Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

SF's are played at Sydney so a tussle between India's spin quartet and England's spin trio should prove intriguing.... and perhaps defining in terms of reaching the final

(I don't believe that England will top their group)

Sri Lanka get their biggest T20i win, in terms of wickets against Bangladesh, 9 wickets, I think.

Now, onto the big game of the day: Aus/NZ, with the game being played about 500 metres from where we just were, St Kilda's Junction Oval. Not going, as we are on our way to the airport right now

Australia set New Zealand 155 to win. You'd think it should be enough - Devine and Kerr seem to be the only NZ batters in form.

I mentioned earlier that I didn't think there have been many successful chases in this tournament. That's only half true - of 17 games so far, 7 have been won by the team batting second, and 10 batting first, but the highest total successfully chased has been just 127. 5 of 7 successful chases have been of totals between 113-127 (with 2 successful chases of targets under 100), but 5 times totals between 132-143 have been defended (4 times by less than 20 runs), and 4 defended totals have been in excess of 150, and have been thrashings (i.e. no one has got even close). That provides a remarkably consistent par score of 130 for the tournament, despite the differing abilities of teams and different grounds used, with NZ's defence of 91 the one freak result in the pattern.

NZ will need freak result number 2 to stay alive...

NZ 53-2 after 8, exactly the same position Australia were. They were doing better, in fact, until losing a wicket on the last ball of the 8th.

Still in the balance...

That wicket of Bates was a big one. Puts the favour with Aus, imo. Kiwis need almost 10 an over now. Pressure is on Sophie Devine.

Aus took a gamble by selecting Perry with a damaged shoulder. It paid off with the bat, but has come a cropped with the ball. She has just hurt herself fielding. I don't think she will be back onto the field today.

2 overs to find from somewhere.

Kiwis looking good since Bates' dismissal.

Looked like going Australia's way with 3 quick wickets, but a big over, and NZ need 28 from 2.

Schutt has 1 left, but if Perry can't bowl, where do they get 1 more over from?

Going to the wire

Good over from Schutt, gets the wicket, 20 needed off the last over. Gardner to bowl it though, part timer. 20 is hard but not impossible. Just ask Ben Stokes.

Close but just enough in the end for Australia.

Very close finish in the end. Last fall from Gardener is a waist high full toss that is dropped onto the boundary. If that had been called a no ball, the Kiwis would have needed four of the last ball(free hit).


Aus squeak home.

exciting game?

Durhamfootman wrote:exciting game?

I was watching live streaming on my brand new tablet (bought only hours earlier) at the airport, with an earphone in. My wife was not impressed by my enthusiastic noise making as the game drew to a finish.

Even after the last delivery, the result was uncertain for a period.

Perry out for the finals. A blow for Australia and for the tournament - she is very much the face of women's cricket over here, and immensely popular. What a shame.

Adding another to my fantasy team casualty list.

Posted this on DFM's tournament thread, but probably more appropriate here:


Apparently the forecast for Thursday is pretty poor.

No reserve days could mean group winners Ind and SA progress to the final without a ball being bowled...

Farcical really - just start the tournament a day earlier and add the reserve day in

ianp1970 wrote:Posted this on DFM's tournament thread, but probably more appropriate here:


Apparently the forecast for Thursday is pretty poor.

No reserve days could mean group winners Ind and SA progress to the final without a ball being bowled...

Farcical really - just start the tournament a day earlier and add the reserve day in

England should have beaten SA in the first match. They have the better team, the better players (Knight and Sciver have out performed Kapp and Van Niekerk, and Ecclestone is better than anything SA have) and management made sure they were thoroughly prepared and acclimatised by playing the tri series before the warm ups. They can have no excuses. They were just a bit dozy in the first match, which in such a short tournament they couldn't afford to be. Maybe they'll learn this lesson