Group A - India, England, Australia, West Indies

[FaaipDeOiad]

Top knock from Pietersen. Some woeful death bowling from Taylor in particular, but he fully deserved to come away on the winning side after batting so well.

 

[Dravid]

Would've been wrong if KP hadn't hit a six in this innings.

I did this in his last big innings against Australia at Bristol, 75 off 37 balls then and today he's got 59 off his last 30 balls. The man's mental.

If only England had more batsman like him.

 

[Sanz]

What a performance by England, Perfect ODI chase. Shame it came little late.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I've now picked Nafees, Yousuf and Pietersen for top scorer for their respective teams. On top of that I had SA to top their group.

SA was the only chancy pick there IMO.

 

[Dravid]

600 posts in the last 2 hours, get some sunshine mate.

It's dark outside....

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Top knock from Pietersen. Some woeful death bowling from Taylor in particular, but he fully deserved to come away on the winning side after batting so well.

Dwayne Taylor?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Win's nice & all, but can't help but think if the game had more riding on it the Windies would have brought their "A" game to the table. If that's not too much of a mixed metaphor.

+ the bowling of Bradshaw at least. And possible Smith.

 

[Jono]

SA was the only chancy pick there IMO.

Look, there's no need to ruin my party.

In the end, all bets were paying >3 with Nafees paying >5, so they're all value.

Nafees needed a ton in his last knock to top score for Bangladesh and he did it. Pietersen then needed 89 in his last knock to top score and he did it. So that makes me very

 

[superkingdave]

Who was it said about "Papering over the cracks" if we won? Well said, whoever it was!

Win's nice & all, but can't help but think if the game had more riding on it the Windies would have brought their "A" game to the table. If that's not too much of a mixed metaphor.

It was me

Basically England are Pietersen and Flintoff, if neither of them come off its game over, if one of them come off, we have a chance at least. That's why we have to split them up imo.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Oh come on he was walloped when it mattered and only picked up a couple of wickets towards the end because they were slogging.

He is considered an attacking option but in 15 matches has never taken more than 3 wickets and more often than not goes at more than a run a ball as he seems incapable of delivering more than one accurate ball in succession.

Suggest someone, then.

The leading wicket-takers in List A cricket:

1) Kirtley - chucks
2) Zaheer - Indian
3) Batty - tried
4) Doshi - spinner, we really need more economical spinners who bowl from 20-40
5) Warne - Aussie
6) Ball - see Doshi
7) Averis - econ of 5.67
8) Carter - econ of 5.31
9) Willoughby - Saffie
10) Dalrymple - oh, he's already in the side
11) Bichel - Aussie
12) Bruce - fair enough but he's really just feasted on Glamorgan and Gloucestershire in day-nighters
13) Rana Naved - Pakistani
14) Klusener - Saffie
15) Louw - Saffie
16) Andrew Davies - 30 years old Glamorgan medium pacer who can't threaten county attacks
17) Chad Keegan - see Davies except Middlesex
18) Cork - we dropped him too long ago
19) Mushtaq Ahmed - Pakistani
20) Gareth Breese - West Indian
21) Caddick - see Cork
22) Bopara - can bat at least, econ 5.50 tho
23) Udal - haha
24) Dean - 31 and injury-prone
25) Middlebrook - 29, also see Ball
26) Lewis - already in the side
27) Yardy - already in the side
28) Price - Zimboks
29) Tredwell - another spinner
30) Botha - Saffie

 

[Jono]

Do you get the money if KP is joint leading scorer Jono?

14 to win and he needs 10 of them...

Knowing Bet365's stingyness, probably not. Lucky KP's a gun.

Once I had a bet on a tennis match with Max Mirnyi to win. He won the first set 6-0, and then the opposition retired. Only got my money back.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Dwayne Taylor?

Taylor was far worse than Bravo IMO. Bravo bowled a couple of length balls once the game was already lost and got hit for boundaries, while Taylor bowled a whole over of crap when it was still looking tough for England.

 

[Pratters]

I've now picked Nafees, Yousuf and Pietersen for top scorer for their respective teams. On top of that I had SA to top their group.

People can go about how the Champions Trophy is a waste of time and whatever, but it wins me money and that's what counts!

I'll go on Bet365 and see how much. I placed these bets before the tournament so its been a while.

 

[BoyBrumby]

4) Doshi - Indian (and anyway English players can't play spin)

Could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure he's at least English-qualifed 'cos he was born over here when his old man was playing County stuff.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

It was me

Basically England are Pietersen and Flintoff, if neither of them come off its game over, if one of them come off, we have a chance at least. That's why we have to split them up imo.

England chasing is also better than England defending IMO. The bowling just isn't good enough to consistently defend totals. The batting also isn't good enough to set targets, but can come through if they know what they're looking at.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Taylor was far worse than Bravo IMO. Bravo bowled a couple of length balls once the game was already lost and got hit for boundaries, while Taylor bowled a whole over of crap when it was still looking tough for England.

But your first comment makes it sound like Taylor batted well enough that his team deserved victory.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure he's at least English-qualifed 'cos he was born over here when his old man was playing County stuff.

OK, fair enough. But still, it's not really spinners England want to select with Dalrymple and Giles around the side.

 

[superkingdave]

England chasing is also better than England defending IMO. The bowling just isn't good enough to consistently defend totals. The batting also isn't good enough to set targets, but can come through if they know what they're looking at.

yeah, the stats bear that out aswell. Think we went a period of about 12 months from the WC when we won every game batting second and lost every game batting first

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

But your first comment makes it sound like Taylor batted well enough that his team deserved victory.

Oh right. Miscommunication then, I meant that Pietersen deserved to come out on the winning side, not Taylor (or Bravo).

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

6) Ball - see Doshi

He's Indian?