titan_uranus

Weird call from Voges for WA to keep batting in the morning. Wasted 8 overs. Were they that worried about 280-odd? At any rate, they should have been setting us something achievable to encourage us to go for it - a loss = a draw for them. Bad tactics (IMO they should even have declared last night, set us 250 but had a go at us last night before stumps).

What a ripping game. SA got a bit thrown off by the rain, but NZ dropped four catches which I thought was going to doom them. Full credit to them for chasing it down under huge pressure. Let's hope it's the NZ v Aus game we've all been hoping for.

Good game that. I wonder how much closer they could have gone if Chandimal hadn't pulled his hamstring. Our knock-out games will be at Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne - the first two of those will likely be slower pitches on which a spinner will be useful. Doherty didn't do anything yesterday to suggest he is worthy of being selected in those games though. We're pretty much better off playing Cummins or Hazlewood as a third paceman and using Maxwell, and Smith and/or Clarke for back up. If Watson's going to hold his spot over Marsh he's most likely to do it batting at 5 or 6 rather than 3. He's a better batsman than Marsh but a worse bowler so the runs are the critical component.

Watson's back. So what was the point of dropping him?

We play Sri Lanka on Sunday (Afghanistan on Wednesday in between). Sri Lanka's win over England means they are our threat to second place in our pool. If we lose to them we'll draw South Africa in the quarters and NZ in the semis (in NZ), which IMO is game over. Must-win game this weekend, then.

Remarkable really. Both have super-aggressive openers (Finch/Warner had us 0/30 off two overs, Guptill/McCullum had them 0/40 off four overs), both have iffy middle orders which failed (Maxwell, Marsh and Clarke still getting match practice, vs Elliott, Anderson and Ronchi), both have lower order batsmen who can bat but failed (Johnson and Starc for us, Milne and Southee for them). Both also have possibly the two best ODI pace attacks in the game. McCullum's early hitting and Williamson's steady hand were the differences - we didn't have one batsman who could hold an end and score steady runs (could have been Watson but he threw it away) and McCullum lasted longer than Finch did.

Just watched the wickets video. Finch, Warner and Smith were beaten by great deliveries. Watson threw it away off a half-tracker (standard Watson), Clarke hit in the air when they had short extra cover and a short point in place (i.e. poor decision-making), Maxwell and Marsh simply didn't move their feet. Good bowling, but poor batting too.

What does 'danniherish' mean? I agree with you (I think) though - Warner and Finch usually give us a solid platform but Watson is hopeless (drop him already), Maxwell is too hot and cold, M Marsh is still learning and Clarke is out of form. NZ has the best bowling line up in the world and we got found out. We're also now pretty much certain to finish below NZ which means if we draw them for a semi-final we have to go back to NZ. Only way we might beat them is in the final here at the MCG where NZ pretty much never plays (100,000 would be a massive difference for them). Also, is McCullum the most aggressive captain there's ever been (both with bat in hand and when fielding)?

8/26. Wow. I still don't rate Maxwell as a batsman. I know he has shots but they only seem to appear when we're in front. I'd personally have a lot more faith in seeing Bailey walk out at 6. He's holding that spot because he can bowl spin I guess. Being 9 down puts us pretty much out of the game but they've used up Boult and Vettori and Southee only has one over left. They've gone for the kill but if Haddin and Cummins can just hold in, they have to use Milne (their third-string paceman), and then Anderson (iffy bowler) and maybe Elliott to do some overs (worse than Anderson). With that kind of bowling the chance is there to score some runs and push the score to 200. NZ had trouble chasing Scotland's 170-odd so there's no guarantee they're going to breeze their way to 200 if we can get there. Edit: of course, Haddin gets out to Anderson's second ball. 151. Terrible performance really. Have to knock McCullum and Williamson off early, but even then I don't think we're any chance at all.

Unlucky for James Taylor, how the umpires could not have known it is dead ball after the finger is raised is beyond me, really. Nonetheless, we looked really good. We bat deeper than any other side and our fast bowlers to me rival any other sides'. Getting Clarke and Faulkner back into the side is going to be interesting. IMO Watson has to go. Can't drop Warner, Finch or Smith, whilst Maxwell is running into form (and provides spin if we don't play Doherty) and Marsh just took a 5-for. How does Watson keep his spot over either of those two? I assume Bailey is the other one to go, but IMO Watson goes first. It won't happen though, it never happens. Fantastic piece. Slater and Taylor have made their way into the WC coverage but it's mixed with Fox and Sky commentators and, yesterday at least, focused more on the game and less on banter.

I'd also say 2, but the first was when McGrath rolled his ankle in England in the 2005 Ashes.

I'm not the biggest Patriots fan (I really don't like them, to be honest), but between them and Seattle it was a no brainer as to who I wanted to see win, so I'm quite happy with the result. The play call on the INT was terrible. At the very least, by throwing it there they were clearly going for the TD which would have left NE with, what, 25 seconds? Why not run the ball (it was only 2nd down), if you don't get in so be it, use up some more time and run it again the next down (or throw it if you're that overly keen to throw it). Especially given how Lynch was running (and that Wilson wasn't exactly dominating). In the end, the best two sides of the year played one of the best games of the year and that's how you always want it to be (even if I hate Seattle). Also, Tom Brady surely has to go down as one of the best of all time. Rogers gets the MVPs, Manning gets the records, but Brady wins Superbowls (and if it hadn't been for some miraculous plays, would have two more instead of two losses to the Giants).

Good article on NFL.com about 8 moments which defined GB's loss, most of which Macca has touched on: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000460883/article/how-they-lost-eight-plays-that-doomed-the-packers The two early field goals when it was fourth and goal from the 1 yard line were definitely bad decisions. That's a little bit of hindsight of course but maybe even allowing for the first one to be a FG for some points, you have Rodgers at QB and on the road you need TDs - should have gone for it. The two drives in the fourth that Georgiou pointed out above were also important. Rodgers touched the ball once in the six downs Green Bay had. Once. Aaron Rodgers. Look what he did on the final drive to level the scores. I understand running the ball eats the clock up but a first down does even better than that.

No it didn't. I'm biased (I hate the Seahawks with a passion), but they played 5 minutes of football and won the game. You were all over them for 3.5 quarters. Your defence smothered them at the line and your offence controlled the tempo. Your two main problems were an inability to turn the dominance into TDs - five field goals left the door open all day, Seattle should never have been able to win by scoring just two TDs, they should have needed 4 or 5 - and your choke at the end (you intercepted Wilson with 5 minutes left and a 16 point lead). Bostick also shouldn't have been catching that ball - he said himself his job was to block for Jordy Nelson to make the catch and you can see Bostick kinda jumps in front of Nelson as he turns to make the catch. Terrible play.

By the rules it definitely wasn't a catch, but intuitively when you watch it you don't think incompletion, you think catch. He bobbles it but keeps it with him the whole time and IMO that should be a catch. As Macca said, we should be rewarding those kinds of plays. The missed field goal leading to a Green Bay field goal (6-point turnaround) followed by DeMarco's fumble (he holds it, he scores a TD) were just as critical though. As for Denver, Peyton's second half of 2014 was bad enough to suggest to me that his dominance is over, and with that I think Denver's dominance is over (which is pleasing, to be honest). He's lost a lot of arm strength and accuracy and without that Denver is just an average side. I'd love to see the Colts beat New England but I don't think that's happening. Meanwhile for the NFC I don't think Green Bay stands a chance in Seattle with Rodgers on 1 leg.

Bummed with both results. Never thought Carolina could actually win but I can't stand Seattle so they had my full support. As for the Ravens, they probably should have won, and it's highly disappointing to have New England in the AFC Championship game again. Credit to them of course, but it's sad that, despite the evenness of the competition and the 'any given Sunday' stuff, it could well be 3/4 teams the same on Championship weekend. Really? I disagree with you, Dallas' O line is one of the best, if not the actual best, in the league. If Rodgers can't play, or isn't 100%, Dallas can win this.

Well, apparently it didn't hit the wire - it just distracted Smith's view. http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-india-2014-15/content/story/817967.html

The footage doesn't show whether it hit it or not, zooms in right before it passes the wire. I'm with you though - it's it shouldn't come to this, ever.

Road of a pitch, game going nowhere, Lyon gets rid of Rohit and next ball not only does Haddin drop Kohli but we miss a blatant run out opportunity to get rid of Rahul. Wickets aren't easy to come by, especially without Johnson, and there's still Rahane to come. Draw looks quite likely right about now.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-india-2014-15/content/story/817143.html Great article from Jarrod Kimber.

Great comeback from Dallas. To come back from down 14-0 and 17-7 at the half against one of the better defences in the league in a playoff game is a big effort. Means we get the Packers, 8-0 at home, hosting the Cowboys, 8-0 on the road, which should be a great match up (Carolina at Seattle though, I'm not so excited about).

Bell out for the Steelers was always going to be huge. Having said that, I never felt Pittsburgh was anywhere near as good as the number 3 seeding suggested and they showed why - crap secondary, inconsistency from Big Ben, and a marked inability to score in the red zone. Baltimore is a well-rounded side. I don't see them winning in New England but good on them. Arizona's season ended when Carson Palmer got injured. Big fall from them, to go from 9-1 and not make the Divisional Round of the playoffs is disappointing though.

Carolina is the Richmond of the 2014 NFL season. Hopeless first half despite high expectations, then some key wins in the middle of the year allowing them to come home with a wet sail. They, at 7-8-1, now get to host the 11-5 Lions, a game that IMO could go either way now that Carolina's defence has lifted and Newton looks fit. It's all moot though, Seattle is going to the Superbowl for the NFC. If Rodgers is indeed injured then there's no chance they can win in Seattle. Arizona is floundering and will lose its first playoff surely, which leaves Dallas as the only other chance. They did it once this year but I just don't see it happening twice. As for the AFC, can't believe the Ravens are in the playoffs. They've been highly mediocre all season. San Diego is a much better side but injuries meant they'd have been average in the playoffs anyway. Buffalo blew it last week losing to Oakland; I'm not sure, but I think if they'd won that game then their win today would have put them in? Meanwhile Cleveland went from 6-3 to 7-9, sad for their supporters. I still back New England to make the Superbowl with their home-field advantage but it's so rare that both number 1 seeds make it so I'm sure something will change. (edit: happened last year. Oops. Well, it's rare that it happens twice in a row...)

Ridiculously huge turn around in this game. From 3/409 India lost 7/56 - some were saying they could push on through today to end up 150-200 in front and then have a go at bowling us out on Day 5, but instead we're now 112 runs in front with 10 wickets in hand and two days to come (with some rain it seems). Kohli and Rahane both played beautiful innings (though both were dropped and should have been caught), they kept our bowlers away nicely. Once we had someone else to bowl to at the other end though Harris and Johnson came to life a bit more.

Feel sorry for Cowan who has stacked on the runs and probably is good enough to bat at 3, but I guess the selectors are swayed by youth a bit and Burns can bat anywhere from 1-6. I'd put him at 3, Watson down at 6. Also Harris replaces Starc.