10th Match: England vs New Zealand at Jo'Burg

[iridescentt]

Lucky I didn't put that extra 100k on England ay'?

Well I sure have to eat my own words about what I said with Guppers.

 

[Brook]

Elliott needs to step up

True with the bat, but he was very useful with the ball in this match.

 

[irottev]

Woooo. We won! Have to say, the pitch didn't help England. Good toss to win etc.

I just read through the thread. A lot of laughs. Especially the Bopara slagging off.

Elliot and Bond did fantastic with the ball. They set it up. The middle order is a concern. I'm glad McCullum and Guptill played aggressively. As NZ fans we've all seen what happens when we go after a small target defensively, we crumble and lose. Finally we've learned from it. Good opening stand. Maybe we need Styris back. We need some stability and experience. Broom isn't cutting it and Hopkins is just absolute garbage.

Oh well i'm relieved. We'll probably lose in the semis once again, but at least we have another shot.

Oh and good to see Vettori calling Collingwood back. Especially after it was Collingwood who didn't call back Elliot and also the runner thing, which is sort of fair enough I guess. Collingwood probably deserved to go. Good to see us playing in the spirit of the game.

 

[Howsie]

Brendon McCullum finally play's his natural game and I don't get to see it, fantastic. Good to see Guptill continue on with his form, pretty scary collapse though.

We've topped this group right? Does that mean we play at this ground for our semi?

 

[Insomniac]

Brendon McCullum finally play's his natural game and I don't get to see it, fantastic. Good to see Guptill continue on with his form, pretty scary collapse though.

We've topped this group right? Does that mean we play at this ground for our semi?

Yes, you will play the loser of Australia v Pakistan (in all likeliness) unless India sneak in.

So pretty much New Zealand are looking at the possibility of facing either of those 3 teams; and if they face Pakistan, then well, we know NZ are goners (See NZ record in Semi Finals vs Pakistan).

 

[Collingwood50]

Oh England :sarcasm What are we going to do with you :laugh

 

[nikhil_99]

NZ bowlers bowled really well yesterday, Eng bastman had no answer,the track also helped them...Now they have reached semis for sure..they might face either Pak or Aus lets see there also a possibility that they might face India (if India wins against WI and Pak wins against Aus)

 

[Howsie]

Robert Croft- "some of the players [in the New Zealand ODI team] wouldn't make it into county teams".

:sarcasm Nice. Rather certain that everyone in that XI last night would at least make a county team.

 

[piriyanth]

England are back to their losing ways.

Still tight match though.

 

[Ari]

That was closer than it should have been, middle order is not looking that flash right now. Still in the end we finished top of the table I did not expect that let alone make the semi's. Biggest test is still to come we are probably only second to South Africa at getting knocked out in semi final games.

 

[McLOVIN]

Well if they bring in Redmond to open and drop Hopkins, moving Guptill down to 3, that should be better.

why change the openers? they are perfectly fine.

 

[Howsie]

why change the openers? they are perfectly fine.

Well Guptill did score 66 batting at three two days ago, so it's not like moving him down will kill his momentum. Redmond could quite possibly bat at three, but if he comes into the team (and he should) he has to open.

 

[CG123]

Robert Croft- "some of the players [in the New Zealand ODI team] wouldn't make it into county teams".

:sarcasm Nice. Rather certain that everyone in that XI last night would at least make a county team.

Robert Croft... What an idiot.

New Zealand rejects like Wisemen, Spearmen and Marshall all play over there... Why wouldn't guys in our current team make it in???

 

[Howsie]

Robert Croft... What an idiot.

New Zealand rejects like Wisemen, Spearmen and Marshall all play over there... Why wouldn't guys in our current team make it in???

Probably ill-informed. He's probably looked at the team sheet and said, hmmm Broom, Guptill, Elliott, I've never heard of these guys, they're probably average.

I mean look at the guy's we usually have: Ryder, McCullum, Taylor, Guptill, Bond, Vettori would probably all make the England team.

Not to mention the likes of Elliott and Franklin who have been playing county cricket in England this summer.

 

[age of the fall]

why change the openers? they are perfectly fine.

I agree. Guppers is best as an opener, once Ryder comes back then drop McCullum down the order.