*Official* Pool A Discussion

[Neil Pickup]

What you don't think we could have chased 150 against Pakistan? I do.

Batting first, Pakistan would have got more. And under lights against Wasim, Waqar and Shoaib, few teams would get much.

 

[Choora]

What you don't think we could have chased 150 against Pakistan? I do.

I.

I think 150 would have been easy to get on day time, but under light with such difficult conditions England would have lost the match to Pak.

 

[Choora]

1 Australia
2 INDIA
3 ZIMB or Pak.

Thats how its going to be like, i think Zimb will beat Pak on their own back yard.

England can beat Aussies if Aussie take the game likely, but knowing the Aussies, its not going to be that way.

Pool b will be like

1 SL
2 NZ
3 Kenya!

 

[V Reddy]

Hey Choora i think ENG will qualify if they don't lose badly to Aus but they don't carry any points to the super six then.

 

[Choora]

If they do lose to Aus, then their NRR will suffer, and Zimb and Pak will know exactly how much big a victory does their respective teams need to better their NRR .

England should just go out for a victory tomorrow!

 

[Rik]

England should just go out for a victory tomorrow!

It would be rather odd if they didn't...

 

[warrioryohannan]

England roughly have a cushion of about 150 runs/30 overs over Pakistan. Roughly 1 over is equal to 5 runs in NRR calculation. So even if England lose there match against Auusies they should take care that margin of Aussie victory over England plus margin of pakistani victory over Zimbabwe shouldn't be more then about 150 runs.

In nutshell, even if England loses against Aussies by 50 runs, or in 40 overs even then pakistan will need to beat Zimbabwe by roughly 100 runs, or within 30 overs.

Ofcourse, if Zimbabwe wins they are through to super six(even if england beat Aussies).

 

[Choora]

I see, interesting stats there.It means that pakistan have no chance or a minimal one .

I hope Zimb beat them and goes to the SS

 

[V Reddy]

If Zim qualifies then Kenya will lose all their and so too Zim. Then the rest of the teams qualify. But i like England to qualify though

 

[Choora]

If England do lose to Australia tomorrow, then 1 team in Zimbabwe and Pakistan should let the other team win the battle b/w them convincingly, what would be the point in winning the match by narrow margin and thereby depriving both teams from passing on to super six stage??

 

[Choora]

Considering that Australia has already qualified, Aussies might give their reserve a chance to show up against England.I mean if they do rest McGrath and Lee/Jason then the task would become relatively easier for England!

 

[luckyeddie]

If England do lose to Australia tomorrow, then 1 team in Zimbabwe and Pakistan should let the other team win the battle b/w them convincingly, what would be the point in winning the match by narrow margin and thereby depriving both teams from passing on to super six stage??

In which case, England would qualify because Pakistan and Zimbabwe would be thrown out for match fixing, the tournament would become a farce as would cricket in general.

 

[Choora]

Thats correct, but the way Pakistani bowlers have been bowling it would be hard to tell if the match was fixed as "wayward bowling" has become their trademark in this tournament.
40 extras in match aganst Holland, 30+ against Australia and today Akhter went for 71 with 7 wides.

Had they not given so many extras, they would have a much easier task in hand to go through to the Super Six!

 

[Gotchya]

I see, interesting stats there.It means that pakistan have no chance or a minimal one .

I hope Zimb beat them and goes to the SS

As if you haven;t done enough damage already with that little...ohhh!! :!(

 

[Choora]

As if you haven;t done enough damage already with that little...ohhh!! :!(

Alot depends on the outcome of tomorrow's match, if Australia beats England by a big margin (like say 70-80 runs) then Pakistan might have a chance.

 

[Gotchya]

Alot depends on the outcome of tomorrow's match, if Australia beats England by a big margin (like say 70-80 runs) then Pakistan might have a chance.

Ofcourse, but high chances that we're out of it.

 

[Rik]

One thing I can't understand is why Pakistan are leaving out Saqlain. It was proven during their short tour of England 2 years ago that you do not leave him out. They lost the 1st Test by miles then won the 2nd after Saqlain took 4-80 on a dead pitch. And viola! What's happened here? The crunch matches they leave him out of they loose and his replacement (Afridi or Razzak) does bugger all...

 

[Gotchya]

One thing I can't understand is why Pakistan are leaving out Saqlain.

I dont know. What I do know is that its criminal to leave him out. His strike rate and his average are better then those of Warne, he is nearing 300 wickets in ODi's yet he misses out. On a pitch that's very flat and has bounce.

 

[marc71178]

The one thing I cannot find out is if the NRR tie break between teams is based on the games between those teams or overall.

If it's the former, then it'd take a miracle for Pak to beat Zim and qualify, if the latter then it's too confusing at this stage.

All I know is England could win tomorrow and go out, but lose tomorrow and go through!

In fact in some ways, losing is the way to go (if they win Pak cannot qualify so are less likely to care against Zim)

 

[Anil]

One thing I can't understand is why Pakistan are leaving out Saqlain. It was proven during their short tour of England 2 years ago that you do not leave him out. They lost the 1st Test by miles then won the 2nd after Saqlain took 4-80 on a dead pitch. And viola! What's happened here? The crunch matches they leave him out of they loose and his replacement (Afridi or Razzak) does bugger all...

Afridi especially is an absolute waste. He is a slogger for whom the bat meets the ball once every 15 matches or so and he is a very ordinary leg break bowler. One good thing about him is his fielding and catching and he goofed up on that big time today dropping Tendulkar. Saqlain also has always played very well against India, something which can't be said of too many spinners.