1st Semi-Final: England v Sri Lanka at Gros Islet

[King Pietersen]

Only just got back from Nets. Loving the fact we're in the final. This is the best tournament performance I've ever seen from an England side. The batting has been consistently excellent, we've bowled surprisingly excellently and fielded brilliantly. Love the opening pair; the middle order look very good (though Collingwood in this form is still a worry); Wright, Bresnan, Yardy and Swann is a powerful lower order and the bowling has been surprisingly good. Loving it.

Colly batted well again then. He going to make 1 score of any note in this tournament? Still not convinced by him in T20. Needs a score in the final to redeem himself.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Well if Pakistan can win the Semifinal,then surely they will beat England too.

Aren't you forgetting something? We have already beaten Pakistan in this tournament - I'm sure most people in England are hoping that Pakistan beat Australia.

 

[King Pietersen]

I'm not. I want the 2 best sides in the competition to meet in the final. Beating Australia would top off what has been a magnificent tournament. Obviously I'd take beating Pakistan, but I'd much rather face the Aussies in the final.

 

[Themer]

Yeah I want Australia to win just for the epicness the final would be. Regardless of who wins the final I'm just pleased that the England team have looked genuinely decent throughout the tournament.

It definetely looks like a strong base that we can build from rather than the ole rotate continously in the shorter formats.

 

[King Pietersen]

Aye. Just hope we stick with this top order in ODi's. Strauss hasn't been great, so might as well give Lumb a go in that form. Has certainly looked International class in the T20i's, just keeps chucking his wicket away after getting himself in, which has been his problem throughout his career. Hopefully that'll get sorted out by Flower and the coaching staff. Loving this batting line-up, and think it could be even stronger in ODi's as Colly can actually bat in that format.

 

[pcfan123]

Just need to figure out that number 6 spot and we have a solid batting lineup to develop for the real WC next year

 

[King Pietersen]

Fred back tbh. He's supposedly recovering nicely, has started netting with Lancashire and could be back fairly soon. Flintoff batting 6 with either Yardy, Patel or Wright at 7 looks an excellent side for me. Adds that extra death bowling from Flintoff, and I think we'll definitely need a 2nd spin option in the subcontinent, so I see it being either Yardy or Patel, depending on how good a season Samit has.

Kieswetter
Lumb
Pietersen
Collingwood
Morgan
Flintoff
Yardy
Bresnan
Swann
Broad
Anderson

Looks a pretty impressive ODi line-up that. Just wish they'd give KP the captaincy. I'm really hoping he gets the captaincy back when Strauss retires, really don't want Cook as skipper.

 

[SaiSrini]

Now that England is there, I wouldnt actually mind Australia beating Pakistan and getting to the final. Would be an epic final betwen the two oldest of rivals in cricketing history. And finally, the country that created cricket has a chance to win a major world tournament (although its only T20)

 

[Brook]

Only change I'd make to that is perhaps Lumb out, perhaps Strauss in.

 

[King Pietersen]

I'm a biased Hampshire fan though, so would love to see Lumby in the England side. I don't think Strauss has been particularly impressive since he came back in though. Basically keeping his place cause he's skipper.

 

[War]

Fred back tbh. He's supposedly recovering nicely, has started netting with Lancashire and could be back fairly soon. Flintoff batting 6 with either Yardy, Patel or Wright at 7 looks an excellent side for me. Adds that extra death bowling from Flintoff, and I think we'll definitely need a 2nd spin option in the subcontinent, so I see it being either Yardy or Patel, depending on how good a season Samit has.

Kieswetter
Lumb
Pietersen
Collingwood
Morgan
Flintoff
Yardy
Bresnan
Swann
Broad
Anderson

Looks a pretty impressive ODi line-up that. Just wish they'd give KP the captaincy. I'm really hoping he gets the captaincy back when Strauss retires, really don't want Cook as skipper.

Although i support Lumb opening in ODIs soon. I'm willing to let Strauss continue opening for the remainder of the year TBH. He had a fairly good 2009 opening. His pefromances during that series in the windies was pretty special for eg. But of course if he slips up this year, Lumb will come right in.

Would also definately have Wright ahead of Bresnan in that full strenght line-up as well.

 

[aussie1st]

Impressive win England, your openers continue to get 30 odd which is very handy and KP is in great form as usual. Jayawardene followed his IPL pattern, started off well but faded when the heat was on. Once you guys had SL for that low total their bowlers had no show.

 

[Dutch]

What impressed me the most was the fact that even though England were on top, the reactions of the players when things werent going quite right was very competitive. Pissed off that someone misfielded or bowled a bad ball or two. They were very competitive, very edgy, really fighting for each other and wanting to do their bit. There was none of that "ah well, it can happen bullshit" you sometimes see. Haven't seen that kind of vibe for a while from the England team. Loved it!

 

[angryangy]

Sometimes England go too far in that respect. English bowlers can rage pretty hard at their fielders when they're getting carted.

The feeling I got from this game is that Sri Lanka had a chance, they had enough in their stack to do it, but just proceeded to fold up badly and failed to make anything stick under pressure. Kieswetter should have been lbw on 16, can't do much about that, but then Lumb should have been run out by a mile for 11, caught on 23 and then run out again on 25. They were already wilting by failing to make 130, but it just highlights the sort of pressure that England weren't put under; not unlike Sri Lanka's game against Australia. In that sense, NZ were more deserving of a finals spot and in truth, the only reason Pakistan were able to prevent that is not through their own pressure creating qualities, but through Albie Morkel.

The way teams have played, the tournament really can only be finished by England and Australia. Pakistan going through would be a sad joke.

 

[AkshayS]

An easy win for England there.
Again their openers got off to a superb start, and then KP is KP.
Never saw the match in SL's hands.

Waiting for a Australia-England final clash.