*Official* Quarter Final 3 - New Zealand v South Africa

[Bahnz]

Shout out to Kane as well. Not known at all for his death hitting but played a really good knock in context.

It was a solid little knock, wasn't it? And the fact that it came at a time when New Zealand looked really vulnerable of crashing out for a score of 180-190 it proved pretty vital. Shows the maturity of the kid. Still woefully out of position batting at 6 though.

 

[Hurricane]

yeah, most people think nz is just a crap team in general. Ummm, they were ranked number 2 just a little while ago.

So why did they lose all those matches?
Because generally only half of the team have been showing up in the same game. Most of the time it's the bowlers showing up. Mills and vettori. And of late southee. But then the batsmen don't show up ruining all the bowlers efforts of restricting a team to a reachable target. There are the odd occasions where the batsmen show up, but they are few and far between.

People acting like nz have no chance is ridiculous. What's the point of watching sport if the result is 100% guaranteed? If ireland can beat england, it is certainly no stretch that nz can beat south africa. But people act like, "oh noes, nz will never win". Some people never learn, anything can happen in sport.

Of course, if nz do win then people will just say that south africa choked. There's no chance that nz can win on their own merits. No chance at all. They only reason they are turning up is just in case south africa chokes.

Next time we have a wc, we should just pretend that the group stages occurred and go straight to sa vs ind and srl vs aus semis.


Nz will be demolished.
Their bowling is too weak.


It's like people watch cricket through scorecards on cricinfo or something.

[/rant]

go nz. I know you are underdogs but if a couple of batsman come off, and the bowlers can continue on like they can, then you are in with a good chance.

Haters can suck it!

Best post of 2011 so far.

@Athlai - with regards to Southee bowling so quick - must have been bowling on adrenaline.

@Strawman - yeah I had the same reaction as you. Ed's post where he said he felt proud of Taylor and Ryder during their partnership got to me. And Bahnz getting teary eyed was a good one as well. Hats off CW NZers.

 

[vcs]

I don't understand SA not giving either Ingram or Tsotsobe an extended run after they prepared them to play in the WC matches for at least six months before the WC started. They played players like Faf instead of Ingram who didn't have much game time before the tournament and Botha who was clearly out of form instead of Tsotsobe who is in good form. David Miller had done a reasonable job for SA prior to the world cup and they could have picked him in the squad ahead of Van Wyk. Picking a back up keeper is pointless in this WC when you can just easily call a replacement if the regular keeper gets injured. I know its all in hindsight but we can only connect the dots looking back.

Yeah, Tsotsobe is the unluckiest player in the world not to get a first team spot when you look at his recent performances.

The worrying thing about SA is, they picked their best team, or pretty close to it, and you cannot even point fingers at certain players, or say they are weak at one facet of the game (like India in bowling). Most of their players are among the best at their respective positions. It's just a collective psychological weakness and spreads through the team very quickly.

 

[Athlai]

Vettori's captaincy seemed pretty inspired last night. Looking to finish his reign on a high no doubt.

 

[Furball]

Yeah, Tsotsobe is the unluckiest player in the world not to get a first team spot when you look at his recent performances.

The worrying thing about SA is, they picked their best team, or pretty close to it, and you cannot even point fingers at certain players, or say they are weak at one facet of the game (like India in bowling). Most of their players are among the best at their respective positions. It's just a collective psychological weakness and spreads through the team very quickly.

Their continued picking of Steyn over Tsotsobe was nonsense.

 

[Ausage]

Wow. Great stuff NZ, hold your heads up high.

For all the talk of flat subcontinental pitches and 300+ being chaseable coming into the WC there's been a huge number of epic bowling performances. Or am I giving SA too much credit?

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

there's been a huge number of epic bowling performances. Or am I giving SA too much credit?

You got that right.

 

[vcs]

Their continued picking of Steyn over Tsotsobe was nonsense.

Without checking, Steyn must have averaged around 15 in the tournament. To put it simply, he wasn't the problem. Tsotsobe is unlucky he plays for SA.

 

[Ausage]

You got that right.

Awesome unintended pun.

 

[Days of Grace]

Upon waking up and checking that it was not a dream, I have read all the posts since the end of the game. Brilliant stuff. Love it how for a while there I thought this thread was going to turn into a thread about India.


Anyway, my thoughts:

Why does it feel like every time Jesse Ryder plays a substantial knock in the first innings, that he is unable to field? Noone has pointed out his absense yet, or what could be wrong with him.

Will the ICC ban Kyle Mills for one match? I wouldn't be that shocked. But I would be pissed. New Zealand needs him.

Despite winning comfortably in the end, New Zealand really ballsed up that batting powerplay. I lost it last night (see my post at that time). When two batsmen are set around the 33rd over that is one thing. When at least one of them is looking like he wants to get on with it, you should take the batting powerplay 99% of the time. If they took it and Taylor came off, it was not beyond the realms of possibility that NZ could have ended up with 270. That mistake cost us about 30-50 runs. Can't afford to **** it up again.

Styris didn't bowl a single over. The pitch was tailor-made for his style of bowling. In the end, we didn't need him. But what if that 9th wicket partnership continued? Would we have gone with Woodcock for 5 straight overs? I think not.

Now onto more positive thoughts:

Jacob Oram is ****ing immense. Check out his career bowling stats now. Average of 29 with an E/R of 4.3. Bow down and worship him as an ODI bowler, you ****s!

Kane was just the man we needed in those death overs when all was going to ****. Played. Crucial in the end. Hope he keeps his place if Mills comes back in.

Agreed with one poster that the Taylor-Ryder partnership has John Wright written all over it. If only they had taken the batting powerplay to put the seal on it.




Now, I will put on my anglophile hat.

 

[vcs]

Ballsy move by Vettori to bowl his best bowlers when the match was in the balance. The exact opposite of what someone like MS Dhoni would do, and it's just the kind of captaincy move that looks awesome when it works so spectacularly.

 

[Spark]

Ballsy move by Vettori to bowl his best bowlers when the match was in the balance. The exact opposite of what someone like MS Dhoni would do, and it's just the kind of captaincy move that looks awesome when it works so spectacularly.

Yeah AWTA. The best captains sense an opportunity and take a risk to capitalise on it knowing that they may not get another one. Vettori did that.

 

[slugger]

stephen fleming bowled out shane bond in 03 vs australia it was a great idea its just he had no one left to wrap up the tail bevan and bichel partnership pulled them outta the fire into a defendable postion. Im glad it worked for vettori its a risk but when you need wickets to win its really youre only option. its kinda all or nothing when defending low scores.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Ballsy move by Vettori to bowl his best bowlers when the match was in the balance. The exact opposite of what someone like MS Dhoni would do, and it's just the kind of captaincy move that looks awesome when it works so spectacularly.

Yeah, was pretty ballsy. Hate it when the best bowlers are saved for the last overs, being to defensive. Of course, saying that is all very well in hindsight.

He did have an over of Southee and Oram to come though. I feel if Faf hadn't got out he would have gone for 3-4 overs of Styris and Woodcock to try and strangle SA a bit, and then gone for Oram and Southee.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Would also say that Vettori's captaincy was outstanding.

Agreed. He's often (rightly) criticized for being far too defensive, but last night it was almost like having Fleming back.

Vettori's captaincy seemed pretty inspired last night. Looking to finish his reign on a high no doubt.

Credit to him, yeah.

Was wonderfully modest about it when Nicholas interviewed him after the game too. Basically said the smallish total NZ were defending meant he had no choice but to attack.

Given the way wickets seem to fall in the batting power plays in the tournament so far it's surprising more skippers don't try to take the game to the batsmen rather than just being prepared to hang on going at 4-5 RPO in the middle overs.

 

[straw man]

Slightly off topic, but this is a reminder of the enormous baggage that comes with the choker tag. Not fancying the All Blacks' chance in the Rugby World Cup after this.

 

[straw man]

stephen fleming bowled out shane bond in 03 vs australia it was a great idea its just he had no one left to wrap up the tail bevan and bichel partnership pulled them outta the fire into a defendable postion. Im glad it worked for vettori its a risk but when you need wickets to win its really youre only option. its kinda all or nothing when defending low scores.

Yeah that was definitely one time when we took the risk and it did not pay off at all.

Edit: Loved the brief highlights they showed (not sure if it was same broadcast everywhere) of the 2003 NZ vs SA match - was one of my favourite matches of all time.

 

[straw man]

Wonder if Martin Crowe is now going to back NZ to win the whole thing

 

[Flem274*]

Wonder if Martin Crowe is now going to back NZ to win the whole thing

Well when he gets emotional he makes some awesome calls. He'll have an opinion for sure.

 

[Raghav]

Woodcock selection - good finally ... nice to have spinners all over SAf's..

Most of the posters thought Woodcock was not good selection initially when I said we need him even before the match started