It’s close on Paper with two very similar teams. But it’s likely that the team batting first puts the match out of reach from the team batting second.
Similar in the sense that their teams are more catered to bat first rather , tall fast bowlers , good middle order hitters all through the batting line-up, serviceable spin options than to chase a total (which is seemingly more of an India/NZ thing)
I know it sounds surprising but I’ve come from the future and that’s just what happens. I won’t scare you with the other stuff…
Which one - they choked twice with S.Waugh famously telling Gibbs that he’d dropped the world cup when he put him down in the first of the two games
The second one with Klusener and Donald. The first wasn’t a choke.
The first game was what meant the draw in the second game knocked SA out. This was the Gibbs moment when he dropped the world cup and it cemented the reputation of Aus vis. SA and lead to ‘chokers’ tag.
Agreed. But a dropped catch isn’t a choke. It’s a mistake which happens , part of the game.
The run out was the choke , especially after Klusener had done the hard work.
And then the other tournaments where they started choking. 2003 etc as well.
Yep surely it’s the events after Steve Waugh’s ice-cold psyche that must be considered the choke?
Well in 99 they had a chance to put their nemesis the Aussies out (at the expense of Zimbabwe I believe) and they had them at 3/40odd after making 270 and they blew it. Meant they lost the drawn semi on a countback and became a team that couldn’t handle the pressure. All started with that first game and Gibbs drop.
Yeah.
Jos has chosen to bowl first, same team.
Look forward to England posting 150 in response to Australia’s 350.
I like your optimism
Are you thinking 120? I wouldn’t argue.
Aus 400
Eng 120
The way NZ vs Pak is going , this will be purely academic.
Thanks for coming Pakistan.
It’s been a pretty drab batting innings for Australia. Beyond Green’s flying bat, the highlight has probably been the in-depth analysis of the differences in Woakes’ and Wood’s delivery strides to explain Wood’s injury problems, even though they are both made of glass.
I never doubted England would be up for this. They are basically Everton in the Merseyside derby. Only good news for Liverpool/Australia is that England haven’t looked capable of making a score over 200. I’ll bank on that still being the case tonight. Granted they have fielded well.
For Australia, I’m happy for them to put in a shit batting shift against the bottom team. Use up all your bad luck now.
Pakistan might just win against NZ courtesy of DL
England are the current World cup/T20 WC holders.
I know you get emotional about this stuff but please don’t compare them to Everton, let’s not be silly here.
Talk is that the Aussies scoring under 300 is underpar (let alone 270) but I’d think they’d still have a good chance of keeping England to less than this provided they make good use of their first 10 overs. May stay up and watch a bit of England’s reply.
I do think England are due one upset this world cup.
They’ve lost to every other stronger team as well as losing to Afghanistan, Srilanka.