Cricket - The Greatest Game of all

[Firestorm]

India could very well pull it off but the loss of Dhawan was a big blow given our middle order inconsistencies.

Everyone has holes in their team, which is good & bad. It makes thing more interesting.

The Indian batting order doesn't have holes, it has giant canyons. 9 matches done and there is still no clarity about who will bat at No. 4. Shankar turned out to be hopeless, Pant is very young and inexperienced and doesn't have time in the middle in this tournament. Pandya can play there only if the top order does well and we just need some quick runs. Compare that to the other semi-finalists. NZ have the experienced Ross Taylor at 4, Aussies have the redoubtable Smith and England have a plethora of equally good choices - Morgan, Buttler, Stokes.

This spot is then followed by Dhoni who is a shadow of his former self, a no. 7 who keeps changing and Nos. 8 through 11 who might as well not bother to come out and bat. It is amazing how well India has done in this WC despite all these issues. All thanks to Rohit Sharma's unbelievable form, quality contributions from other top order players and some great bowling. We have to just cross our fingers and hope that Sharma is still not done hitting centuries in this wc. Otherwise it is going to be another Aus-NZ final (yes I'm expecting the Aussies to beat England a second time). This time it would be even easier than the 2015 final for the Aussies.

[Oracle]

Why? I was always hoping SA would win. We didn't get an India-NZ match because of the rain. Now we will. We have already played everyone else at least once.

Also it was nice seeing the South Africans finally winning against a strong team after having a terrible world cup in general. And they have some major scores to settle against the Australians in World Cups and although this match was inconsequential for them it might be consequential for Australia. They would have definitely preferred to play NZ rather than England in the semis.

I was going by the current track record in WC.

[Bigfella]

New Zealand pull off the impossible. Woo Hoo! Their two good batsmen do the job that India can't do with a bloke who has made triple centuries coming in at 8. NZ bowlers put in one of the best performances of the WC, dangerous & disciplined. The powerful Indian top order gone for 3 runs & Kohli once again fails in a major WC match. Kudos to Dhoni & Jadeja for fighting hard, but their top order let them down badly.

Looks like that karma for tanking against England to keep Pakistan out of the semis came back to bite India on the arse. Hah!

If Australia can't win the Cup then go NZ!!!

[Double Edge]

I am a persistent pain if nothing else. We'll find some second hand stuff somewhere on ebay or something. Enough to get two teams in whites on a Sunday afternoon and to start interest in the game while I nag the ECB and others. The Ukrainian locals are eager spectators - I suppose it is a curiosity for them but hopefully some of players will get the meaning of cricket and the ethics it brings and go on with it. If I live to see Ukraine host a national cricket match with a national team I will know that civilization has at least in part arrived and not all my efforts were in vain.

Wow, what an idea : )

Try the Indian mission in Ukraine. You might get some bites there.

We are close with Ukraine because i figure they custom built our AN-32's among others.

When Yanukovich entered office I was surprised he popped over for a visit to Delhi a mere month after he was (s)elected.

I honestly did not know Afghanistan and Ireland had test cricket teams! I knew Zimbabwe did. I look forward to seeing Afghanistan play Pakistan some day.

The Afghans train in India. We tried to get the game going with them for the same reasons as you : )

[Oracle]

This Aussie team is a ghost of their earlier team which included greats such as Gilchrist, Hayden, Pointing etc. Crumbled like a pack of cards today. England is doing the right things at the right time. England Vs New Zealand would be awesome. Two best teams in this WC, apart from India. Both deserve a WC win.

Looks like karma is taking a toll on this Aussie team's performance because some of their supporters criticise other boards when their own players are caught cheating red-handed, and peddle conspiracy theories to mask their own insecurity. Woo Hoo! Go England go!

[DarthSiddius]

New Zealand pull off the impossible. Woo Hoo! Their two good batsmen do the job that India can't do with a bloke who has made triple centuries coming in at 8. NZ bowlers put in one of the best performances of the WC, dangerous & disciplined. The powerful Indian top order gone for 3 runs & Kohli once again fails in a major WC match. Kudos to Dhoni & Jadeja for fighting hard, but their top order let them down badly.

Looks like that karma for tanking against England to keep Pakistan out of the semis came back to bite India on the arse. Hah!

If Australia can't win the Cup then go NZ!!!

That Guptil direct hit. SAD!

NZ deserved the win through and through. 3 runs scored by our top three in a semi final is just not recoverable from. Good fight showed by Jadeja and Dhoni but it was too much for them in the end.

[Oracle]

Hahahaha, England owned Australia tonight. Well played England. Australia lost without putting up a decent fight. Australia didn't even try, even when Roy was not out, but was given out.

This is the bowling summary of Australia for this match: very very very very ordinary, Afghanistan bowls better.


Karma says, watch your mouth, for it might bite your team next. And it did bite. Very pleased with the results today. We will have a new WC winner this time. Doesn't matter who wins, England or New Zealand, both teams despise Australia. May the best team win.

[DarthSiddius]

I guess no matter who wins on Sunday, we will have a new world cup winner this time. I say that is good for the game!!

[Double Edge]

Yeah, i'm cool with that. We won in 2011 so the present generation has a cup like the one before.

More deserving teams winning is always good.

[Firestorm]

Looks like that karma for tanking against England to keep Pakistan out of the semis came back to bite India on the arse. Hah!

This kind of nonsense is beneath you. England were the better team in that match. Nobody tanked on purpose. And England showed yesterday that their performance against India wasn't a fluke.

[Double Edge]

This kind of nonsense is beneath you. England were the better team in that match. Nobody tanked on purpose. And England showed yesterday that their performance against India wasn't a fluke.

Interesting, so its a CT then but then i find cricket fans are big into this and there is no telling them otherwise particularly if Pakistan is involved some how.

England could do with a cup, things aren't very happy for them right now. And nothing beats winning at home.

[DarthSiddius]

This kind of nonsense is beneath you. England were the better team in that match. Nobody tanked on purpose. And England showed yesterday that their performance against India wasn't a fluke.

I'm pretty sure that comment was tongue in cheek. But surely the Kiwis lost to England on purpose so to keep Pakistan out and also to avoid playing Australia in the semis, thus ensuring their eventual victory over England in the finals. Real 4D chess moves here. True story! Go NZ!

[Oracle]

^ You might want to read the last couple of pages.

[Bigfella]

I guess no matter who wins on Sunday, we will have a new world cup winner this time. I say that is good for the game!!

I agree. Much as I would have liked to add number 6 to the trophy cabinet, we didn't deserve it.

Given where we were 6 months ago we had a great tournament. I don't know any Aussie fans going into this tournament who really thought we had a shot, so once the disappointment of our meek surrender to England is past we will be OK. In the end our flaws caught up with us - too much left to too few & poor selection.

The silver lining here is that our bowlers & batsmen have now had a ton of practice playing on the wickets they will soon fight for the Ashes on. We will go in underdogs, especially with England high on confidence, but hopefully we can give them a surprise.

England have spent 4 years building up to this. They have made 50 over cricket their major priority and, despite a few hiccups, they are in the box seat to win the trophy. I really, really hope NZ have one more epic performance in them. Sadly I fear they won't, but hope springs eternal.

[Bigfella]

This kind of nonsense is beneath you. England were the better team in that match. Nobody tanked on purpose. And England showed yesterday that their performance against India wasn't a fluke.

It is a bit hard to take your prognostications seriously when you have managed to stay silent while our resident troll stinks up the board on an almost daily basis. Perhaps you simply don't think he can do any better and are paying me a backhanded compliment. More than plausible, but it feels a lot more like a gaping double standard. Anyway, your problem, not mine.

FYI, I was just repeating something my Indian co-workers are treating as fact. Not sure which of your standards I should be holding them to.