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Cricket World Cup


Tesla
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Not long now until it starts.

As I touched on in the betting thread, Australia and South Africa are the only contenders.

I was slightly surprised by the initial batting display by NZ in their warm up game against SA, but they've now collapsed (if you can call a 300+ score a collapse), on what I'm assuming is a batsman friendly pitch after watching the NZ vs Pakistan game the other week. Which confirms my suspicions that they are too reliant on Williamson and McCullum when it comes to batting. As evident in their other warmup game where they looked to be fucked since neither of those two got a score. I'd say thats why Guptill plays so slowly initially so that there is still some batting if McCullum and Williamson dont get many. Taylor and Elliot can chip in a few runs every now and then but their batting ends at #5, and it's really only Williamson and McCullum that are of the necessary standard.

So even with home advantage, I don't particularly rate NZ, even though they are probably rightly 3rd favourites.

We've seen India can't play in Australia, England couldn't beat a 2nd string Australia side, Sri Lanka do fire up for WCs but didn't do a whole lot in their series against NZ, Pakistan have no bowling attack any more and they've always relied on their bowling because their batting isn't up to scratch, West Indies got raped by SA and didn't show anything in their warm up game against England.

It really comes down to how strong the home advantage is, you'd back SA if it was at a neutral venue but the home advantage will probably be enough for Australia. But fuck SA are strong.

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Also Australia will win this easily imo. Our batting line up is ridiculous with Clarke and Faulkner still to come in and us batting the whole way down to 10 if Starc and Johnson are both in the team. + Best overall fast bowling line up. Only area lacking is spin but isn't really a factor in Australian conditions when you have Johnson, Starc, Hazlewood, Marsh, Watson, Faulkner all able to execute different forms of pace bowling well. Especially with this stupid second new ball rule coming in taking away the effectiveness of bringing spinners on from the 20-40 overs when the ball softens up.

Obviously anything can happen in the knock out stages but in australian/kiwi conditions it's between Aus, SA and NZ as a roughie.

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Also Australia will win this easily imo. Our batting line up is ridiculous with Clarke and Faulkner still to come in and us batting the whole way down to 10 if Starc and Johnson are both in the team. + Best overall fast bowling line up. Only area lacking is spin but isn't really a factor in Australian conditions when you have Johnson, Starc, Hazlewood, Marsh, Watson, Faulkner all able to execute different forms of pace bowling well. Especially with this stupid second new ball rule coming in taking away the effectiveness of bringing spinners on from the 20-40 overs when the ball softens up.

Obviously anything can happen in the knock out stages but in australian/kiwi conditions it's between Aus, SA and NZ as a roughie.

Agree, especially after the warm up games, and today even more so.

NZ impressing me more and more, so I'd say they are a roughie and do have a chance, but I'm not convinced that they can do anything in Australia, and at the very least they'll have to play the final in Australia. These NZ grounds are just so well suited to NZ it's ridiculous.

TBH starting to think Pakistan may not go too badly, and can see them beating India tomorrow. India rightfully favourites, but I'm not convinced they're much more likely than Pakistan to win the game. That second string Pakistan bowling attack is still pretty good and if Misbah can continue the form he seems to be in, they'll bat well. But they do really need Misbah to be there, playing a sensible innings, because most the other Pakistani batsmen are prone to throwing away their wickets.

That's the other thing, not convinced the Indian bowlers can take advantage of the Pakistani attempts at throwing away their wickets, and that's pretty much all that stops some of these guys from being top tier batsmen. Could see Umar Akmal destroying them if they don't get him out early, for example.

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India and Pakistan will get bent over sideways in Australia. Sri Lanka was the team I thought had more of a chance. Their batsmen tend to be better at building innings. But after yesterday's performance then maybe not.

NZ picking up Ronchi and a few other youngsters coming through has taken them to a new level however, their bowling isn't strong enough against the likes of Aus or SA. So while there is some money on them Id say any bets on anyone other than Aus or SA is a donation to the bookies.

I hope Pakistan win today. Anything to piss off the corrupt dogs at the BCCI is a plus. The whole group stage is pretty much a warm up tournament though realistically. All starts in the quarters.

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Don't think this total is too impressive given the pitch. Good fight back from Pakistan.

Lets not forget, India can't bowl.

Though it is hard to imagine Pakistan getting 300, they'll have to not throw away their wickets for once.

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I actually like the commentary tbh, especially the banter. Clarke has obviously been very good as an analyst tho, as is Warne.

I reckon Brayshaw is hilarious, and no not because he's got anything to do with North Melbourne. Horses for courses I guess.

I don't mind a bit of banter but he just turns everything into a boys club and actual analysis seems to be pushed to the side. Like you say horses for courses though I'm sure some people love it.

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I actually like the commentary tbh, especially the banter. Clarke has obviously been very good as an analyst tho, as is Warne.

I reckon Brayshaw is hilarious, and no not because he's got anything to do with North Melbourne. Horses for courses I guess.

The banter is childish and repetitive. Slater is a complete moron. ABC 774 is a good example of having balance with old stories whilst focusing on the achievements at hand.

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what do others think of Afganistan's chance of upsetting Bangladesh tomorrow?

Tempting at $4+

Did my balls in on them about a year ago in a Test vs. NZ. Ended up watching a lot of the game and promised myself to never bet against the Deshis again. They have some serious young talent, not sure how many carry over into the ODI squad but. Will probably wait for the coin toss and then put a bet on the over/under runs depending on who is batting.

Something to note, the game yesterday was in Dunedin and had very small boundaries. I didn't touch the over 6.5 sixes because I saw Scotland were batting first (ended up being 2), think this will be a monty in the next game played there which is Afghanistan vs SL, hoping SL bats first.

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I did end up getting on them, but only $20, regretting not putting more on them.

Put some cash on Afghanistan against Bangladesh. They bat well. Is just a matter of whether their bowling holds up. expect Afghanistan to post a competitive total of they bat first.

I was actually more concerned about the batting, I knew they'd bowl well as their fast bowlers are strong while Bangladesh aren't strong against pace. But there is always a high chance of a collapse with these lesser teams which is why batting worrys me.

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Going to bet on Ireland to beat Pakistan.

But will also bet on Pakistan to beat SA.

Maybe I'm crazy.

Also dont rate SA as much any more, and rate NZ more.

But it's still Australia's to lose.

Also India to beat SA, see above about not rating them.

Fuck in b4 Scotland beat Pakistan as well :lawl:

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Wouldn't rule out NZ winning the whole thing tbh

Their best chance is if Australia end up in another abandoned game, and so even if Australia beat NZ, NZ may go through first on a higher net run rate or w/e its called, which means Aus and NZ then play each other in NZ in the semis.

If that doesnt happen then I dont think so, I can't see them beating Australia in Australia.

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Aus and South Africa are still miles ahead of NZ. NZ are still liable to collapse with the bat. South Africa and Aus will always post a competitive total regardless of if they lose a few early wickets. That will make the difference in the final stages.

Disagree, NZ & Aus are the only teams that have bowlers capable of wielding the willow. SA's tail is brittle and will be their undoing.

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