Official ICC 2015 CWC thread

skimread said:
We beat NZ 2-0 in NZ just a few months ago. We should be favourites
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This NZ team is nothing like the one we beat unfortunately. Right now they are playing outstanding cricket.

They have the two best attacking bowlers in ODI cricket and all their batsmen are in form and mentally they are very strong.

It is going to be an incredibly tough game to win. Too many of our players blow hot and cold and psychologically we are very fragile.
 
Kilgore_Trout_Redux said:
This NZ team is nothing like the one we beat unfortunately. Right now they are playing outstanding cricket.

They have the two best attacking bowlers in ODI cricket and all their batsmen are in form and mentally they are very strong.

It is going to be an incredibly tough game to win. Too many of our players blow hot and cold and psychologically we are very fragile.
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Well said.
 
Kilgore_Trout_Redux said:
This NZ team is nothing like the one we beat unfortunately. Right now they are playing outstanding cricket.

They have the two best attacking bowlers in ODI cricket and all their batsmen are in form and mentally they are very strong.

It is going to be an incredibly tough game to win. Too many of our players blow hot and cold and psychologically we are very fragile.
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Well said. NZ is the team to beat in this competition. End of story
 
Kilgore_Trout_Redux said:
They have the two best attacking bowlers in ODI cricket and all their batsmen are in form and mentally they are very strong.
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Don't under estimate the burden of playing at home! It has been the undoing of many a host nation.

They going to have to call on all that mental toughness!

Semi is too tight to call but I would say it's 55/45 in favour of the black caps!

I really hope we win the toss and bat first. Then we need Amla and QDK to try see off Boult and Southee without too much drama. If we can be 20/0 after 10 that would be HUGE! Most teams have been 3/4 down by the end of the first power play against the Boult/Southee new ball combo. DEADLY!!

If we bat first and minimize the damage early on I would say the game swings 70/30 in our favour!

Bat first but lose 2 or 3 wickets within the first 10 and our odds slip to 60/40.
 
sand_man said:
Don't under estimate the burden of playing at home! It has been the undoing of many a host nation.

They going to have to call on all that mental toughness!

Semi is too tight to call but I would say it's 55/45 in favour of the black caps!

I really hope we win the toss and bat first. Then we need Amla and QDK to try see off Boult and Southee without too much drama. If we can be 20/0 after 10 that would be HUGE! Most teams have been 3/4 down by the end of the first power play against the Boult/Southee new ball combo. DEADLY!!

If we bat first and minimize the damage early on I would say the game swings 70/30 in our favour!

Bat first but lose 2 or 3 wickets within the first 10 and our odds slip to 60/40.
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Yep. 70/0 or even with 1 wicket down after 15 will be my target. Anything more is a bonus.
 
I like AB's attitude though. He said it doesnt matter if we bat 1st or 2nd, they have a game plan in place. I still say NZ are going to fold on Tuesday.
 
NZ not having won a semi is going to play on their minds.

That being said, the team batting first has a distinct advantage unless they fold cheaply.

Fielding will play a big role. Taking even the half chances, will mean the difference between a win and a lose. This is were Pakistan and the WI lost their games.

Keeping the bowling tight (like the last match) will ensure the score doesn't get away from us, as well as pressuring the batsmen into "gifting" wickets.

Keep calm and we have this. Panic and it will go pear shaped.
 
A lot of common sense in the above posts. I think that was what was missing in our previous world Cup campaigns.
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
They've never made it past the semis either. I wouldn't hype them up as much as everyone else seems to be doing...
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The current team seems to have something that the previous teams didn't.

If I told you 4 years ago a NZ batsman would score a double against WI in a 2015 WC quarter you'd ask for some of the weed I was smoking.
 
Drifter said:
I like AB's attitude though. He said it doesnt matter if we bat 1st or 2nd, they have a game plan in place. I still say NZ are going to fold on Tuesday.
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I'm sure he had the same attitude going into the NZ (warm up), India and Pakistan games. Point is the batting lineup capitulated way to easily! We battle chasing, regardless of what AB says...

Having said that we've got a decent enough record against NZ in the last couple of years so, their current form aside, we actually favourites in this game. We've won 6/10 in the last 4 years against NZ. With 1 no result and a loss in the last world cup Quarters...

Since 2012 in NZ we 5 from 6 with 1 no result!! Oooooh... We must have a bit of an edge going into this semi, no?!
 
WaxLyrical said:
If I told you 4 years ago a NZ batsman would score a double against WI in a 2015 WC quarter you'd ask for some of the weed I was smoking.
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Wonder if it would have been the same weed Marlon was smoking before the game? Can't help but wonder how this match would have turned out if he had held onto that catch?

Very few teams can survive early wickets. NZ for me is one of them, SA another! We know the Aussies have the depth to survive 3 or 4 early wickets and I thought Zimbabwe was another team who showed far more ability, the further down the batting order you went.

If you get McCullum, Guptill and Kane relatively early, it's tickets and Guptill's average against SA is a paltry 11.5 so his early wicket is a given!! In 10 knocks he's scored 115 runs against SA with a high score of 58!!
 
http://www.iol.co.za/sport/cricket/...edium=twitter&utm_source=dlvr.it#.VQ6fFPmUdnU

South Africa and New Zealand jointly boast some of the biggest hitters in world cricket and Eden Park has the shortest boundaries of any established and regularly-used international cricket stadium. The outcome seems inevitable – a contest of record-breaking scores.

But New Zealand all-rounder Grant Elliott – who can view the stadium as both a batsman and bowler – says that while the ground’s straight boundaries are among the shortest in world cricket it shouldn’t be taken for granted that bat will always prevail over ball.

He can point in evidence to results on the ground in this tournament. When New Zealand played Australia at Eden Park in one of the most-anticipated matches in pool play, it bowled out the Australians for 151, then lost nine wickets in surpassing that total.

Swing bowlers dominated: Trent Boult took 5-27 for New Zealand, Mitchell Starc 6-28 for Australia, only one batsman reached 50 and there were only 11 sixes.

When South Africa played Pakistan on the ground in a rain-shortened match, Pakistan’s 222 played South Africa’s 202 all out. The highest score on Eden Park in this tournament has been India’s wining 288-4 against Zimbabwe.

“Bowlers come into it a lot more. If it’s not swinging on the day then you can expect anything at Eden Park,” Elliot said. “It’s quite a strange ground in the sense that it looks small and some teams get sucked in to those small boundaries. But the totals are not generally as high as you would expect.”
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I just don't hope the selectors mess-up. Eden Park is a much different wicket than what we played on as bowlers dominate and swing bowlers at that. If they select Morkel with his bouncers afterwards everyone will feel we were short of a swing bowler. Lessons have to be learnt by the selectors that you have to choose the bowlers to suit the wicket. If they don't select Philander and Morkel is ineffective, and we lost, the selectors will be off the hook as the public will just blame the players for choking,
 
Wahab Riaz! Brilliant fast bowlers of this CWC

riaz_650_032115121416.jpg
"It was a joy to watch him bowl today, his stats will never reveal how great of a spell that was" - Brian Lara
"This is one of the great spells in the 2015 World Cup" - Tom moody
"That's as good as Ive face in ODI cricket for a long time" - Michael clarke
"I had a lot of luck to get through wahab's spell" - Shane Watson
"Best spell of fast bowling Ive seen in a long time" - Shane Warne
"Ive never seen a bowler bowl like him today" - Misbah
"Best spell of bowling by a foreigner on aussie soil for years" - Kevin Pieterson
“I don’t know what the ICC is thinking. It’s just uncalled for. We need this in a sport that people are running away from, especially 50-over cricket. I loved the exchange. It’s ridiculous what the end result is. We are all entertainers. That to me was one of the highlights of the World Cup. A guy running in bowling at 150km/h plus and Watson looked like he was at school. I want to meet with [this] Riaz guy. I’ll pay the fine.” - Brian Lara

Will the world remember that Morne Morkel & Dale Steyn were even part of the CWC?

The list of the great fas bowlers of this CWC, and performances to remember reads like this so far:
1 - Tim Southee (7/33 vs England - my favourite one of them all);
2 - Mitchell Starc (Every match of his, but 6/28 vs NZ takes the cake);
3 - Trent Boult (5/27 vs AUS, 4/44 vs WI plus 5/51 vs SA in warm-up);
4 - Mohammed Irfan (4/30 vs ZIM & 3/52 vs SA);
5 - Wahab Riaz (4/45 vs ZIM, 3/45 vs SA, SA plus Most Memorable Spell of the CWC vs Shane Watson);
6 - Sohail Khan (5-55 vs IND. If Wahab&Irfan had turned up too, IND would've been thumped heavily.)
7 - Tendai Chatara (3/35 vs PAK, plus maiden over vs Shikar Dhawan :D . Few consistently bowled world class opening spells as good as his.)
8 - Mitchell Johnson (4/22 vs poor AFG to deliver biggest ever win in a CWC, after AUS had posted highest ever total in a CWC. Not very deserving but unmistakably brutal at most times.)

NB: Special mention to Mohammed Shami. India owe their remarkable success to him. He's been unbelievably consistent. Taking wickets regularly and bowling superbly, should really be on the list, but sadly nothing great about him stood out. Just one wicket for Abbott against SL, very much the slowest of these ten names, but he did have a good opening spell. Combine that with his decent bowling against Ireland and he does deserve a mention.
 
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