Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA

@NTA said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

@MN5 said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

Chris Martin still a relative Bradman given he averages nearly half of the next worst in the list.

And there it is - a thread with zero to do with NZ has been carefully steered onto the rocks of Slack Craps cricket.

Classic!

:winking_face_with_tongue:

That's the fucken inaugural test champions you're talking about. You show some god damn respect.

But yeah, back to this game. The Oz bowlers will clean up. 200 odd may as well be 1000 in a game like this.

Sunniest and warmest day of the year so far in these parts. 22 degrees at 09:30. It should be 28 by mid-afternoon.

Aussie tail frustrating the jaaps.

Starting to get near 250 lead which will be difficult to get.

@MajorRage said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

Aussie tail frustrating the jaaps.

Starting to get near 250 lead which will be difficult to get.

It's been difficult to get for a long time. Proteas don't have the batting class against this all time bowling line-up.

The South African fielders need to practice their slide a bit more. That's two very awkward landings in half an hour trying to save boundaries

Yeah, it's through 250 now. The pitch is clearly pretty good for batting but the winning of this game will be all about the head (not Travis).

And when sport gets to that, especially in cricket, the Australians basically become unbackable favourites

@NTA said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

@sparky said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

Batting conditions are going to be good today in North London.

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Starc and Lyon to score half-centuries then put South Africa in before lunch.

Pick up 3 quick wickets in 6 overs, then have it done by tea.

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Good work

50 for Starc
50 partnership
200 up

Yea boi

This is fucking hilarious btw

I'm sure fans of other countries feel like this when our much-vaunted attack can't get them out

That's that. Time to finish it

Aus strong favourites but the conditions improving has given SA just a glimmer of hope. SAs first innings will cost them in the end I think, they needed to eek out 200.

Starc might be having one of those days. Looks off his rhythm

Shit gets wickets

Markham and Mulder are scoring at 20:20 rate. Let's see how long this lasts.

The conditions are decent for batting, the last thing SA can afford to do is go into their shell

Lyons on and applying the brake. No more wickets though.

Bavuma stained a hamstring? Might slow the rate a bit further

SA 94-2. Saffa need 188 runs to win.

Big session ahead. If the South Africa can make 80+ run and lose fewer than two wickets, they will be in the driving seat and firm favourites to win this competition.

Australia have slowed South Africa but need wickets.

A wonderful hour for South Africa since tea. SA 154-2. Steve Smith off the field with a compound finger fracture and off to hospital.

All going wrong for the Aussies.

South Africa need 124 to win with 8 wickets remaining. Unless they choke big time, they are heading to victory.

@MN5 said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

South Africa don't like playing in cricket finals much

They are this afternoon.

Steve Smith did his finger dropping what should have been a routine slip catch. What's got to hurt!

Hundred partnership up. Markram and Bavuma are making this look easy. 173-2. South Africa on top. Australia desperately need a wicket.

Looking like South Africa will win their first ever final in a major Cricket Competition.

Strange field by Australia. Gaps all over the place. South Africa have been able to rotate the strike easily.

What an afternoon for South Africa. 93 more runs needed to win.

A ton up from Aidan Markram. What a magnificent innings!

Stumps at Day 3. SA 213-2 needing 69 to win.

@KiwiMurph said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

@MajorRage said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

Aussie tail frustrating the jaaps.

Starting to get near 250 lead which will be difficult to get.

It's been difficult to get for a long time. Proteas don't have the batting class against this all time bowling line-up.

Well it didn't take very long for this comment to look utterly stupid.

As the morning session showed with Starc and Hazlewood - scoring wasn't easy but threats were few.

Smith's dropped catch could be crucial, but to be fair he was standing very close to try and combat the drop shorts that have been a hallmark of this game. And that one flew at him.

Generally from what I saw in the second session, we simply lacked the discipline of line and length to build pressure. Lyon got some nice ones away and was a touch unlucky, but the Proteas stuck at it.

Hopefully this loss will finally be the wake up call for selectors about our bathing lineup. A bit late, and with no bowlers under 30 we are probably about to have a period of rebuild

@NTA said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

As the morning session showed with Starc and Hazlewood - scoring wasn't easy but threats were few.

Smith's dropped catch could be crucial, but to be fair he was standing very close to try and combat the drop shorts that have been a hallmark of this game. And that one flew at him.

Generally from what I saw in the second session, we simply lacked the discipline of line and length to build pressure. Lyon got some nice ones away and was a touch unlucky, but the Proteas stuck at it.

Hopefully this loss will finally be the wake up call for selectors about our bathing lineup. A bit late, and with no bowlers under 30 we are probably about to have a period of rebuild

It’s only fair. It’s the best bowling line up Aus have ever fielded consistently with all due respect to McGrath, Warne, Gillespie and Lee ( actually is it better than that line up of about equal ? )

Today’s three pacers are probably better as a unit but Warne beats Lyon, tough to pick overall

If South Africa can get over the line, this will be massive for them after so many hard luck stories and near misses

@canefan said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

If South Africa can get over the line, this will be massive for them after so many hard luck stories and near misses

They're not a great team.

Rabada is absolutely world class, who out of the rest of them are though ? Jansen is still pretty green, Mulder looks an all rounder of real promise. It's the batting which is ordinary.

The two guys at the crease currently average a very Henry Nicholls like 38 and 36 respectively. They're two of the better ones !

But that's sport, they got in the final and they're a real chance.

A lot of these ageing Aussies are living purely off their reputations.

If SA win I hope they send the Black Caps a bottle of something nice for beating India 3-0 in India

( sorry, thread derail from a NZ perspective again )

Bavuma playing with an injured hamstring.
Seems there were some runs left out there from SA as there were shots where 3 runs were possible but they only ran two due to Bavuma's injury

@MN5 said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

( sorry, thread derail from a NZ perspective again )

Looks like being another sunny day and still 24 overs to the new ball. If the Aussies get it there should only be a handful of runs required.

Looks mainly about whether SA can hold their nerve.

They've done extremely well to fight back - I doubted they had it in them.

@Chris-B said in Cricket: WTC Final Oz vs SA:

Looks like being another sunny day and still 24 overs to the new ball. If the Aussies get it there should only be a handful of runs required.

Looks mainly about whether SA can hold their nerve.

They've done extremely well to fight back - I doubted they had it in them.

Yeh but thought those niggly runs from Starc would have completely derailed things. Not to be. They’ve done brilliantly so far.