Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

mikesiva wrote:Williamson 85 from 48.

About 81 them came off 30 balls too. What a turn around

Aussies strolling home.

looking like it

although NZ can never be written off

Warner and Marsh.

Apart from Williamson and Boult , NZ haven't turned up tonight. Aussies cruising in for what has to be a very satisfying title win - especially after getting hammered so badly by England in the group game.

Well done them

NZ bridesmaids again.

Chasing team wins again and Australia won all but one of their tosses.

Even so nice for Australia to have got the one trophy that has avoided them. M Marsh a match winner for Australia in a WC final......who would have believed that before the tournament started.

bigfluffylemon wrote:Win the toss, win the tournament?

All three finals games w3nt to the team winning the toss and chasing.

12 of 13 games in Dubai won by the chasing side.

What a joke.

Why did they persist in playing evening games? Better for the Asian tv audience?

bigfluffylemon wrote:

bigfluffylemon wrote:Win the toss, win the tournament?

All three finals games w3nt to the team winning the toss and chasing.

Still have to perform though, even when all the advantages are with you, but yeah... not a great look

a little anti-climactic at the end. Aus did very well to pace that chase so well.

I thought that Hazelwood drop of Williamson was going to be a defining point of the match, and he certainly turned around his innings after it.

Yes, it was another case of win the toss, bat, win the match, but to hand it to Aus, the two finals saw them completing the two highest run chases of the tournament. Well done them.

GarlicJam wrote:a little anti-climactic at the end. Aus did very well to pace that chase so well.

I thought that Hazelwood drop of Williamson was going to be a defining point of the match, and he certainly turned around his innings after it.

Yes, it was another case of win the toss, bat, win the match, but to hand it to Aus, the two finals saw them completing the two highest run chases of the tournament. Well done them.

Australia won six tosses and won all six games chasing. The game they lost the toss and were put in to bat (v England), they lost.

Sure, you have to execute, and Australia did well on the day, but to me these sorts of numbers substantially reduce the credibility of the tournament. Batting second in this tournament was worth about 12-20 runs when the teams were otherwise closely matched.

I have proposed before that the toss needs to go. It's not fair and unduly affects the outcome of some games. I'm a board gamer, so what I would actually like to see is some sort of bidding system: both sides write down secretly what they would like to do first (bat or bowl), and how many runs they are prepared to bid for the privilege, then give their bids to the umpires. If one side wants to bat and one bowl, all good. If both sides want to do the same thing, the high bidder gets to do what they want, and the opposition starts with as many runs as the opponent's bid. That would even out the toss advantage.

I know that would never get up (would be alleged to be too complicated - in a game with the lbw rule and Duckworth-Lewis...). But when you are playing straight knockout, handing that much advantage to a side randomly is not fair.

Well done to the Aussies. Came out of nowhere and stormed it.

NZ should kick themselves for that first 8 odd overs. I still have no idea what they were doing

These numbers are pretty damning.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/aus- ... up-1289132

Nothing will change, though.

Was a pity the toss played so big a role - though I think I will leave BFL's alternative idea to the board gamers

In t20 it is generally always going to be better to bat second but the conditions here exacerbated that : could have been lessened by playing the finals in the daytime of course.

Next year it will be in Australia so we won't have that dew problem marring the tournament (or hopefully those raucous stadium announcers !) but we might have to put up with a couple of games suffering from rain and Duckworth Lewis ...can't have everything.

Congrats again to Aussies : hopefully this will distract them from the red ball business and enable England to get a start on them in the Ashes

Blaming the dew, the toss, conditions, etc is just a red herring. The pitch or the outfield doesnt change enough to excuse such results - what really matters is the fact that circumstances take out the erroneous human elements of judgement in how to approach tactics, and you see this in other sports a lot too.

Take for instance football; when is a goal most likely to occur and by who? Answer - last minute, and by a team trailing. Does conditions change, does it become easier to score? Or is it just at the end of a game with nothing to lose, a team is more likely to throw caution to the wind and actually let loose and attack? Same in the NFL, every single week you see a team who's done nothing on offence suddenly wrack up points late in the 4th quarter when a QB has no option but to throw bombs all over the place. In all this situations playing the same way from minute 1 has the same results (and risks) - the game doesnt change, the tactics and their positive/negative aspects dont change, but most of the time people are cautious and dont choose the right path, or let fear control how they play.

Would Wade and Stoinis have got to 170 plus from that position batting first? Probably not. They'd have looked behind and seen Cummins padding up with a best score of 13 and a match average of 1 run per game, and would have settled for 140-150. And they'd have probably lost - batting second in a knockout, you cant settle for 20 runs under the target. You have to go for it, you have no choice. Its kill or be killed. So its an invisible quantity that holds back teams batting first.

Would Guptil have batted like he did yesterday had NZ had a target of 180 to chase? Would Kane Williamson have waited 15 balls to start hitting? The most consistent thing about this tournament has been batters in the top 6 reacting to wickets going down batting in a shell.

In T20 cricket, you can never take your foot off the pedal. Too many teams forget that, and maybe its rustiness with lockdowns and less cricket. But that metric hurts the first batting side more simply because the second team knows what they need.

For me it doesnt change what is right and wrong. When you see Lendl Simmons batting out 6 whole overs like hes blocking out a test match, unless the pitch is dangerous and unfit for cricket, there can be no excuses for that. His partner was smoking the ball around the ground and made a 50, but after 10 overs he got out and Windies had a RR under 7. Is that the pitch? Is that conditions? Is that the toss? No...its just terrible batting. Id have sent out a drink to him with the message to start swinging, and if you cant connect, run yourself out trying to get a bye. Cant have a passenger going nowhere in T20.

No, its just batsman playing with fear. T20s batting is like a fire; if the first person to confront the fire doesnt tackle it, it rages out of control. Every batsman regardless of the match situation needs to attack - at all times. You cant block, you cant consolidate, you cant waste time. If you do, you just leave your team mate to arrive on the scene with the whole building ablaze. Every ball has equal worth, and eventually someone has to take the risk - the best batsman come in first, so consolidating just means you ask an inferior batter to do an even harder job - on all levels, your odds reduce. Its amazing how so many teams dont realise this and settle into cautious approaches.

Too many top 6 batsman this tournament got lost trying to play themselves in. If its 3-30 after 3 overs, the answer is not to bat out 7 overs and spare wickets - you have to go hard and ignore the scoreboard. If you get bowled out for 70 then so be it - your odds of losing after 70 not out are probably not at all that much different to making it to 140. In both scenarios you are probably a big underdog.

Judge the pitch, judge the par score, and bat to that, and do not change your approach. And be prepared to lose wickets in setting the RR higher - Pakistan got knocked out after an innings with 6 unused batters - they dallied around in the middle overs trying to setup keeping batsman in, but ended with spares and lost runs. Its unforgiveable to have unused hitters in an innings unless your top order have made mountains or runs and won the game.