billy2shots Posted April 3, 2016 Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 Just a quick heads up for those that are interested England v West Indies in the final of the World Cup today (Sunday) at 1.30 on Sky Sports. If you're not a cricket fan it should still provide plenty of entertainment and be worth a watch for a couple of hours. The wicket of Chris Gail is obviously massive. Get him early and we have a chance. If he bats for 10 overs then it's game over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonC Posted April 3, 2016 Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 Friend's birthday lunch today - in a 'sports bar' (albeit a nice one) - so will be there in spirit to hopefully witness England's success.I used to love playing cricket at 1st Team school level all those years ago, and appreciate the sheer skill particularly of the batsmen, but watching it doesn't float my boat too much. Go England! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted April 3, 2016 Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 Argh, there's too much sport that I want to watch! MotoGP, BTCC, T20 and F1. I'll happily bin off the F1 and most likely watch the T20 live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy2shots Posted April 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 Oh dear. 2 down inside 2 overs, awful start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy2shots Posted April 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 Crumbled. We win the odd sporting competition but if we could handle pressure situations we would be so much more successful as a nation. West Indies look like they are enjoying every second of playing in a final, we look like rabbits caught in the headlights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted April 3, 2016 Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 When you think where West Indies cricket was only a year ago, they probably are just really happy to be there. Always too much pressure to win on English teams. The expectation may not have been there at the start of the tournament, but it piles on when they get to the latter stages. It takes a different kind of leadership to shield the players from that and coach them to treat a final like any other match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted April 3, 2016 Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 Obviously I had every faith in England turning it round when I posted that. Every faith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy2shots Posted April 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 (edited) It was in the bag. Then that thing called pressure comes in to play again and we buckle. Final over and we just need to defend 19 runs. It's ours! 6 6 6 6 It's s theirs!!!!!!!! Edited April 3, 2016 by billy2shots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcon magnifique Posted April 3, 2016 Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 You can't really legislate for that. Well played WI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonC Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 Thoroughly enjoyed the game, which I was surprised about. As you say, Billy, in the bag, but then..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torino101 Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 Felt physically sick after the last over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy2shots Posted April 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 I'm not holding Stokes accountable far from it, but I would love to know what the instructions were from the coaches and captain. Against Sri Lanka we bowled wide yorkers outside off stump. White line yorkers that were only just legal deliveries. As a result we only went at 20 odd runs for the final 4 overs which swung the momentum and resulted in us winning quite comfortably. Samuels and Braithwate are powerful guys and live pulling the ball over to the leg side or smashing the ball straight down the ground. I was screaming for wide yorkers outside of off but they didn't come. I'm sure that West Indies did their homework and expected those wide full deliveries but that's irrelevant, in the final over every ball should have been aimed at those wide white lines. Try pulling that for 6! If the cut four 6s in a row then bloody well done but whatever you do don't bowl 4 half volleys 2 of which were on leg stump. If Stokes was asked to bowl those wide yorkers and he didn't have the ability or nerve to do it then fair enough, it's a World Cup final and you need to be a special player in those circumstances. If however that instruction never came then someone needs to hold their hand up. stokes is so passionate that this could eat him up. Someone else accepting responsibility will preserve his potential and avoid extinguishing his spark. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torino101 Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 Given how tight Rashid was, and that the pitch was clearly turning. I'm surprised Ali bowled no overs at all??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewNiceMrMe Posted April 5, 2016 Report Share Posted April 5, 2016 Gillespie was tweeting about the use of Rashid. I know he's biased in that respect but I agreed with him. He was under-used and too far down the batting order. That said, I don't think England didn't anything wrong in the bowling. It was the first few overs that cost us. It was a very tight match and I think we did well to pull the position back to be as tight as it was in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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