Tough loss for the Indian team. Losing Dhawan and Kohli in a quick succession was a back breaker and the Aussies just put the choke hold from there on. Needed a big 100 from one of the top 3. Nothing but proud of this team though, they played well in the tournament.
Yeah I don't understand why only 10 teams for the 2019 world cup. I'm really hoping they change that before the qualifiers start, ICC needs to give an incentive of being at the world cup to the associates teams to grow the game.
Watched Australias innings at the pub, got home and India were pretty much done for.
Although I wanted an NZ v Aus final I just can't bring myself to cheer for Australia in certain sports (sorry FireGilbert).
Having said that, the hosts facing off and this being NZs first final just makes for an awesome match. This is gonna be good no matter what.
Edit: Warne is a bloody.good commentator, hope he does the final.
Haha, no need to apologize. The Aussies are like the NY Yankees of cricket, they are usually the best team in the world so a lot of people end up cheering against them. I mainly hope they win so the locals are in a good mood next week and the Kiwis don't get all cocky thinking they are now better at rugby and cricket.
It should be an amazing game with a crowd of 90,000+ at the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground. It would be cool if NZ got their first win but I don't think they will no longer having the home advantage. The huge MCG is a completely different field than the tiny grounds across the Tasman and the Kiwis will need to greatly adjust their batting strategy to have a chance. I just hope it is a close game and there are no acts of bad sportsmanship like this disgraceful act by Australia against NZ also at the MCG in 1981:
Also, I agree on Warne, he is a great commentator who is entertaining and honest. He was also a pretty good spin bowler. This is a video of one of the best bowling deliveries you will ever see:
He also seems to be everywhere on the Australian internet with banner ads for laser hair surgery. I had a laugh the other day when his face popped up on NHL.com.
I think they're trying to grow T20 because it's more feasible.
50 Overs cricket takes 6 weeks to play a World Cup.
And if Cricket is ever going to be in the Olympics, it'll be T20.
I don't know how much ICC actually cares about going to the Olympics with the sport but it'll be a very long time till that happens anyways and T20 is the only option then.
The World Cup takes 6 weeks to finish because of the scheduling since most days they only have 1 match. They could change that to 2 matches per day and take advantage of the multiple venues and finish earlier with more teams.
Less than an hour to go! Hopefully the Aussies can smash their little brothers from across the ditch.
I also hope this is the start of more games between these two rivals. Before the World Cup Australia and New Zealand hadn't played each other in 4 years! It seems like Australia always plays England, India or South Africa when they should be playing more against their geographic rivals.
