Yay! That was an exciting knock by de Villiers, but yes, grim, he was lucky. Still, it should give the boys some conficence after the Tigers loss.
Probably the most exciting contest of the tournament coming up tonight. Australia expected to win, but Jayasuriya, Murli & Co. might just pull one off.
I don’t think I’ve seen a New Zealand side so professional before: usually we either fold like umbrellas, scratch out a rain-assisted win, or play out of our skins. Damned if Fleming hasn’t come into his own as a captain, though: he’s handling the team like a champ, and the wins are looking fluid and assured. A stumble against Sri Lanka, but a convincing victory over South Africa.
And Ireland beat Bangladesh to arrive at full one day status - well done, them. Not bad for a bunch of part-timers.
Another easy win for the Aussies. I’m wondering though where was Murali?
It seems strange not to field your top team in a game against the favourite :dubious:
I’m looking forward to the Aust v NZ game. I’ll be interested to see if NZ can replicate their efforts against Australia from the 3 game series earlier in the year. Because I think NZ is the only team that looks like being able to put the brakes on the Australian team at the moment.
It was a dead rubber - both teams have qualified for the semis already, so Sri Lanka opted to rest their front line in order not to give the Aussies a practice run at their bowling attack. Whether this is a good idea or not is debatable, of course, but that’s the reasoning; personally I think it’s pretty sound, given the massive edge the Aussies seem to have. At this stage, Australia’s middle order batsmen have had virtually no time in the middle; no need, then, to go giving them batting practice against your best weapons in a match that doesn’t matter one jot. Keep Murali’s variations and Vaas’s swing in the bag, and give some youngsters a chance. Boring from a spectator’s point of view, of course, but we’ll thank them if it gives us a more competitive final.
Another black mark against the Super 8 format, really; what on paper should have been exciting turned out to be a complete non-event. Ho hum. Just one more week of this before it actually goes (shock!) knock-out.
And YAY! We’re in the semis.
Leaving England in our dust was a bonus after all their trash talking.
Now if the boys can muster the same discipline and heart against Australia…
It was pretty much men against babies today.
All what trash talking? :dubious: When Pietersen said, “we’ve been well below par, and we need to turn up on Tuesday”? Or, “we haven’t played any good cricket since we’ve been here”? Or when he said Smith is “playing good cricket”, and that their rivalry is “old news”, and “done and dusted”?
Harsh words indeed, but I didn’t realise the Proteas were so thin-skinned. 
Am finally getting a bit excited now that the interminable super eight stage is winding up
Love the Guardian’s coverage today - relive the over-by-over coverage of England’s fiasco ; read the Full, sickening scorecard and this week’s Spin asks ‘Which will come first? Godot or a good English performance?’
I wasn;'t impressed by Sri Lanka’s holding back the three top bowlers against Aussie. Yes it was a dead rubber but it cheapens the game to throw matches that way. Hopefully New Zealand won’t follow their example when they play Aussie in a couple of days time.
My semis picks - Aussie to crush South Africa. New Zealand to narrowly chase down a decent Sri Lankan target (SL to be punished by the cricket goods for chucking the match with Aussie).
That’s quite a belting. Five wickets for Hall? Isn’t he a dibbly-dobbler?
Can English cricket possibly sink any lower?
Well, “bustly fast-medium” is more like it IMO, and he’s a better bowler than he’s been getting credit for in the media eviscerations of England (93 ODI wickets at an average of 25.27 isn’t bad at all). He’s not filler, certainly, and may well keep Ntini out of the team for the semis with this performance.
Which is still not to say he should’ve sparked a collapse of 5 wickets for 10 runs, of course. Blech.
That must feel sweet. I know that a huge motivation behind the whole Australian cricketing community’s obsessive drive to crush the English in the Test Series this last summer came from wanting to make some big mouths swallow their words. I thought the South African obliteration was Aussie-esque in it’s ruthlessness, cruelty and highlighting of the glaring, woeful inadequacies of the Englishmen. Well done, that’s the way to play cricket!
It’s funny you should say that, what with the shite being talked back in 2005 about 5-0 victories to Australia. :dubious:
Kettle: Why yes, I do appear to be a little carbonised. Thanks very much for pointing that out!
I was going by how it came across on radio here - of course, those were all secondhand reports, so I’ll buy your actual quotes over that.
Fair play. It was quite funny, actually; I typed those down as I was listening to a BBC interviewer basically try and harangue Pietersen into saying something aggressive for 5 whole minutes. By the end he was practically pleading with him - “but this must be a real grudge match for you, what with the history behind it, right?” “There must be a real rivalry there, surely?” KP, remarkably, was having none of it.
'Course, he can’t have been pleased with “c Smith, b Nel” on the scoresheet, but what can you do?
Dead Badger’s quite right. I saw the highlights and withdraw my allegation of Hallish dibbly-dobblerdom.
Inzimam started the trend, now Lara and Fletcher have resigned - who will be next?
Vaughn anyone?
Grim
And tonight’s match? Obviously biased, but I think Australia will beat NZ.
Sometimes I think they should do away with the semi’s and the final so that teams have to try in every game. The top point scorer after the Super 8’s gets the title.