The Cricket Thread

[Ankit 3,176]

I was listening to Sourav Ganguly in the commentary and he said there was moisture in the wicket which will dry out and the pitch will become a tad quicker and should be good for batting for day 2 and 3. Hope to bowl out NZ tommorow.

Taylor played very aggresively but seriously whats his deal with the sweep shot? Was he born playing sweep shot or what?

[Ollie 4,400]

This batting performance leaves a lot to be desired. It's so fucking boring. It's not the greatest pitch but fuck sake at least go for some shots! Horrible ODI, simply horrible.

[capriccioso 2,545]

And there we go. Ripped to shreds by Junaid and Ajmal.

Warner should be fucked off from the ODI squad immediately. He's useless.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

England back up from 3rd to 1st in the one dayers off the back of one win..must be tighter than a knats fanny with the points for that to happen

[capriccioso 2,545]

New Zealand

[Ollie 4,400]

Dernbach could be one of the best bowlers around if he keeps himself fit throughout his career and gets the nod to play. His variety is something special. Anderson was also back to his best which was important. Dernbach tho on his home patch was simply unplayable yesterday, shoulda had more wickets than he finished off with with more luck.

It is so tight though. South Africa won the tests and the first ODI which put them top of Everything. If we had just won one test, we would be top of the test rankings and ODI's with T20 to come. We both could be top of everything. Looking forward to the final 2 ODi's and T20's to at least hopefully stay top of something. Hopefully both one day forms.

[capriccioso 2,545]

I doubt England will win the upcoming T20 World Cup. It's in Sri Lanka, so that makes the subcontinental teams favourites by default. South Africa have a great record recently in Asia, while the likes of Australia, England, New Zealand and the West Indies are utter cack in spin friendly conditions.

[Ollie 4,400]

Id be more confident in T20 than 50 overs tho. In T20, anything can happen but Pietersen needs to be included for us to have any chance due to him playing IPL and really loving that format of the game. Of course there are teams more suited but it's a bit of a sloggy game, it's pretty unpredictable.

[capriccioso 2,545]

BB McCullum is an utter wankstain of a test match opener.

[capriccioso 2,545]

For New Zealand to win this from here they either need Jeetan "Muttiah" Patel to turn up with 8/24 in the second innings, or for Taylor and Flynn to put on about 300.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Also Kohli must be the most in-form batsman in the world now, with apologies to Hashim Amla.

[Ankit 3,176]

For New Zealand to win this from here they either need Jeetan "Muttiah" Patel to turn up with 8/24 in the second innings, or for Taylor and Flynn to put on about 300.

Anything above 200 will be tricky. Anything above 250 will be difficult. It is still a good batting track so i would say advantage New Zealand right now unless we get some quick wickets!!

[capriccioso 2,545]

Anything above 200 will be tricky. Anything above 250 will be difficult. It is still a good batting track so i would say advantage New Zealand right now unless we get some quick wickets!!

But you said that Ganguly said the pitch was getting easier to bat on?

Also it's only day 3, if they are all out with a lead of 250 around stumps, then India have 2 whole days to chase that down.

Edit: As we speak, Taylor is out. Ojha is starting to impress me, I know it's only New Zealand but he has performed really well.

[Ankit 3,176]

But you said that Ganguly said the pitch was getting easier to bat on?

Also it's only day 3, if they are all out with a lead of 250 around stumps, then India have 2 whole days to chase that down.

Edit: As we speak, Taylor is out. Ojha is starting to impress me, I know it's only New Zealand but he has performed really well.

Yes, Ganguly said it will be a good batting track for day 2 and day 3 before the cracks begin to open up,which they have!! As i said, it is still a batting track but that is where the sub continental pitches are tricky. The deterioration on day 4 and day 5 is drastic. It's not easy to bat in the 4th innings no matter how good the batting line up is!! Although we will have time, but with no Dravid and Laxman, i wont feel that confident if we were to chase something around 270 or above.

[capriccioso 2,545]

I think Sachin should retire fairly soon, at least from the 5 day form. He's now gone 24 test innings without a century, and it's very hard to reverse that kind of form at that age.

Of course Sachin has gone into worse form slumps before (e.g. in 2004 where he scored about 130 runs in 10 innings and then scored a 248 not out) and snapped out of them out-of-the-blue.

[Ankit 3,176]

I think Sachin should retire fairly soon, at least from the 5 day form. He's now gone 24 test innings without a century, and it's very hard to reverse that kind of form at that age.

Of course Sachin has gone into worse form slumps before (e.g. in 2004 where he scored about 130 runs in 10 innings and then scored a 248 not out) and snapped out of them out-of-the-blue.

There are some echos around here as well about Sachin's future, more so after him getting bowled both times.. Most of them are of the view that since Dravid and Laxman have retired, so should Sachin. He is just delaying the inevitable and in doing so making a youngster sit out of the team. I,to be honest cannot have an unbias opinion on this.I love watching Sachin come out of the pavilion to bat and will love him till he hangs up his boots but i dont want that to happen. EVER.

It's upto him when to retire. He says he still enjoys his game and the day he feels he is not enjoying it, he will quit. So i ll trust the Little Master and leave it at that.

[Ankit 3,176]

Test match is right in balance. A lead of 244 is good enough to defend if New Zealand attack. Hopefully we will get that one wicket early tomorrow and then look to score at an easy pace. Could turn out to be a cracking chase.

[Madmax 9,219]

I'm more than confident we'll chase this down. Need Sehwag to stick around for a bit though.