Cricket Thread..

[Alex]

Yeah, hopefully Moody plays as many games for Australia as Tom - but more successfully. Tom was never a bad player, but was never a star.

Nevill on 49*. He's such a steady hand at 7. Perfect test 7 in this era, where Australia aren't the dominant side we once were.

Gilly was a freak of nature, but you don't want a less skilled guy to be that style of player at 7 in a test era where the top sides are much closer to each other.

Think Nevill in for Haddin when he retires is a gimme

 

[Mus]

His patience is something a lot of the squad is somewhat lacking


What do you make of AJ Tye?

 

[Alex]

Glad I have Sangakarra and Dilshan...I made a stupid power play choice though!

 

[Alex]

Tye looks a decent seamer Mus, but there are plenty of decent seamers in Australian domestic cricket. He's certainly not a standout

 

[Xifio]

Glad I have Sangakarra and Dilshan...I made a stupid power play choice though!

yeah, could have had close to a 1000 point day, instead of 500+ ... I tried to update my squad this morning with a couple of Lankans and Banglas, but couldn't ... the page loaded on my phone, but the damn player list just wouldn't populate ... oh well, guess I'll just have to make it up in the coming games ...

 

[Xifio]

de Villiers!! wow!

 

[Mus]

SA the new India?

 

[Xifio]

^ as in new world champions?



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big win, on the back of a ridiculous batting performance ... but it was also a missed chance to notch the first 300+ run win: from 63/7, the innings should have ended long before 151 all out ... Steyn needs to sort his length out -- attack the stumps more, ffs ...

happy for Rilee, grabbing his opportunity, and likely sealing his place through the Pak match at least ... good for Tahir too, with his first five-for, though again 4/5 should have have ended up better than 5/45 ... I guess SAf not peaking in the group stage, and leaving room for improvement, is actually quite fine ...

more concerning is that the strongest XI is clearly not sorted ... Abraham did say that he was happy with Behardien at #7, but Faf bowling ahead of him doesn't exactly inspire confidence ... when JP returns, I'd push Rossouw to the top of the order, and have de Kock come in at 7; but that won't be till the UAE game at the earliest, so we'll see what happens before then ...

meanwhile, it was also a very good day at the fantasy office:

made up for not being able to pick for the previous game ...

 

[Alex]

AB is such a freak. He makes it look so easy.

 

[Alex]

Just realised that the 42 trades were only until the end of today's games, then we get 42 more. So stupid. I'd have used loads more. That takes way too much maintenance I think

 

[Mus]

Huge first over

 

[Mus]

What the actual fuck

 

[Alex]

Yep...Lucky we have Haddin at 8 and a genuine number 8 batting at 11...

This is possibly one of the strongest batting lineups a side has fielded - with a guy like Haddin as low as 8 and two bowlers who are good enough batsmen to be considered bowling all rounders, and Cummins who is quite handy too...But this has been terrible.

 

[Mus]

We needed Ryno to come and get a cheeky 50

Just a horrible all round game really

 

[Alex]

Even the first five to ten overs when we were doing well, the run rate was inflated by wide and byes. Very short boundaries, but not sure it's the batting deck everyone thinks it is.

That said, it's a better pitch than we made it look. Appalling performance

 

[Alex]

NSW second innings were even worse than Australia

 

[Mus]

Klinger and Voges are pretty damn reliable

At least this game happened now and not in the knockout

 

[Xifio]

LOL wutt? just woke up to this ridiculous scorecard ... 151 is not bad from 106/9, but wtf happened? a reply of 79/3 in double quick time pretty much seals the match for NZ ... innings break coming at the perfect time for them too -- they can regroup after the McCullum blitz, commit to cruising home at 4 an over, and still win with 25 overs to spare ...

 

[Alex]

LOL wutt? just woke up to this ridiculous scorecard ... 151 is not bad from 106/9, but wtf happened? a reply of 79/3 in double quick time pretty much seals the match for NZ ... innings break coming at the perfect time for them too -- they can regroup after the McCullum blitz, commit to cruising home at 4 an over, and still win with 25 overs to spare ...

1/76 off 12 overs...

 

[Alex]

Wow