1st semi final: England vs Australia

[Highlander999]

Oh I'm sorry. Can you just remind me again who won the Ashes this year? You know. That little urn which we battle over every 2 years and is worth more then all of the trophies in international cricket put together

 

[T-Hawk]

This game's going to be close, the Aussies have been impressive thus far, and England are pretty in-consistent, hopefully they can o what they did against Sri Lanka and S' Africa, come on England!

 

[Gilly Fan]

How many grounds have they used? Seems like they've only used Centurion and the Wanderers. What about Cape Town or Port Elizabeth? Why aren't they being used?

 

[Legend_Killer]

Both teams are in good momentum.

But England will be my favourite. :sarcasm

 

[RoboRocks]

The Aussies have the wood on us in ODI cricket after the Natwest Series. It's unlikely that England have put that defeat behind them. An Australia win seems very likely.

 

[pcfan123]

So much depends on Jimmy and Broad. If even one has an off day, we could be in for a spanking.

 

[RoboRocks]

Broad's economy has been quite worrying for a while now, but he is taking wickets at least. Jimmy, however, has bowled well in this tournament, he seems to have better control of the white ball.

 

[Legend_Killer]

The Aussies have the wood on us in ODI cricket after the Natwest Series. It's unlikely that England have put that defeat behind them. An Australia win seems very likely.

But England play recently 7 matches against Australia and they know well + England play well except last match against Newzealand.

But English bowlers should play well in semi Because they are the keys for Final

 

[RoboRocks]

But England play recently 7 matches against Australia and they know well + England play well except last match against Newzealand.

But English bowlers should play well in semi Because they are the keys for Final

It doesn't matter how well we know them. We could play against them 100 times and lose 90.

Hopefully, the NZ game was just a blip and we can play well against Australia.

This is England's best chance to win an ICC tournament since 2004, where we lost to the WI in the CT final. We're the only side, apart from Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, not to win an ICC tournament. Just shows our ODI cricket has been over the past 8-9 years.

 

[deepuparayil]

England will win for sure

 

[D0N]

I am favoring England to win

 

[drainpipe32]

Fresh start from England against Australia I reckon; different country and different uniform. I'm hoping for a close tussle, with the Aussies running out winners.

Pity this game isn't on Free to Air TV in Australia *sighs*

 

[Sureshot]

My point is that with just 1 round, it does not necessarily mean the best teams will make it to the semis. If there were 2 rounds then England chances of going through would drop drastically.

However you are probably right, no one cares about the CT and they are probably trying to make it as quick and painless as possible

World Cup runs on the same format.

All knockout tournaments are about is finding out who the best side is on the day. If it was just the best sides going through, tournaments would be pointless.

2-round group stages would be difficult to fit in an already very packed schedule.

 

[piriyanth]

I hope Australia's middle order batting improves.

1)Watson
2)Paine
3)Ponting
4)Mussey
5)White
6)Ferguson
7)Dussey
8)Johnson
9)Lee
10)Hauritz
11)Siddle.

I think it's time, we get rid of Hopes and bring in Dussey. His big hitting can be useful at no.7.

 

[TumTum]

Yeah Dussey is a much better batsmen than Hopes.

He is also a spinner (and a very good one) who can dry up the runs really quickly.

We already have a "Hopes" type of player and he is Watson, his bowling is not neccesary.

But its too late, Dussey is not in the squad.