Are England about to beat Australia in a game of cricket?

White out! Freddie strikes! 160-6! As I type!

Is it a full side or is everyone saving players for the world cup?

Who cares!

xpost

xpost oh do cheer up, it's a win!

(I know I should be happy, but I have after the battering in the ashes a consolation 1 day win leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Saying that, well done guys.)

Cancel their visas immediately!!

... no, but Zimbabwe are!

you say no, but tomorrow OUR LADS take on the CRUSHED MIGHT of Australia, LANGUISHING in despair after being EXPOSED as FRAUDS by RUBBISH ZIMBABWE

Mugabe will be loving it, loving it!

you could argue that TODAY'S encounter with RUBBISH ZIMBABWE will offer the greater CHALLENGE for Peter Moores' VALIANT ENGLAND TEAM

Twenty20 doesn't count.

Never have.

Never will.

FIFTY OVERS AT LEAST OR NOTHING, MATE!!

It's not all bad news for the Aussies tho, Kenya have beaten their lowest score in a Twenty20 intenational

King Boy, NEED I REMIND you of the CB Series MURKING dished out by HERO COLLINGWOOD

Mugabe will be loving it, loving it!

-- Tom D., Thursday, 13 September 2007 20:34 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

lulz

Are the Australians wearing nicknames on their disgusting uniforms?

Those nicknames make the games so...fun and chilled!

meanwhile, whilst we're still on the cricketing front, WORCESTERSHIRE PRO40 CHAMPIONS WOOHOO!!!

we are answered ;_;

9.4 overs is apparently the Aussie target to put England out of the competition.

You can always rely on England to cheer the Aussies up

you say no, but tomorrow OUR LADS take on the CRUSHED MIGHT of Australia, LANGUISHING in despair after being EXPOSED as FRAUDS by RUBBISH ZIMBABWE

-- Just got offed, Thursday, 13 September 2007 10:33 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Once again, LJ, think before engaging fingers

England are pretty much rubbish.

I suspect LJ may have been joking. No-one would accuse Australia of being a bad side.

England aren't as bad as all that, either. The super eights should be a lot more interesting than the 50 over worlds cup.

They don't like making things easy or comfortable, do they. Big names PLANK etc.

vikram solanki, pride of worcestershire, with a nice contribution. can shah and wright see it through, though?

New Zealand = the *Bolton Wanderers of international cricket

(*Big Sam era)

great fielding from vincent, 20 needed off 2

Shah dropped.

England = Liverpool? Full of alleged "big names" who never quite live up to their reputation. See also sense of 'entitlement'.

Not that good... at the moment. Note also, lack of chip on shoulder/ irritating arrogance

Spurs is looking more likely at the moment, I think.

Agreed. Delusional followers and all.

we suck

Not good enough

Oh dear.

"When did you stop thinking England were one of the big countries?"

one can only laugh

ok even AFTER i wrote that, something just happened that has only happened 3 times before in professional cricket

and it is the first time it has happened to a fast-bowler

and it is mortally, mortally embarrassing

But importantly, Collingwood stepped in after the first four balls to offer his "advice". LOL

"bowl another half-volley, stuart, you'll be fine"

god cna we just delete this sport, or baseball, and all play the same goddamn thing?

rounders it is

Sri Lanka, please bat out your 20 overs.

Yah thx for playing back to Ceylon now bye.

haha careful w/imperialist vernacular, but yeah, not good. not good at all. they're clearly gonna win, having lost to rhodesia. this sucks.

Matt Hayden looked real challenged out there.

Oh, and cricket being shown in prime time in September? That might (but probably won't) shut up the fucking 100 year old ex-cricketers whinging about how Twenty20 isn't real cricket, how it's going to kill real cricket, this ain't a five day Test it's an arms race, Don Bradman is spinning in his grave, blah blah fucking blah.

haha careful w/imperialist vernacular, but yeah, not good. not good at all. they're clearly gonna win, having lost to rhodesia. this sucks.

You don't "do" irony very well, do you?

Try "not at all"

whither the light-hearted throwaway comment

Thrown in the clumsiest way possible with a knowing wink and a racist joke straight out of Love Thy Neighbour.

thrown like a murali doosra amirite you biased aussie twat

Mind Your Language, then?

this should be a cracker

I wish I was watching, or even listening to this. It sounds like a belter.

It is. I has 40-inch plasma screen at work etc.

Pakistan are choking somewhat.

The thing I don't understand is, if the whole point of Twenty20 is to encourage new spectators, etc, then why is the final on a Monday lunchtime? Makes no sense.

It's on a Monday evening in India/Pakistan, where the vast majority of viewers will be situated.

Choke! Choke! Choke!

I wonder if Heave Ho will be going to an effigy-burning later on.

Yeah, but my point was that surely having it on the weekend would have attracted more casual viewers?

This is just the final; there have been lots of other games for viewers to latch onto. If you're not on board by now then I'm not sure this by-now one-sided final's gonna convert you. As I say, it's at a perfect time for the two competing nations.

holy fuck this is turning into a doozy

I'm well aware this is just the final and there have been lots of other games, but let's face it, yer casual punter in the street is going to expect (rightly or wrongly) the final to be the best match, between the top two teams. He's more likely to want to watch it than, say, WI vs Bangladesh.

OH NO

misbah fluffs his lines

what a game

What a game!!

Dump the ICC trophy and have a 20/20 world cup every two years.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^this

all over in, what, two weeks? great cricket, close games, drama, entertainment? finally we can be said to have beaten (and trounced) baseball at (almost) their own game... :D

Uh except for the fact it's basically not cricket.

Well, there is that.

Also, baseball isn't a very good analogy, is it? From my understanding, baseball matches are protracted affairs with very low scores. (I think that was even stated on Dan's recent cricket thread.)

Imagine a football match that's 90 minutes of penalty kicks. Twenty 20 is like that.

^^^hater

I have a special place in my heart for Test cricket, don't get me wrong, but this tournament has been great fun, and it'll go a long way to getting cricket a wider audience. Mark C's analogy is way off-beam; it's still cricket, just that there's less time and therefore more of an imperative to score quickly. You still need to be a good cricketer to prevail. The penalty shoot-outs only happen when the scores are tied, and the bowlers have to hit a set of unguarded stumps to win.