2025 ICC Champions Trophy - General Discussions

[wasteyouryouth]

Fantastic match. Great performances from Ibrahim and Azmat. Very pleased for them.

 

[Fenil]

What A Game!!!

England would have a lot to ponder and Afghanistan would have something to celebrate.

The matches like these keep the game alive and lively.

We need more teams. You hear that ICC?

 

[Aravind.]

Take that England, watta win.

 

[Pinch hitter]

With this loose, England is out... Afghan vs Aussie on Friday going to be fun...

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

We almost had an upset today. Glad to see the better team won

 

[CerealKiller]

England made so much noise about their “mentality changes” in white ball in 2015, and with Bazball in 2022, and all they have to show for it is a stolen World Cup, a T20 WC won against Babar Azam’s tactics, and a series whitewash against Babar Azam’s tactics.

 

[icyman]

You can't deny they there THE TEAM post the CWC 2015. Yes, the stolen World Cup apart, they still had a stellar run with ODIs going in excess of 350 regularly. The English went downhill post the high of the CWC 2019- one can owe it to a few factors here:

1. Morgan walking away
2. Stokes picking and choosing
3. Over reliance and over-rating of Jofra
4. Stocking the side with 'slam bang, thank you ma'am' players & a coach in Baz.

That said, they are still better than the England we saw from 1999-2015.

 

[ddrap14]

England made so much noise about their “mentality changes” in white ball in 2015, and with Bazball in 2022, and all they have to show for it is a stolen World Cup, a T20 WC won against Babar Azam’s tactics, and a series whitewash against Babar Azam’s tactics.

Yeah, as Icy said, this is a little reductionist - for about 5-6 years England were pretty much the best ODI team in the world

 

[wasteyouryouth]

England made so much noise about their “mentality changes” in white ball in 2015, and with Bazball in 2022, and all they have to show for it is a stolen World Cup, a T20 WC won against Babar Azam’s tactics, and a series whitewash against Babar Azam’s tactics.

We changed ODi and T20 cricket then went back to being crap at it. Typical English hubris.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Been said before but should be said again; Jonathan Trott is doing a wonderful job with Afghanistan.

 

[icyman]

That Trott statement is spot on! I'd also like to give credit to him, the Afghan players and the various experts they have added to their support staff over tournaments. If this wasn't an era where T20 and leagues were dominating the game, Afghanistan would have soared in ODI rankings. A bit more practice and they would be as good as what Pakistan was in the late 1990s.

For Afghanistan, their main hoodoo seems to be India. They haven't yet beaten India, but have come close. The moment they get over that line, I expect them to be even more competitive- getting that belief that they can beat anyone.

We changed ODi and T20 cricket then went back to being crap at it. Typical English hubris.

On these lines, I wonder what we fans define as success? There's one school of thought that would look at individual games and the entertainment brought to the fore- the close games, the 'fun' back to cricket part.

Then ,there's the other school of thought that seems to be tired of the team doing well in individual matches, but failing at the final junctures- more like how India dominates cricket, but doesn't have the trophies to show against that domination.

With England, I feel it is more of the same- after the 2019 and 2022 World Cups, they have been outfoxed by a variety of opposition across formats. Nevertheless, they are still a force to contend with. I'd say England of today = Sri Lanka of 1997-2011.

 

[icyman]

Babar , Salman and Shaheen look worried. Probably wondering what they will do if the Pakistan captaincy is given to either of them

 

[Pinch hitter]

Host ended the tournament without a win... Sad...

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Pointless tournament suffering from wash outs. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying a balmy sunny 9 degrees in England. #PlayItInEngland

 

[icyman]

It has really become a pointless tournament. ICC's fascination behind having a World Event each year is going to backfire sooner or later.

Irrespective of who wins here, this needs to go.