Official ICC 2015 CWC thread

[yebocan]

We will forever wonder what difference selecting Abbott would have had on the day...

We would have won the match....

 

[Willie Trombone]

Not sure if this has been posted yet...

http://www.scoopwhoop.com/sports/2019-is-yours-sa/?ref=social&type=fb&b=0

From an Indian cricket fan to SA fans

Loved that!
One day we're going to do it and the losing team is going to celebrate with us far more than they would have for winning lol.

 

[Ho3n3r]

We will forever wonder what difference selecting Abbott would have had on the day...

It would've put us in the final. Which we would've lost anyway. So makes no difference really, except that it hurts less now than losing in the final would've.

 

[Willie Trombone]

Beautiful, but I hate that everything has become about the world cup! Maybe because as a South African, every 4 years, it becomes the most painful month to be a supporter...

Dreamt about the team last night/morning. I was trying to console them.

SO depressed this morning...

My advice? Think of ANY other team you'd rather suppport. I thought not
The trouble with world cup and knockouts is it's only one game. You can win 9/10, but if you lose that 1 on the day, it's all over. The world cup is not always an indication of the team's strength. That said, the right teams got through to the Semi's IMO. Any of those 4 teams can beat each other on the day.

 

[thestaggy]

Why so much hate for Vern when Steyn had an absolute shocker? Our primary strike bowler didn't get the wickets and JP aside (a part-timer really), he was our most expensive bowler.

 

[Ho3n3r]

Why so much hate for Vern when Steyn had an absolute shocker? Our primary strike bowler didn't get the wickets and JP aside (a part-timer really), he was our most expensive bowler.

Nobody hates anybody. Vernon was far from our biggest worry. But that's sport, these things depend on humans, and fans forget that sometimes. We can't do everything 100% all of the time, even less so under that amount of pressure.

 

[Willie Trombone]

It would've put us in the final. Which we would've lost anyway. So makes no difference really, except that it hurts less now than losing in the final would've.

Now that I don't understand. You'd bet that SA would lose more than they'd win against India or Australia? While the odds are against us in the case of Australia (home game for them), I'd never say we'd lose. We'd always have a very good chance of winning IMO. Just look at our current form and team!

 

[Ho3n3r]

Now that I don't understand. You'd bet that SA would lose more than they'd win against India or Australia? While the odds are against us, I'd never say we'd lose. We'd always have a very good chance of winning IMO. Just look at our current form and team!

I'm a realist.

We don't have a team to compare with India or Australia. We don't even have a proper all-rounder. Our frontline bowlers were pretty bad yesterday. Our team is all about the batting, down to no. 7. Besides that, nothing we have is nearly the best in the world. Which is pretty hard to win a world cup with.

The fact that we even got that close yesterday, was purely down to blood, sweat and guts.

 

[sand_man]

How many lives was Elliot given? Was it 3 and Anderson 1?

2 missed run outs and 2 missed catches?

The team that takes their opportunities normally prevails.

The fielders and bowlers created the opportunities but they weren't taken. With a game where the winning runs were taken off the 2nd last ball of the innings said catches/run outs would have made the difference!!

It's a bitter pill to swallow but that's the long and short of it...

I thought we generally played well. Our ground fielding was superb. Our openers got smacked by a batsman that did exactly the same thing against England (77 off 39) and Australia's (50 off 24) much lauded and vaunted opening bowlers. He's been doing it all tournament so give our openers a break man!

I love the critics blaming AB's captaincy! Against SL he was lauded, a week later he's a useless captain. Bottomline, the processes he follows, the bowling changes etc are pretty much standard from match to match. The last 2 matches he's had to find a 5th bowler. Against SL his 5th bowler produced, this game the 5th bowler was targeted. Doesn't make him suddenly a bad captain. His 5th player couldn't deliver. He mitigated by bowling 3 overs himself! Good captaincy IMO. Took his quicks off after just 5 overs! Against SL they went longer, for 14 overs! Adjusted to match circumstances, good captaincy! He's been criticized for his field placing. That ground is tiny!! It's a very difficult ground to field on.

Anyway...

 

[sand_man]

My advice? Think of ANY other team you'd rather suppport. I thought not
The trouble with world cup and knockouts is it's only one game. You can win 9/10, but if you lose that 1 on the day, it's all over. The world cup is not always an indication of the team's strength. That said, the right teams got through to the Semi's IMO. Any of those 4 teams can beat each other on the day.

Agreed! Over the last 5 years the Proteas have a higher win ration than any other team in ODI cricket.

Very painful defeat this! We had it, we let it go, then we had it again, then we let it go again!!! 7 hours of pure torture/exhilaration. Emotionally, I think the cricket spectator invests so much more than in any other sport!

 

[sand_man]

I'm a realist.

We don't have a team to compare with India or Australia. We don't even have a proper all-rounder. Our frontline bowlers were pretty bad yesterday. Our team is all about the batting, down to no. 7. Besides that, nothing we have is nearly the best in the world. Which is pretty hard to win a world cup with.

The fact that we even got that close yesterday, was purely down to blood, sweat and guts.

I disagree!

We don't have the balance but we have the players. We beat India comprehensively not so long ago in a home test and odi series and we've done the same to NZ.

In this tournament NZ have been very much the form team. They currently undefeated including a narrow win against OZ. We came incredibly close yesterday.

For me the coaching team is this teams weakest link!

 

[Willie Trombone]

I'm a realist.

Well you stated it like it was fact. One day cricket is fickle, even if the odds favour one team, any team can win on the day, especially when they're as good as SA and Aus.

As for 'a team to compare to'
We have one of the best teams we've had in ages, and that's saying a lot.

 

[thestaggy]

I'm a realist.

We don't have a team to compare with India or Australia. We don't even have a proper all-rounder. Our frontline bowlers were pretty bad yesterday. Our team is all about the batting, down to no. 7. Besides that, nothing we have is nearly the best in the world. Which is pretty hard to win a world cup with.

The fact that we even got that close yesterday, was purely down to blood, sweat and guts.

+1

I'm actually impressed that we were within 2-balls of the final.

Even though we bat to 7, how many of those batsmen can we actually count on? If you look at this tournament, Amla, Faf and AB have carried this team from a batting perspective. I will disagree with you and say we do have two of the best batsmen in the world though, but they can't always be the ones we rely on.

On to the bowling, we've only really had Tahir. The seamers have been abject.

The lack of a true all-rounder has hurt as well. With Miller at 7 we get a batsmen. With Philander at 7 we get a bowler. With Behardien/Parnell at 7 we get. . .who knows what we get.

 

[Willie Trombone]

Agreed! Over the last 5 years the Proteas have a higher win ration than any other team in ODI cricket.

This.

 

[phoneJunky]

He made multiple wrong choices ...

... you know what ... scratch that ... he made few wrong choices.

He just never had the bowlers to back up his game plan.

Philander ... WTF
Morkel ... Short deliveries ... WTF
Steyn ... he was great (1 year ago), isn't anymore and was injured at a critical time in the game.
Duminy ... can bamboozle the best at the best of time but not the best at the worst (for us) of times.
Tahir ... the same.

AB ... shouldn't have bowled.

Where was Abbott? (although ... I didn't want to ask this question initially because it seems too much like 20/20 hindsight vision).

I think everyone is making way too much of Abbott. So he got 4/21 against Ireland - his only outstanding bowling performance so far, also his best. There is still 8 SA bowlers ranked higher than him on the ODI bowling rankings. His other performances he was the most expensive fast bowler in the games. Only Faf and Duminy was once more expensive than him on one occasion each.

Why so much hate for Vern when Steyn had an absolute shocker? Our primary strike bowler didn't get the wickets and JP aside (a part-timer really), he was our most expensive bowler.

Steyn did disappoint, his death overs wasn't that good. But I don't think that he is a real death bowler in any case. I don't know who we should have used, because I don't think we have a real death bowler in our team. Maybe Abbott could have helped there but looked the last time we were in that position, WI took him apart in PE.

 

[Willie Trombone]

On to the bowling, we've only really had Tahir. The seamers have been abject.

Our bowlers are as good as others out there. Their batsmen have matched ours too. I don't think we've seen a world cup where the top 3 teams have been this evenly matched.

 

[Ho3n3r]

I disagree!

We don't have the balance but we have the players. We beat India comprehensively not so long ago in a home test and odi series and we've done the same to NZ.

In this tournament NZ have been very much the form team. They currently undefeated including a narrow win against OZ. We came incredibly close yesterday.

For me the coaching team is this teams weakest link!

You don't have to agree with me for it to be correct. Look how far Aus have batting - even their no. 10 can play a good innings. We're fooked after no. 7.

They also have 4 brilliant bowlers. We only have 2 on any given day. The other 3/4/5 don't perform. The quarter final was an anomaly compared to the average over the last year.

Well you stated it like it was fact. One day cricket is fickle, even if the odds favour one

team, any team can win on the day, especially when they're as good as SA and Aus.

As for 'a team to compare to'
We have one of the best teams we've had in ages, and that's saying a lot.

LOL. No we don't. We punched way above our weight.

 

[Ho3n3r]

+1

I'm actually impressed that we were within 2-balls of the final.

Even though we bat to 7, how many of those batsmen can we actually count on? If you look at this tournament, Amla, Faf and AB have carried this team from a batting perspective. I will disagree with you and say we do have two of the best batsmen in the world though, but they can't always be the ones we rely on.

On to the bowling, we've only really had Tahir. The seamers have been abject.

The lack of a true all-rounder has hurt as well. With Miller at 7 we get a batsmen. With Philander at 7 we get a bowler. With Behardien/Parnell at 7 we get. . .who knows what we get.

Where did you read that I won't agree with that? I even said the only thing we've got going for us, is the batting down to no. 7.

AB and Amla are definitely among the best in the world.

The problem we have, is the rest of the 11. And not so much the batsmen because they can't bat, but because none of them are bowlers too.

 

[thestaggy]

Where did you read that I won't agree with that? I even said the only thing we've got going for us, is the batting down to no. 7.

AB and Amla are definitely among the best in the world.

The problem we have, is the rest of the 11. And not so much the batsmen because they can't bat, but because none of them are bowlers too.

Ah, my bad. I re-read and realised my reading comprehension went out of the window for a second.

 

[sand_man]

We only have 2 on any given day. The other 3/4/5 don't perform. The quarter final was an anomaly compared to the average over the last year.

Yet we have 3 bowlers in the ICC top 10, more than any other country...