Cricket World Cup - General Thread

About half way through...

England having a horrible tournament!

130-7 vs Sri Lanka!

England: 156 all out in the 34th over!!!!!!!

remember "Jake and the Fatman "?

 my std 9 year!...monday evenings?

Proteas making hard work of Pakistan...we struggle when chasing.

Bixem...that was nerve wrecking!!! Well done Boys!!!

Great win for the Proteas.

Pleased to see an Old Durban High school player scoring the winning runs in an exciting game.

A pity to see some of the talented batters throwing away their wickets with poor shots but a win is a win.

The games ahead are going to be interesting.

Must admit that the Proteas have surprised me thus far.

It was a vast improvment on the 2019 WC - when SA won 2 OD I's in the 9 matches played.     The prioblem is that a gam can be hard to win if De Kock goes out easrly,   So why are they mor successful than tghey were in 2019?    In the 6 matcches played De Kock scored 3 centuries at a high run rate giving the succeeding batsmen a chance to play more freely 

In 2019 the Proteas had no all-rounder of note - Jansen is making a huge difference to this years WC campaign. 

South Africa still have to play -

*    New Zealamd     -     1   November 2023;

*    India                   =     5 November 2023' and

*    Afghanistan        -      10 November 2023.

To qualify for the semi's the Proteas need to win at least 2  of the 11 matches to be be playe+- d.   

Lets hope fr the besat,              

,   

We've got a few players in the top scoring list and top wicket takers list...looking much better...Eric Simons making a difference in the box?

Big games ahead for the Proteas.

Aussie winning a big one vs NZ....close 5 runs in a high scoring game.

Not sure whether the Ozzie attack has lost its shine or whether the Black Caps are a serious side. Take nothing away from them though it takes a mighty effort to beat them.

C'mon England.....would love to see them knock off India(31/2)

now 183/7 even better, are we about to see a miracle?

Go England!

Now England 85/6 even better.

Go India! 

Now 98/7 even better.

Go India!

Now 98/8 better still.

England all out 129.

Top scorers for England are both SA born players.

Perhaps the weakest side to represent England in a 50 over one day championship competion ever.

India are the best all round team in this WC and it is going to be a tough slog for the Proteas next Sunday.

Well done India.

Can't believe how England has fallen from  World Champions to ordinary that said India looks the real deal and I still think they'll be ODI 2023 Champs. 

Yes I must agree that the Indian side is the real deal.

The Proteas are always in with a chance of pulling off a win but as we all know it depends a great deal on the start we get from out top batsmen and bowlers.

The true test of the Protea's starts this week, tomorrow they play NZ and on Sunday they play India....not much of a break to charge the batteries but ja I reckon this will us something.

Fingers crossed.

When did Aganistan get so good at cricket? Did not even know they play cricket….would be nice if our cricket team can also take the cup.

Boosted  by a number of Pakistanis I think.

What a win for the Proteas against NZ.

Over the first hurdle now India and Agani-Pakis still in the headlights.

Not sure if the Pakistanies in the squad are welcome in the Aganistan team anymore as the Paki government has order over 1.7million Afgan's out of the country (refuges who crossed the border when Biden fled Afganistan)

Well you folks in the USA you are about to welcome 1.7million new Biden "Open Borders" elites.

Got to love the state of affairs in the world with leaders like Biden and company.

NZ looked quite ordinary to today. A month ago they were looking like WC winners. Bowling first didn’t help.

So we have seen off all the top teams except India….why can’t we win.

This team is considerably improved. Quintin is getting  great results by starting slower,  sensible given we have such an explosive batting lineup. Faf DuPlessis made the point nicely, comparing him with the young Quintin who wouldn’t have ‘hung in’.

 Bavuma looked well set today, playing some lovely cover drives….but is still looking for a substantial innings.

The rest of the batsmen have all come off big at various times.

The bowling which might have been a concern at the start of the WC, has also been a positive. Much of this is due to Jansen….his high left hand delivery is bothering all the batsmen.

The new coaching team has done a terrific job settling the team since the early days of the Aussie tour……balancing the lineup and getting the best out of the players. Good to see!

Aussie making hard work of Afghanistan...but getting the job done?

What a knock from Maxwell to win the game for the Aussies.

Unbelievable.

What a dismal performance from the rest of the Aussie squad except for Cummins who kept the Af's at bay while Maxewll destroyed their bowlers.

Great game/win all the same.

Speechless. What Glenn Maxwell did today was nothing short of unbelievable. 

Maxwell got cramp and back spasms about half way through his innings and literally hobbled between the wickets on the rare occasion he took a single He also gave a few chances so it wasn't the prettiest of innings but it will surely go down in the history books as one of the greatest innings ever seen at a CWC or in any version of the game. 

At 90 odd for 7 chasing 291 Australia were dead and buried but Maxwell never lost belief. He just kept finding the boundary even after he started cramping up and couldn't use his feet to the bowler or run singles. To give some idea of his dominance, his partner at the crease Pat Cummins made 12 runs in a partnership worth over 200.

Amazing innings, amazing game. Well done Glenn Maxwell.

Good innings...not feeling too confident meeting the Convicts in a semi...we're 4 in a row against them...what's the odds of making it 5 in a row? Don't like it.

Was that the greatest innings I have seen? He was dropped off a sitter, but that hardly matters. Hitting sixes with just his hands and arms. Amazing. I can’t think of anything that eclipses this for guts.

Speechless. What Glenn Maxwell did today was nothing short of unbelievable. 

Same here. Call it guts, brave, iron will, courage whatever, it's an innings that will never be forgotten. His teammate nickname  is "The Bigshow" .....I've always wondered why.....I now know.

I won't take anything from Glen Maxwell it is the greatest innings ever, one that will be etched into our memories forever. It also brought back a memory of courage when Graeme Smith had a plaster cast removed from his hand and arm then strode out to the middle to face the thunderbolts of Mitchell Johnson. To a man the SCG crowd rose and stood to applaud him. I'll cherish that moment for the rest of my life.......a rare moment when I felt proud of being a South African.

There'll be problems if Afghanistan post a score

Well the Proteas pulled off a win eventually in this game.

Hats of to Afghanistan for a good game, a good world cup allround performance and many exciting moments in most of their games in this 2023 CWC.

Well it appears to be Australia against RSA in the semi's and against India if they pull off a win against the Aussies.

Two tough calls and the Proteas will have to be in top form for both games.

My bet on the Aussies winning the CWC is still alive and well but if they or the Proteas make the final against India it is going to be a great final.