*Official* Match 4 - Australia v Zimbabwe

[TumTum]

Finally.

 

[Jono]

What a great night this was for Benchy

 

[benchmark00]

Going to bed. Hate you all.

 

[Blaze 18]

So, the World Champions extend their amazing winning streak further. Well done.

 

[vcs]

I hate that stupid trumpet sound.

Horrible tune, so ****ing annoying.

Anyway, good win for Australia, the important matches for minnows are always the ones against each other..

 

[Jayzamann]

Mpofu really needs to get a new helmet. Looks like he's been using the same one since u15s.

 

[outbreak]

Didn't Zimbabwe get a bunch of new equipment after the india tri series last year? remember reading an article on how one of the indian players couldn't believe the gear they played with (using practice bats and kids gear) and so hooked them up with a bunch of stuff through his sponser. Maybe Singh or someone i forget who it was now but was a good story.

 

[andyc]

Didn't Zimbabwe get a bunch of new equipment after the india tri series last year? remember reading an article on how one of the indian players couldn't believe the gear they played with (using practice bats and kids gear) and so hooked them up with a bunch of stuff through his sponser. Maybe Singh or someone i forget who it was now but was a good story.

Yeah, was Harbi.

 

[Spark]

Yeah that was Harbhajan.

 

[TT Boy]

Decent showing for Zim. Pakistan and New Zealand beware.

 

[pup11]

Ponting had some pretty weird things to say in the PC, eventhough he admitted that the batting needs improvement he also went onto add that batting with caution at the start inorder to keep wickets in hand for later on in the innings is what the plan is for the rest of the series as well.

Can't help but think Ponting and co. are only gonna end up outsmarting themselves if they persist with this same ploy against other teams, scoring at a good pace is vital against the new ball because its pretty clear that White is in wretched form and if the top 3 get the team off to a sluggish slow start then once the ball gets soft it leaves way too much for likes of Clarke and Hussey to do in the middle order.

 

[vicleggie]

Yeah, was Harbi.

Haha that's awesome. What a nice thing to do.

Impressed with Zim's openingbowler and spinners. Aus batting seemed frail again. Majorly relying on Watson. Ricky Ponting seems to be playing with a lot of fear of failure, not dominating like old. Similar to what sachin went through around 2007 i think, just in his shell and didn't have much of an impact. If he continues that well into the tournament, and against the good teams, Aus willstruggle.

 

[Spark]

Ponting had some pretty weird things to say in the PC, eventhough he admitted that the batting needs improvement he also went onto add that batting with caution at the start inorder to keep wickets in hand for later on in the innings is what the plan is for the rest of the series as well.

Can't help but think Ponting and co. are only gonna end up outsmarting themselves if they persist with this same ploy against other teams, scoring at a good pace is vital against the new ball because its pretty clear that White is in wretched form and if the top 3 get the team off to a sluggish slow start then once the ball gets soft it leaves way too much for likes of Clarke and Hussey to do in the middle order.

Especially because we are in India and by far the easiest time to bat is at the beginning. The ball being hard which reduces the impact of the slow pitches, allowing the ball to come onto the bat and sideways movement of any kind/uncomfortable bounce is a rarity. It's the middle overs where you can fall in a heap. You need to make the most of the new ball.

EDIT: Are you just going off media reports or do you have an actual link to the press conference?

 

[Blaze 18]

Ponting smashes LCD in Australian dressing room after run-out ?

 

[pup11]

Especially because we are in India and by far the easiest time to bat is at the beginning. The ball being hard which reduces the impact of the slow pitches, allowing the ball to come onto the bat and sideways movement of any kind/uncomfortable bounce is a rarity. It's the middle overs where you can fall in a heap. You need to make the most of the new ball.

EDIT: Are you just going off media reports or do you have an actual link to the press conference?

No I myself saw Ponting saying this in the after game PC and as I said it definitely doesn't like a great idea; though tbf he did agree that more runs could have been scored in the first two powerplays but I think it just showed a confused mindset on the part of the Australian set-up.

There is an obvious fear of spin in the mind of the Australian batsman atm which we saw in the way they played the Zimbabwean spinners who were hardly bowling any magic balls yesterday yet we got stuck and looked uncomfortable right through the innings. The worst thing about this is that we have now given the stronger teams even more reason to suffocate us with spin options right through the tournament.

 

[joels344]

I was quite impressed with the all round performance of Zimbabwe. I loved how the crowd would cheer for Mpofu every time he threw the ball back to the wickets. Good performance from him. Mitchell Johnson was excellent and hopefully he can maintain this level of bowling accuracy throughout the WC.

 

[Spark]

No I myself saw Ponting saying this in the after game PC and as I said it definitely doesn't like a great idea; though tbf he did agree that more runs could have been scored in the first two powerplays but I think it just showed a confused mindset on the part of the Australian set-up.

There is an obvious fear of spin in the mind of the Australian batsman atm which we saw in the way they played the Zimbabwean spinners who were hardly bowling any magic balls yesterday yet we got stuck and looked uncomfortable right through the innings. The worst thing about this is that we have now given the stronger teams even more reason to suffocate us with spin options right through the tournament.

Ah, I meant where did you see the PC. I agree with the rest of your post though, it really isn't that hard to work darts for singles when it isn't turning.

 

[pup11]

Ponting smashes LCD in Australian dressing room after run-out ?

A lot of hue and cry taking place over this in the media and it doesn't surprise me one bit, media really loves to pick on Ponting and they never shy away from giving a negative angle to anything he says or does.

They are apparently labeling this as ''the frustrations of an emperor whose kingdom is in ruins.''

Can't help but laugh at all this when people who are caught on camera chewing cricket balls and accepting jacket full of cash walk free like saints but Ponting gets treated like anti-christ over pretty much all his actions, sometimes it just surprises me how Ponting achieved so much success despite all this constant negativity that surrounds him from all corners.

 

[vcs]

A lot of hue and cry taking place over this in the media and it doesn't surprise me one bit, media really loves to pick on Ponting and they never shy away from giving a negative angle to anything he says or does.

They are apparently labeling this as ''the frustrations of an emperor whose kingdom is in ruins.''

Can't help but laugh at all this when people who are caught on camera chewing cricket balls and accepting jacket full of cash walk free like saints but Ponting gets treated like anti-christ over pretty much all his actions, sometimes it just surprises me how Ponting achieved so much success despite all this constant negativity that surrounds him from all corners.

That was a pretty immature show of petulance and he deserves to be criticized for it. Can't go about trashing dressing rooms just because you're frustrated. Saw some of the facilities these guys use (they were showing the VCA stadium dressing rooms from Nagpur before the match) and they are pretty amazing. Needless to say, there's no comparison of this incident with spot-fixing/corruption/drug scandals or anything of the sort.

 

[Prince EWS]

That was a pretty immature show of petulance and he deserves to be criticized for it. Can't go about trashing dressing rooms just because you're frustrated. Saw some of the facilities these guys use (they were showing the VCA stadium dressing rooms from Nagpur before the match) and they are pretty amazing. Needless to say, there's no comparison of this incident with spot-fixing/corruption/drug scandals or anything of the sort.

Yeah, I agree. As long as Ponting or CA replace whatever he broke in a timely fashion though I don't really care too much.