Group A - India, England, Australia, West Indies

[Pratters]

That's exactly what crossed my mind when Watto decided, in the third over with his score on zero, that a ball two feet outside off stump needed depositing over the midwicket fence. Wonder if Kato had a little giggle to himself?

On such pitches, Katich would be useful.

 

[TT Boy]

On such pitches, Katich would be useful.

Would have faced forty balls, made ten then got out trying to hit over the top, would have probably run out someone beforehand also. Katich makes batting look hard even on the most placid of wickets.

 

[Pratters]

Would have faced forty balls, made ten then got out trying to hit over the top, would have probably run out someone beforehand also. Katich makes batting look hard even on the most placid of wickets.

A lot of the test on the pitches isn't of the talent but of the patience of the players concerned. If you look at the dismissals, most aren't off uneven bounces off the pitch or a beautiful ball bowled. It has been an attacking shot played. A lot of catches.

 

[Xuhaib]

I find it hard to believe that Oz dont have better ODI players then Marto, he is clearly past it as far as Odi's go.

 

[Jono]

I think there's arguments that Watto is just stupid, rather than that Katich should have opened. That was one of the dumbest shots, and Katich would not have been the only batsman to not have done that. Hayden and Jaques are the real challengers for the opening spot with Katich IMO.

Just have Watto replace Martyn, who is as useful as a log would be to the Australian ODI team at the moment.

 

[marc71178]

Great game however and it really does set up Saturday nicely.

If anything it makes it even worse IMO - we've no hope now they need the win!

 

[Jono]

Also don’t know what stirred Gayle but he looked pretty feisty tonight, was in the Gym so I didn’t get audio but he looked pretty ****ed off with Clarke.

Great game however and it really does set up Saturday nicely.

I've never seen the man show such emotion.

Even after the second last ball of the match was bowled, confirming a WI victory, he was screaming for joy before Taylor could even bowl the last ball and officially end the match.

Something ruffled his feathers.

 

[Pratters]

If anything it makes it even worse IMO - we've no hope now they need the win!

You said England will finish bottom. We all know England will finish bottom. So how does it matter if you lose my 180 or 380?

 

[marc71178]

So how exactly does it set up Saturday nicely in your view then?

 

[Pratters]

So how exactly does it set up Saturday nicely in your view then?

Where am I disagreeing with you?

 

[ColdSnow]

well done Windies, I love you!!!!

 

[viktor]

Ideal scenario for us: We beat India & England, West Indies beat England & India too.

You want to qualify second from the group?? Why???

 

[Turbinator]

I wasn't watching the match and neither was I able to watch the highlights, cause I had a game of my own today (we lost by 3 wickets btw), so yea what happened with Gayle and when did it happen.

 

[Mister Wright]

I still think Lee was hardly done by. His LBW was missing leg and he is capable of putting the ball over the fence when it counts.

Anyway, no point dwelling on that, gotta look to the future. A good win for the windies they deserved the win.

It's a case of what goes around comes around. I've lost count of the amount of times Lee has got LBWs from inside edges, and ones clearly going over the top or down leg. Can't really complain about the decision too much.

 

[Mister Wright]

Some people on cricbuzz calling this the best ODI hat-trick ever....

Seriously.

The best ODI hat-tricks are ones taken at the top of the order, the ones taken in the early overs when the batsmen aren't trying to bludgeon the living daylights out of anything. Not taking anything away from Taylor, but some people calling this the greatest hat-trick ever are kidding themselves.

Can't get much better than a hat-trick at the death, especially considering the guys he got out were no mugs. Hussey one of the best ODI batsman of the last year, Lee - he's been known to hit a ball and Hogg has a few ODI 50s.

 

[Mister Wright]

Clarke really seems to have a problem with the slower ball. He gets out to it a fair few times. Something he needs to look at. Really needed him to hang around for Australia to win the game.

 

[Alysum]

Disappointing Marto, he usually plays very well in India. Started solidly... Can't believe he didn't duck for the ball that hit him. Probably didn't think it would bounce that much

 

[Burgey]

Disappointing for Australia with the bat, but good for the tournament with the Windies getting the chocolates.

I thought Gilly first up in an international after 6 months or so off was pretty good. The fact that he took his time against good bowling will hopefully augur well for his approach all summer.

The jury must inevitably be out on Watson up front. He got out so early you couldn't judge how he was hitting them. I thought, however, that he was arguably our best bowler. Bowled with good pace and got the ball in the right areas most times.

Lee seemed down a little on pace. Anyone else notice that? McGrath was ok but not exceptional. I'm not so worried re. the radar gun with him - it's never been particularly kind where he is concerned. i've often wondered how we so often see low readings on radar guns for balls which seem to hurry batsmen yet almost record numbers for balls which come off the bat twice as hard.

Bradshaw excellent, but Taylor is a real eye-catcher, and not just because of his hat trick. He seems capable of displaying the sort of control which the West Indies will need into the future and he also gives them real speed. Lara was great too, and what about Morton? An absolute revelation - he seems to have got out of the Katich-mode he displayed in Malaysia.

 

[nightprowler10]

Eddo Brandes

Aaqib Javed

 

[Mister Wright]

Pretty poor comment from Ponting considering the poor shot that he played last night.