Bangladesh, England, New Zealand

[The Hutt Rec]

Fantastic to see Bangladesh make it, well done to them and their supporters. Fully deserved.

They've shown a lot of character to come back from a tough tour of NZ.

 

[Burgey]

Well done England. Great partnership by Stokes and Morgan. Too good.

No excuses for Australia. They had a shot at qualifying and stuffed it up. End of section.

 

[91Jmay]

Kimber has a solid piece on it.

Not a marquee tournament in Australia (or let's be very honest, England. It's got very little buzz given the terror attacks, the election and also because non Ashes cricket still barely registers) and the player dispute with board clearly didn't help.

Also hate making excuses for Aussies but they had one completed game entire tour. 3 washouts, 1 completed warm up and this game.

 

[Adders]

Yeah tbh I don't think the fact they lost potential points due to wash outs was the main issue for them (they still had every chance to qualify by winning this game).........but as a result they were clearly underdone for this contest. Of course it's always good to see them get smashed but I don't think any of us really think this is the measure of this Australian side.

 

[91Jmay]

The only thing this tournament has shown me is that there probably isn't as clear cut rankings to ODIs as I thought. I would have said Aus/Ind and SA were probably a tier a head of the rest but I think like with Tests there appears to be a top 4 with some difference but not a great deal.

Lack of great teams currently, just a few very good ones with flaws. Makes it quite exciting in all forms to be honest.

 

[Dan]

This Australian side genuinely missed Micth Marsh imo. Genuinely good 50 over bat, and a definite step above Henriques. Head at 4, Marsh at 5, Maxwell at 6 looks a much stronger batting line-up.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Pretty happy with that tbh. If any team had to take advantage of washouts to get past us I'm glad it's Bangladesh.

Also can't really say Aus deserved to go through anyway given that they would have likely lost to NZ. Don't think any team from this group other than England really deserved to go through really

also good to see a local Pune boy ton up

 

[TheJediBrah]

FACT:

Bangladesh have won more Champions Trophy matches this edition than Australia have won in the last two editions combined.

Australia finished the 2013 edition winless, with losses to India and West Indies and one no result.

In total, Australia have lost 3 out 3 completed games across the last two editions, with 3 No Results.

Bangladesh, FTR, have 1 win, 1 loss and 1 NR.

So yea, if you still believe it's a 'farce' that Australia didn't make it to the Semis but BD did, then I don't know what to tell you.

who said it's a farce? stupid comment whoever did. BD deserved it as much as anyone.

 

[Spikey]

This Australian side genuinely missed Micth Marsh imo. Genuinely good 50 over bat, and a definite step above Henriques. Head at 4, Marsh at 5, Maxwell at 6 looks a much stronger batting line-up.

Well they made it complicated for themselves, as always. Moz has to bat 4 because...??? It should have always been Head, Maxwell and then Moz (if Smith has banned Maxwell from bowling, I'd want to see Maxwell used higher than 6).

I don't think it had any real impact though. Smith and Finch not converting was the real issue.

 

[Black_Warrior]

FACT:

Bangladesh have won more Champions Trophy matches this edition than Australia have won in the last two editions combined.

Australia finished the 2013 edition winless, with losses to India and West Indies and one no result.

In total, Australia have lost 3 out 3 completed games across the last two editions, with 3 No Results.

Bangladesh, FTR, have 1 win, 1 loss and 1 NR.

So yea, if you still believe it's a 'farce' that Australia didn't make it to the Semis but BD did, then I don't know what to tell you.

And Bangladesh only played 1 CT tournament in that period FTR

 

[Black_Warrior]

The only thing this tournament has shown me is that there probably isn't as clear cut rankings to ODIs as I thought. I would have said Aus/Ind and SA were probably a tier a head of the rest but I think like with Tests there appears to be a top 4 with some difference but not a great deal.

Lack of great teams currently, just a few very good ones with flaws. Makes it quite exciting in all forms to be honest.

Rankings are based for major part on bilateral series, not one off games. The best team will not necessarily win a short tournament of this nature where you have one bad game and you're almost out and in LO cricket, on a given day, anyone can beat anyone. Let's look at some of the surprising results

Pakistan beat South Africa (but won't win against SA in a bilateral series home or away)
Bangladesh beat New Zealand (but won't win against NZ in an away bilateral series)
Sri Lanka beat India (but won't win against them in a bilateral series home or away.

Even Australia losing to England, while not an upset but you can't really predict the winner in a 5 match series. Australia is a quality ODI side and their performances over the last 2 years should get more weight than 1 bad match.

So rankings can just give us an indication of pre tournament favourites but once the tournament starts, it really is anybody's game.

Australia, South Africa, India and England are a touch above the rest of the teams.. That still stands even if 3 out of those 4 teams get knocked out in this tournament.

 

[Dan]

Finch was the real issue.

FTFY

z

 

[Zinzan]

Played England, & hats off to Bangers for reaching the semis. They deserve it much more than NZ,

From a NZ POV, this embarrassing exit including zero wins might be a blessing in that it might put an end to this denial that they think they have all their bases covered, when many of us knew leading into the tournament that we have only 3 batsmen & that middle order were likely to be hit and miss. .

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but can't help thinking the following NZ XI might have performed better in English conditions,

Ronchi+ (still not ideal, but hey)
Guptill
KW*
Taylor
Latham/Brownlie (for the simple reason Latham can hold the middle together if the big 3 fail and he can sweep spinners well, we need someone with the ability to bat time if needed)
Tom Bruce/Munro (Bruce - Natural ball striker, better eye than an aging Broom, most talented white-ball up and comer in the country)
de Grandhomme/Anderson
Santner
Southee
Sodhi/Bennett/McClenghan/Milne (Sodhi if it's spinning).
Boult

 

[SteveNZ]

From a NZ POV, this embarrassing exit including zero wins might be a blessing in that it might put an end to this denial that they think they have all their bases covered, when many of us knew leading into the tournament that we have only 3 batsmen & that middle order were likely to be hit and miss. .

Don't count on it. They'll say they would've beaten Australia, short tournament, anyone can win on their day etc. Plus with the Lions series on here + America's Cup, no one gives a **** media or public wise so it's all under the carpet.

I don't think the personnel can change too much anyway, who they've got is nigh-on the best abilitied group of players anyway (minus Broom). It's the coaching and getting the most out of them that is the issue. Next summer needs to be one where the likes of Neesham, Anderson, Milne/Henry, Santner, and the rest of the support crew if it's Bruce, Sodhi whoever step up and halt the if Kane doesn't get them, no one will stuff.

 

[fishyguy]

BD only made it to the semi finals due to the washout. Champions trophy has lost all its integrity. Very bad!

 

[cnerd123]

BD only made it to the semi finals due to the washout. Champions trophy has lost all its integrity. Very bad!

You're clearly not a fresh-water fish kinds guy




Y'know, cuz you're so full of salt

 

[Black_Warrior]

BD the only team from a group of minnows still fighting it out. What a boring, predictable tournament this has been

 

[hendrix]

I don't think the personnel can change too much anyway, who they've got is nigh-on the best abilitied group of players anyway (minus Broom). It's the coaching and getting the most out of them that is the issue. Next summer needs to be one where the likes of Neesham, Anderson, Milne/Henry, Santner, and the rest of the support crew if it's Bruce, Sodhi whoever step up and halt the if Kane doesn't get them, no one will stuff.

What I'm wondering is how Craig McMillan and Shane Jurgensen can outline positive impacts they've had on the players.

Tom Latham has gone backwards. Tim Southee has gone backwards. Trent Boult has trod water. Neesham and Anderson haven't improved, nor has Santner. None of the young players have stepped up; arguably it's been the ones who've spent the least time with the international team who've shown the most improvements - e.g. Jeet Raval.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Anderson's decline has been really disappointing. Was pretty excited about him back in 2014-15 but he's completely stalled.

 

[Gnske]

You're clearly not a fresh-water fish kinds guy




Y'know, cuz you're so full of salt

The truth will set you free no matter how painful and unfortunate it is.