2014 Cricket World Cup - Official Thread

[Gargamel]

Can't find a fixture list in a paste friendly version, so link clicky below.

Sri Lanka vs NZ to kick off, followed on Sat 14th with England getting humped by the Oz behemoth again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/world-cup/fixtu...

Ladies and Gentleman your predictions please

Tournament Winners
Highest scoring Batsman (one innings)
Tournament Batsman - Total Scores

Mostest Wicket takingest Bowler - Overall



I will have

Australia
Chris Gayle
Ian Bell
Mitch Johnson

[Gargamel]

Oh, and whenever a Mod is passing - that really really needs to say 2015 !

[Gargamel]

Anyone seen the final England squad, is Stokes even in the squad?

[Gargamel]

johnfm said:

Are there enough Mitchells in the Aussie team?

I think there are too many Australians in the Aussie team, can't you take a few English players, give us a chance like.

Fair fks great batting from the Aussies, must be their year I think. Look a very strong side.

[Gargamel]

AW111 said:

So who in the current England side would Australia pick? And which of our (Aus) players would we drop to let them in?

You can have Watson, if you like.
I had been thinking Haddin was fading, but his strike rate was fantastic this innings.

I think England scored 20 or so more than they would have if Australia had not slacked off a bit once the game was won.

I think the Aussie should have Alistair Cook and Jade Dernbach from us, We'll take anyone called Mitch

[Gargamel]

Amirhussain said:

I just noticed the thread title says 2014...lol

Yeah my bad, second post I asked for it to be changed, but Cricket, doesn't attract many moderators

Someone need to insult JAYB or a Prophet or something.....

[Gargamel]

spikeyhead said:

Well done Ireland. It's sad to see how far the WIndies have fallen from the team of the 80's

I am not sure it is such a surprise anymore to lose to Ireland, they have won a few world cup games, and of course have beaten England.

They are a decent outfit. Will be very interested to see how Scotland go against the Kiwi's. Have a couple of capable batsman.

[Gargamel]

Well for those of us who have been saying that we need to rip down the entire ECB structure and start again, sack the lot of them and put in a NON CRICKET Chairperson.

Coaching staff are not performing, team is talented, but not able to bring it when they need it. Sell Ian Bell or Borad for details. Both world class on their day, their day is only about 1 in 20 performances.

Total Crap

[Gargamel]

BlackLabel said:

What an embarrassment. Have a few acquaintances that have gone out there to watch the world cup and follow England and this is how they are treated.

The ECB obviously don't give a st about odi cricket (and perhaps some players feel the same) which is their choice however one day soon test cricket will decline in England (it already has to some extent with attendances dropping slightly and tickets taking way longer to sell out). When that happens the one day game will be needed in order to bring in more money for English cricket.

English cricket bosses take the fans for granted - expensive test tickets, no free-to-air cricket etc. One day the supporters will just walk away.

I really thought England would get to the semis but that prediction now looks rather silly.

Well this exactly. They are running cricket into being even more of a minority sport. I have given up going to Test Matches, a day out at Lords is running close to £400 for two people. Just not worth it (especially if you have no real stars)

[Gargamel]

bigunit00 said:

If broad / Anderson break down for any reason who is the back up? Is there a succession plan ? England look way too reliant on them (especially Anderson who isn't getting any younger)

Can't rely on Broad for anything at the moment, he should be dropped, he is a disgrace. Batsman with a decent average getting out of the way of the relatively trundling pace of Southee. It is absurd. No fight.

Jimmy A is a difficult one, clearly he is a great test bowler, but in truth he has never been as good in ODI, and actually hasn't played ODI for a while. I think he lacks a bit of variety.

As said, why the hell isn't Bopara in this team, why are we picking Ballance, he is a test batsman.

Some shocking shocking management of the team. Moeen Ali is a number 7 not an opener.

[Gargamel]

Moeen making me eat my words here. Still it is only the Scots I suppose.

150 from 26 overs. What could possibly go wrong from here

[Gargamel]

Gargamel said:

Ladies and Gentleman your predictions please

Tournament Winners
Highest scoring Batsman (one innings)
Tournament Batsman - Total Scores

Mostest Wicket takingest Bowler - Overall



I will have

Australia
Chris Gayle
Ian Bell
Mitch Johnson

Oh yeah baby....

215

Don't ask about the Ian Bell prediction, wishful thinking ...

[Gargamel]

dav123a said:

Following Gayle's innings is it just a matter of time before we see a triple hundred in a ODI ?
An easy win for SL , going to be very hard for them to replace Dilshan and Sanga when in the not too distant future they will retire.

Whilst it is of course possible it is going to need a ground with say a ridiculously short boundary and probably at altitude too.

300 balls available, so need to be an opener, and face roughly two thirds of the bowling.

Possible but remains unlikely I think

[Gargamel]

Gandahar said:

Totally agree, it was harder for the batters in those days.

I wonder how Villiers would have done against Malcolm Marshal, Joel Garner and Michael Holding if he was playing in those days? Holding such a fluid action, Garner was all arms and Marshal was like a dynamo winding up. Nutz.

Modern bats have a massive hitting zone compared to the weapons of beefy or Viv.

I don't think villagers would be stepping across his stumps to ninety mile an hour balls on his toes or round his chin.

However he has such a natural eye, I am sure he would still find a way to score. After all Mtch J is proper quick and he still goes for plenty.

[Gargamel]

Yup stilllaying that whole, any score around 250 is enough game.

Boycs is right Morgan is batting too high and is feeling under pressure. He is trying to innings build. We have Bell, Ballance and Root for that job.

We need him to be the striker...

[Gargamel]

And lo, Morgan is out...

[Gargamel]

Fishtigua said:

So England has not won a single match at the World Cup. Could this be a Tuk-tuk moment for the ECB?

We beat Scotland

[Gargamel]

hornetrider said:

Hey gargs, there's another one for those 300 ain't enough stats.

Indeed, Statistically speaking though it is not unlikely if you continuously bowl pies short of a length ....

[Gargamel]

London424 said:

Can't we all just keep it simple and pick KP?

" No, happiness in the dressing room is more important than winning " Peter Moores 2014.

[Gargamel]

hornetrider said:

And the Bangles successfully chase a target of 319. Amazing eh Gargs

Flat tracks and rubbish bowling. Historically this doesn't happen often. Could you see this happening on Indian pitches? or in England in seam/swing conditions.

If I am bored over the weekend I will have another good at stats guru.

I would guess that more successful 300+ chases have happened in the last three years than the rest of ODI's.