ten Doeschate is a talented and creative one day batsman. Takes risks putting the ball behind square with delicate scoops or guides down to third man when not in place. England is "all over the shop now" and would be very nervous in the chase with the bat. Netherlands have hit three boundaries off Anderson to get 15 off the over. Now 5/274 with 2 overs remaining. Botham thinks 300 is on the cards and Strauss is shaking his head more than Stevie Wonder saying no to a hair cut.

edit ten Doeschate out for 119. Great innings for his country.

edit: Just got worse for England - they had three men inside the circle when Broad skittled a Dutchman (can you tell not sure who...) , batsman now recalled. 6/286 - 1 over remaining... haha. Go the Dutch !

Paul Collingwood the culprit running into the circle. Nice one umps.

Graeme Swann drops an absolute sitter....bookies need to be investigated the way England are performing. Terrible. "Comic book stuff" says Botham.

Netherlands innings comes to a close @ 6/292 at a run rate of 5.86. Have set England a target of 293 - James Anderson 0/72 off his 10 overs.

Wow.

  On 22/02/2011 at 12:30, High Tower said:

ten Doeschate is a talented and creative one day batsman. Takes risks putting the ball behind square with delicate scoops or guides down to third man when not in place. England is "all over the shop now" and would be very nervous in the chase with the bat. Netherlands have hit three boundaries off Anderson to get 15 off the over. Now 5/274 with 2 overs remaining. Botham thinks 300 is on the cards and Strauss is shaking his head more than Stevie Wonder saying no to a hair cut.

edit ten Doeschate out for 119. Great innings for his country.

edit: Just got worse for England - they had three men inside the circle when Broad skittled a Dutchman (can you tell not sure who...) , batsman now recalled. 6/286 - 1 over remaining... haha. Go the Dutch !

Paul Collingwood the culprit running into the circle. Nice one umps.

Golden Line there HT..! Cracked me up at work..

GO THE DUTCH...I have travelled through Amsterdam & survived-They know how to party, and hopefully beat English cricketers!

England 0/12 off the 1st over. Netherlands payed the price having fine leg up. Pressure off alitlle for the Poms. Dutch look nervous. Good batting pitch, absolute road. Strauss & Pieterson the openers. Won't be staying up to watch anymore...another four to the Poms. 0/16.

  On 22/02/2011 at 13:19, High Tower said:

England 0/12 off the 1st over. Netherlands payed the price having fine leg up. Pressure off alitlle for the Poms. Dutch look nervous. Good batting pitch, absolute road. Strauss & Pieterson the openers. Won't be staying up to watch anymore...another four to the Poms. 0/16.

Another Sub Continent Road by the sounds of it, who would be a bowler...Still it's not over yet!!

I like KP opening the batting. It makes England a better side.

  Quote

Hussey trained so well in Perth that Western Australia wanted to pick him for their Sheffield Shield match, which started on Monday.

That was the same day Australia kicked off their World Cup campaign...

Pretty ridiculous he's not in the subcontinent IMO.

  Quote

Adding to the drama were reports that Chappell had told Hussey that he should consider retirement rather than trying to force his way back into the Australian team. Australia generally base their selections on Ashes and World Cup cycles, and it's unlikely Hussey, who is now 35, will be part of the next battle for the urn or the next World Cup campaign, but Chappell denied the reports.

"That's untrue," Chappell told reporters in Melbourne.

Fairly standard modus operandi from Chappell. I think there needs to be a change of the guard but, for now, while our few decent older players are in good form they should be retained.

1) Hussey should have been taken to the WC in Steve Smith's place. Smith is crap. Hasn't made a 50 yet and hasn't taken more than 3 wickets in any innings. Adds nothing. Hussey is our best ODI batsman, a proven finisher, and is fit right now.

2) I feel for the Dutch. That almost was the biggest upset in WC history. If they can keep playing like that (big if) they can challenge and/or beat Ireland, West Indies and Bangladesh, and that might be enough to get them through.

  On 23/02/2011 at 00:41, titan_uranus said:

2) I feel for the Dutch. That almost was the biggest upset in WC history. If they can keep playing like that (big if) they can challenge and/or beat Ireland, West Indies and Bangladesh, and that might be enough to get them through.

I am worried the Dutch have played all their form in the one game.

If only they had Moses Henriques in their team!!!

  On 23/02/2011 at 01:05, Rhino Richards said:

I am worried the Dutch have played all their form in the one game.

If only they had Moses Henriques in their team!!!

Indeed - this was a good performance but you'd have to think that that was close to their absolute best, and there's no way you could say that for the Poms. I'm a fan of Ryan ten Doeschate (Tassie's own ) but he's not going to score a century every time and will need more support than a few cameos. That said, I hope they are able to keep it up - seeing the "Associate" teams put in some good performances is part of the appeal of the world cup for me.

  On 23/02/2011 at 01:22, Nasher said:

Indeed - this was a good performance but you'd have to think that that was close to their absolute best, and there's no way you could say that for the Poms. I'm a fan of Ryan ten Doeschate (Tassie's own ) but he's not going to score a century every time and will need more support than a few cameos. That said, I hope they are able to keep it up - seeing the "Associate" teams put in some good performances is part of the appeal of the world cup for me.

ten Doeschate has 4 centuries in 28 games, that's a lot better than I would have thought (even if most of those games are against other associate teams).

The associate debate is interesting. I'd prefer to have them in World Cups, it is, after all, a World Cup, and when an associate beats a full member it's always great fun. I get the argument that most of the time the games are too easy and don't offer competition but cricket should be aiming to develop world wide, and cutting the associates out of the World Cup restricts their development severely. I mean, outside of a World Cup, when is Australia ever going to play the Netherlands? Or Kenya? Or Afghanistan? And if we did, we'd send a second-rate (or worse) side to do it.

  On 23/02/2011 at 01:54, titan_uranus said:

ten Doeschate has 4 centuries in 28 games, that's a lot better than I would have thought (even if most of those games are against other associate teams).

The associate debate is interesting. I'd prefer to have them in World Cups, it is, after all, a World Cup, and when an associate beats a full member it's always great fun. I get the argument that most of the time the games are too easy and don't offer competition but cricket should be aiming to develop world wide, and cutting the associates out of the World Cup restricts their development severely. I mean, outside of a World Cup, when is Australia ever going to play the Netherlands? Or Kenya? Or Afghanistan? And if we did, we'd send a second-rate (or worse) side to do it.

Too often the associates are about as competitive as country jolly game.

IMO, playing the associates makes the WC too long and drawn out.

FWIW, i thought the WC in the WI 4 years ago was a big yawn until the semis and then final ended in high farce.

Vics by a run to knock NSW out of the final!

  On 23/02/2011 at 10:57, 45HG16 said:

Vics by a run to knock NSW out of the final!

Wow!

  On 23/02/2011 at 10:57, 45HG16 said:

Vics by a run to knock NSW out of the final!

Did you see Nannes' wides in the last over ? What on earth....!

NSW good late fight back at the death.

VICS v TAS final again Nasher. These two states should have more rep....{I won't go on..}

  On 23/02/2011 at 12:57, High Tower said:

VICS v TAS final again Nasher. These two states should have more rep....{I won't go on..}

How about that Luke Butterworth! 99 and 6-for in the same match. Nice work.

  On 23/02/2011 at 23:46, titan_uranus said:

How about that Luke Butterworth! 99 and 6-for in the same match. Nice work.

And my man Matthew Wade produces again...101 off 113.

Finch had a pretty decent innings too. I expect bigger things from him.

Yeah I do too. He looks very settled at state level and looks destined for bigger things (was one of the more experienced last night; led the way). Thinking man's cricketer. He tied things down for a couple of overs with the ball.

Another strong performance from an Associate, this time Ireland pushing Bangladesh to the brink.

Yes, it's only Bangladesh, but they're in good form, at home, with 100% of the crowd on their side. Ireland have some talented players, I can easily see them knocking off the Windies or England.

VICS win the Ryobi One Day National Comp, defeating Tasmania at the MCG. Finally won the One day comp having been runner up for the past 4 seasons. Some record.

Sachin!

Crazy end to the inning as India lose 5-11 from the last 11 balls/7-33 from the last 24.

A tie!

Gee, I thought it at the time, how much would India rue their last 2 overs. Even the simple fact they didn't get to bat the full 50 overs - with missing out on that last ball. Great knock from Strauss it sounds like, can't believe England didn't get there needing 50ish from the last 7 overs with 8 wickets in hand.

  On 27/02/2011 at 20:22, 45HG16 said:

A tie!

Gee, I thought it at the time, how much would India rue their last 2 overs. Even the simple fact they didn't get to bat the full 50 overs - with missing out on that last ball. Great knock from Strauss it sounds like, can't believe England didn't get there needing 50ish from the last 7 overs with 8 wickets in hand.

Warnie tipped a 'tie' for England/India on his Twitter I heard.

Hrm - wonder if he heard something from his old mate the bookie...

  On 27/02/2011 at 20:22, 45HG16 said:

A tie!

Gee, I thought it at the time, how much would India rue their last 2 overs. Even the simple fact they didn't get to bat the full 50 overs - with missing out on that last ball. Great knock from Strauss it sounds like, can't believe England didn't get there needing 50ish from the last 7 overs with 8 wickets in hand.

A classic 50 over match...had everything. England were cruising until spin absolutely halted their run rate mid innings.

In the last 2-3 overs England got the momentum back.