Who you got?
The winner of the toss – D’Arthez? 🙂
England have played pretty well since that opening game against their final opponents. I’ll bet if you asked the experts which group might produce both finalists, you’d have said it might have been the one with India and Australia in, but it didn’t. Now the question might be are England over the mental scars they might have picked up from the first meeting in Mumbai?
Both teams had shockers in one form or other against Afghanistan. England won their match while the WIndies had little to play for and got caught out. The WIndies saw off the remainder of their opposition in better style than we managed, so on form, it has to be the West Indies, doesn’t it?
England, though, put it all together against our almost perennial ICC tournament nemesis New Zealand, in a complete display. The form of Roy, the clinical bowling, the coolness under pressure all augur well.
You cannot argue. England have taken many strides forward in the limited overs formats, and bat all the way down, with the bowling improving game by game. To argue against that isn’t going to have evidence on your side. This really appears to be Bayliss’s strength, and made the selection of him as coach quite a prescient one (oh dear, another knock on Downton). I think bringing in Strauss as some guru is stretching it a bit – after all, I don’t remember the hosannahs for Hugh Morris when we won the same competition on 2010 – but the philosophy appears the right one. If it is still within your heart to forgive the ECB and all that surrounds it, and cheer on this England team with all your might and heart, things look really rosy. Enjoy the game.
Me? You know where I stand. I wish Jason and Jos, Alex and Joe, Chris and Moeen, good finals. I like these guys. They embody the new England. They seem decent guys. I don’t wish them ill. I just can’t stand their employer. Not quite Teddy playing for Manchester United but not far off it!
Personally, I think England will win. I think they are on a roll, qualifying comfortably through their semi, rather than the fraught, but awesome run chase the WIndies had to pull off. Bit like 2010 – we (relatively) cruised through the knock-out games, the other finalist pulled off an escapology act in the semi – we pulled things together.
Enjoy the game.
Being Outside Cricket 
Yes, whoever wins the toss will win the game. If you analyse the late games it is the Dew Factor that has won the game.Chasing runs is easier when bowlers just can’t handle soft wet ball and wicket is wet and slippery.Shame the toss has decided so many games against good teams
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I think England will win. They have more match winners than the WI. But if Gale goes berserk it could go the other way. The fact the other two big 3 are out is pretty funny. And a better performance from NZ in the semi could have seen a NZ vs WI final. Oh the indignity for th ICC if that had happened.
I’m not sure the English cricket media complex really gives a shit about 20/20, and would have been happy to air brush it away if England had done badly.
But if England win its another stick to beat the usual suspects with. For most of them the only cricket that really matters this year is Cook getting to 10,000 runs.
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More match winners? Charles, Gayle, Badree, Bravo, Samuels, Sammy, Simmons, and Russell have all been emphatic MotM in multiple T20 matches.. Any one of these players can break a match with a performance that isn’t even the best performance they’ve ever had.
This is not to say that they will this time. But even *without* Narine and Pollard, based on concrete stats and experience this is a top level highly ranked team It’s not a bad idea to know who it is you are playing.
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I take your point. I just think England have more players who do it on a consistent basis. But yes WI do have there own match winners.
England chasing down 229 against SA has made teams think they need giant scores against them. In the Semi final NZ were well set and should have got 180 but I think they thought they needed 200 plus. As a result they lost wickets and finished with only 150 odd.
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And it was Brathwaite who I didn’t even mention because he’s too new.
Consistency is a matter of statistics. If you need one anchor and one exploder, you might have 3 anchors that fail half the time and 6 exploders who fail 3/4 of the time, and still win a lot of the time.
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Magnificent that England have reached the final whether they win it or not because some people dismissed their chances before the competition even started. Strauss cleared the path for England to move forward in all forms and deserves praise for that when you look at how things were when he got the job and I remain convinced that Strauss making clear that Pietersen had no place made a big difference as progress is all forms since then show he was right.
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How can getting rid of your best player help progress the team Not only his batting but his knowledge and work with the younger players would have been a great advantage and something England have missed out on but other countries are benefiting from.
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Your wasting your time Julie. It was always about KP for these morons. They have admitted they would rather lose than have him back. Some have have even wished he had never played in 2005. It’s a sickness with them.
And now they going to do their anti KP dick waving dance. Horrible people.
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Adrian, I wish Mark had not called you a moron. Surely we don’t need that kind of hostility on this forum (c’mon, Mark, you’re better than that!) I for one welcome the presence of someone with a different opinion. I can see your point of view, but it’s based on the logical fallacy of equating correlation with causation (just because something happened after something else, does not mean it was caused by that something else). Also, Strauss offered KP a coaching job with the T20 team — hardly proof that KP’s presence was toxic.
In fact, the way that this England team has played throughout this tournament is with the freedom of self-expression that Pietersen always advocated, only to be overruled by Flower and Moores, with their dinosaur approach to limited-overs cricket. You cannot convince me that KP wouldn’t make this team even stronger — he is after all a hugely successful T20 player in demand all over the world; except in this country, to our shame.
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” Strauss cleared the path for England to move forward in all forms and deserves praise for that when you look at how things were when he got the job. ”
I thought they had just beaten India in 2014 in the greatest come back in cricket history. Strauss was not running things then. So when darling Cook won at Southampton with a standing ovation England were on the wrong path were they?
As usual with you people it’s all about KP, while trying to hang that on us. Frankly I couldn’t give a shit what your opinion is. But you obviously care deeply what we think because otherwise you would not come on here trying to rub our noses in it. Spare us yore claptrap. There are plenty of outlets for the kind of brain dead thinking you support.
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Hi Neil,
Why don’t you comment under your real name, instead of Adrian?
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Sean,
I’m not so sure about that. I don’t think it is him. Not that I give a stuff!
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Oh it’s the empty blazer is it?
I can’t keep up with all the alias that Neil uses.
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No proof of that Mark.
It’s a damn fine impression!
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West Indies could hold the mens, womens t20 world cup titles and the under 19 world cup, and their board is a shambles!! Which means Strauss will have had piss all to do with this victory. It’s down to the players end of.
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REJOICE. REJOICE REJOICE
Just be thankful that an England team without the upity South African Is going to win a major ICC trophy. Because that’s what really counts. Nothing else matters. Give thanks not to the players, but to the masters of the universe. The clean cut men in suits who without whom there would be no success. Josh Butler? Nah, Roy and Hales? Nah, Root? Nah
See it’s all down to one man, Strauss. He hasn’t scored a single run, or taken a catch but under England’s bizarre view that only management matters he is the hero. It’s idocy of course but, there you go. Of course If England had not reached the final the blame would have been heaped on Morgan. He’s Irish you see. Not like when Cook loses. Right type of school. It’s very complex playing cricket for the corporate body that is the ECB.
Anyway, just rejoice and know that the right sort of people are running things.
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I’m really impressed that England have reached the final. Wasn’t expecting it, so well done.
In my weird view, I don’t think of them as ECB, whereas with Cook’s corporate XI, I do.
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I feel the same way, Benny, somehow the T20 side is OK. And every time I read another dumb comment about ‘hit and giggle’ or ‘donkey slog cricket’, I like them more.
Didn’t think they’d make it to the final, so very happy for them. I think WI will win it but narrowly, and that’ll be fine with me.
From a sartorial point of view, WI as usual have my vote for Best Pyjamas of the tournament.
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I wrote England’s chances off before this tournament (mainly because I was appalled by the rampant bullishness of our cricket press as well as the dismissal of KP’s inclusion out of hand). I acknowledged the progress made under Morgan’s captaincy, but didn’t think it was enough to challenge for the cup this time around. I can’t hide the fact that I’m delighted to have been proved wrong, though obviously I still think that this side would be much stronger for KP’s inclusion (though the only guy you could leave out is, ironically, probably Morgan himself). I still reckon West Indies will clinch this, but you never know.
One thing is clear, if the final is anything like as good as either of the semis, we are in for a treat!
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I thank you for your support higher up this page. Every sports site on the internet has people who have different views but for some reason Mark has a type of Heaven’s Gate sporting mentality which is inexplicable. Enjoy the match Clive.
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The difference between this site and other MSM sites is your comments are not taken down.,You should give thanks to Dmitri for running a real free media site. Not like the guardian who pretend to be for free speech, but remove anyone who criticises the cricket correspondent or the ECB.
People like Clive and Simon and Sean have virtually every comment they post removed. So don’t lecture about open disagreement please. If Dmitri used ECB MSM procedure your posts would be removed.
Just by saying I like KP and wish he was in the team will get me removed from many sites. How’s that for fair balance? When the guardian BTL will allow people with different views to have their posts displayed without harassment I will listen to lectures about open debate.
One of the reasons this site is so popular with its contributors is we operate outside of the dead hand of the ECB and corporate media. This seems to infuriate them because a huge effort has been made to silence all crictiscm of the ECB, and many so called respectable journalists have been complicit in this dishonest practice. When you have the former head of the ECB storming the Sky comentray box to tell a commentator to stop criticism of the England captain you know we are operating in shameful anti free speech way. Many journalists have become nothing but ECB cheerleaders over the last 2 years. Some on Sky have pissed away any reputation of impartiality and honest opinion. English cricket seems to want to operate in a Pravda like environment. This is one of the few outposts of genuine alternative opinion. And that seems to anoy the hell out of some people. Well I say good.
This is not my site but if it was I would ban you and every other pro ECB apologist. For no other reason than to give you a taste of your own medicine. As I say the MSM have shown no attempt of balance and allowing different views. So why should we? Particularly as you only just want to rub are noses in it.
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Really not looking forward to an English victory if it means the usual suspects will use it to trumpet Strauss and use it as anti-KP propaganda, again. Nothing on this earth would convince me any T20 side would not be better by the inclusion of KP so win or lose he should have always been in this team.
Perhaps the saddest aspect will be that hardly anyone will see it or even care about it. I ask people at work about Jos Buttler and Joe Root and they have no clue who they are. Talk about Freddie and KP and they are on it straight away. Pro-ECB lobbyists wont hear anything against them but surely if England win the world cup and the country doesnt actually know or care about it then that is on them. To use a quote that dickhead pringle used ‘If a team wins a world cup, but no-one sees it….’
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Which is exactly why a recent comment I saw about England’s greatest football, cricket and rugby success in a decade was so ludicrous and sad. Most fans saw the football and rugby…
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You’re partially wrong. The trumpeting of Strauss has started even though we not **yet** won the T20!
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016/apr/02/andrew-strauss-england-world-t20-final-west-indies
The real analysis I’d like to see is how this young generation of players have developed these attitudes and skills in a system that is apparently old-fashioned and not fit for purpose and thus despised by the powers that be.
The question I’d like to ask Strauss (seeing as how his presence apparently dictates what happens on the pitch) is how we’re going to fare in Asia next winter without any specialist spinners of note, and how for future years our spinners will develop when T20 dominates the main summer months.
As to this team I’m glad they’ve done well, they seem a good bunch and are packed full of role models for young cricketers. I called it wrong as I thought they’d get caught out when faced with even part-time spin.
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I made my debut commenting on a piece in the Guardian a couple of days ago (Nonoxcol put a link up) and although I felt like I’d snook into Mr Selvey’s house and pissed on his aspidistra I wasn’t moderated. Shame cause I scribbled a piece about free speech on the back of it which doesn’t really work unless I’d been silenced, trolled etc.
If England win today I’ll be delighted for the likes of Joe Root. Hope it’s a cracking game. Looking forward to a 15 second mention on the news.
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I think England will win today, and good luck to them. But I know if they do win it will be used by the pygmies to dance on KPs grave. How do I know this? Because it is what they have done for the last 2 years everytime England win.
To see Peter Hayter ( a once respected cricket journalist who rallied against the “access” method of modern journalism) reduced to slopping out the kind of derge that Selvey and Pringle turn out on an hourly basis is unfortunate. But a sign of the times.
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The pre-match story dominating this morning relates to the comments made by Mark Nicholas (before the tournament started I believe). He claimed the Windies side lack brains and this is now being used to rally the Windies against what is seen as a Geigesque post-colonial racist slur.
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The other slur against them is that they are mercenary cricketers. Hmm, I wonder where that criticism has come from? Cough cough the big 3.
But if your board hasn’t got any money and the international deck has been rigged for the big 3, mercenary cricketers will be the only way to make a living for some players.
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Those West Indies players will be a case study for the future of cricket.
In ten years’ time, cricket could be completely split in two. One half would operate like tennis, with individual players spending their whole careers making a good living on ‘the tour’ of the various T20 contests and only reassembling as a national T20 side for the World Cup and a few international matches. This would be the cricket the public knows about – the pop music, if you will. Meanwhile, Test cricket would be a subsidised activity for the connoisseur, like opera.
This is of course what some national administrators have dreaded and why they hate people like Pietersen and Gayle. But it’s the poor management that has led to players looking out for themselves – they have to.
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Zephrine,
Yes it’s like the old club vs country argument in football and rugby. I will welcome the idea that players will break away from their corrupt governing bodies, and make a living without having to bow down to some idiot suit who demands blind obedience.
I look forward to the first England player saying “thanks, but I can earn more money playing on the international club circuit.” Oh the howls of protest that will come then.
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Zephirine,
Except the difference between Test cricket and opera being that one requires someone else to play against….
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Oh God… Dmitri, Mark, Aaron and others. Please do not go anywhere near Vic Marks’ article in the Guardian/Observer until the cricket’s over, or you may not be able to bring yourselves to watch it.
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A bit late for that, Clive!!!
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I feared it would be. FFS, they can’t even wait till the final is over to start trumpeting “See! We were right! Nah Nah Nah!”
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I think you were a star of the BTL thread before you even appeared on it…
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Oh yes, it appears my name has been taken in vain a few times, including by the person who obligingly calls himself snivellingwretch.
Obviously, I’m going to take some flak for writing England’s chances off before the tournament, but I’m not going to hide away. (I hadn’t figured out that there was only one knockout game before the final — no quarters –, which obviously makes the whole competition more of a lottery.)
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They need you, clive, you’re part of their daily Two Minutes’ Hate. We know who has been cast as Goldstein, of course.
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There seems to be a lot of rewriting of history in Vic Marks piece as with others. He gives way to much credit to Strauss for keeping Morgan as captain after the World Cup. Morgan had no build up to that tournament. Also, England were still using the Cook format and some of the old players, and England were still operating under the old lapt top rules. It would have been harsh to dump him (despite the calls from Newman to do so) without letting him have time to build a new team. Strauss did nothing other than the bleeding obvious.
In addition the 20/20 side had already shown signs that they were changing. Morgan had brought a new dynamism and new players. In hindsight it would have been better to take the 20/20 team to the World Cup. (They couldn’t have done any worse.)
Marks claim that even Strauss would not have seen how well Morgan would embrace the 20/20 job is odd to say the least. Because he had already shown in the 20/20 format that he was bringing change.
Seems like another piece where the facts are needing to be fitted into a predetermined meme. Namely it’s all down to Strauss.
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Agreed, Mark. I’m not strongly anti-Strauss, I just think he’s a company man and will do what he needs to do to build a career as a cricket administrator – he’d been open for some time about wanting to do that.
I shall be interested to see how Strauss progresses as he gets further away from the commentary box. During his stint with Sky, he was in the company of some very knowledgeable people and must have picked up some good ideas about the wider game. Will he get more parochial and narrow, the longer he’s in the ECB bubble?
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Just had a horrifying thought – the camera is bound to focus on ECB’s representative to the ICC at some point, maybe even on the presentation stage.
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Darren Sammy wins his tenth consecutive T20I toss – and decides to bat second (surprise!).
Now it’s time to watch some men try to hit a ball with a stick….
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Stick or twist now. Got to aim for 140-160 and make sure we get it.
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This England team will twist. No doubt about it. Can’t lose more than one more before halfway.
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And they should twist!!!
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Not going very well so far with both the openers out. I really think a score of substance is needed from one or both of Root and Buttler if England are to win this.
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An awful tournament as a batsman is over now for Captain Morgan. It really is on Root and Buttler I can’t help think. That said, a few of these finals haven’t been big scoring games.
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West Indies’ bowling has been really good, and Sammy’s tactics absolutely opposite of brainless.
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180 good enough? Didn’t lose more than one up to the 10th. Can’t lose both of these before 16th.
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i should think so. can we get there though?
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It was a great fightback between Root and Buttler, but now England are looking as though they won’t bat out the overs.
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If England can get to 150 that wouldn’t be the worst given what’s happened.
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this innings is going nowhere atm.
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Who thought it was a good idea to invite Flintoff into the studio at Sky TV????
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I thought he did OK. Arguably they had too many people in the studio for the time available, though.
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Badree will get most of the attention – but that was some effort by Carlos Brathwaite (veteran of only 7 T20Is and identified, I’m sure, by many as the potential weak link in the Windies’ bowling line-up).
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Probably identified as a batting weakness too by the England management. He merely won the game for West Indies, when they looked down, and almost out.
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Good from CJ and Rashid at the end, but even though 155 is the second highest score in a WT20 final from a team batting first, it doesn’t feel enough. Outstanding from West Indies, smart tactics and electric in the field — disciplined too, only one wide and only five extras in all. If not for Benn’s three overs and Sammy’s one over, we would have struggled to get to 120.
England still in this, but we’ll probably have to bowl them out.
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Watch a great first over from Willey, just a single off the final ball.
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Joe. My God. Root.
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looking like a gamble with Root
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Morgan pulls off stroke of genius — brings on Root second over and he takes a wicket with first ball!
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This isn’t very clever.
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Root is God. That is all.
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I’m getting all mixed up, doing my head in:I’m delighting in an English strike, for the first time in my life I’m cheering Root for taking a wicket.
But putting nationality aside, I’m delighted to see Root triumph over Gayle; if accords with my sense of justice.
WI are entirely capable of self combusting.
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So are England Fred!!!!
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It’s amazing watching these games so dispassionately. Thanks to the ECB for saving my blood pressure.
England in the box seat here. They needed to take three quick ones, including the destructive openers, and they played on their egos.
Don’t know why, but I worry about Darren Sammy. He’s a dangerous character down the order. Except he’s not had a bat!!!
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Can’t remember of it was Tregasis or TFT or someone else who noted that since he became so pissed off with England, he enjoyed other teams, and cricket in general so much more.
Enjoying an English victory would be the final frontier for me.
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Just in case I don’t get to type this later….
Yeh Dwayne dance nah.
Personally I’m happy for either side to win coz I love good cricket. But equally I totes dig a bit of schadenfreude whenever cocky bling merchants come second. *If* they do indeed come second. I’m a bit previous here.
Also, will Stokes(y) salute Marlon should he get to 50?
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I thought I was alone in being underwhelmed by the bling merchants.
The cricket world doesn’t “need a strong West Indies”, rose tinted nostalgia aside, it needs teams who want to compete.
I don’t care about the WI per se, I care about cricket.
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I’m just a bit wary of anyone who gets their celebrations in early. Bravo seems that kinda chap.
England would be my guess now but Marlon’s got a chance. Does he have the partners?
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10 runs behind where they need to be to be in with a good shout.
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“I’m just a bit wary of anyone who gets their celebrations in early. Bravo seems that kinda chap.”
Yep.
Mrs Fred asked me today who the “West Indies” was, she’d never heard of this country. It’s complicated, and I guess they are something to be celebrated for many reasons, but I’ve had enough of their show boating and general disdain for the game overall. And I don’t mean just the players, it’s the board too.
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The tension is getting unbearable.
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I’m very calm. 1 in 8 chance WIndies win from here.
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I seriously do not believe what I just saw.
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If England do it… Willey MOTM?
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Or Root?
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Or Strauss, Andrew?
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Er, not Ben Stokes.
Shame, as he seems like a lovely chap.
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If WI do it, it will be Marlon MOTM.
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Well bowled Jordan!
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FFS
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Beforehand I would naturally have picked whoever won the toss. I have been banging about it all tournament, and I am not going to change.
So I would have backed West Indies on that result. England seemed to be in control, but that last Stokes over (the 20th) threw it away.
Oh, and congrats to the Analyst for his brilliant pre-game analysis. Probably got everything wrong that he could get wrong, but hey, it takes some skill to publish heaps of nonsense and still retain a job in the print industry.
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The Analyst was sort of right that the West Indies are a one-man batting unit…..
The dew was undoubtedly a factor in the latter stages of the England innings. Billings missed a catch because his foot slipped – and one TV angle clearly showed a shower of dew flying up. The ball was being constantly dried.
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Who that man is, exactly, changes however. This failure of analysis is not restricted to just one English commentator/journalist, but if one was familiar with the style of play here it’s pretty obvious.
Look, you’re making your living as a foreign player in a domestic league. How do you keep your job? 1) by increasing the entertainment value of the whole thing, through on and off field behavior, 2) by aiming for at least one MotM in every assignment one has got. Steady consistency doesn’t get you your job back.
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And Carlos Brathwaite is da man. Time for that dance.
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I only saw the last nine balls at my Grandad’s.
Dear oh dear. Everyone at the G looking forward to kpatelfd24….?
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4×6, can’t argue with that.
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As they’ve just put on cricinfo… OMG!
Brathwaite’s just made himself a superstar. Wouldn’t want to be Ben Stokes’ locker door in the next hour.
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Nineteen to win off the final over, and Braithwaite does it with two balls to spare.
Easily the best ever WT20 final and a real pleasure to watch. Thanks to the illegal streaming channel I watched it on.
Oh yes, by the way: not satisfied with his article in the Times yesterday (“Get Gayle Early and the World Cup’s Yours”), the Analyst actually tweeted just before the Windies’ innings started: “Winning strategy for England? Get Gayle out and keep Samuels in!”
This is stupid not only in the light of the semi-finals, but in view of the history of Marlon Samuels, who always seems to do a number over England.
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I did say 1 in 8 chance. Seems they had the 1.
Browne, Bradshaw, Brathwaite.
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I didn’t think we’d get Good Marlon twice in one tournament, but maybe the complete absence of Malinga helped settle his mind.
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There’s a huge amount of pressure coming off now. These players all have a lot of good reason to be resentful of various entities, and many of them are completely done with many elements of the cricketing establishment.
So I /thoroughly support/ Marlon taking a pop at Warne. Warne gets paid plenty to take pops at Marlon, after all.
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Sammy’s now had a go at the board.
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Sammy had a go at Mark Nicholas too!
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Yea Windies deffo dance nah. Loved it. Glad my hypertension tablets did their thing.
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Start of the last over and was anyone else thinking…..
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Paul Newman…
And their Under 19s won their World Cup with the huge help of a quite shameful Mankading…
Stay classy. Stay classy….
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Tosser. Absolute tosser.
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He’s moaning about their celebration as well.
Why other countries hate England, and why some of the English aren’t that keen either.
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His tweets read like those of a man who’s had to change his paean to Director, Cricket at the very last minute.
Get out the world’s tiniest violin.
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They are also the tweets of someone who didn’t watch the end of the Sri Lanka match where only Jos shook Angelo’s hand in the immediate aftermath.
We’re in no position to lecture on this subject. Our team were never the most popular with umpires and oppo. Makes us look hypocrites.
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Yates and CarDroidusMax speaking for me on the subject of Newman.
And several people pitching in with a reference to England pissing on the Oval pitch in 2013, of course.
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Top of the pops in the self-awareness stakes:
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Yes, I was, actually!
I listened to that over on the radio before school assembly all those years ago. In those days, it seemed miraculous, now in T20 it happens all the time.
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What year was that (the Lamb knock)?
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86-87
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Hastily deletes his response. Of course it was. Daffy was with him at the end!
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86 87? Please don’t tell me it was so long ago…
😦
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Full credit to the Director, West Indies Cricket…
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Fucking hell!!
Sorry, and all that, and I don’t mean it in an aggressive way, but I’m so stunned that I don’t know what to think apart from: fucking hell!!
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Blimey.
Blood pressure not helped by the paid-for Sky NowTV streaming persistently dropping out.
Great match. I’m happy for the WI, bling and all, that triple is pretty amazing and nobody made it easy for them.
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Stokes is not the sort of guy who can deal easily with being brushed aside like that. Will be interesting to see how he reacts. I suspect Bayliss may be spending some time tonight with his hand over his shoulder feeding him beers and telling him war stories.
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I think Stokes will have a good cry, get completely legless, possibly break some things, and then be fine in a day or so. Hoping they’ve hired a few minders.
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You’re right Zepherine, he’ll go through a carthasis, and come out the other side. Too young to be damaged. I bet he’ll remember it though.
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By the way, I think (it wasn’t clear-cut) I failed the Tebbit Test in that last over. Aggers’ clear disappointment and the timbre of his voice in the face of something quite extraordinary definitely contributed.
However, Root should have been player of the tournament.
Interesting that Sammy is happy to diss the board in interview. ECB need to up their game to match the world standard!
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I only heard Agnew after the game. He still sounded like a ten year old whose new bike had been stolen.
Elsewhere, Dmitri will be interested in an outbreak of greatest-ever-itis, as Rob Smyth decrees that the best-ever finish to any limited overs match.
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Sammy and all the rest of them have a lot of reason to do so, and the entirety of the WI men’s team trajectory throughout this tournament has everything to do with what is going on with WI cricket administration. The WICB have lost legitimacy with /everyone/.
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Yep. It seems to have got so bad that the only priority for the board is survival of the board. This must lead to a greater clarity of mind for the players. They can say: “this is for me and the guys”. No need to tow some bullshit line.
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Exactly.
And it is so blatantly obvious to everyone who has but passingly followed the whole WICB – WIPA – players saga. It is only a matter of time before the players retire from international cricket to become T20 mercenaries (and I don’t mean that pejoratively); and it seems doubtful that the NOC (the stick that the boards still have; the carrot is obviously not working) will survive long in courts of law, especially given the willful mismanagement of the players by the various boards, the WICB just being the most blatant example.
Only players who cannot develop the skillset for T20s (Kraigg Brathwaitte springs to mind), will suffer the consequences, but given the fact that none of the boards really care for Test cricket, they’d suffer the consequences too even if the WICB was somewhat competent
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I just thought of who was at the non-striker’s end when Brathwaite hit those sixes.
Marlon Samuels has had a very, very good day.
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Credit to him, I thought he batted too slowly to start with but it turned out to be an absolute blinder – a World T20 final specialist, you might say. Also, although in all honesty it was probably a bit crass, I couldn’t help but raise a smirk when he dedicated his man of the match award to Shane Warne – Warne’s loathing of him, and his extreme reluctance to praise anything he does, has been so petty I can imagine it would have been very satisfying for Samuels to prove his loudest doubter wrong.
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All that and being able to stand there next to Stokes while he got taken apart! Anyway, Samuels’s pacing was entirely part of the plan. If he’d have gotten out instead of Bravo, probably Ramdin would have come in instead of Russell.
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Bugger!!!!
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