Warm-Up Matches

[naresh091]

5.5 Bond to Dravid, FOUR, inside edge, past the keeper

5.4 Bond to Dravid, FOUR, guided to thirdman

5.3 Bond to Dravid, FOUR, beautiful cover drive, racing away to the boundry

5.2 Bond to Dravid, no run

5.1 Bond to Dravid, FOUR, short ball, pulled away to deep square

Woah! Dravid back to his best.Who called him boring?

 

[deepuparayil]

Most people are calling Yousuf pathan 'useless',but actually he is a pretty handy allrounder.India hadn't got a player like him in the last 15 years or so. He has the capability to be a finisher or a decent middle order batsman.Only selectors need to show some patience in his case,once he started clicking there'll be no looking back for him.He can become a Symonds like player for us.

 

[SaiSrini]

Mishra, Yusuf and Raina bowled really well. Ishant was OK although he could have done better. Praveen was poor and RP was below average, but Nehra is going to be back in place of Praveen. I am very happy with our part time bowling (Raina and Yuvraj are doing a very good job and Yusuf might finally turn around the corner as far as his bowling). People said Dravid was boring. WHO? 37 of 34 balls is really good. If Gambhir is fit, then its HIGHLY IDIOTIC of Dhoni not to play him since Gambhir hasnt played for more than 2 months in internationals.

I am pretty optimistic of our chances. Our batting is in very good form, and the pitches are expected to be good batting tracks. Even if our fast bowlers bowl badly (though I expect them to do better than their recent ones), our spinners and other bowlers can slow down the pace and pick crucial wickets. Even when Zaheer was a part of the side, he was the lone warrior but still we won tournaments.

 

[SciD]

Don't read too much in warm up games. We were good in T20 warm up games.

 

[aditya123]

Mishra, Yusuf and Raina bowled really well. Ishant was OK although he could have done better. Praveen was poor and RP was below average, but Nehra is going to be back in place of Praveen. I am very happy with our part time bowling (Raina and Yuvraj are doing a very good job and Yusuf might finally turn around the corner as far as his bowling). People said Dravid was boring. WHO? 37 of 34 balls is really good. If Gambhir is fit, then its HIGHLY IDIOTIC of Dhoni not to play him since Gambhir hasnt played for more than 2 months in internationals.

I am pretty optimistic of our chances. Our batting is in very good form, and the pitches are expected to be good batting tracks. Even if our fast bowlers bowl badly (though I expect them to do better than their recent ones), our spinners and other bowlers can slow down the pace and pick crucial wickets. Even when Zaheer was a part of the side, he was the lone warrior but still we won tournaments.

Sorry, relying on Raina,Yusuf and Yuvraj to slow things down and pick wickets is`nt the ideal position to be in at the start of a big event. Keep in mind that this is taking place in SA and it is the seamers who have to do the bulk of the work with the ball and not a bunch of part-timers. If you look at the our previous successes in big tournaments, our bowling has invariably come to the party. Be it the 2003 WC when we arguably had our best pace attack ever in Srinath,Nehra and Zaheer all at their peak or the 2007 T20 WC where RP and Sreesanth were superb with the ball. Even in the 2000 ICC Knockout, Zaheer was sensational in his debut tournament. In none of the above mentioned cases did you see us relying this much on part timers.

 

[Insomniac]

I love the fan shout on the Yahoo! page for the warm-up games :laugh

Chevrolet Warriors vs. Pakistan at Willowmoore Park, Benoni | Yahoo! India Cricket

It's worse than a youtube comment war in there!

 

[irottev]

Good performance. Still, none of our batsmen got triple figures. Lots of 30s to 60s. Kinda annoys me how we play well against India now in a game which doesn't matter. It makes a difference when we don't give Yuvraj wickets.

Bowlers did well. Bond as usual got some wickets and Vettori also. Butler only got 2 overs for some reason.

 

[aussie1st]

So that's what happens when NZ play full strength in a warm up! Good all round performance by the Kiwis, if they do that in the group play they could well make it to the semis. Still got Oram who hasn't fire but given the amount of chances hes been given you think he will have to fire sooner or later.

 

[Howsie]

Hopefully that isn't our best performance in the "tournament". Good win for the boys though. I think our bowling attack might look like this:

Bond
Tuffey
Mills
Vettori
Oram

And then Guptill and Ryder to chip in with a few overs if needed. Ryder could be handy at night tbh.

Good to see Broom do some damage too. I don't know why he's playing as a finisher for NZ as he really shouldn't, he's probably one of our best domestic bastmen.

Still this game means nothing in the end and we have to perform when the pressure is actually on.

On India. I really think their bowling will be a problem over here. I have both Australia and South Africa ranked ahead of them at the moment tbh. If this bowling doesn't improve I don't see them getting very far (Semi at best).

Howsie added 1 Minutes and 3 Seconds later...

Don't read too much in warm up games. We were good in T20 warm up games.

India lost to New Zealand there remember.

 

[Ari]

Well then how did we manage that?

Solid preformance from most of the guys still lacking those hundreds though. Need Oram and McCullum to fire if we are to get anywhere I feel I just don't see our new guys being able to be consistant enough through out the entire thing.

To be honest I reckon this is South Africa's to lose they have the complete package. India's bowling is weak at the moment, their are still questions to be asked about Sri Lanka's middle order and I just don't think Australia is good enough at the moment. Bashing around a woeful England side doesn't mean to much. Pakistan could be a suprise I am going to predict they make the final with South Africa.

 

[nz0003]

Good performance by the Kiwis, like the first warm up, I won't read to much into it.

 

[irottev]

SA are my favorites also. I can't see them not making the final - though they're always prone to choke once they get there. India rested a few of their players which wouldn't have helped them. Made a huge difference to have our best side play (Apart from Mills)

 

[khalek]

I think NZ and South Africa will make it to the semi finals from Group B, Sri Lanka just look a bit unconvincing atm cause Jayasuriya's time seems to be up, Jayawardene's still trying to find some form and Mendis is bowling worse than a part timer.

 

[Amiya]

India''s bowling is so weak that even Windies can score 250+. btw was Tendulkar rested or is he injured?

 

[pcfan123]

Pakistan looking solid in the warm ups, they are so bloody random. Shite one day and then world beaters the next. Would love to see them send the aussies home.