World Cup semis & final, July 9-14

[sussexpob]

Dhoni finally gets the memo.... Neesham into the stands

[Arthur Crabtree]

Six from Dhoni. Bound to target this over.

Need a wicket...

[sussexpob]

Dhoni ran out it looks

[GarlicJam]

Well done New Zealand. Two CWC finals in a row.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Dhoni goes. That innings is going to divide opinion.

[Arthur Crabtree]

And a wicket for Ferguson now.

What a turn up. Brilliant from the NZ attack.

[Arthur Crabtree]

All over.

Maybe the format needs a tweak?

;)

[GarlicJam]

All over.

Maybe the format needs a tweak?

I suspect that a lot of tickets to the final will be easy to get tomorrow morning.

[bigfluffylemon]

Win the toss, win the match? Again?

Caps off to New Zealand though. Defending 240 after what looked like a poor batting effort, but it was a very slow track and they obviously judged it better than we realised watching. Back to back finals from them - well done.

For the second time in three games Dhoni has arguably cost India the game chasing though. A strike rate of 69 when India needed a run a ball when he came to the crease - he left Jadeja too much to do. It was testament to how good Jadeja's innings was that they came close. Dhoni really must be past it in this format. Time to bow out.

This has certainly been a tournament to defy predictions. No one gave New Zealand much of a chance coming into this game, no one gave Sri Lanka or Pakistan much of a chance against England, or South Africa v Australia, etc. etc. Australia thumped England earlier in the tournament, but England are on a roll, at a favoured ground and Australia have injury problems - on paper it's close, maybe England slight favourites, which given the above, makes me rather nervous.

I have no idea what will happen tomorrow, but I hope it's not as simple as win the toss, win the game (although I won't be complaining if England do). But I really hope it's not a second Australia-New Zealand final in four years that Australia win.

Kohli's scores in his last 2 World Cup semis and the Champion's Trophy final: 1, 5, 1. Are India the new tournament chokers?

[bigfluffylemon]

Oh, and one hell of a run-out from Guptill to dismiss Dhoni. Outside the circle, one stump to aim at, and he scored a direct hit with Dhoni 2 inches shy of his ground. Unbelievable stuff. Guptill's had a horror tournament, but that was a moment of genius.

Just imagine if Australia win tomorrow after losing their final group game. Everyone was saying that both Australia and India would rather play New Zealand in the semi - perhaps it would be a tactical ploy after all...

[backfootpunch]

Win the toss, win the match? Again?

Caps off to New Zealand though. Defending 240 after what looked like a poor batting effort, but it was a very slow track and they obviously judged it better than we realised watching. Back to back finals from them - well done.

For the second time in three games Dhoni has arguably cost India the game chasing though. A strike rate of 69 when India needed a run a ball when he came to the crease - he left Jadeja too much to do. It was testament to how good Jadeja's innings was that they came close. Dhoni really must be past it in this format. Time to bow out.

This has certainly been a tournament to defy predictions. No one gave New Zealand much of a chance coming into this game, no one gave Sri Lanka or Pakistan much of a chance against England, or South Africa v Australia, etc. etc. Australia thumped England earlier in the tournament, but England are on a roll, at a favoured ground and Australia have injury problems - on paper it's close, maybe England slight favourites, which given the above, makes me rather nervous.

I have no idea what will happen tomorrow, but I hope it's not as simple as win the toss, win the game (although I won't be complaining if England do). But I really hope it's not a second Australia-New Zealand final in four years that Australia win.

Kohli's scores in his last 2 World Cup semis and the Champion's Trophy final: 1, 5, 1. Are India the new tournament chokers?

Sachin never scored big in the biggest games either maybe the expectations of a billion people gets a bit heavy in those games on the star man

[sussexpob]

Seems one of the consistent themes of this world cup, that so many sides rather watch a RR escalate out of control to the point they have no choice but to last ditch desperation slog, than ever try to keep it manageable. Its like watching someone with a potentially fatal wound content themselves with slowly bleeding to death, rather than seek immediate help. There are two ways to lose a game, 10 wickets falling or not making enough runs; it seems the latter is very much not treated with enough importance, and that most teams seem to back themselves to score 75 runs in 5 overs at the end, having allowed themselves countless overs of a few singles here and there.

England are arguably the only team that have the approach right; the execution hasnt been perfect, but at least England virtually all the time are looking at the rate and attacking it. And when wickets dont fall, their top order isnt going to sit around wondering, its coming straight for you. Just feel like a lot of teams died wondering in this tournament, and India are one.

Of course you could say Dhoni needed to keep his wicket intact, and that was true for the first 20-30 balls, but there is no point just walking off a cliff in a suicide mission.

[yuppie]

Win the toss, win the match? Again?

Caps off to New Zealand though. Defending 240 after what looked like a poor batting effort, but it was a very slow track and they obviously judged it better than we realised watching. Back to back finals from them - well done.

For the second time in three games Dhoni has arguably cost India the game chasing though. A strike rate of 69 when India needed a run a ball when he came to the crease - he left Jadeja too much to do. It was testament to how good Jadeja's innings was that they came close. Dhoni really must be past it in this format. Time to bow out.

This has certainly been a tournament to defy predictions. No one gave New Zealand much of a chance coming into this game, no one gave Sri Lanka or Pakistan much of a chance against England, or South Africa v Australia, etc. etc. Australia thumped England earlier in the tournament, but England are on a roll, at a favoured ground and Australia have injury problems - on paper it's close, maybe England slight favourites, which given the above, makes me rather nervous.

I have no idea what will happen tomorrow, but I hope it's not as simple as win the toss, win the game (although I won't be complaining if England do). But I really hope it's not a second Australia-New Zealand final in four years that Australia win.

Kohli's scores in his last 2 World Cup semis and the Champion's Trophy final: 1, 5, 1. Are India the new tournament chokers?

Sachin never scored big in the biggest games either maybe the expectations of a billion people gets a bit heavy in those games on the star man

Kholis record in world cup knock out games is not good. Scores of 24, 9, 35, 3, 1 and 1. For a total of 73 at and average of 12 with a SR of 56. In 6 innings thats less then What Damien Martyn has scored in one world cup final.

Its unusual as he seems to thrive when there is a lot of friction on the field.

[Alviro Patterson]

Seems one of the consistent themes of this world cup, that so many sides rather watch a RR escalate out of control to the point they have no choice but to last ditch desperation slog, than ever try to keep it manageable. Its like watching someone with a potentially fatal wound content themselves with slowly bleeding to death, rather than seek immediate help. There are two ways to lose a game, 10 wickets falling or not making enough runs; it seems the latter is very much not treated with enough importance, and that most teams seem to back themselves to score 75 runs in 5 overs at the end, having allowed themselves countless overs of a few singles here and there.

England are arguably the only team that have the approach right; the execution hasnt been perfect, but at least England virtually all the time are looking at the rate and attacking it. And when wickets dont fall, their top order isnt going to sit around wondering, its coming straight for you. Just feel like a lot of teams died wondering in this tournament, and India are one.

Of course you could say Dhoni needed to keep his wicket intact, and that was true for the first 20-30 balls, but there is no point just walking off a cliff in a suicide mission.

Easier said than done when India 5-3 and 24-4 of 10 overs. In a situation like this you have to take the game deep just to remain in the competition. Dhoni did a brilliant job in stabilising innings under tricky conditions and with little batting to come, this allowed Jadeja to come in and express himself at a clutch moment.

Even in the last three overs when the required run rate was going towards 15, Jadeja and Dhoni still looked assured in the middle. Jadeja's dismissal was a shot of instinct, had he not got out at point then Dhoni would have stepped up in the penultimate over.

[backfootpunch]

:

Seems one of the consistent themes of this world cup, that so many sides rather watch a RR escalate out of control to the point they have no choice but to last ditch desperation slog, than ever try to keep it manageable. Its like watching someone with a potentially fatal wound content themselves with slowly bleeding to death, rather than seek immediate help. There are two ways to lose a game, 10 wickets falling or not making enough runs; it seems the latter is very much not treated with enough importance, and that most teams seem to back themselves to score 75 runs in 5 overs at the end, having allowed themselves countless overs of a few singles here and there.

England are arguably the only team that have the approach right; the execution hasnt been perfect, but at least England virtually all the time are looking at the rate and attacking it. And when wickets dont fall, their top order isnt going to sit around wondering, its coming straight for you. Just feel like a lot of teams died wondering in this tournament, and India are one.

Of course you could say Dhoni needed to keep his wicket intact, and that was true for the first 20-30 balls, but there is no point just walking off a cliff in a suicide mission.

With the way jadeja played all dhoni had to do was bat with a bit of positive intent and not block and india wouldve coasted it

Obviously the early wickets made it very hard but a few more singles here and there and they win