General Cricket Discussion

[abhi_jacko]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but Warne just copies what other commentators and pundits say. He also would make the opposite decision to the one every captain makes unless the decisions has come from Michael Clarke. They guy's a twat.

He has to be one the most annoying commentators.

Plus, every now and then he makes these suggestive and horny comments that only he finds amusing

 

[Aalay]

I don't know about you guys but for me Ian Smith, Simon Doul, Ian Bishop, David Lloyd, Michael Atherton, and Damien Felming are doing a very good job. The other are either biased or just twats in general.

 

[Satan666]

No one realised it at the time but Tony Greig was an absolutely fantastic commentator and since his sad death no one has been able to match him. He had a great way with words.

He famously said simply 'ooh, that's rubbish' at a Simon Katich delivery in the 2005 Ashes. And I always admired him for his total respect of the umpire's decision. He would ask 'has he got him!?' in his trademark style but as soon as the umpire shook his head he would say 'no, not out, hit him on the arm'. He was brilliant.

What I admired about him is his willingness to speak his mind, it didnt matter who it affected but he called it as he saw it. He was very opened in his commentary on the Deness affair in the 2001 Indian tour of South Africa. Most of all his iconic hat, great cricketer and likewise commentator, sadly missed!

 

[Satan666]

He has to be one the most annoying commentators.

Plus, every now and then he makes these suggestive and horny comments that only he finds amusing

I find them to be amusing. Cant see why Warne is getting shown all this disrespectfulness, see nothing wrong with his commentary at all, plus now I know whats a 'Big Dorothy' thanks to him!

 

[abhi_jacko]

I find them to be amusing. Cant see why Warne is getting shown all this disrespectfulness, see nothing wrong with his commentary at all, plus now I know whats a 'Big Dorothy' thanks to him!

Oh nice. First person who actually seems to enjoy it Good for Warney

Me and my mates cant stand him though. Almost as bad as Russel Arnold, who makes my ears bleed

 

[themusketeer]

David Basheer

 

[grkrama]

he is the best

 

[Thomas Saywell]

Sangakara made a new record of hitting 4 centuries in the row. Fantastic!!
Going toward end of his career but making the new bunch of records.

 

[icyman]

Taking nothing away from Sangakarra, I'd have liked to see these come on competitive tracks. The current ones are drab and this may eventually kill the interest in matches. Teams scoring 400+ at ease, this is not what the Aussie grounds used to be. Agreed there has been some brute force from the likes of Maxwell and Warner, but owe that mostly to the pitches which aid the batsman more than the bowler.

 

[abhi_jacko]

Sanga is such a legend. This is an amazing achievement.

 

[PokerAce]

On a general note, I was too young to remember, how were SL rated as candidates before the 96 WC. I think perhaps the biggest upset ever has to be India winning 83. However after that, surely SL winning 96 has to be the second biggest upset win.

I remember SL in 92 were rank underdogs and with no real hopes of winning and they had similar run leading upto 96 WC. So when the tournament started did they have any chances of winning or was it totally out of the blue, as for example would be if B'desh win the presnt edition.

 

[abhi_jacko]

I remember SL in 92 were rank underdogs and with no real hopes of winning and they had similar run leading upto 96 WC. So when the tournament started did they have any chances of winning or was it totally out of the blue, as for example would be if B'desh win the presnt edition.

There was a really good article on the cricinfo magazine about the background of the players and the team leading up to the world cup.

A lot of them still had other part time jobs as bankers and teachers because SL board could hardly afford to pay them salaries. Most of them couldn't afford to rent houses in cities, so they would crash at Ranatunga's house. The setting was anything but professional.

They were definitely considered underdogs. Possibly on the same level as Bangladesh is right now. Maybe slightly better. (They were given odds of 66/1)

PS: this is the article - Feature | The lion's fairy tale | The Cricket Monthly | ESPN Cricinfo

you need a cricinfo login ofcourse

 

[abhi_jacko]

Just reading the above article again, and this quote will definitely pump up the Bangladeshi supporters

"The beauty of the tournament for us was that once we qualified for the quarter-final, the pressure was totally off," Wickramasinghe says. "All we needed to prove was that we were in the top eight in the world. Once we did that, the whole team just relaxed. We knew whatever happened, we could face our public."

Dare I say, Bangladesh are in the exact same situation now. I think the team is going to play fearlessly now because it will always be the opposition which will have a lot more to lose than them.

 

[Satan666]

Just reading the above article again, and this quote will definitely pump up the Bangladeshi supporters



Dare I say, Bangladesh are in the exact same situation now. I think the team is going to play fearlessly now because it will always be the opposition which will have a lot more to lose than them.

Not really, leading up to the final of the '96 cup it wasnt even certain whether or not the game would actually take place since team Aussies had valid concerns with terrorists attacks. In fact things would have been completely different had Australia and West Indies played the pool games against SL, again due to the unrest following a bombing by the Tamil Tigers leading up to the game both teams having security concerns, ICC in all their wisdom decided to give SL the points which meant they automatically qualified for the qf's without even playing a game. Edit; think the semis against India were handed to SL after the riots were started but India were on the down in any case! Edit: SL were actually handed the game by default, just pulled up the scorecard and realised this game was on March 13th, same day as today, black friday lol!

Not taking anything away from SL cuz Arjuna marshalled his troops well and Sanath was just marvelous allround but things could have been different! So in essence Bangladesh are in no way similar to the SL team of '96 nor are the circumstances and most of all this cup is not being played in Asia! Bangladesh have only one world class player, Shakib and even with his heroics they could never lift this cup! NEVER!

 

[Satan666]

On a general note, I was too young to remember, how were SL rated as candidates before the 96 WC. I think perhaps the biggest upset ever has to be India winning 83. However after that, surely SL winning 96 has to be the second biggest upset win.

I remember SL in 92 were rank underdogs and with no real hopes of winning and they had similar run leading upto 96 WC. So when the tournament started did they have any chances of winning or was it totally out of the blue, as for example would be if B'desh win the presnt edition.

There have been four instances in which an Aisan team has won the world cup, the only time that was not an upset was when Pakistan lifted the cup in '92, bringing a captain out of retirement after four years is the things dreams are made of! Many would argue that the 2011 Indian team that held the cup were strong I beg to disagree since there bowling unit was and still is horrible!

South Africa were favourites to win had not loss a game till WI shut them out in the quarters!

Overall a memorable cup for me, disheartening was the loss to India for Pakistan but the scenes at Eden Park were just to die for, the wounds healed pretty fast after the riots.