Cricket

almost made it through 20 overs at least.

I gotta say it was a good day.

Pathetic,England will not win any games

This guy otm tho.

bring the boys back home

D/L, damp, darkness and floodlights, truly this is the future of cricket.

brilliant keeping again by foster

bravo stumped!

need a few more wkts tho, still think WI will be favourites

you know who is out there

18 needed from 14. WI gonna win

i hate losing to the WI with their despicable attitude to cricket this year

they have had a brilliant attitude to twenty20, give them their due

It's unpatriotic and all, but I'd probably rather see WI in the semis than England. Sad to see Colly looking so gutted though.

not enough batting by england from over 11 onwards. broad should have been in before swann and possibly also foster. i'd rather not see WI in the semis. england have been inconsistent in their play but proper in their attitude. SA to win.

Who'd've thought South Africa would choke in the semis?

Oh, not I

seriously, even if they lose the final, there is just one, ONE fucking choice for SPOTY team of the year

so proud of ya

Australia done got PUNK'D

This is the most enjoyable match of the T20 world cup so far.
Why they dont take singles to give gayle the strike is beyond me.

lol one man bestriding entire innings like colossus

South Africa didn't really 'choke' - Pakistan has some great players. Their best form can beat anybody.

This has been an absolutely terrific tournament, btw - brilliant fielding, lots of interesting maneuvering with bat and ball (not really seen a lot of 20/20 before this tournament so excuse my lack of experience with it).

Great to see a sport developing in interesting lines the way cricket has been and I'm curious to see how this will impact upon the way test cricket is played (if it doesn't kill it off first ho ho)

people will be all scooping good-length swinging deliveries over their shoulder to fine-leg for a single

i mean, he's the only man on the boundary, but a scoop's a scoop

South Africa didn't really 'choke' - Pakistan has some great players. Their best form can beat anybody.

― xyzzzz__, Friday, June 19, 2009 8:02 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

odds on that on their best form they can't beat sri lanka. SA choked big style against spin in the middle overs.

interesting points though about the development of T20 - when it started it was a batsman-friendly slog fest, but this has been a tournament of bowling. shame about SA as Parnell was the best bowler of the tournament (Gul and Aamir ran him close). yet england's failure was down to batting deficiencies - we are behind the times as ever.

aamir? madness.

best bowlers are in the best teams and he's 17. not as destructive as angelo tonight but still well in control, great rhythm and pace.

aamir has been distinctly second-tier. gul, mendis, parnell, afridi have been the unquestionable bowling stars

hell, even graeme swann's ahead of aamir

i kinda <3 swanny but still this is unbiased judgement

Malinda's the best guy I've seen, though admittedly my access to the tournament has been limited. I've been very impressed with the format, much to my surprise. 40 or 50-over cricket is surely dead in the water, but test cricket looks even tastier to me because it requires basically the opposite qualities to 20/20.

(As an aside, how do we feel about a separate Ashes thread? This one's getting quite long, and on the off-chance that we get another classic I kind of feel that it should be properly documented for future generations)

Malinga? Huh?

Also, there's a thread on COGH for the Ashes. With my name in it. :D

aamir has been distinctly young for an international tourney. and while no major fireworks also no major embarrassment.

and please save me from the cantona-afridi axis of evil. it's a wankfest too far.

malinga has been excellent

Malinga has been good, if not quite up to the standard he set during the last 50-over WC. If he's the best guy you've seen, you've been ignoring large swathes of SL's bowling innings, especially the bits involving spinners.

Aamir has 'done well for a 17 year-old', sure, but this still doesn't justify the pedestal you put him on. I'd say quite a few decent 17 year-old bowlers would do ok if they had Afridi and Gul bowling alongside 'em.

i watch lots of cricket. malinga has bowled well this tournament and SL are still in it.

it's not an aamir pedestal, but your argument that he's only as good as the bowlers around him misses the point that his captain was prepared to let him open the overs against the tournament favourites, before afridi/gul bowled. and ok he didn't take 4 wickets but nor did he fk his team up.

There's a very good argument to suggest that opening the bowling is the least pressurised or important bowling role in this format of the game, hence why folks like Darren Sammy, Kieron Pollard, James Anderson lol joeks or Sanath Jayasuriya have taken the new ball in this tournament. Aamir bowls left-arm, which is already gonna get you some freebies, even at top-level. IIRC he got somewhat pasted vs. England's oh-so inept T20 batting line-up.

Malinga's been good but he's also been far more expensive than usual. Would dig out the stats but can't be asked.

It's one thing not fucking up, another thing entirely winning matches. Neither Aamir nor Malinga has really struck a decisive blow.

team game

Aamer wasn't really any worse than the rest of the bowlers against England and that was his first game so I'd cut him a bit of slack. He's definitely bowled a lot better since but is hardly threatening, just a tidy bowler to have as an opener.

Also Pakistan are more than capable of beating Sri Lanka on a good day, but all these years of supporting them makes me pretty sure they wont have two good games in a row. They're both pretty evenly matched otherwise. They've both gotten by on some pretty sub par batting performances only to be saved by their bowling.

Also! Comical Pakistani fielding is hardly worth noting anymore, but this made me laugh and laugh and laugh
http://static.cricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/105000/105043.jpg

At least Pakistan seem to have five or six batsmen who can turn it on, rather than Sri Lanka's three. And yeah, whatever's team game point taken. I've only got issue with those who would choose those particular bowlers for the pedestal! I'm not quibbling their selection or their contributions.

It'll be a good final, because both sides have superlative T20 bowlers.

I didn't see that incident bit apparently it was A+ lolz. Stick to bowling Umer

I'll say this: Malinga would be close to a world T20 XI. Maybe even in it.

go on then cards on the table, the best 3 bowlers of the tournament country matters?

gul, mendis, parnell, afridi have been the unquestionable bowling stars

― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 22:32 (2 days ago) Bookmark

take out afridi perhaps

also, more importantly, hurrah for the fairer sex

England Women should be playing in The Ashes, they'd have a better chance. And as a bonus, since Collingwood is a girl so he can stay.

*limp grammar jibe*

more human beings like claire taylor kthx

i mean she's gotta be frontrunner for SPOTY, fuck Button

(intentional)

England Women should be playing in The Ashes, they'd have a better chance.

Er, they did. And they won.

And as a bonus, since Collingwood is a girl so he can stay.

And none of the men's test team are test players, yeah we know.