Post: #26

Really excited for the upcoming WC. I think my boys can get it done, our line up is consistent and Mc Cullum is in outstanding form,but more than likely will be knocked out by Pakistan or Sri Lanka in the semis. South Africa have to be favourites but traditionally bottle it at wcs. I'd love to see a west Indian revival at some stage.

Who are people picking?

Post: #27

def backing the home team Australia.

Solid batting line up, Smithy is good form, possibly the best opening pair in world cricket, very good bowlers who bowl well in familiar conditions.

I can't see them losing.

Post: #28

(01-14-2015 04:59 AM)Lucario Wrote:  I can't see them losing.

I can.

Post: #29

England was talking such a big game after 2 tour match wins.

33/4 vs Australia right now. Lol. No Johnson either. I can't stand Moeen Ali.

When it comes to cricket a lot of my allegiances become extremely historic. That's the intensity of cricket. Unlike most sports, a lot of rivalries go back to colonial days, for colonial reasons. Sadly things like the IPL have caused too much camaraderie. An India vs Eng/Pakistan match has got to be a grudge match.

Post: #30

AB De Villiers. Absolute master batsman. 100 off 31 balls. 149 off 44 balls. Whole innings felt like a highlights package.

Excited to see if SA can keep this great form in the business end of the world cup.

Post: #31

(01-19-2015 08:14 AM)UnW Wrote:  AB De Villiers. Absolute master batsman. 100 off 31 balls. 149 off 44 balls. Whole innings felt like a highlights package.

Excited to see if SA can keep this great form in the business end of the world cup.

that was fucking brilliant, watched it yesterday.

Post: #32

It's AB and Steyn that make me think that this is the year for SA...more than every other WC which also used to feel like the year for SA...

Post: #33

SA are chokers though, always choking.

Post: #34

(01-19-2015 08:14 AM)UnW Wrote:  AB De Villiers. Absolute master batsman. 100 off 31 balls. 149 off 44 balls. Whole innings felt like a highlights package.

Excited to see if SA can keep this great form in the business end of the world cup.

Incredible. All the highlights videos have been disabled from Youtube, but here is another link.

Also, why the hell is South Africa wearing pink? Is this some sort of "awareness campaign" for women's health. As far as I know, this is the first time it has happened in international cricket. I can almost understand relinquishing your team's colours when playing sport on a domestic level, but for international sportsmen, their colours are usually sacred and would never be compromised. These are men who have sacrificed their lives to wear the green and gold colours of the men they grew up idolising. I could guarantee that there was a lot of grumbling in the changing rooms that day. I'm surprised that this precedent has been set in South Africa which is a refreshingly patriarchal society. How long will it be before all teams in the world cup are mandated to wear pink?

Could you imagine the All Blacks wearing pink? Perhaps that wouldn't be unimaginable in a few years.

Post: #35

(01-20-2015 09:51 AM)Horus Wrote:  

(01-19-2015 08:14 AM)UnW Wrote:  AB De Villiers. Absolute master batsman. 100 off 31 balls. 149 off 44 balls. Whole innings felt like a highlights package.

Excited to see if SA can keep this great form in the business end of the world cup.

Incredible. All the highlights videos have been disabled from Youtube, but here is another link.

Also, why the hell is South Africa wearing pink? Is this some sort of "awareness campaign" for women's health. As far as I know, this is the first time it has happened in international cricket. I can almost understand relinquishing your team's colours when playing sport on a domestic level, but for international sportsmen, their colours are usually sacred and would never be compromised. These are men who have sacrificed their lives to wear the green and gold colours of the men they grew up idolising. I could guarantee that there was a lot of grumbling in the changing rooms that day. I'm surprised that this precedent has been set in South Africa which is a refreshingly patriarchal society. How long will it be before all teams in the world cup are mandated to wear pink?

Could you imagine the All Blacks wearing pink? Perhaps that wouldn't be unimaginable in a few years.

I find it so extreme. It looks absolutely horrible and there's no talk of it being a lack of patriotism since it relates to women's health.

But sadly, they've done it a few times:
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/cricketnext/i...21-78.html
http://www.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket...67121.html

also Pink day at the Sydney test match in Australia every year:
http://whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/e...afone-test

I wonder when they'll have a male equivalent? Prostate Cancer awareness uniforms? Yeah, I'll keep dreaming. Movember is as good as it will get.

Post: #36

The Sydney Test pink day is a big deal because Glen McGrath's wife died of breast cancer a few years back. I get it. Atleast you have Mitch Johnson countering it with his Mo'.

Also, India, and especially Dhoni looking lackluster. Dhoni's timing is off a bit, but he'll bring it by the time the WC starts. Kohli has got to get up to number 3. That will only be possible when you have the "rockstar" Ravi Jadeja come back and strengthen the lower order.





Jadeja changes the whole team. Not just his clutch batting, but also his running and clever bowling. Plus he's probably the best fielder they have. India will look a completely different team with him back. I think Dhawan need to be rested for a game, and then given one more chance before the WC to finalize if he's going to be in the team.

Post: #37

(01-19-2015 04:14 PM)Slim Shady Wrote:  It's AB and Steyn that make me think that this is the year for SA...more than every other WC which also used to feel like the year for SA...

I can't see past them tbh. In de Villiers and Amla they've got the best two batsmen in the world at the moment, and they have the best bowler in Steyn, with Philander and Morkel doing the business as well. Comfortably beat Windies again today, with the bowlers doing the damage this time.

As others have said though, they still have to prove they aren't bottlers, given it seems to be in South African DNA.

Post: #38

How solid is Steve Smith? Anchors the Australian innings in today's ODI and gets them over the line. Hope he continues his golden summer in the world cup.

Post: #39

Smith has definitely got better since his debut Ashes series.

Post: #40

How about the NZ - Sri Lanka ODI yesterday? Guptill, McCullum, Taylor and Williamson fail to fire. And then a world record sixth-wicket 276 run partnership between Elliot and Ronchi, even though there was some absolutely shit bowling from Sri Lanka. Finally New Zealand has some real depth in out batting line up, backed up by some quality bowlers. I can't wait for the world cup!

Post: #41

I remember Luke Ronchi when he was playing state cricket in Australia, he was a huge hitter and known for it. The match NZ Vs SL became a complete turnaround from that partnership, it literally came out of nowhere.

Dilshan played well for SL but after he got out they didn't have much of a chance.

Great to see Ronchi make his first international century, albeit in NZ colours.

Post: #42

When you think back to the Ross Taylor fiasco and where New Zealand cricket was at 2 years ago, the Black Caps' resurgence has been remarkable. Whether they can win the WC is another story, but they're undoubtedly the big improver in world cricket over the last 12 months.

Their recent 1-1 away Test series with Pakistan has gone under the radar somewhat, but to put it in context, Australia were thrashed in every facet of the game only weeks earlier by the same opponent.

Post: #43

^ 2 huge reasons. Baz, who is the best captain in Cricket, and Shane Bond as the bowling coach. Unfortunately Bond is resigning after the WC so it'll be interesting to see if NZ can keep up their success after that. India for example fell very quickly after Gary Kirsten left.

Post: #44

Just when you want to enjoy cricket..the white knights and feminists can't stand to be left out and not receive attention.

The captain of the England cricket team is the target.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/carlton-mid-...22983.html

FULL ARTICLE :

Quote:Being England cricket captain throws up its fair share of challenges, but blackmail plots are not usually among them. However, Eoin Morgan has been embroiled in a bizarre case of an Australian man demanding £35,000 from the ECB otherwise he threatened to release "embarrassing" information about a relationship Morgan had with an Australian woman five years ago. Both were single at the time.

The plot came to light in the build-up to the one-day international against Australia in Hobart following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police and ECB staff with the squad in Australia. The man at the centre of the incident has been identified, and is the current partner of the woman Morgan dated, but no charges will be brought.

An ECB statement said: "In the last few days, the ECB received an email from an Australian man demanding a five figure sum to prevent a story about our one-day captain Eoin Morgan appearing in the national newspapers in the UK and Australia.

"The allegations related to a brief relationship Eoin had with a woman from Australia five years ago. Following liaison with the Metropolitan Police, our support team on the ground in Australia investigated the blackmail.

This involved approaching the man in question who, when confronted, admitted and apologised for his actions, blaming jealousy (he is presently in a relationship with the woman concerned).

"The ECB will not allow anyone to disrupt our team's performance on the field of play. We are wholly focussed on winning cricket matches. This matter has now been brought to a conclusion and we will not be seeking further action against the individual at this stage."


Paul Downton, the managing director of England cricket, added: "We will not allow anyone to disrupt our team's preparation or performance in the tri-series and as we build up to the World Cup. I am pleased that this issue has now been brought to a swift conclusion.

"At this point we'd like to thank the Metropolitan Police for their advice, which assisted us in dealing with this in the swiftest possible manner."

Typical jealous beta white knight. Dude is unaware that women ride the cock carousel banging out alphas.

Post: #45

I'm picking Brendon McCullum to get a knighthood before he retires. He has been the driving force in turning the New Zealand team from a bunch of perennial losers into a team which expects victory. For a small country, we've always had our fair share of talented cricketers, but it hasn't been since the days of Martin Crowe that we've had a leader to bring out the best of this talent.

Post: #46

My man Ravi Jadeja is back for the game vs Australia!

Interesting bowling lineup for India with Binny/Axar/Jad as the "all rounders" + Just the 2 all out pacers with Shami/Ishant....and no Bhuvi.

I wonder if Dhoni is going to try setting up a spin death trap in Australia too, like he successfully did in England in the 2013 Champion's Trophy victory. If he does, I wonder if he will be successful.

Post: #47

Glad Indians are using Binny. They can even promote Binny to the top of the order at no.3 or 4 since he has a very good technique against bounce and swing and can hit big and has shown that he can build an innings.

They first 3 in the batting line up should be Rohit/Rahane/Binny mainly because they can play and score off swing/movement and bounce well, which you need in Australia . Kohli is way too overrated...he needs to learn how to score off swing bowling.

They need to include Yadav for every main match of the world cup, pace and bounce are very important in winning in Australia.

As for Australia, Hazelwood+ Starc just looks like an amazing new ball combo...if they get it right, they could win the match in the first 8 over of the Indians innings.

Post: #48

Damn Mitch Johnson is back. Love watching him bowl like this. Only thing that compares is when Steyn goes super saiyan.

Post: #49

(01-24-2015 05:01 AM)UnW Wrote:  I remember Luke Ronchi when he was playing state cricket in Australia, he was a huge hitter and known for it

I remember Ronchi when he was playing for Baysie/Morley hitting a 6 about 30 metres over my head.. I was standing about 15m back from the rope. He's definitely a big hitter lol

Post: #50

Let's go! WC 2015!

Starting @ now.

1st game NZ vs Sri Lanka. My pick NZ.

2nd game Aus vs England. My pick...lol. Australia crushes. Stuart Broad cries.