**Official** Group A Discussion

[Howe_zat]

Don't know why you're laughing. McKay and Doherty are the new Dhoni and Bevan.

Seriously though, Mathews is probably going by the logic that one of these two will get out to a good ball at some stage, so is trying to force them to take as long as possible to get the run. I don't agree with it FTR, just trying to gauge what the thinking is.

I'd agree with that thinking if he then had his best bowlers on. But for a while now Herath's been bowled out and Malinga's been off with one left.

 

[Cabinet96]

Does anyone think that they would only have ONE slip if this was a test match? And yet this might as well be a test match.

I doubt it. I doubt they'd have long off and on back either. Does show the difference a format can make to one's mindset though, even if the equation is the same.

 

[greg]

Stop the singles ffs!

 

[BeeGee]

Still a long on

The field placings are nuts.

And why hasn't Malinga bowled his last over. One over of his yorkers and it would be over.

 

[Maximas]

This is some of the most inept cricket I have ever seen, this a slow and extremely painful death for SL fans, Australian fans have all but lost interest too, this will hardly do anything to make up for a crappy campaign.

 

[Dissector]

Yeah I would bowl that last Malinga over now when there are still some runs in hand. At his pace he can easily go for a couple of streaky boundaries.

 

[Howe_zat]

boooo

 

[greg]

Decent catch

 

[Maximas]

It was all worth it, what a fantastic game...

 

[social]

I don't know but it was definitely in an attempt to just win the game in 50 overs. Voges got out when Australia were already eliminated....

Edit: Although I guess Doherty and McKay are still trying to win it in 29.1 overs right now?

Rubbish

They could still have qualified if he got away with it

 

[Pothas]

Dilshan is really rather good at that.

 

[BeeGee]

Congrats Sri Lanka. And congrats to McKay and Doherty, great last stand.

 

[Meridio]

Oh, screw you. I finally decided to start actually watching instead of following on Cricinfo and the very first ball I watch he gets out. WAFC.

 

[Maximas]

Still very lucky for Matthews, he really let the game drift, it doesn't bode well for his captaincy future IMO, reminds me of Mahela's deep point all day in the test series in Aus, oh well, goodnight.

 

[Jarquis]

TilDil. WAG.

 

[Dissector]

I think SL were really lucky that Australia had that artificial 29 over target. They would have struggled to defend this score in a normal chase.

 

[greg]

I don't suppose there's any chance that the ICC, if they persist in abolishing the Champions Trophy, will at least take the lesson that all you need for a great ODI tournament is to have as many matches between closely matched teams as possible, with as many meaningful matches as possible and adopt it for a World Cup? Not just a load of mismatches to determine an expected set of qualifiers followed by Q/F,S/F etc.

 

[Cabinet96]

10 runs in the last 27 balls. Mathews will argue he was justified.

Rubbish

They could still have qualified if he got away with it

I think you're confused. Australia definitely couldn't qualify when Voges got out. They had to chase it in 29.1 overs.

 

[BeeGee]

Rubbish

They could still have qualified if he got away with it

What the **** are you talking about? Australia were eliminated BEFORE Voges went out.

One more ball and Australia will be officially be out of the race for semi-finals. Malinga comes back for another short spell

29.1
Malinga to Voges, FOUR, goes for a yorker, but it is not full enough. Ideal half-volley for the batsman to whack it over midwicket.

It's now Sri Lanka or New Zealand..

 

[greg]

I think SL were really lucky that Australia had that artificial 29 over target. They would have struggled to defend this score in a normal chase.

True, but Australia needing to do something like that defined the game from the toss onwards. Sri Lanka would have always known they didn't need that large a score because of the approach Australia were forced to take when batting. Ironically had NZ lost by more yesterday their chances of going through might have been greater.