Australia cruise to victory over England
Australia have pretty much booked a semi-final spot while England are one loss away from World Cup elimination after Australia cruised to a 7 wicket victory. As for me, I must be getting old. I set the alarm for 11.30pm and watched England bat first but drowsed off towards the end of their innings. I woke in fits and starts throughout Australia's innings (perhaps explaining why Gilly got a start but didn't go on with it). But I didn't have a chance of getting through the whole game. I'm not sure why I'm finding it so difficult - during the 2005 Ashes, I stayed up till 4am pumping the air while Australia drew at Old Trafford. The World Cup is no Ashes though.
England will rue a lost opportunity. While Vaughan and Strauss were done for pace, both playing Tait onto their stumps, it only served to bring the in-form Bell and Pietersen together quicker. They got their eye in then pounced on first changers McGrath and Clarke. Pietersen walked down the pitch to his first delivery from McGrath - unfortunately Pigeon delivered a full toss rather than a rib tickler and was dispatched to the boundary. Bell then hit him out of the attack with 3 boundaries in one over. Suddenly our bowling attack looked vulnerable - after Tait and Bracken, we had a creaky McGrath, rusty Symonds, part-timer Clarke and Brad Hogg.
Ponting was forced to delay the second power play but when he brought it back at the halfway mark, it was the turning point of the match. England were humming along towards a 300+ score when Bell holed out to cover off McGrath. Tait was bowling beautifully - after the raw pace of his initial spell, he was now getting sharp reverse swing and had Collingwood caught behind. Flintoff was all at sea against Hogg. One googly had him playing and missing by more than a bat width. The next delivery was worse as he tried walking down the pitch to counteract the spin and was stumped.
The middle order collapse forced Pietersen to rein things in and while he still went on to notch a century, things would've been a lot worse for Australia if Bell had held his wicket for 10 more overs. On the other hand, England's innings would've been a disaster if Hayden at mid-off had held an easy catch from Pietersen. In the end, England were dismissed in the 50th over for 246.
The target never seemed out of reach for Australia. England desperately needed early wickets but Hayden and Gilly put on 57. After the openers fell, Ponting and Clarke prevented any chance of a collapse, putting on 112. Punter was run out before the finish line but Clarke and Symonds took us home with 3 overs to spare (I'd give a more detailed report of our innings but I slept through most of it). So Australia continue their unbeaten run (we haven't lost a World Cup match since 1999) although they still are yet to meet Sri Lanka and New Zealand who also look to have their semi-final spots sewn up already.
One last comment on the Viv Richards stadium - I love the concept of a swimming pool within the ground. I can't see a pool working here at the Gabba with our Brisbane water restrictions although with it full of drunken Aussie spectators, they'd have no trouble keeping it filled with liquid.
| Posted by JC on Mon 9 Apr |  11 comments |
Finally, Tait bowled straight, and Aussie looked indomitable.
The second spells of Bracky and Pigeon were crucial to the Poms posting a huge total. Pieterson just could not up the tempo, and Bell was out at the wrong time.
But, at the end, a familiar thrashing. All the 3000 Queen's men who took a cruise to the Carribean just to watch last nite's encounter will be filling up the Antiguan bars drowning their sorrows. Their ship's waiting... the spineless English can go back.
A word of sympathy for Pieterson, the lone ranger.
Vaughan is an apology of a cricketer. After 2002, pray what did he accomplish, when he was not injured that is? Why is he still playing the game? If he were the Indian captain, he would have been thrown out by the media and the crazy billion. And, Flintie, the lesser said the better. He is just a once-in-a-blue-moon flasher. Not a wee bit in the mould of Botham.
Cheers
Mahesh
Posted by Mahesh on 2007-04-09 13:30:44
The second spells of Bracky and Pigeon were crucial to the Poms posting a huge total. Pieterson just could not up the tempo, and Bell was out at the wrong time.
But, at the end, a familiar thrashing. All the 3000 Queen's men who took a cruise to the Carribean just to watch last nite's encounter will be filling up the Antiguan bars drowning their sorrows. Their ship's waiting... the spineless English can go back.
A word of sympathy for Pieterson, the lone ranger.
Vaughan is an apology of a cricketer. After 2002, pray what did he accomplish, when he was not injured that is? Why is he still playing the game? If he were the Indian captain, he would have been thrown out by the media and the crazy billion. And, Flintie, the lesser said the better. He is just a once-in-a-blue-moon flasher. Not a wee bit in the mould of Botham.
Cheers
Mahesh
Posted by Mahesh on 2007-04-09 13:30:44
The commentators pointed out that after the bell/pieterson partnership, England failed to rotate the strike enough to give pieterson a chance to keep the run rate up and they also said pieterson was playing for his hundred. I think they were right about both. It wasn't the type of game where the batsmen could carefully work their way up to 100.. England were in trouble and they needed momentum so they could get every run possible. The way pieterson celebrated his ton was embarrasing when you think about what the innings could have been if he had kept the tempo up.
So I think it was England's poor running and rotation of the strike, plus pieterson's selfishness that really let them down.
Posted by Chris on 2007-04-09 15:09:34
So I think it was England's poor running and rotation of the strike, plus pieterson's selfishness that really let them down.
Posted by Chris on 2007-04-09 15:09:34
Didn't see Pietersen's innings Chris (I did a JC), but your description of his knock is indicative of the way he batted all summer in Australia. Mr Red Ink or Mr Averages we could call him. Imagine what Gilchrist's Test batting average would be if he'd played for himself all the time. Bradmanesque!!
The only sad thing about last night's win was that it didn't guarantee the Pommy exit from the tournament.
Posted by Dan Tas on 2007-04-09 16:33:13
The only sad thing about last night's win was that it didn't guarantee the Pommy exit from the tournament.
Posted by Dan Tas on 2007-04-09 16:33:13
Pietersen started well, but his last fifty especially once his got to the 90s, he just slowed right down. No real attempt to pick things up. I often wonder if England plays better without him, AKA the CB trophy. It was pretty embaressing, it would be interesting to see his team reaction, when he reached it.
Tait was bowling well, it was good to see him live up to the hype.
We are Number one again.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,21525571-5012554,00.html
Posted by Andrew on 2007-04-09 16:48:08
Tait was bowling well, it was good to see him live up to the hype.
We are Number one again.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,21525571-5012554,00.html
Posted by Andrew on 2007-04-09 16:48:08
Tait bowled well, only 1 wide down legside! Looked like he was thinking a lot more about his bowling - this from a man who previously said thinking just confused him - - I think McGrath is trying to teach hime a few tips before he retires. Pieterson got dropped twice then slowed down a lot after that. Then he was off strike a lot too. Was possibly playing for his hundred.
I couldn't stay up either so taped the match on long play video.
I think the Kiwis are on top of the WC points table due to runrate though.
Posted by MT on 2007-04-10 09:44:55
I couldn't stay up either so taped the match on long play video.
I think the Kiwis are on top of the WC points table due to runrate though.
Posted by MT on 2007-04-10 09:44:55
After Sunday's snoozefest, Wendy suggested I tape future games which I responded to incredulously. You can't tape live sport! There's something inherently wrong about watching a cricket match the next day. Not to mention the dilemma of somehow avoiding hearing the result on the radio or TV.
It usually takes me a couple of days for my brain patterns to adjust to new ideas so I'm starting to come round on the topic. Maybe it's better to see the game at all rather than doze through 70% of the action. Australia's next game is Friday night vs Ireland - not a marquee event but perhaps I'll have overcome my natural aversion by then and tape the game.
Posted by JC on 2007-04-10 10:03:27
It usually takes me a couple of days for my brain patterns to adjust to new ideas so I'm starting to come round on the topic. Maybe it's better to see the game at all rather than doze through 70% of the action. Australia's next game is Friday night vs Ireland - not a marquee event but perhaps I'll have overcome my natural aversion by then and tape the game.
Posted by JC on 2007-04-10 10:03:27
Actually I got up early and watched the last hour live so I still got the drama of seeing the end result as it happened. Then when I went back and watched the rest I was glad I taped it because it was pretty slow in spots.
it's still not the same as watching it live though!
Posted by MT on 2007-04-10 11:48:51
it's still not the same as watching it live though!
Posted by MT on 2007-04-10 11:48:51
DVD recorders are the way to go chaps. Wake up, turn on the TV (making sure to avoid news programs), turn on the recording and hit the 'skip 1 minute' button at the end of every over. Almost like staying up for the real thing.
Posted by TA on 2007-04-10 12:25:40
Posted by TA on 2007-04-10 12:25:40
Couldn't agree more Chris. Pietersen clearly put his own ambitions of scoring a hundred over the need to maintain a rr of at least 6rpo. It's hard to blame a bloke who scored virtually half the team total (especially when they are bowled out) but if you don't have 300 on the board you don't stand a chance against a team with Hodge batting at 7.
Posted by P. Dorf on 2007-04-10 12:45:02
Posted by P. Dorf on 2007-04-10 12:45:02
Re Pietersen's hundred, my impression of his innings was he was motoring along nicely with Bell but once Bell got out and the middle order collapsed, he played it safe in order to bat out the innings. Of course, I fell asleep before he hit the 90's so I can't speak for his batting at that stage.
But one thing I did notice - he has a habit of getting a single off the first ball of an over then the struggling batsman at the other end chews up an over full of dot balls. Did the same thing during the Ashes - made no attempt to shield the tail which made our 5-nil result all the easier.
Posted by JC on 2007-04-10 15:29:57
But one thing I did notice - he has a habit of getting a single off the first ball of an over then the struggling batsman at the other end chews up an over full of dot balls. Did the same thing during the Ashes - made no attempt to shield the tail which made our 5-nil result all the easier.
Posted by JC on 2007-04-10 15:29:57
Post New Comment
You need to be logged in to post a comment. If you're new, register here. Existing users, login via the right margin.
