**Official** Semi Finals and Final

[TT Boy]

Simply awesome stuff from Gayle, as Mickey Arthur said if he fires the West Indies will most likely win. He is now the key wicket of their team, even with Lara because if Gayle goes early, always more than a fair chance you could have the West Indies all out before the thirtieth over.

Also credit to Chanderpaul his sweep six of Nel was unbelievable but what a perplexing cricketer Shivnarine is. He can be this devastating yet it would not be out of the ordinary of Chanderpaul to follow this knock up with a twenty two ball duck on Sunday.

No excuses for South Africa mind, pretty much abject all tournament. Bowled well on a green top but so what, top order batting was pretty much hopeless throughout and their need a third seamer because Nel has done nothing other than lose at least six mph since Australia last year.

 

[Langeveldt]

No excuses for South Africa mind, pretty much abject all tournament. Bowled well on a green top but so what, top order batting was pretty much hopeless throughout and their need a third seamer because Nel has done nothing other than lose at least six mph since Australia last year.

Thinks that a bit harsh for semi finalists to be honest and we had a better tournament than a number of good teams, but the top order need to ask some questions of themselves.. Not too fussed about going out to such an amazing knock, I remember feeling similarly against Fleming in WC2003..

 

[R_D]

WI's batting outside of Gayle, Lara, Sarwan and Chanperpal is pretty suspect. What a awesome win by WI's tho. ncie and easy. It should be a good final on saturday hopefully we'll see a nice and close final.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Man. The West Indies are a good ODI side, but they really keep the opposition interested with their batting outside of Gayle, Chanderpaul, Sarwan and Lara.

Bravo looked in good touch before he got run out. He's overall had a pretty good year with the bat in ODIs. He played beautifully against India earlier this year and struck a good ton v England. Morton is also a good player when he doesn't feel the need to slog early in his innings.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

if Gayle goes early, always more than a fair chance you could have the West Indies all out before the thirtieth over.

Disagree. Gayle may be a key wicket, but I don't think the batting lineup relies on him to that extent. There's a lot of class in the lineup aside from Gayle.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

He can be this devastating yet it would not be out of the ordinary of Chanderpaul to follow this knock up with a twenty two ball duck on Sunday.

Except that he has 1 duck in his last 89 ODI innings?

 

[Perm]

Chris Gayle played a beautiful innings today and showed what a cool customer he can be, should make for a very interesting final but I can't see him treating Glenn McGrath like the SA bowlers.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Bravo looked in good touch before he got run out. He's overall had a pretty good year with the bat in ODIs. He played beautifully against India earlier this year and struck a good ton v England. Morton is also a good player when he doesn't feel the need to slog early in his innings.

None of them are "bad players" necessarily (though Smith is pretty close), but if you get the openers out quickly against the West Indies you really feel like you could run through them. It happened in all three matches in the DLF cup. The West Indies lost 9/29, 4/13 and 6/56 in those games against Australia, resulting in one loss from a dominant position and one tense win which should have been comfortable, as well as the huge loss in the final. Even tonight there was the trademark scare at the end of the innings. Supporting an opposing team you certainly never feel like the game is over.

 

[Xuhaib]

WI's batting outside of Gayle, Lara, Sarwan and Chanperpal is pretty suspect. What a awesome win by WI's tho. ncie and easy. It should be a good final on saturday hopefully we'll see a nice and close final.

4 quality batsmen are enough, for Odi's atleast.

 

[Xuhaib]

My gut feeling is we will see a Lara special in the grand final.

 

[Anil]

My gut feeling is we will see a Lara special in the grand final.

are you using the force to foretell the future, master obi-wan?

 

[oz_fan]

Great performance by the WI against SA. They have been great all tournament apart from the game against SL and are finally showing some consistency. The WI could prove a handful for Australia if Gayle and Chanderpaul get them off to a flying start like they did against SA but I think Lee will dismiss one of them early on.
Prediction: Australia win by 4 wickets.

 

[Dravid]

Two of the best batsman will face off in the final. I'd say victory goes to captain who can bat through the inning, or atleast get heaps of runs.

 

[Slow Love™]

What kind of animal is that ICC mascot thing? It looks like some kind of koala/sloth hybrid.

 

[honestbharani]

still can't see Australia losing in a final.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

None of them are "bad players" necessarily (though Smith is pretty close), but if you get the openers out quickly against the West Indies you really feel like you could run through them. It happened in all three matches in the DLF cup. The West Indies lost 9/29, 4/13 and 6/56 in those games against Australia, resulting in one loss from a dominant position and one tense win which should have been comfortable, as well as the huge loss in the final. Even tonight there was the trademark scare at the end of the innings. Supporting an opposing team you certainly never feel like the game is over.

Agreed, but that's just West Indies cricket in general. I still think there's more depth to this lineup than the big four.

It showed in the game against Australia.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Two of the best batsman will face off in the final. I'd say victory goes to captain who can bat through the inning, or atleast get heaps of runs.

Well considering that neither of them is opening the batting...

It's have to be the latter, if anything.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

still can't see Australia losing in a final.

If it can happen to Federer, it can happen to Australia.

 

[Nate]

Windies need to play on clay. (H)

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Windies need to play on clay. (H)

It's a sharp point. We also need to show our biceps.