titan_uranus

I think Australia and South Africa are somewhat opposites at the moment. We have little talent but still seem to strike fear into the hearts of any opponent. South Africa have ridiculous talent, but any team can go into a game thinking 'we can get them' with their fragile mindset. Honestly, South Africa may as well not bother playing World Cups. They just cannot win games that mean something. That was a simple chase, and at 2/100-odd they were cruising. New Zealand isn't Pakistan, their bowlwers aren't much chop at all. That should have been simple, but they are so mentally fragile they are always prone to losing.

Well they did what I wanted, but unfortunately White again failed to live up to his end of the bargain. If we win who knows if he will keep his spot again. I hope he does, but that was a poor innings ended with a terrible shot. Ponting's currently on 86. I'd absolutely love to see him go on and make 100.

For those reasons he should be playing, but not in White's spot. In Smith's. Smith is not going to win us a game off his own bat, nor off his bowling. White, in current form, won't either. But he could, and that for me is the difference. David Hussey provides middle-order stability and is equally good with the ball as Smith. Then, if White gets going, we're actually a chance.

Correct. We're relying on the hope that if it all clicks (i.e. Tait, Lee, Johnson all bowl fiery spells, and Watson, Haddin, White launch into some power hitting) we can beat the better teams. But our 'regular' form, if you like, isn't good enough. South Africa and Sri Lanka's regular form will beat us most days.

Agree, White's not in form at all. But against India, the possibility of White going off like he did in Vizag last year (his last meaningful innings btw) appeals a lot more to me than a potential run-a-ball 30-50 from Ferguson. Of course, White could easily make a duck, but we beat England 6-1 and won 4 out of 5 group WC matches with nothing from White, so if he can find some form we can only go skywards. The key, though, is not the batting IMO, as India's bowlers aren't that good. The key is to prevent their batsmen from setting a big total or running down whatever we post. They are good enough to make 400 if the pitch is amenable. Sehwag, Tendulkar, Kohli and Yuvraj are all in top form, and Dhoni, Pathan and Gambhir add to a stellar top 7. We have to bowl tight, with plenty of short stuff, and not let them get away.

Agree re: Smith. He's not bowling, and when he does it's not any good anyway. David Hussey's bowling is better, and so is his batting. Should be in the side. White I'm not so sure about. Ferguson was good back in 2009 but White could be the factor that wins us a quarter/semi final.

Also, without having seen any footage, I've heard that Krejza bowled quite well. Seems like he got some bounce to go with his turn, which is good, as that will improve his wicket-taking ability immensely.

The wicket was tough to bat on, but it had more runs in that 176. Poor batting, exacerbated by good bowling. Pakistan's bowlers have the two things we can't bat against: reverse swing and ODI-style spin. A bowling line-up of Afridi, Rehman, Razzaq, Hafeez, Gul and Riaz is strong. Nonetheless, we batted terribly, showing that we can't always rely on Michael Hussey to bail our top order out. We're likely to get India in the quarter final, as I think they'll have no trouble beating the Windies tonight. That's going to be a heck of a game, but I can't see us winning on current form. With Ponting, White, Smith, Johnson and Tait all struggling I don't think we'll have enough firepower with either bat or ball to beat them. Having said that, if we can get some runs out of White and Ponting and if Johnson and Tait can straighten their lines up then we can only improve considerably on what we've shown so far. Apparently that was the first time we'd been bowled out in a World Cup since 1999. It was the first time Tait's batted in a World Cup, and Lee's first loss after 16 games.

Bloody West Indies. 4 wickets in hand, about 20 runs to get, Sarwan and Russell set at the crease, and they lose. Which basically means England are through. You could mount a totally believable and credible case to say England should be 0-6.

9/29...that must be close to the worst loss of 9 wickets in ODI history! That's one heck of an implosion!

Ridiculous innings from NZ. 114 off the last 6 overs. Wow. Good old Kamran Akmal again. Dropping sitters. But he did the cricket world a favour. If he'd held the catches Taylor offered him early, we wouldn't have seen him unleash at the end.

Bloody South Africa. Totally ruined my night last night. England should have 0 wins and 4 losses, instead they have 2 wins and a tie. Disappointing. Choosing Hussey is the right move, even though we have Ferguson over there already. Hussey should have been there from the start and is, IMO, an automatic selection for the next game. One of White and D. Hussey will go. I predict D. Hussey, but it's not like White's in any form. But White's the VC and he has a lot more room to improve than David Hussey. I'd rather have White in there going into the latter stages.

I don't see any need to employ a division system. What the next FTP needs to have is fairness, and that means all the countries playing all the other countries the same number of times, home and away. It's a better leveller, it gives teams better ideas of where they rank, and it helps promote the game by allowing the weaker countries (NZ, WI, Bangladesh) to experience the stronger teams (South Africa, India, Sri Lanka). In ODI cricket Bangladesh and Zimbabwe need to start playing the other 8 countries far more regularly, whether we like it or not, to promote their development. Ireland and the Netherlands should be thereabouts too, maybe not as regular as the other sides, but they need to play the big boys more than just once every four years. Cricket will be better for it when it expands into more countries. Ireland has shown it has the capacity to play, and beat, the better countries, but their development as a ODI (and, later, Test) nation is only going to stall if they don't get the chance to play Australia, South Africa and co. more than once every four years.

I hope you and WJ are joking (I think you are). Clearly there is no need for a clash strip when it is patently obvious which team is which. Given everyone wears white in Test cricket it's not hard to work out.

India would sorely be ruing that one-short from Munaf Patel off the last ball of their innings...

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.

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

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.

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.

That 7 really was appalling though. A top four of Watson, Haddin, Ponting (who's looked good these two warm-up matches) and Clarke is sound and compares pretty well with the other sides (India and South Africa aside). It's the out-of-form middle order of White, D. Hussey, Smith and Johnson that needs to perform from a batting perspective, although we could feasibly get enough runs in the group games from the top 4. (PS: the 7 and 73 were warm-up games which technically aren't ODIs, but who cares?)

Well, given Hussey's injured, there's no chance of that. White's form from the middle of 2009, when he batted at 3 against England and made a century, through to the tour of India last year, where he made 80-odd of about 40-odd, was top-notch. Along with M. Hussey, our best ODI batsman. Since the Australian summer he's struggled. But at his best he is, undoubtedly, in our best XI. I have no idea why you hate his captaincy, I think he does a good job. The bowling is an issue. Part of that is because of the way he was treated in 2008, but really, he shouldn't have dropped off so quickly. He would have been a much stronger candidate to replace North if he was still picking up a wicket here or there. But he needs his first class batting to improve anyway.

I wouldn't say there are 'worrying signs' a week out from the WC, but there are issues that need to be resolved. We didn't take a wicket from a bowler yesterday, just one run out. Krejza got to bowl 10 overs but the reports are that he isn't setting the world on fire, on pitches that are made for turn. In our innings Robin Peterson took 3, and he's not much chop. I guess it's a learning curve for a guy who's played 1 ODI but it's a risky situation. David Hussey and Steve Smith aren't providing the best back-up either. At least we've been lucky and played two top-class teams, rather than a waste of time against Canada or Kenya. This way we know we're a bit off and can look to improve on those areas in the easier actual WC games. Just went out for 7? Clarke? He made a nice 73. I didn't think you paid much attention.

Watch the game. Then comment. Of course, if you have watched it, then you aren't the greatest analyst of cricket, in which case ignore the latter instruction.

No I don't mean he is worse than Clarke. Form ruts are just that. Ruts. Both Clarke and White are class players with the long-term form to prove it. Short term, neither of them is playing well, but they are terrific ODI batsmen. White needs to lift his game, no doubt, but if he does the team lifts to another gear (keeping in mind we just beat England 6-1).

Played well in the warm up against India for about 70 overs. Then we were owned by decent spin. Clarke, White, Hussey, Ferguson all dismissed by spin for 8 or less. White is in an horrendous form slump at the moment. Not great timing. We bowled well, but let them get from 8/138 to 214. But the batting needs work.