Group A: Australia, England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka

[Owzat]

think it's easier to contol the run rate batting second. how would you go about aggressively trying to limit a team to 150 on a pitch where 250 is doable? at least batting you can hit out from the start.

And when they chase the bowling from the off it could be catastrophic.

To win batting first you build a strong platform and try to bat the Sri Lankans into a position where they are chasing 350 and they have to chase from the off.

There is no control trying to score 250 off 29 overs, their only hope either way was for Sri Lanka to be bowled out cheaply and with no pressure on the Sri Lankans batting first that 'plan' fell away fairly quickly.

Bottom line is they faced an almost impossible ask, batting first they might have got into a strong enough position to apply pressure but short of knocking 4-5 early Sri Lankan wickets down, bowling first they couldn't control it bowling first any more than they could bowl Sri Lanka out for 150 bowling second.

Or put another way, to chase down 250 they'll probably need to be about 100/1 or 100/2 after about 15 overs, if they could get anywhere near 250 off 29 overs then imagine how relatively easy it would be to score 350+ , a mere 7 an over compared to the 8.62 required to chase 250 down in 29.

The Sri Lankans may well profit from a foolhardy mission, and the aussies suffer because some idiot let them bat 50 overs and that meant the kiwis got to only bat 15 thus producing no result which may well cost the aussies dear.

It's ironic the kiwis haven't been great, just crawling past West Indies in a low scorer, 51/2 off 15 overs against the aussies when rain ended the match, and beaten by England when the total was well and truly gettable. Yet they may well reach the semis because of NRR and the weather

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This will be good, if they can chase it down. Sri Lanka are probably going to use Malinga a lot early on

Sri Lanka only need to keep their heads and let the aussies lose their's. Plenty of slower balls, Yorkers, and a few short balls and the aussies should serve up a fair few catching chances and exposed stumps.

The aussies have to make all the running, that said Sri Lanka must not just sit back. They need to bowl normally, if they try only to contain like England probably would then they may well lose. They have to remember they need to win the game, not just stop the aussies scoring the runs in 29 (or whatever) overs.

 

[Haarithan]

Just hope Australia make 165+

I'd rather England faced South Africa at Cardiff than India at the Oval in the semis....

 

[Umair7]

29.1 overs to chase 250+

Watto and Maxwell should open and we still have a chance to go through remember that match where we scored 400+

 

[Ahmad94]

With Maxwell went Australia's hope.

 

[Warner Watson]

i want Australia to win, and SL out, NZ and ENG to qualify, hope this will happen

 

[Umair7]

Hughes opened WTF Bailey what was he thinking Watson never trusted him to do the job maybe he can just play in the IPL Marsh cant play slow ball WOW

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

Or put another way, to chase down 250 they'll probably need to be about 100/1 or 100/2 after about 15 overs, if they could get anywhere near 250 off 29 overs then imagine how relatively easy it would be to score 350+ , a mere 7 an over compared to the 8.62 required to chase 250 down in 29.

naaah, why would they need to be 100/2? if right now voges was going over a run a ball they'd be on 140+/5, and you'd have to say they were in with a shout. 100 more runs in 11 overs, seen it done dozens of times.

the wickets in hand make those scenarios very different. teams can get to 180 no probs in a twenty20, if it was as easy as that we'd have seen ODI scores lifted to 400 with more regularity. the shorter the innings the more you can spend hitting out.

plus, in all honesty, if sri lanka bowled as well as they batted then 300-350 would not have been on the cards. you have to give them some credit for actually playing well, it's not like australia are a much better side, if they're even better at all. ( the best batsmen and the best bowler out there both play for sri lanka)

 

[cricket_icon]

damn the Aussies showed some real grit today. A very tense game for all and a stunning finish from Dilshan, the catch of the series!

 

[crazyrahul]

Rain-curtailed matches played a big part in this group.

ENG-NZL 24-overs game and drawn game of AUS-NZL costed NZL a lot and couldn't make it to semis. Felt bad for McCleneghan and Nathan McCullum

 

[War]

Strange tournament for Australia. Don't think they necessarily played poorly except for the England game & the weather/run rate scenario in the SRI Lanka game made them play rash shots in hope of reaching the semi's.

Generally this is the best AUS XI/squad for ODI's minus Doherty, just got to involve Henriques & Harris in future squads as they prepare for the 2015 world cup. So i hope the next AUS ODI set-up doesn't see to much drastic changes.

 

[CG123]

Rain-curtailed matches played a big part in this group.

ENG-NZL 24-overs game and drawn game of AUS-NZL costed NZL a lot and couldn't make it to semis. Felt bad for McCleneghan and Nathan McCullum

You know that Nathan McCullum dropped Cook three times?

 

[ferg512]

Strange tournament for Australia. Don't think they necessarily played poorly except for the England game & the weather/run rate scenario in the SRI Lanka game made them play rash shots in hope of reaching the semi's.

Generally this is the best AUS XI/squad for ODI's minus Doherty, just got to involve Henriques & Harris in future squads as they prepare for the 2015 world cup. So i hope the next AUS ODI set-up doesn't see to much drastic changes.

Likewise for us, I don't think we played that badly if it weren't for N. McCullums dropped catches we probably would have made it through.