World T20 Champs, Second Round, Oct 22 - Nov 13

[sussexpob]

Bowlers really won the game. Buttler took the RR out the equation, and Ben did what needed to by staying in and building a platform to attack at the end.

Been a golden era of LO cricketers forEngland....a WC in each formatia just rewards.

[Durhamfootman]

I think we can forgive Ben for 2016 now.

Two world cup chases. What a star. And 50.

I guess that's why they picked him even though he hadn't played an international T20 match in a long time.

[yuppie]

Well played England.

What if with Afridi......

Best team of the tournament won

[Arthur Crabtree]

Well, had a good run in. Beating NZ, India and Pakistan is quite definitive.

[Durhamfootman]

well done to England. I was a bit worried after yesterday when England/GB teams kept narrowly missing out in world finals and world semis. I thought it might turn out to be one of those weekends, but this will do very nicely

Too much on today to sit and watch, but I did record it so hopefully I'll be able to enjoy it later. I say hopefully, because I programmed the final to record 3 years ago while I was away on holiday, and Ch4 switched to E4 for a big chunk in the middle so I only saw the beginning and the end.... although the end was the important bit so it could have been worse

[bigfluffylemon]

I think we can forgive Ben for 2016 now.

Two world cup chases. What a star. And 50.

I guess that's why they picked him even though he hadn't played an international T20 match in a long time.

Cant say he doesn't rise to the big occasion.

[bigfluffylemon]

160 would have been out of reach, so massive credit to England's bowlers for that performance.

Maybe it might have been different if Afridi hadn't hobbled off, but England were without Archer, Wood and Topley...

[Durhamfootman]

Well, had a good run in. Beating NZ, India and Pakistan is quite definitive.

After the Ireland defeat, Colly said that they just had to win their next 4 matches to win the world cup.... as though it was the most normal thing in the world. Which it was, in the end

[yuppie]

Well, had a good run in. Beating NZ, India and Pakistan is quite definitive.

Absolute.


Obviously would have lost to Australia in the washed out match. Smith would have scored a 30 ball 100......

[Arthur Crabtree]

Given Afridi was fit enough to come on and bowl another ball, maybe he was fit enough to field for the rest of the innings.

[alfie]

Congrats to England for getting the t20 title they have basically looked likely to gain for the last few years... Reckon they finished this tournament off rather well ... It got a bit closer than I expected at one point - and it would have been interesting to see how those death overs went down had Afridi not had his unfortunate injury ; but one cannot take anything away from them : losing Bairstow before the squad was on its way , Topley before the cup started , and then Wood and Malan as the big games started ... but they just kept covering their losses and doing the job. Will settle Buttler into the captaincy after some tricky early times , and Mott too as coach. Can start planning for the 50 over version now

Great relief our local weather didn't mess up the showpiece .

Honour to Pakistan for fighting it out as they did. To get as far as they did after a dodgy start in the tournament does them great credit.

Sam Curran the PoTM and PoTT - well deserved. And Rashid found his best at the sharp end of the competition , to great effect. But you all knew Stokes would finish the job , didn't you

[Durhamfootman]

yes... a big thanks to the Melbourne skies

Ch4 did indeed ponce about with the coverage, starting the match as a fresh programme just after the Hales wicket.

fortunately I caught the end of the match from the 16th over on the +1 channel so I did at least see Stokes and Mo at the end

I have no idea why TV stations feel the need to muck about with the scheduling. It's a 20 over game not a test match

[bigfluffylemon]

At the risk of putting a downer on what was a well-deserved victory, I notice that once again, the team that won the toss twice in a row and chased twice in a row in the T20 knockouts won their SF and final. This time England had the luck.

In fact, since 2012 11 of the 12 knockout games in T20 world cups (and all three 50 over world cup finals played since 2011) have been won by the team chasing.

We commented on it last year, but in knockout T20, knowing exactly how many you have to get seems to be a significant advantage over having to set a total. Perhaps it shouldn't be, but psychologically I wonder if teams batting first don't go as hard as they might in a lower stakes game, because they know that if they go hard and get out, they have no chance of winning, whereas if they can scrape their way to a total that at least gets their bowlers something to bowl at, they will be in with a chance, even if unfavoured. History says that's the wrong approach, and if you're setting a total in T20 knockouts go hard or go home, but that doesn't seem to be what happens. Maybe that is undermining the skill of the bowlers in T20 knockout winning sides, but it is too common now to be fluke.

[bigfluffylemon]

Sometimes I wonder who'd be a bowler in T20 world. Don't get me wrong, bowlers won England the game yesterday, but it's pretty unforgiving at times.

Naseem Shah bowled an absolute monster of a spell and had 0-30 to show for it. Buttler got after him a bit in his first over, but in the remaining three, he was almost unplayable - out of 18 deliveries, the batters were only able to lay bat on about 3. He beat Stokes' bat so many times I lost count (although I did get annoyed with Rizwan appealing for absolutely everything when it was clear it hadn't connected). On another day he'd have had 3-fer and turned the game for his team. But somehow Stokes managed to survive, and Shah ended up with pretty bad figures in the context of the game, despite being Pakistan's most threatening bowler.

It's a cruel game sometimes.

[alfie]

Agree Naseem was excellent - though unfortunately for him his good balls didn't quite find the edges - and a few bad ones went to or over the boundary. In fact in his first spell I counted five balls that beat Buttler outside off mixed in with two fours a six and a set of five wides... On another day ... ? But that is part of the nature of this format , isn't it ?

In fact I thought most of the Pakistan bowling was very good. Their total really wasn't enough to defend but they made England work hard for the win . I believe England would still have got there even had Afridi not been injured ; but suspect it would have come down to the last few balls and a fair bit of nail chewing.

To be honest I don't think the toss was necessarily all that much of a factor. Reckon in both the semis , and the final , the shape of the game was largely down to the approach taken by the teams that batted first - whether out of some timidity or more because key bats were dismissed early - in contrast to the attitude of the chasing sides. Fairly sure that had England batted first in either match they would have been a lot more aggressive through the innings. I wouldn't have said batting conditions changed markedly during the matches - certainly nothing like the previous event in UAE where batting first was almost inevitably suicidal.

Side note : I am delighted the rain stayed away to let the game proceed last night , as it started hosing down here in the small hours this morning and has hardly relented all day. Had the reserve day been needed , I fear it might not have been possible to finish the game at all !