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Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 7:47 pm
by DiligentDefence
Who is going to be the calm head to see the Aussies home from difficult situations. Mike Hussey fulfils that role now but he will need to be replaced by 2015.

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 7:51 pm
by shankycricket
DiligentDefence wrote:Who is going to be the calm head to see the Aussies home from difficult situations. Mike Hussey fulfils that role now but he will need to be replaced by 2015.

Way too early to say but Maxwell has shown immense promise. Smashed Saeed Ajmal, of all bowlers, in a pressure situation yesterday.

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 7:56 pm
by shankycricket
greyblazer wrote:OZ tracks are good for batting in one-day cricket.Until I'm convinced that Bell, Cook and co. are capable enough to chase down targets in excess of say 270-280 I won't think of England. I have seen too many defeats away from home in one-day cricket to be optimistic.

I do see your point but there aren't a lot of high quality ODI sides at the moment. The pitches in Australia can be quite unpredictable to be honest. Sydney, for example, was a road when we played the Aussies in 2010/11 but it was a fairly green pitch for the CB series last year.

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:09 pm
by Making_Splinters
shankybiggestengfan wrote:
Making_Splinters wrote:Quite fancy the South Africans.

Strength in depth seems to be a problem IMO. Don't think Kallis will be around for that WC. A bit over reliant on Amla and AB, I'd say.


Personally I feel that depth is rather secondary to the strength of the actual team and looking at the current side all of them will be there come 2015 with hopefully Vernon coming in as well, they're the ones to beat at present for me.

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:26 pm
by shankycricket
Making_Splinters wrote:
shankybiggestengfan wrote:
Making_Splinters wrote:Quite fancy the South Africans.

Strength in depth seems to be a problem IMO. Don't think Kallis will be around for that WC. A bit over reliant on Amla and AB, I'd say.


Personally I feel that depth is rather secondary to the strength of the actual team and looking at the current side all of them will be there come 2015 with hopefully Vernon coming in as well, they're the ones to beat at present for me.

Kallis?
Don't really see Vernon as an ODI bowler either to be honest. He is a line and length bowler. I'd say he is similar to Onions, who isn't considered an ODI bowler mainly due to lack of variations.
Even their current ODI side is hardly a world beating side, is it? Amla and AB seem to be carrying the batting with contributions from Duminy. Plus, there is that small matter of choking. ;)

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:34 pm
by Making_Splinters
shankybiggestengfan wrote:
Making_Splinters wrote:
shankybiggestengfan wrote:
Making_Splinters wrote:Quite fancy the South Africans.

Strength in depth seems to be a problem IMO. Don't think Kallis will be around for that WC. A bit over reliant on Amla and AB, I'd say.


Personally I feel that depth is rather secondary to the strength of the actual team and looking at the current side all of them will be there come 2015 with hopefully Vernon coming in as well, they're the ones to beat at present for me.

Kallis?
Don't really see Vernon as an ODI bowler either to be honest. He is a line and length bowler. I'd say he is similar to Onions, who isn't considered an ODI bowler mainly due to lack of variations.
Even their current ODI side is hardly a world beating side, is it? Amla and AB seem to be carrying the batting with contributions from Duminy. Plus, there is that small matter of choking. ;)


Kallis isn't in the current side, RP however may well not be there.

Smith, Amla, JP, AB is a fairly solid start, I have a huge amount of time for Faf though he's not playing in an ideal position and playing together for another two years is going to forge a really tough unit at the top of order. Throw in Steyn, Morkel + which ever of the other pacers you want and they're a fairly complete unit with the fewest problems of all the ODI sides at present.

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:43 pm
by shankycricket
Do you rate Faf? He is decent I am not completely convinced. The two young SA batsmen I'd like to see are Miller and Rossouw. I rate Elgar too but he is more of a FC player IMO.


Who is RP btw? Robin Peterson? Don't think they want Tahir in the shorter formats and Botha's future is uncertain after having signed a contract with South Australia. He has said he will still be available for SA but not sure how he'd manage as the SA and Aus home seasons co-incide. Anyways, he is hardly a world beater and with or without him, the spin department looks weak.
Plus they are struggling for balance. Albie is their best allrounder and he is far from consistent and without Kallis, it will be worse.


They are one of the better sides for sure but far from perfect. They have their share of weak links too IMO. I think, with a certain you know who, we have a side just as good as the Saffers, if not better.

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:48 pm
by Making_Splinters
I saw quite a lot of a younger Faf when he was here at Lancashire in 08 / 09 and the lad has got a lot of talent, I'd agree about Miller as well from what I've seen of him this year over here.

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:53 pm
by shankycricket
What do you think is Faf's ideal position? Think he needs a bit of time to play himself in. Coming in at 6 is hardly ideal for him. More of a top order player IMO in limited overs cricket.

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 11:37 pm
by DiligentDefence
shankybiggestengfan wrote:
DiligentDefence wrote:Who is going to be the calm head to see the Aussies home from difficult situations. Mike Hussey fulfils that role now but he will need to be replaced by 2015.

Way too early to say but Maxwell has shown immense promise. Smashed Saeed Ajmal, of all bowlers, in a pressure situation yesterday.

Yes he did well, but I was thinking more of Hussey's ability to stablise the innings and then steer the team home. In other words someone who is able to bat well in several situations. Somebody may well step up and it may be Maxwell, but replacing Hussey will not be easy,

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 12:46 am
by Making_Splinters
shankybiggestengfan wrote:What do you think is Faf's ideal position? Think he needs a bit of time to play himself in. Coming in at 6 is hardly ideal for him. More of a top order player IMO in limited overs cricket.


Faf wants to play as an opener but he's not going to get at the top of the order above the likes of Smith and Amla.

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 2:20 am
by Dimi
DiligentDefence wrote:
shankybiggestengfan wrote:
DiligentDefence wrote:Who is going to be the calm head to see the Aussies home from difficult situations. Mike Hussey fulfils that role now but he will need to be replaced by 2015.

Way too early to say but Maxwell has shown immense promise. Smashed Saeed Ajmal, of all bowlers, in a pressure situation yesterday.

Yes he did well, but I was thinking more of Hussey's ability to stablise the innings and then steer the team home. In other words someone who is able to bat well in several situations. Somebody may well step up and it may be Maxwell, but replacing Hussey will not be easy,


Agreed, Mussey is one of the very best at his role in ODIs and when you consider it's a pretty 'modern' role in International cricket, I can't think of any 'modern' cricketer (i.e. bats a bit, bowls a bit, hits it out of the park, top outfielder) who can do the job nearly as well as some of the more classical batsmen. Maxwell is a fundamentally different player.

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:56 am
by greyblazer
shankybiggestengfan wrote:
greyblazer wrote:OZ tracks are good for batting in one-day cricket.Until I'm convinced that Bell, Cook and co. are capable enough to chase down targets in excess of say 270-280 I won't think of England. I have seen too many defeats away from home in one-day cricket to be optimistic.

I do see your point but there aren't a lot of high quality ODI sides at the moment. The pitches in Australia can be quite unpredictable to be honest. Sydney, for example, was a road when we played the Aussies in 2010/11 but it was a fairly green pitch for the CB series last year.


You are thinking about one match where bad weather conditions didn't allow the groundsmen to prepare a typical one-day track.

Scores notched up during that CB series.

1st Match: Australia v India at Melbourne - Feb 5, 2012

Australia 216/5 (32/32 ov); India 151 (29.4/32 ov)

Australia won by 65 runs (D/L method)

2nd Match: India v Sri Lanka at Perth - Feb 8, 2012

Sri Lanka 233/8 (50 ov); India 234/6 (46.4 ov)

India won by 4 wickets (with 20 balls remaining)

3rd Match: Australia v Sri Lanka at Perth - Feb 10, 2012

Australia 231 (49.1 ov); Sri Lanka 226 (49.5 ov)

Australia won by 5 runs

4th Match: Australia v India at Adelaide - Feb 12, 2012

Australia 269/8 (50 ov); India 270/6 (49.4 ov)

India won by 4 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)

5th Match: India v Sri Lanka at Adelaide - Feb 14, 2012

Sri Lanka 236/9 (50 ov); India 236/9 (50 ov)

Match tied

6th Match: Australia v Sri Lanka at Sydney - Feb 17, 2012

Australia 158 (40.5/41 ov); Sri Lanka 152/2 (24.1/41 ov)

Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets (with 101 balls remaining) (D/L method)

7th Match: Australia v India at Brisbane - Feb 19, 2012

Australia 288/5 (50 ov); India 178 (43.3 ov)

Australia won by 110 runs

8th Match: India v Sri Lanka at Brisbane - Feb 21, 2012

Sri Lanka 289/6 (50 ov); India 238 (45.1 ov)

Sri Lanka won by 51 runs

9th Match: Australia v Sri Lanka at Hobart - Feb 24, 2012

Australia 280/6 (50 ov); Sri Lanka 283/7 (49.2 ov)

Sri Lanka won by 3 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)

10th Match: Australia v India at Sydney - Feb 26, 2012

Australia 252/9 (50 ov); India 165 (39.3 ov)

Australia won by 87 runs

11th Match: India v Sri Lanka at Hobart - Feb 28, 2012

Sri Lanka 320/4 (50 ov); India 321/3 (36.4 ov)

India won by 7 wickets (with 80 balls remaining)

12th Match: Australia v Sri Lanka at Melbourne - Mar 2, 2012

Sri Lanka 238 (50 ov); Australia 229 (49.1 ov)

Sri Lanka won by 9 runs

1st Final: Australia v Sri Lanka at Brisbane - Mar 4, 2012

Australia 321/6 (50 ov); Sri Lanka 306 (49.2 ov)

Australia won by 15 runs

2nd Final: Australia v Sri Lanka at Adelaide - Mar 6, 2012

Australia 271/6 (50 ov); Sri Lanka 274/2 (44.2 ov)

Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets (with 34 balls remaining)

3rd Final: Australia v Sri Lanka at Adelaide - Mar 8, 2012

Australia 231 (49.3 ov); Sri Lanka 215 (48.5 ov)

Australia won by 16 runs

Leaving that one game at Sydney where the match was affected by rain you hardly see low scores. At Gabba which usually favours the Ozzies, the SL batting line-up that is said to be suspect against pace bowling almost chased down a score of 321! Of course India made 321 in just 36.4 overs to thrash SL at Hobart. Poor SL team as they made 320 and got thrashed :lmao

Even when Trezza and Knight were making merry in OZ in 02/03, the middle order would panic and lose its way.I don't think anything has changed now.

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 7:39 am
by greyblazer
Just was thinking about England and horror stories at worldcups.

1992 WC

The first WC I watched. High point of the tournament? Beefy yet again tormenting the Ozzies with both bat and ball. Low point? Chicken farmer Brandes cleaning up England in a league match with swing bowling.

Cricket fans won't forget the final for sure, as Akram bowled those beauties to Lewis and Lamb. There was a drinks break after 30 odd overs had been bowled and Fairbrother who knew a thing, or two about Akram, as he had played with him at Lancashire told to Legger, watch out for reverse swing at high speed from around the wicket. Lamb though, didn't seem to think much about it, but got a shock of his life when Wasim from slightly wide of the crease got it to reverse to take Lamby's off stump at maybe 90mph.

Mind you, even if Lamb had thought seriously about Akram reversing the old ball, I don't think he could have done much. It almost seemed like Akram was forcing Lamb to do break dance with that delivery.

There was also this semifinal between England and South Africa where a stupid rain rule was used and SA suddenly had to chase down 22 runs of 1 ball :D

Funny incident of the tournament? Donald inducing a thick edge of Aussie opening bat Marsh and Richardson taking the catch. So what is there to think about? Well the Aussie umpire gave it not out :lol: Even a blind man would have seen that edge.

1996 WC

The horror story started in the 1st over against the Kiwis. Corky induced couple of edges of NZ opener Spearman only for Thorpe to drop sitters. Astle seemed to be in a mood to come down the wicket every ball and got a 100.

England had to chase down a moderate total of around 230. Hick was in the form of his life as he played some superb lofted strokes, but the problem was he had a runner which eventually led to his dismissal. When Hick was closing in on a superb 100, the non striker Thorpe and his captain Atherton running for Hick had a terrible mix up. It went something like yes, yes, no, yes, no,no,no and Hick was run out :panic Corky showed a bit of bulldog spirit with the bat, but it was too late. Tormenters with the ball were?Just have a guess. Hmm! dibbly dobblers Chris Harris and Larsen.

The embarrassment continued as the minnows Dutch made merry against Cork and co. though England won. In the match against Pakistan, Illingworth went for this strange tactic of playing the supposedly great keeper Russell ahead of Stewart. The result? Russell dropped catches of Sohail and Pak won the game easily.

The confusion continued in the QF match against SL. This time around both Stewart and Russell played with Stewart batting as low as 5, or 6.He was always far better against pace. Corky was injured and England were crushed. If I have to remember this match, it has to be for that marauding knock by Sanath. The bowling wasn't great what with DeFreitas trying spin, but some of those shots were an eye opener for other teams.

Sanath hit some of those shots with so much power that it didn't seem like he had a bat in hand, instead Sanath must have been a blacksmith that day with a steel bat in his hand. There was a six of PD which almost went out of the ground and it was a relatively big ground. In the end, it seemed like a holocaust of some amateur bowlers by the marauding Lankan. Just for pure entertainment go to youtube and watch this knock by Sanath.

Story of the tournament - Laptop coach Woolmer deciding to drop Donald and pick Adams for the QF against SA. Result? spin twins Symcox and Adams were smashed by Lara and SA were knocked out.The other big story was Sanath's six hitting. The ever graceful Mark Waugh made runs for fun and SRT played some scintillating knocks, but Sanath's batting, or better to call it as slaughtering was something else. From England's point of view, Judge played his last international match.

Ah, must be a long post by now. So would think about rest of the world cups at some other time :D

Re: Why I think Australia will win the next World Cup

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 8:23 am
by greyblazer
shankybiggestengfan wrote:What do you think is Faf's ideal position? Think he needs a bit of time to play himself in. Coming in at 6 is hardly ideal for him. More of a top order player IMO in limited overs cricket.


I think Faf can bat well at 5 or 6. I remember him once playing a scintillating knock against Essex in a QF at no.5. Now I can't remember the tournament but he will be ok at 5 or 6.The problem is SA are losing early wickets and Faf looks confused about whether he has to rotate the strike or go after the bowling.