Once again our second half get all the runs. Still a hopeless batting effort. Why can't our top order bat as easily as our lower order?

Umpiring decisions go both ways. It all evens out over time.

Gilly AND Haydos gone for 6!!!! What the hell is this world coming to?!?!?!?

Yeah, not the best start, Roy looks like he's in form though - we should make the total easy. No Bond to deal with either.
Since there's been a bit of criticism over the length of the tournament I have an idea. Make it England and New Zealand vs Australia at the same time!
Does anyone think that perhaps Ponting isn't feeling the best? It seemed a tad odd that he sent Clarke in before him.

Australia are just doing enough to give us a sniff, before cruising it in the end.

If NZ got their bloody fielding together... It's fumble-tastic out there. Yeah, we're taking it pretty easy out there. Apart from Bevan and Peiterson, Hussy is the only Batsman whose ODI average has never gone below 40 (min 30 games).

[Edit]Gee that was close, only 2 wickets to go. Well, at least someone's getting closer.

[ January 21, 2007, 12:13: Message edited by: Stu ]

This is so unfair. Only humans should be allowed to play international cricket. Michael Hussey is clearly not human, so should be banned. He's unbelievable.

But yes, despite the close finish, NZ did not deserve to get close. Australia did their best to hand the game to NZ but we couldn't accept it. Very disappointing effort.

Everyone in England was saying for years that Hussey should be playing for Australia. When they finally realize it, it's about 3 or 4 years too late! Class, class player. There are no weaknesses in his technique.

Hussey is a god. It is as simple as that. NZ should have won if they werent so gumby in the field. 2 dropped catches and and absolute screwup of a runout. Not good for the morale.

It's not good for the morale of the NZ fans either. It's very difficult to watch them at the moment. Wish we could find an indestructible god like Hussey. Michael Slater had it right when he said: "They should have known better than to throw the ball at Hussey's end anyway. You can't get Hussey out!"

Amazing that he is so good that your game plan almost has to be to get rid of all his partners and leave him at the other end.

Well played Kiwi's. Well deserved win (I'm writing this at 108 for 8). England were just utter dire today. It's getting beyond embarrassing now, there's no improvement in performances at all.

Hallelujah. NZ limp their way to a mediocre 210 but England manage to come up with an even more inept batting effort than us. At last we get a win, and with a valuable bonus point too. Hooray.

I feel sorry for the Poms as their about to be crushed yet again on Australia Day :p

We let teams off the hook all the time these days. That's one of the stand out things in our play the last year or so, compared to 2-3 years ago. There's no way that 2 years ago we'd let an underachieving Kiwi side make 210 after being 67/5. That and our abysmal batting. We've never really had strong batting, but we usually managed to get enough so that our bowlers could finish the job easily. Now that we've lost the golden quartet pace bowling attack and the best bowling coach in the world, we're just rubbish. Flat out rubbish.

Apparently all our 1-day cricketers are partaking in an "Olympic style training program" for the world cup. Hussy expects the team to do progressively worse throughout the tri-nations tournament, but then be able to go all out in the world cup. England and New Zealand might have a chance after all. Adelaide game on Friday! I should start getting some tickets.

Another win for Australia but this one was pretty much handed to them after the first few english wickets fell. A one day total of 110 really is piss poor. I feel sorry for Flintoff as he is copping it for his captaincy but it is the rest of the team that really need to get their act together as well. You cant blame the complete failure of this season on him alone as some critics are doing.

The batting in this tournament has been atrocious!

I will be shocked and amazed if the kiwis manage to reach that total. Centuries by both Ponting and Hayden and a hard hitting middle order has put us in a very good position.

Edit: Bloody good effort by the Kiwis but it just wasnt enough

[ January 28, 2007, 13:57: Message edited by: TrueBlueAussie ]

Jeez they got close. I kind of wrote NZ off after the Aussie innings, I then returned in the last over to the possibility of a New Zealand victory (14 to get off three balls). What a batting performance though. Thats how its done!

The Kiwi's did really well. I was gutted, I was rooting for them there. Oram is in a lot of form.

What a crazy game. When it gets that close you end up with a lot of "what-ifs?"

Like what if Hayden was caught on one out of the three chances he was let off on.

However... McGrath going for 72 runs, you just don't see that especially when it's New Zealand doing the damage.

It must have been a hell of a pitch. Exciting stuff nonetheless. Mike Hussey made a big difference yet again. That guy manages to change his game to suit whatever is required. Who would have thought he would have been able to come in and smash all those sixes like that? He is amazing.

Now watch us lose badly to England tomorrow.

If England only scored 110 against us and you guys were only 8 runs short of our massive total (highest international one day total at the waca) then the pom wont stand a chance.

would have been able to come in and smash all those sixes like that?Every six he hit resulted in Ford donating a grand to a local cricket club, and the commonwealth bank donating a grand to cancer research. I guess he responds to cash incentives.

This is why I love cricket so much. You never really know what is going to happen next. Except for Mike Hussey being invincible. That goes without saying.

England might score 400 on that WACA pitch if they figure they have nothing to lose. Flintoff might get 200.

Or not. Flintoff doesn't have the ability to score 200. None of our batsmen have in one day cricket. Our only quick scorer, who can actually carry it on is injured. No-one else can score at a run a ball and get a high score.

Faith Barmy, faith. There's always hoping. After all New Zealand just proved that Australia's bowling attack can be belted for 300+, and McGrath for 7 and over.

Well, England have more players injured for this game with Anderson, Vaughan, and Lewis out. Maybe Bopara will get a game and score 200.

Once again Ian Bell shows why he should have never played cricket as a proffesion.

Go big Jake Oram! He's a monster!

Good pitch though. England should be able to have a good go at this. Maybe Loye will get 200.

Yeah, TrueBlueAussie, let's get stuck into our best bastman this series as well as everyone else! Ian Bell has been the only player to emerge from the Ashes and Commonwealth with any sort of credit. Strauss needs dropping. He can come back into the team later when his form picks up. But England need to learn to DROP OUT OF FORM PLAYERS, not keep picking the same damn bunch each and very time. Strauss isn't scoring runs, so drop the **** and get someone else in for a bit until he gets his touch back. We're too loyal to certain players and too disloyal to others (Monty, for one).

Monty was your best bowler in that game and it wasn't just the turning pitch because Dalrymple got tonked.

I thought your best batsman this series was the guy who's injured - Kevin Pietersen! He could've made a big difference on that pitch last night. Anyway, well done to Fleming and the boys, let's see how we go against Aussie next match.

Thats exactly right Tassadar, KP was your best batsman Barmy. After watching that comical runout a few games ago where Ian Bell was extremely undecisive in which end he wanted to run to and the many catches that he has dropped recently (I can think of more than most players) he really just does not stand out for me as being a compitant player.

If Flintoff wasnt so pressured by being captain again, he would easily be your best batter 90% of the time and the best pace bowler.

KP's injured! Bell has probably been our highest run scorer on this tour. As he was in India. As he was in Pakistan. People really have no leg to stand on when they slag him off. I can't remember any catches he's dropped, amongst the myriad that the team has dropped in the field. He's an amazing fielder at silly, right next to the bat. Just flick through YouTube and you'll see some of the one-handed reflex blinders he pulls off. He's probably our 2nd best fielder, just behind Collingwood.

HB, Monty is our best bowler, period, yet only gets picked 50% of the time. I really don't understand our selectors.

If Flintoff wasnt so pressured by being captain again, he would easily be your best batter 90% of the time and the best pace bowler. Err.. no, he wouldn't. He's very overrated with the bat. He's just a hit and hope merchant 80% of the time. He's got absolutely zero foot movement. He's got to be in though, because he's very good with the ball (when he wants to be). He doesn't come close to KP, who's a similar kind of player but is actually in control of shots and can get out of a bad decision with good movement. I don't really like either player with the bat to be honest. I'd prefer we invest in Cook, Bell type players in the test arena, who can build in innings. Those 2 are England's partnership for the future. England's problem is that we've got no players who can make a big, BIG score. Ponts, Hussey, Dravid, Tendulkar, Hayden, Inzy, Yousuf, etc. these guys will make a 100, then go on and make it a big 150 and even 200 and really make it pay. We haven't. We've got KP, who might make a 100 then hole out playing a stupid pull shot. Same with Flintoff. Cook can make big scores, but is still very young. Vaughan can, occasionally, but is injured too much. It's not looking good...

[ January 31, 2007, 08:48: Message edited by: Barmy Army ]

England should be feeling pretty confident right now. If someone can send a hooker round to intercept Hussey on his way out to bat, you've got this one in the bag. Nice batting from Ed Joyce.

Their innings will be funny. We've got Mahmood, Plunkett and Bopara spearheading the pace 'attack'. Heh. The Aussies should smack them to all parts.

Once you had Hussey, you were always going to smash them.

Ah well, we cant win them all. This will probably get our team to train harder for the finals though.

Bad news for New Zealand, but good news for the tournament as a whole, because the last two games are now important again.

Good score from the Kiwis but they were unable to stop the Ponting/Hodge roadtrain. Reall pity that Hodge didnt get his century. 99 not out, that really sucks.

That is so unfair. Where do Australia keep finding these superstar batsmen from?

Superstar batsmen? Brad Hodge? You give Australia far too much credit sometimes, Gaz. Brad Hodge is doo doo, your bowlers were probably just ****. Look at Bond's figures. What's all that about? Brad Hodge is far from superstar!

Anyone watching the SA v Pakistan game? See Mark Boucher's innings? Jeez, that guy is playing really well lately. Pakistan currently 125-8 after a mix of crappy shots and good SA fielding. They're looking a dangerous side are the South Africans. Perhaps a cheeky little outside bet for the WC... ?

Yes, our bowlers were ****, but it was still a great chase under pressure.

At least our batsmen looked pretty good. Man that was a flat track if ever I saw one. Bond needs to either bowl flat out or not play. No point playing him if he isn't going to bowl fast.

I haven't been on in a couple of days, but see Barmy - faith. As long as we win the finals :) . New Zealand got pretty close again, this next match (NZ vs England) should be a good one!

Vaughan's back for this game. I'll be disappointed if Loye gets dropped for him instead of Strauss.

Tait did pretty awesome - took 1/26 off 10 and bowled the fastest ball of the summer (160km/h). considering the expensiveness of all our other bowlers (Lee went for more 7, and Clark for over 6 an over) this was a damn good effort. Fingers crossed he makes the world cup squad.

It's all on today then. Should be a cracker!

I predict Mal Loye will twice slog sweep Bond for six and then next over get an edge off a wayward Franklin delivery to second slip.

Thats been the story for Mal Loye so far in this tournament.

Once again Ricky Ponting shows that he is one of, if not the best, batsmen currently playing the game. Cleansweeping all of the major awards last night at the AB medal ceremony. Though I reckon Symonds would have stood a good chance on winning it if he wasnt injured for the last game that counted in the voting.

That was really good batting by England. Why haven't they batted like that more often? They showed they have the skills. Flintoff should be ashamed as he should have really cashed in on the start he got. And as for New Zealand's fielding - the less said the better.

Bond was 30 for 4 off 9 until that last over. That's immaculate that is. Can we steal him please? We'll let you have Saj Mahmood if you want.

NZ should chase 270 on this wicket against our bowlers, there's **** all in it. 270 is barely a par score here, very, very achievable.

You've got to get them though. Someone will have to bat well for us to get there.

Well after last night's match it is very clear that Vaughan's captaincy > Fleming's captaincy. Also Flem's ton was the most painful I've ever watched. If he could've eked out 15 more singles instead of leaving everything outside off, we could've won.

I think it's a shocker how everyone is blaming Fleming. Last week they were complaining that our openers got out too easily to rash shots, and now they're complaining that he scored his hundred too slowly. The poor guy can't win.

Fleming did his job well. We lost because our fielding was atrocious (again) and because Fulton, Styris, Oram, and McCullum did not provide Fleming with ANY support.

If we had fielded normally (instead of like village idiots) we would have won 5 games instead of 2.

Oh, and well played to England as well. Collingwood had a blinder.

How can Fleming be at fault? His batting was pretty faultless. The plan was for him to stay in and score steadily at one end, while your Oram's and Styris's slogged at a run a ball at the other end. Nobody stayed in with Fleming, but he did his job.

Damn...another loss. England might be able to steal the finals as predicted. Someone really needs to ask the aussie selectors how to play a 160km/hr reverse swinging yorker..AND score runs. And then find out why Tait isn't there to bowl through the death overs. I mean, who drops a bowler after taking 1/26 off ten *and* bowls the fastest ball of the summer.

I know, he and Stuart Clark should have been in the attack (although Clark probably wouldnt have got that hat trick that he got in todays Pura Cup game).

Poor Pigeon, Almost nothing went his way tonight and it is his Bday. Bet he's wishing that he was at home partying instead of losing that game.

Wow.....

Collingwood is my hero! :D

I'd absolutely howl myself to into a fit if we won the final after being destroyed by Australia all series. How funny would that be!

How good has Paul Collingwood been in the last two games? Somebody give that man a drugs test!

He's got great mental strength has Colly. He's just not got the technique to go with it, but when you want someone to grit and grind you out of a difficult situation, he's your man. He'll nurdle the ball about nicking ones and two's and rotating the strike. One of the best fielders in world cricket, too.

Hell yeah, did you see Colly's runouts? Terrific stuff.

Unless Hussey can make something from nothing, I would say that England will have the fairytale ending to a dissmal season.

Ah well, we still one the important one 5-0

Unbelievable stuff. England to win the World Cup now! With Pietersen back, they'll be unstoppable. From zeroes to heroes in the space of one week. Brilliant fun.

Come off it. We're still pants! Well lucky today, with the toss and then the conditions. A few good performances I guess though. At least we've won something after such a miserable Winter.

What a performance! Collingwood with another MOM performance, he must be completely buggered!

Mahmood surprised me with that good slower ball of his. I've never seen that before, it must be something he's recently worked on. When you can bowl up to 95mph then send in a very well disguised 65mph (that's how slow he goes) ball it's a good weapon to have. He might be useful with his height as well on those dry and bouncy Caribbean wickets. We'll lose in the semi's though as soon as we meet a decent side.

Plunkett looks a real matchwinner, just needs a bit of polishing.

Yeah... maybe... with time. He concedes runs like billyho though. He needs to make his action repeatable and maintain a line. He's either bang on the button or too wide and getting smacked to the boundary. He's capable of bowling wicket taking balls though. He reminds of another Jimmy Anderson really, just a bit quicker.

Chrissy Tremlett is the best young bowler in the country though, he's just been very unlucky with injuries the last few years. He's got a great action though, that never changes and he's nearly 7 foot tall so gets incredible bounce. He's a great line and length bowler. He's like a mix of Harmison and Shaun Pollock. In a few years, he'll be our main guy I think. He just needs to stay clear of injuries and get plenty of cricket played.

Fascinating stuff though. Shows what a funny game cricket can be, and why the Cricket World Cup is anybody's to win. Everyone loves an underdog upset win.

Shane Bond himself started off quite expensive like Plunkett, until he nabbed Australian wickets with unplayable balls -and he never looked back. I see a big future for this guy, he's just that little bit more dangerous than Anderson because of the added pace. You guys have a pretty decent fast bowling stock: Plunkett, Anderson, Tremlett, Mahmood, Flintoff, Harmison, Simon Jones - NZ would kill to have any of those 140-150kph guys to have in their arsenal, most of them are still very young and only one or two of them have to come right.


Anyway NZ world cup squad named, Daryl Tuffey back in the mix. Should be interesting.

Wow, Australia got destroyed! Shane Bond tore them to shreds. That really is a massively one-sided scoreline.

Are they lulling everyone else into a false sense of security?

Thats exactly it Barmy ;)

Though I really wasnt surprised that we only got a score of 148. With our 2 best fieldsman injured, our best batsman and wicket keeper are both resting and we lost one of our best pace bowlers. Its gone from bad to worse.

I reckon losing Symonds in that first game that we lost against England really shook the team as we lost on of the best all rounders we have seen for a while.

Sheesh. Australia were hopeless! Shows how much their much vaunted 'depth' is a bit of an illusion. Embarrassing stuff but great boost for NZ. Go the Black Caps!

Wow. Bond's strike rate is just bordering on ridiculous against Australia. Good to see Louie's purple patch continue (and long may it continue). Feel a bit sorry for Mike Hussey though, thrust into captaincy and he suddenly has this injury ravaged team to deal with. No Ponting, Gilchrist, Lee, Symonds, Clarke... that's a fairly impressive list to leave out!

Tait's flying out to replace Lee, hopefully his 160km/h reverse swinging yorkers can do something to rectify the situation. If Australia loose one more game to New Zealand we will loose 1st spot on the one day table for the first time since 2002. Hopefully we can rectify the situation.

Woah, I've never seen an Eden Park pitch play like that ever!!! Go the Black Caps, what a fantastic chase!

Go the Black Caps! I'm loving it.

England and New Zealand have shattered Australia's aura of invincibility and done a big favour for the other teams at the World Cup, who will now all believe that they can beat the World Champs as well.

What a game!

I didn't see the game, but that's a fantastic chase. Brilliant! Aussies are still red hot favourites with the bookies to the lift WC though.

I'll pretty surprised if I don't see NZ in at least the semi's. All the pieces are falling together at the right time. It's really wide open this WC.

[ February 18, 2007, 10:57: Message edited by: Barmy Army ]

This is probably the tightest world cup ever. Sth Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, England, NZ, West Indies... Boy, all the top nations have a good chance, everyone's beatable!!!

All the crappy teams have come right just in time. This World Cup is anybody's to win!

I can't believe the game I watched last night. Hayden smashes 181 and Australia get 346-5. NZ reduced to 41-4. Craig McMillan then bludgeons 116 before Brendan McCullum and the tail bring NZ home to 350-9 with 3 balls left. Unbelievable. NZ beat Australia 3-0.

If I had bet money on any of the beforehand, I'd be rich now.

If someone was to say Matt Hayden was to get 181 in this game, I'd say we'd be pretty much dead and buried. Absolutely incredible comeback win. With McMillan batting out of his skin to win us the game nevertheless! Unreal.

[ February 21, 2007, 03:35: Message edited by: Tassadar ]

There's a few warm up games tomorrow for the world cup. There's:
Australia v England in St Vincents
India v West Indies in Jamaica
New Zealand v Sri Lanka in Barbados
Pakistan v South Africa in Trinidad
It will be interesting to see if they give any indication of form.

Do we need a World Cup thread then? NZ v England right now. Go the Black Caps. Go Ireland!

What were England doing with the bat? There's nothing wrong the pitch, that was just crap batting. Way below par score there. I don't think the Kiwi's will have any trouble chasing that down on this wicket.

Well played by the Black Caps!

But look at Pakistan and India collapsing to Ireland and Bangladesh. Fascinating stuff.

We're ****.

I think we need a World Cup thread - even if it will only have two people posting in it.