Mar 8 - New Zealand v Pakistan

[Aoun13]

I'm still baffled by the continued exclusion of Saeed Ajmal.

This match will be a big lesson for Afridi and company that you must have an attacking spinner rather a defensive left arm.
I can expect 3-4 changes by next match.

 

[Kabooka]

Most importanty they need new openers. Their current pair is useless under any pressure.

 

[Bevab]

He refuses to fix matches

Very funny.

Pakistan were terrible. When I say 72/6. WTF?

Pakistan obviously need to have a better batting day.

 

[aussie1st]

Hehe gotta laugh at the first two pages of this thread with people jumping the gun.

Shehzad has been shocking all tournament, you may as well move Razzaq up one and bring in another bowler. Don't think your replacement bat will make might difference and given Razzaq was the top scorer here there is no reason not to put him back in the batting role.

As for NZ, the fans will be happy with the bowling attack and they didn't even need Vettori.

 

[shery_rsa]

He refuses to fix matches

you right

 

[ferg512]

Wow, cant say when I went to sleep I was expecting this result. What happened to Vettori?? ICC should probably investigate this game I reckon. 114 off the last 6 overs?? I dont think so..

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I literally am questioning whether this is real or not. Every single ball has been just on a length that its perfect to club to six. They haven't tried slower balls or bouncers, everything has been exactly the same.

I hate the fact I now doubt its real but this is all a bit... well odd.

I agree, it doesn't seem right at all. You'd be suspicious if it was any team but then its Pakistan. Taylors not even hard to bowl to, just keep it outside off nothing on the leg side..

 

[Papa_Smurf]

Well played Ross Taylor Kiwis are peaking at the right time. I was of the opinion, and I fully believe it now, that they weren't fully focused against the Aussies because of what happened in Christchurch.

All their victories have been of huge margins and they've literally thrashed everyone except the Aussies. Can't wait to see them against SL.

As for Pak, what can I say? Pathetic - absolutely pathetic. Poor at the death, and awful at the start of their innings. I won't go as far to suspect it being fixed, but they really need to address some issues, especially the top order. First the close shave against Canada, and now this.

But that is taking some credit away from the Kiwis. They were outstanding in all departments today.

 

[Owzat]

Those last 6 overs proved very costly for Pakistan. Had they restricted NZ to just 240-250, their mindset during the runchase would have been different. But that sudden blast by NZ batsmen really devastated them...

I first checked in on this match when the kiwis were 170/4, that was after 40.5 overs. I thought it was nicely poised, but the kiwis were a little off a decent score. I was gobsmacked when I next checked in and it was 302/7 and Pakistan had lost an early wicket in reply.

Still can't believe the kiwis scored 92 off their last four overs, I mean 20 off an over is some feat but that is 23 an over :

Over 47 (Shoaib Akhtar) : 4,6,6,wide,0,4,wide,6 = 28 runs
Over 48 (Abdur Rehman) : 2,0,4,wide,1,1,6 = 15 runs
Over 49 (Abdur Razzaq) : 4,6,wide,6,wide,2,4,6 = 30 runs
Over 50 (Abdur Rehman) : 6,6,wicket,4,2,1 = 19 runs

NINE sixes, six fours and five wides thrown in for good measure, that makes up 83 of the 92 runs. Taylor scored 55 of those runs but oddly enough didn't face a ball in the last over.

As for comments on pop gun Afridi, doesn't really matter who he is "playing for", a nothing innings of 10-20 runs isn't going to win many matches. His last seven innings have produced 17, 20, 16, 7, 44, 24 and 4 at an average of 18.86 including knocks against Kenya and Canada.

Shahid "pop gun" Afridi - last 100 ODI innings

Inns : 100
Not Out : 9
Runs : 2041
Ave : 22.55
50 : 6
100 : 2

Ducks : 8
01-09 : 35
10-19 : 20
20-29 : 13
30-39 : 8
40-49 : 8
50 : 6
100 : 2

He's only reaching and/or passing 30 runs 24% of the time. When he does score 30+ runs he does so at a phenomenal rate, but is speed more important than weight of runs?


0-29 runs : 76 inns, 778 runs off 751 balls (SR 103.60)
30+ runs : 24 inns, 1274 runs off 818 balls (SR 155.75)

Of course that is only a sample, his last 100 knocks, but does contain some cameo knocks :

56 off 30 balls vs West Indies
77no off 35 balls vs South Africa
73no off 34 balls vs Sri Lanka
85 off 52 balls vs Zimbabwe
70 off 50 balls vs New Zealand
65 off 25 balls vs New Zealand

109 off 76 balls vs Sri Lanka
124 off 60 balls vs Bangladesh

No matter what, he seems to go fast and worry about how far he gets when he gets there - or doesn't as the case often is. It doesn't pay off often enough, perhaps explains why he is hiding down the order

 

[Biggy]

He refuses to fix matches

Kamran Akmal on the other hand..

Loved when after the first miss between keeper and slip they played 'Happy Birthday' by Stevie Wonder.

 

[pcfan123]

you know at first I just said that as a joke but the more I think about it. Ajmal is easily one of the best if not the best Limited overs offspinner in the world right now. This whole "out of form" excuse is just crap. He is a seasoned bowler and they have the ability of getting back in form with just one spell. Plus what is their alternative plan? get some form while warming up the bench?

The guy has outfoxed class players before and has the best doosra in cricket right now. Its beyond odd that they are not selecting him based on form issues. He's no mug with the bat either.

Bah humbug

 

[Sureshot]

Bets settled.

It was an interesting game, just a shame it wasn't more interesting. Any news on Vettori? Can't see anything yet, I guess we won't find out till tomorrow/today.

 

[sifter132]

Why are there calls for Ajmal?? Surely the problem was death bowling and fielding yesterday. Ajmal's not going to do help there.

And how about bowling Umar Gul at the right times? He should be bowling a 2-3 over spell just before the ball change to maximise the possibility of reverse swing and 3, maybe even 4 overs in the last 5-10 at the death. Bowling him for 2 overs in the late 30s before the Powerplay was a mistake. Those 2 overs at the end would have been much cheaper than Razzaq/Rehman's offerings.

No matter what, he seems to go fast and worry about how far he gets when he gets there - or doesn't as the case often is. It doesn't pay off often enough, perhaps explains why he is hiding down the order

Those kind of numbers tell me that he should be UP the order since banking on Afridi as a reliable lower order batsman is obviously useless. I say, why not push Afridi up to #3 and see if he comes off? He might only score over 20 once every 5 games there, but it would scare opposing captains a bit and it means that he's not being relied upon for runs later. So I think I'd drop Shehzad/Hafeez, move Kamran Akmal up to open, and have Afridi at #3, leaving Razzaq and Umar Akmal as your late order hitters at 7 and 6.

 

[Dare]

lolz Pakistan. It always seems that the selection policy holds the back. Instead of moving forward and dropping guys like Akmal, guys that have been nothing but controversy and poor play they continually select them and those players end up losing matches.
Somebody remind Pakistan that the primary job of a keeper is to catch the damn ball.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

you know at first I just said that as a joke but the more I think about it. Ajmal is easily one of the best if not the best Limited overs offspinner in the world right now. This whole "out of form" excuse is just crap. He is a seasoned bowler and they have the ability of getting back in form with just one spell. Plus what is their alternative plan? get some form while warming up the bench?

The guy has outfoxed class players before and has the best doosra in cricket right now. Its beyond odd that they are not selecting him based on form issues. He's no mug with the bat either.

Bah humbug

I agree with this, there is a strange tendency of pakistans to make it very difficult for their more honest cricketers to get picked while obvious dirtbags like kamran akmal have found themselves untouchable.

the hassle younis khan went through to get recalled was shocking given his worth to the team. and manzoor was kicked out after being one of the few credible performers in australia while they retained the useless farhat. this on top of dropping ajmal who is a fantastic spinner.

you'd think they'd want to clear out players under suspicion like wahab and the akmals, instead the akmals continue unhindered and wahab is drafted into the ODI side.

I'm not saying this match was fixed, 5 overs to go is an awful chancey time to leave it, but ffs, pick some players with integrity.

 

[CG123]

What a sight to wake up to this morning, cricketen brilliant!!!

What an innings form Taylor, and great to see Oram get a few big ones away.

The four things I've been saying are:

1. They shouldn't bat first, which I'll happily stand corrected for saying.
2. How should piss off as he's bloody hopefully, which was proven.
3. Despite Bennett being promising, I'd much prefer Oram, point proven.
4. Franklin should not be batting at five, again point proven.

I know it's not going to happen, but they should really push How down some stairs or something and fly one of Nicol/Vincent out there, ATM I'd go as far as saying it's been one of the worst world cup selection ever. I've been having a go at him for however long, and in how many innings over that period of time he's done absolutely nothing. For our sake come later in the tournament, hopefully How has proven me wrong.

Since he recall in 10 matches (9 innings), he's averaged 13 with a highest score of 24, and a S/R of 47.