Australia defeat West Indies but lose #1 spot
The good news is Australia thrashed the West Indies by 103 runs overnight. The bad news is there's no chance of us regaining our #1 spot after South Africa scraped a 1 wicket victory over Sri Lanka (4 wickets in 4 balls from Lasith Malinga, it's a pity YouTube have blocked World Cup clips as I would love to see that).
The West Indies innings started poor and didn't get much better. The pitch was difficult early on (as predicted), showing that the rain delay actually played in Australia's favour. My hopes were that Shaun Tait would run through the top order in the early overs but those hopes were dimmed when Tait bowled 3 wides in his first over. However, he did manage to trap Chanderpaul LBW (with a delivery that was missing the stumps).
Chris Gayle decided to parrot Matt Hayden, plodding along with an uncharacteristic 2 runs of 16 balls. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't emulate the rest of Hayden's innings and fell as soon as McGrath came into the attack. Pigeon's first over was a wicket maiden where he also struck Samuels in the helmet. His second over dismissed Samuels who had a brain explosion, attempting to send the ball into the stratosphere. There's life in the old bird yet!
By the end of the power plays, the match was effectively over. The West Indies had lost 3 wickets and were scoring at 2 runs per over. Even Lara's brilliance couldn't do much about that and his partners fell to increasingly desperate shots as the required run rate spiralled out of control. I confess I fell asleep around this time - I made the foolhardy decision to stay up till 11.30 (rather than the previous day's catnap before the start of play) and dozed off with the West Indies 5 down. When I woke up at 3.30am, the match was all over.
The game shows that Australia have got their aura back and big time. Their last 6 innings have all featured 300+ totals (although admittedly they lost two of those matches) including 3 centuries from Hayden. Haydos is going through another purple patch a la India 2001. You can also see it in Ricky Ponting's comments after the match:
"Two weeks ago everyone said we weren't frightening, now all of a sudden we are again - it's a funny game. Our squad hasn't changed in that time. You hear about other sides saying they don't fear us, and don't fear anything we have to offer. Well, it's all right saying that, but you have to go out there and play a certain brand of cricket to back that up. So far they haven't done that."If that aint verbal swagger, I don't know what is.
| Posted by JC on Thu 29 Mar |  13 comments |
How many does Pigeon need now to get the record?
By the way, JC, are you sure there isn't a coincidence in the fact that Lara was cruising while you were watching and then the game slipped away from the WI after you fell asleep?
Posted by TA on 2007-03-29 10:55:27
By the way, JC, are you sure there isn't a coincidence in the fact that Lara was cruising while you were watching and then the game slipped away from the WI after you fell asleep?
Posted by TA on 2007-03-29 10:55:27
TA, I was actually thinking about that earlier today - Lara would be the second most "watchable" batsman in cricket as far as I'm concerned (Gilly first). The way he wields the bat, whips it around with such wristy speed, the high backlift, the guy oozes talent + skill and is a delight to watch. And even better, he doesn't get out when I watch him play!
Now normally that would exclude me watching him for the good of the Australian team. However, Lara has the unique record of playing in the most Test defeats ever. He's the world's best batsman but that just seems to highlight the lack of support from his teammates on so many occasions. In that double century at Adelaide that I referred to earlier, it was a strange game in that while he was amassing all these runs, Australia's victory still have that feeling of inevitability. So I feel confident in watching Lara bat and yet our boys still winning.
Posted by JC on 2007-03-29 11:05:04
Now normally that would exclude me watching him for the good of the Australian team. However, Lara has the unique record of playing in the most Test defeats ever. He's the world's best batsman but that just seems to highlight the lack of support from his teammates on so many occasions. In that double century at Adelaide that I referred to earlier, it was a strange game in that while he was amassing all these runs, Australia's victory still have that feeling of inevitability. So I feel confident in watching Lara bat and yet our boys still winning.
Posted by JC on 2007-03-29 11:05:04
After watching the West Indies last night, it suddenly dawned on me just how incredible that, after the start the Aussies had, they still managed to get to a 300+ total. Hayden took 18 balls to even start scoring. The West Indies started in a similiar slow manner but with such a high target and never ever really looked like a possibility.
Posted by Andrew on 2007-03-29 11:18:24
Posted by Andrew on 2007-03-29 11:18:24
Australia have several batsman in white hot form - Ponting, Clarke, Hayden. The West Indies only had Lara firing on all cylinders - he needed to score a big hundred with more support.
I have to say Australia's bowling does have good variety at the moment. Bracken gets good shape with the new ball with Tait steaming in at the other end. Then McGrath pitches in with his metronomes and always seems to get early wickets as the batsmen seem to target him. Hogg is leading the wicket tally at the moment - he seemed all over Lara at times last night. And Watson is better than a kick in the head, I guess.
Posted by JC on 2007-03-29 12:22:48
I have to say Australia's bowling does have good variety at the moment. Bracken gets good shape with the new ball with Tait steaming in at the other end. Then McGrath pitches in with his metronomes and always seems to get early wickets as the batsmen seem to target him. Hogg is leading the wicket tally at the moment - he seemed all over Lara at times last night. And Watson is better than a kick in the head, I guess.
Posted by JC on 2007-03-29 12:22:48
I think it is pretty sad that Australia is second to South Africa in the rankings. Despite the start Smith and DeVilliers put on, we flogged South Africa, and we flogged the Windies, why are we number ywo? McGrath looks as good as ever and Hogg is on fire. I'm still not convinced about Watson, I know Flintoff is good but did he really have that much impact? Watson is now the golden boy of the future, but he's not a very good bowler. Also it's not often I get to say this but how did Tait ever get Schanderpaul? that ball was missing off stump by several meters.
Posted by Wild Bill on 2007-03-30 11:17:55
Posted by Wild Bill on 2007-03-30 11:17:55
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Posted by fanatic on 2007-03-30 12:05:10
I found this social network site for cricket fanatics like myself.
http://ecricks.ning.com
Check it out.
Posted by fanatic on 2007-03-30 12:05:10
Aussie is number two cause they were flogged by the Kiwis.
Posted by Jimbo on 2007-03-30 13:56:53
Posted by Jimbo on 2007-03-30 13:56:53
Good as Lara is, he is a totally selfish batsman who bats for himself and not the team.
I'd therefore not rate him in my top half dozen.
Posted by Dan Tas on 2007-03-30 17:13:21
I'd therefore not rate him in my top half dozen.
Posted by Dan Tas on 2007-03-30 17:13:21
I noticed that the King Cricket website has the Malinga double hat trick last time I looked(unless it's already been pulled!)
I reckon Hawkeye was wrong about Tait's lbw. just becuase it's done by a computer doesn't mean it's always right. i noticed on one of the replays that it was a bit ambiguos whether the ball hit on the front or back pad so that would have made a difference in the angle of the ball past the stumps.
Posted by MT on 2007-03-30 17:17:33
I reckon Hawkeye was wrong about Tait's lbw. just becuase it's done by a computer doesn't mean it's always right. i noticed on one of the replays that it was a bit ambiguos whether the ball hit on the front or back pad so that would have made a difference in the angle of the ball past the stumps.
Posted by MT on 2007-03-30 17:17:33
Re Tait's LBW, I remember thinking it was dodgy after watching it first time around - it looked like it was going past off.
Re South Africa's #1 ranking, they did beat us in an ODI series in South Africa plus we'd just lost to England and New Zealand. It's not undeserved.
Posted by JC on 2007-03-30 18:10:13
Re South Africa's #1 ranking, they did beat us in an ODI series in South Africa plus we'd just lost to England and New Zealand. It's not undeserved.
Posted by JC on 2007-03-30 18:10:13
If, and a very likely if, australia win the world cup i dont think that the No.1 ICC tag or the prize money would be a major concern.
Smart Alec
Posted by Swapnil Shukla on 2007-03-30 21:05:23
Smart Alec
Posted by Swapnil Shukla on 2007-03-30 21:05:23
There you go......
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v33744078g9DHSz
Posted by Jeet on 2007-03-31 21:01:55
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v33744078g9DHSz
Posted by Jeet on 2007-03-31 21:01:55
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