Group A - India, England, Australia, West Indies

[sideshowtim]

What? Ponting blamed himself too.

"We can't blame the wicket or the conditions, we have to blame ourselves for some ill-disciplined batting and some ill-disciplined bowling at times as well,"

We is an inclusive term, meaning he would be included in that. Never once did he go out on a limb and attack other players. Also, what else did you expect him to say? "We batted really well out there"?

 

[Mister Wright]

What? Ponting blamed himself too.

"We can't blame the wicket or the conditions, we have to blame ourselves for some ill-disciplined batting and some ill-disciplined bowling at times as well,"

We is an inclusive term, meaning he would be included in that. Never once did he go out on a limb and attack other players. Also, what else did you expect him to say? "We batted really well out there"?

Meh, fair enough. I didn't really read every word of the article, and only skimmed the parts where Symonds, Hussey and co. were singled out. My bad.

 

[Perm]

Great to see Gilly getting a good score, especially considering he took his time and worked into an innings rather than thrash it about. Shows he can play a solid knock, but 92 off 120 is still a pretty good strike rate. Clarke will be disappionted in himself, he really needed to stick around with Gilchrist to give Australia more chance of winning. Can anybody tell me about Gilchrist's run out? Was it his fault, his partners or just great fielding?

Also I'm glad Runako Morton got a good score, he looks a good OD player average 41 at List A level and 38 at ODI level. I would prefer him up the innings more, opening or at 3 preferably. Needs time to get his eye in before he can get going, I seen him in NZ a little while ago and he hit the ball very hard.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

very disappointing result IMO, Australia should have never lost that game, its was very unlike Australia today, usually after getting that start with the ball they usually kill sides, but credit to Lara & Morton.

Then with the bat, West Indies were good early on, but Australia always had the game under control, what in gods name was Gilly running going geez, Taylor was very good though. Group A has now become very interesitng.

The West Indies batted twice? No wonder they won.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Not to sound like a sore loser or like I'm making excuses, but the Windies had the pick of the conditions. It wasn't doing too much for the spinners when we were bowling but it seemed to do alot more when the Windies bowled. It certainly helped the spinners as the match went on, this can be seen through Gayle troublking the batsman when he is usually an average bowler.

No way. Hogg was still turning it miles in the first innings. It's just that Symonds and Clarke bowl undercutters and will never turn it.

And Gayle's an excellent ODI bowler.

 

[sideshowtim]

The thing that's annoying me about this loss is people calling this the end for Australia. People saying that because we lost an ODI by 10 runs we no longer have the firepower to win matches anymore...

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

...but Gayle is still a very good ODI bowler.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Indeed.

 

[sideshowtim]

...but Gayle is still a very good ODI bowler.

So you class him as one of the best allrounders in one day cricket?

 

[Mister Wright]

So you class him as one of the best allrounders in one day cricket?

Indeed. Very good batsman, and consistently bowls 10 overs for the Windies, usually 10 good overs.

 

[dubai194]

brian lara is getting more runs its nice to see

 

[adharcric]

The thing that's annoying me about this loss is people calling this the end for Australia. People saying that because we lost an ODI by 10 runs we no longer have the firepower to win matches anymore...

This is by no means the end of Australia, but it is the end of Australia's invincibility and utter superiority in a sense. Actually, that complete dominance ended a while ago but I think that's what people are intending to say. It's quite obvious that the Aussies are still the best team in the world.

 

[Perm]

I just got to watch highlights of the WI vs Australia game, very close and hard fought contest. Gilchrist played a very valuable knock that set them up for victory, the way he got run out was disappointing but I beleive that Clarke probably should have run. It was always going to be tight but Gilchrist was running to the danger end and he called, has anybody else noticed that Clarke is quite bad at ball watching rather than watching his fellow batsman when calling for runs?

 

[Slow Love™]

I just watched the last hour or so of this game earlier this afternoon. What on earth was going on between Clarke and Gayle? And why was Gayle doing that weird defensive prod stuff when facing Gayle? All really strange. I thought we should have been home with about 30 off 30 needed and 5 wickets in hand.

Haven't seen us collapse like that for some time, but gee, the WI bowlers were fired up. Great hat-trick from Taylor (I thought the Bing LBW decision was dead on), and you might wonder whether Sarwan might really be a more permanent solution as captain for the West Indians.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

I'm not so sure on Sarwan as captain at the moment, seeing as though I'm sure it wasn't Sarwan's decision to bat Lara down the order, which pretty much won them the game.

I don't see a problem with Lara staying captain until he retires, he really seems to have gotten his captaincy in order since taking over again.

 

[Mister Wright]

I just watched the last hour or so of this game earlier this afternoon. What on earth was going on between Clarke and Gayle? And why was Gayle doing that weird defensive prod stuff when facing Gayle? All really strange. I thought we should have been home with about 30 off 30 needed and 5 wickets in hand.

Haven't seen us collapse like that for some time, but gee, the WI bowlers were fired up. Great hat-trick from Taylor (I thought the Bing LBW decision was dead on), and you might wonder whether Sarwan might really be a more permanent solution as captain for the West Indians.

When was Gayle facing Gayle?

 

[Slow Love™]

When was Gayle facing Gayle?

Haha, whoops. Though maybe Gayle does need to have a good look at himself after last night's performance.

 

[Mister Wright]

Haha, whoops. Though maybe Gayle does need to have a good look at himself after last night's performance.

I didn't see it. Does anybody know what it is in reference to?

 

[Slow Love™]

I'm not so sure on Sarwan as captain at the moment, seeing as though I'm sure it wasn't Sarwan's decision to bat Lara down the order, which pretty much won them the game.

I don't see a problem with Lara staying captain until he retires, he really seems to have gotten his captaincy in order since taking over again.

Boy, he'd have to have improved a lot. Though I'm sure you're right that it wasn't Sarwan's idea to bat Lara down the order. Still, IMO at 4/180, it was very much Australia's game, and I was fairly impressed by how Sarwan handled things - and the spirit shown by the West Indians (Gayle might have been on his own private formula though) in general.

 

[Slow Love™]

I didn't see it. Does anybody know what it is in reference to?

What set Gayle off? Nah, I wouldn't mind knowing either (if there was in fact, anything). But his behaviour was a bit outlandish, and from what I saw, directed solely at Clarke. He repeatedly advanced in towards Clarke between deliveries (when he was fielding) and followed him up and down the pitch in his ear at all times. It wasn't like he was enraged and yelling, but he certainly was incredibly p'd off. At times he made as if he was going to physically restrain Clarke from moving on.

After a while, between deliveries, Clarke was walking away to the other side as Gayle approached him, in an attempt to either defuse or avoid the situation.