Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
40/0
8 Overs
I am not in particular happy with Sri Lankans' strategy. They should have played Vaas and Murli in this match to make it competitive. If they are out due to injuries than it make sense, otherwise you just can not expect to turn it all around in semi-final or final.
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
^ I feel the same way. Too much negative strategy can come back to haunt them.
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
Let say, you were Captain of SL. You had choice between playing NZ or SA in semi final. Who would you choose?
No one cares what happened in the middle, end result is to play final and try to win that. There is no guarantee that SL will win against NZ, but then they have beaten NZ and narrowly lost to SA. I think that their choice is justified.
Well, game is not finished yet. If SL wins against Aus even with this depleted bowling attack, Aus morale would go down completely and SL morale would get high with lot of belief on their ability to defeat Aus.
If SL lose, they would still not lose their morale, as they are not playing with full strength. Thus, regardless of winning or loosing result, both ways they win.
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
World Cup is more of mental tournament than picking and choosing games. A defeat is hard to recover from, just look how South Africa is reeling after their last minute collapse against Sri Lanka. A victory or a competitive effort would have gone a long way for Sri Lanka.
Right now their bowlers are getting smacked all over the ground. It is not a great sight if their goal is to reach and win World Cup final.
11 from the over
59/0
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
Well, they won’t be playing semi final or final (if they qualify) with same bowlers, would they? So, if they are smacked all over the ground, does it matter? How can that going to make them lose their morale?
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
How that going to make them lose their morale?
Just read the quotes when they loose this game. You will understand what their team moral is.
76/1
Hayden gone.
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
Well, if a team is gone in the game considering that to lose that particular game is good strategy, how can they lose morale if they lose that game?
Obviously they are not going to lose intentionally, they just reduced their strength to level where it is most likely they lose, that’s it. But still, loosing could be part of strategy and I think, that loosing game could not make them lose morale.
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
Gilchrist gone
79/2
Sri Lanka climbing back into the game.
Sa1eem: If you look at Australia, they do not have to play McGrath and Symonds in every game. They do not have to win any more matches to cement their place in semi-final or final, but they take every game as serious as World Cup final.
Right now game is on, I think captain Jayawardene will be able to explain the exclusion of Vaas and Murli than we can see whether it is legitimate or just picking and choosing.
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
As I wrote earlier, SL can afford to lose but Aus cannot, as every game they win increases their record of most continuous wins in world cup.
On the other hand, record of Aus against NZ is not as impressive as SA, so I believe that Aus would like to play semi final with SA than with NZ. [In their last encounter (ODI series played in NZ), NZ gave Aus ODI team good thrashing]
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
85/2
15 Overs
Power Play On
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
105/2
122 to win from 31 Overs
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
0 4 0 2 3 0
114/2
20 Overs
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
Darr hai kay kahin Bandar subb ki naa lay lay...Aur 117/2 off 20.2 overs...
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
^ gandee baat :nono:
SL need just 8 more wickets with 110 runs remaining…
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
126/3
Clark OUT
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
100 more runs to take 7 more wickets....
ponting needs to go fast ...
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
RRR less than 3
7 wickets in hand
Ponting still there
match almost over
Congratulations Kangaroos 
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
^ yeah…
some nail biter this turned out to be…
SL tactics took the “hawa” out of this “ghubbarah”
Re: 16 April 2007 - Australia v Sri Lanka
Looks like Australia is winning another world cup
the only thing which could have derailed the Australian express was Sri Lanka but Sri Lanka lost badly