Thetownend.com

starts on tuesday.

12 teams, 13 days, 1 winner.

should be fun.

i would say that england have absolutely no chance of winning this, but that would make me miserable and negative, so i wont.

probably get to the quater finals. NZ to win it.

i feel we have every chance of winning it as long as we play the people in our squad who are experts in this game not the usual suspects.

We won't win it.

South Africa will win it.

The Twenty20 will be a welcome distraction from the Rugby World Cup - which is already annoying me.

 :nod:  :thumbs:

It should be a good couple of weeks, if we play our specialists like mexico red says we could have a good tourno. but then again so could upto 5 other teams (or 11 if you're going to be pedantic).

the england squad looks fairly decent. just a real shame they haven't picked anyone who can open with luke wright:

Matt Prior - won't score any runs but what he does get will come quick
Darren Maddy - won't score any runs and what he does get will come slow
Vikram Solanki - won't score any runs but what he does get will look pretty
Andrew Flintoff - read Matt Prior

I like the sound of Vikram Solanki...

let prior and wright loose.have pieterson at 3 and flintoff at 4. no fucking about.

On Saturday's evidence this will give Pietersen and Flintoff 18 overs to get stuck in - good plan  :wink:

luke wright either gets 0 or shitloads, no inbetween. prior will come good in this.

Sounds a good plan to me. Although i expect Flintoff and KP will just get themselves out in 20/20 so they'll probably do crap.

let dimi open  8)

stick him at 5.

prior
wright
pieterson
flintoff
mascarenas
collingwood
shah
bell
broad
panesar
kirtley

neither bell nor panesar are in the squad mex old boy

i'd go for

1 l wright
2 k pietersen (will never happen though)
3 o shah
4 a flintoff
5 p collingwood
6 m prior
7 d mascarenhas
8 c schofield
9 s broad
10 j kirtley
11 j anderson

Aussies to win.Rather obvious and of course i hope it doesn't happen,but they are the best team at all other forms of the game,can't see why this form of the game will be any different  :(

Chris Gayle 117 from 57 :soapy tit wank:

Gayle was a bit good wasn't he!  :mrgreen:

 Awesoime display of clean hitting....they're long boudaries in SA as well.

  Couple of fit dancers as well. :P

if he can say in and get going, good god he is great to watch

chris gayle? flat track bully.

i'd have shah and wright opening.

Pollock got tonked around a lot by Gayle, fantastic knock by him. Fit dancers at the cricket is a good thing.

jesus really! i didnt realise well schofield for panesar and if you have anderson stick him 10. im a better batsmen than kirtley and i havent played for 20 years :D

which makes you substantially better than anderson

Urh,you sound like Tony Cozier  :wink: His old man lusting after the women in the crowd turns my stomach!

Good game to start the tournament off,shame the South Africans won though.Few games today,Scotland - Pakistan might be interesting,the rest won't be.

Kenya are currently 36-4, they were 2-4 at one stage.  :mrgreen:

68 for 8 that women commentator is annoying.

gillespie got 7-4 off 2.5 overs.

oh dear

I had it on mute, she needs to die

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/6990734.stm

pic 4 is the best.  :D

Knowing you Ultra i'm sure you meant picture five :wink:


Seems a strange idea having dancing women and men on podiums,its hugely pointless,much like 20/20 cricket itself. And if it means i have to listen to Tony Cozier and Bumble slobbering over them it really is unwanted  :chunder:

Scots have played reasonable well,still got to think Pakistan will win out though.

australia are rocking against zimbabwe :D
87-5 off 14

surely the original point of twenty20 was to regenerate domestic cricket, a point it's achieved rather well i'd have thought

aus 137-9 off their 20 overs. well under par.

come on human rights xi!

The Aussies kit is hideous  :soapy tit wank: They are still going to win i reckon,probably best for us and our chances of getting through to the next round.

They better win or it's bye bye England  :|

ffs Rich cheer up you miserable fucker.

We haven't even played a game yet!

That Female commentator needs to get the Plague and quickly her voice is just so ARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!  :evil:

Aussie got beat by 5 wickets with 1 ball to spare. Is the female commentator Donna Simmons? she used to be on tms a couple of yrs ago.

Oh dear. The Aussies will be fired up against us and they'll win. So it's down to the run rate and that's if we even manage to beat Zimbabwe. Not confident tbh.

You never are  :D

Haha, the Aussies lost to Zimbabwe. I realise this has already been mentioned, but I feel it needs mentioning again.

Of course, if we do beat the Aussies...they are OUT !!!

Now that would be something  :mrgreen:

only because middlesex are shit in it.
shes got gripe because cozier and bumble were "slobbering" over the fine looking dancers, yet she still comments about how bad the aussies kit is. who gives a toss.

aussies batted like arses and paid the price expecting to win easily. makes the group interesting for a change

serves them right for wearing vests.

that Aussie kit is a bit awful.

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

As much as its enjoyable seeing the Aussies lose,geting through to the next round for us is going to be pretty hard now i would have thought.But then i don't care cause 20/20 is shit  :wink:

Indies look like they're going out.
They aren't going to show the England game, till the W.I. game is finished me thinks.  :x

20-2 after 3

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

The bowler is called waa-waa-wee-wahh!

61-3 now.

KP and Collingwood in - need a good partnership!

101-3 KP cutting loose with 49 off 25 including 2 sixes. Keep it up please  :D

I want to be watching this. :(

Petersen 56 off 28 deliveries
119-3 in the 13th over

64 off 30 deliveries KP

72 off 32 deliveries KP

Hands up who wanted Luke Wright to play?

 :\/

72 from 33 for KP now - bosch!

151 for 4, KP out, Flintoff in next, just over 4 overs to go.

Who was the Wright who was out for 0 from 1 ball?

Luke.

Hence my question

Zimbabwe now on 90-5 in reply to our 188-9 with 6 overs to go.

Should be a win now. :)

107-6 now. 8)

138-7 after their 20 overs, so a solid 50 run win for us.  Whoo

Nice to see us pick up the win with a net run rate of +2.50!

Oh and can that Female commentator just fuck off asap.

That's a very good win. Barring a disaster now we should go through. And even i'm saying that.... :D

curse work getting in the way of cricket :(

 :nod:

I'm watching the repeat on SS1, and she's got a bloody annoying voice.

give luke a chance he will fire. its his 20-20 england debut.

i know how u feel mate. i listened till kp got out then i had work. not allowed to listen to music until after 5 on some parts of work.

Are you allowed to listen to cricket??

can do sometimes after 5 though.

Phew!

I watched it 8)

I'll be watching tomorrow too 8)

 8)

Sri Lanka 261-6 ....Off 20 overs  :shock:

That score was not topped very often in the 50-over version in the Windies a few months back.

Jayasuria and Jawardene went mental with the bat in final 10 overs.

Ace.

Mubarak hit 46 off 13 balls  :soapy tit wank:

We won the toss and are batting first. 31-1 off 5.1 overs. Prior out for 17 off 17 balls.

37-2 now.

6.4 overs.

Here we go then.....KP's at the crease  :D

Failure again today Mex!

Maddy gone now as well  :| 48-3

australia look like a different team to the other day :(

Says on BBC quite a few fans wearing Luke Wright masks!  They'll be disappointed then!

no inbetween with wright, he attacks everything.

We need to pick up the run rate and fast.

Can someone let England know it's not a 50 over game!

Singles at the moment. Come on KP where's your big hitting gone?

Hurrah. Two boundaries from Colly. 64-3 after 10. Now i have to back to work  :(

Well done Rich, Colly just got out.  :evil:

I should think Prior & Pietersen would do well returning to their homeland :wink:

a bit like hitler should have.

I like this text that someone sent in:

132-8  :shock:

This is touch and go now. The Aussies will come out trying to destroy us.

If we dont get 2 early wickets were going home.

They need to get it in 9.3 overs. Fingers crossed should be OK.

broad bats left handed but bowls right handed.

James Kirtley!  :groan1:

We survived the 9.3 overs atleast

We never had a chance of winning with a poor total of 135 to defend!

I know he should have fuck off back to Austria and not taken us to war

kirtley is good in this game for the last 2 or 3 overs. but we really didnt play well today. fucking pieterson "we will humiliate australia" prick.

I take it England & Australia qualify, zimbabwe finish bottom

That was a lucky escape. Well and truly hammered by the Aussies as i expected. We are fortunate we did just enough to beat Zimbabwe convincingly. Is it a super 8 stage like the world cup up next? If so losing today won't help our cause at all but our group has proved that anyone can beat anyone in this form of the game.

rich it's now two groups of 4, top two from each group to the semis. no points are carried from the first stage to the second

Oh right. We are ok then. As long as the Aussies are not in our group  :D

on another day we will cane the aussies, just had a bad one today

Can you explain that to me

We weren't lucky we beat Zimbabwe seeing as we battered them.

Let's be honest, the Aussies would have beaten most teams based on todays performance.

We were fortunate that after todays heavy defeat, our win against Zimbabwe was just enough to get us through on run rate.  :D

Ah right i dont get tennis anyway

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:  :D

well if Pakistan chase india target of 142 of 14.3 overs Scotland go through. Come on Pakistan  :mrgreen:

Why are you always on about chasing indians scott, are you a closet racist

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:   :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:   :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:   :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:   :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:   :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:   :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:   :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:   :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

I didn't even know they were in it tbh. Scottish sport is on a high at the moment.

Match Tied.

ace a bowl out :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

You rofled! You're dead to me.

its fucking hilarious. pakistan and india fucking hate each other. their entire life is cricket. its like a rangers celtic game being settled by a game of hop scotch.

What was the point of the bowl out? It was a group game and both teams went through anyway.

But you can imagine the fun and games in a semi-final...

What is the point?! Its not a knock out game, its a group game. Scores level, game tied, one point each. The bowl out took away from a fantastic game of cricket.

Have the ICC got Sepp Blatter involved somewhere?

so we now have south africa, new zealand and then india in the super 8's.

i dont see any reason why we can't wupp all three of them.

Our bowling will need to improve, the quicks (Andreson & Broady) have not been good enough in the opening 2 games and both India and SA batsmen are good enough to exploit that if there's no improvement.

I'm more encouraged by our batting, but the top of the order still have a fair bit to prove.

I fancy us to do well in this group. I could see us losing today byt then winning the other 2 matches. England doing it the hard way as always.

Your right though Village, our bowling needs to improve alot. Against the top sides I can't see us taking more than 1 or 2 wickets and that is very dangerous in this game.

Today, I predict we will bat first, get 181 and South Africa to knock it off in 17.3 overs.

South Africa 44-3 of 5 overs.

155 to win, not a bad effort.

should be a good match, england can make this but might be close.

Our bowling was fantastic, should have been a bit less really but our fielding was terrible. Too many drop catches. I would have taken the score though thats for sure, GAME ON!

my favourite bit of this tournament is the talking head as the batsman walks out...

every other country is taking this very seriously but amongst our lot we have KP claiming the forward defensive block as his favourite shot, collingwood with the nurdle off the pads, and dimi prefers the slog over cow corner.

bumble loves it too.

Haven't we started well?

long way to go rich........

True. As it happens it's 63-3 after 11 now. So still a lot of work to get that target but at least Prior and Shah are making a go of things.

78-3 off 12  :D   a six from Shah! This might get a bit tense. Come on boys  :D

Prior gone. 83-4 after 13. Freddie at the crease now. We need a decent innings from him.

57 from 33 balls, tricky.

Shah gone now as well. All hope with Freddie then. But we are still in this game. Just.

47 from 23, hope is fading.

Yup. Looking like a dead duck now  :(

Oh and Snape in before Mascarenhas WTF?

Good he has just gone  :soapy tit wank:

mascarenhas needs one of his 'special' moments from the first match. i.e. 30 off an over.

He's giving it a good go. 23 needed off 4  :D

Nope. All over. Can't help but feel that Wright and Collingwood's poor show could have lost us the game there.

nah rich it was the fielding. The 3 drop catches especially Albie Morkel drop off the bowling of Schofield by Andserson. Then Morkel clubbing 3 sixes of the next 3 deliveries.

those 3 sixes cost us the match. if anderson had caught that we would have won. good game, heres to us beating the kiwis and indians.

Im normally quick to have a go at Rich being a miserable fucker but  :soapy tit wank:

p.s Wright needs to be fucking dropped.

The dropped catches certainly cost us this match. Those three 6's should never have happened. KP's run out didnt help either. I'd also question Snape coming in ahead of Dimi in that situation.

The bowling was good though and we are certainly not out yet. I would drop Wright and Snape as I didnt really see the point of him playing.

i wouldn't drop wright, the kid's absolute class. his performances for sussex this year have deserved him an extended run at the top of the order in one-day cricket and not be a victim of 1990s knee-jerk selection reactions.

however, as i said before the tournament it's all stacked up against him because he's got no quality experienced guys at the top of the order with him.

i've got time for prior but he is not an international-quality one-day opening bat and never has been. his mediocre record for sussex in one-dayers will tell you that

in conclusion, it's got to be wright and solanki opening against the kiwis, with vik to take first ball and set the tempo

i agree with boeta :o

youve got to keep wright in there he will come good, i would keep snape in the team too but put him down the order, two spinners are essential in this game. the question is if you're going to drop prior down the order who opens, collingwood? shah? tough call. prior batted ok yesterdaybut he still hasnt hit his stride.

wright is due a big innings. trust me.

The thing i didn't get about yesterdays game was the fact that they played Snape yet after one over that went for 12 runs they bought him back off again, give the bloke a chance.

Not this time  :D

i would drop wright he is fucking awful.

Thats what someone said at work anyway

Why did they bring him on to bat in that situation ahead of Dimi as well?

Drop Snape!

Bring back Botham!

prior out, apparently Collingwood went to a strip club 'by accident' the other night :)

one over, 2 wides, one boundary and a wicket.

love the quote from cricinfo:
'9.50am We're almost ready to get underway. The teams are doing a few laps of the pitch ... and laps are something that England's captain is particularly keen on, apparently'

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

We've started well, touch wood. Suprised to see solanki beimg wickky though.

from this position it is difficult to see england losing

Dont worry. Fucking things up is a bit of a speciality of ours

 :nod:

 :nod:

ffs 164-8. Watch us get 130-ish now :-))(

i think Maddy will start to tee off if the bowling bad.

Maddy has never teed off in his life!! he's a nudger and nurdler ffs

pietersen you gimp  :evil:

and what the fuck happened there!!!!!!! you fucking mong shah. We wont even get 130 now.

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:  gimp, I haven't heard that word for years

Shah is a fucking prick for going and then stopping, running Freddie out in the process.

come on luke! do a sussex special PLEASE!!!!!

England have a deep batting lineup so it should still be close

vettori is absolute class

If pieterson didn't try showing off he'd still be out their. All vettori had to do was bowl it straight.

Oh dear.

Mascarenhas  :wanker:

19 from 10 mascarenas gone, down to luke........

oh shit

AAARSE!!

Do England actually realise the concept of 20/20 Cricket? i think we're the only team that don't smash the ball all over the place!

MAKE THEM SWIM HOME!  :evil:

What a disgrace

Fucking disgusting

Too many players giving their wicket away!!!

We should never have lost that!!!

Having seen your dismissal in Milan, i don't think you're qualified to comment... :wink:

Maybe a Pedalo would be more appropriate?

Same old England ... bloody useless

:soapy tit wank: And you all moan at me for being like this....... :mrgreen:

Anyway basically we are out. I am so shocked. Didn't see this happening at all  :-))(

Oh well,not entirely unexpected.But its still bloody annoying,should have won and threw it away,in two words,piss poor  :x

england just don't have any killer instinct in one-day cricket.

its a real shame, bowled well but the big players didnt come up with the goods, was good experience for the youngsters and i think our future looks bright in this format.

You were spot on about Luke Wright, Mex.  It still looked possible when he came in and he did himself justice.  I hope they give him a decent run in the team now

we've definitely improved.

at the world cup we looked hopelessly outclassed in every department, at least now it was more in our own hands. inspired batting by NZ's middle order took it away from us. and in the other game some important catches went down and big hitting by that Saffer bowler took that one away from us as well.

broad, wright, bopara, kp, jimmy a, and bell form over half of a good one day side that could play together for the next 5 or 6 years.

It can happen...it happened to me :oops:

And Dachauer, if you're going to quote Lineker, try this one, after England laboured to a 2-0 win over Albania.

'It just goes to prove there are no easy games in international football...except Germany away.' :wink:

we have the basis of a great one day side for the future. every county pretty much has some top youngsters coming through, im telling you now that a certain chris nash will be in the side next time, he is an amazing batsmen who is still learning his trade but yet another one off the peter moores sussex production line which has brought us, prior, wright yardy and for future years add into the mix ollie rayner a 6ft 5 spinner.

yeah like the look of nash as well mex

yardy's a very good county player but not good enough for internationals, i reckon the same will be true of rayner as well

New Zealand made 153-8,not sure its going to be enough to save us.Frankly we don't deserve to make it through to the next round.

alison mitchell is ace

Yuvraj has just hit 6 sixes off an over  :shock:

They just said on skysports that despite the fact England have played more 20/20 than anyone else, they have the worse win percentage.

50 from 12 ball for Yuvraj and he is at the 6s again

just got him out 58 from 16 - sr 362.50 :shock:

were shit.

What i have been telling you for the last 6 months  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Anyway you can't stop someone who is intent on smashing 6 6s in an over can you? Also we are 117-2 in reply after 12 overs which isn't that bad really. Although we'll still lose probably.

I don't need to moan and be grumpy anymore. Your all doing it for me  :soapy tit wank:  :wink:

Lost by 18 runs in the end.

on to sri lanka now then!

 :?

Is there any way we can just quietly delete the cricket forum and all pretend it never happened?

Sri Lanka 50-7. :shock:

SA choke again, and go out.

Semi's :

India v Australia
Pakistan v New Zealand

Brilliant from India. The team I've most enjoyed watching throughout the tournament, since the tied match with Pakistan.

The relaxed, yet intense, attitude brought to the side from guys like Dhoni, Yuvraj and Uthappa has been a breath of fresh air and a real pleasure to watch.

I hope they go all the way.

RP Singh is a genuine gun. As is Morne.

  I'd agree with all that, and I love the Indian fans, absolute mentalists.....go ape over a good shot from the opposition,  but completely ape over a good shot from their own boys.

India have been involved in the best games so far  :D  Going to be an ask to beat the Aussies though,hope they manage it.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone strike the ball as cleanly as Yuvraj is right now.

COME ON INDIA!

INDIA WIN !!!

India v Pakistan in final...

   I can think of a fair few who, but it is great to watch.....I  fucking hate Australians, the look on Ponting's face priceless.

   The secret though is the same in any ball striking game, timing, keeping still and not trying to hit the bal too hard.

  Both KP and Freddie seem to have lost the ability to hit  sixes, mainly becaus ethey move about at the crease.....you've got to be Master Blaster Viv Richards to do that.

kp can't hit sixes like he used to because he's completely reworked his technique to be a machine rather than the maverick genius he once was.

freddie can't hit sixes anymore because bowlers have worked him out

Freddie can't hit sixes anymore 'cause he's physically fucked.

how so? - i fail to see the link between a bad ankle and technical deficiencies that flintoff has

freddie's ankle has no bearing on the fact that he has never been able to play back of a length bowling at his body

he's never been a big one of footwork and when you bat there's never much pressure on the ankle because it doesn't it rotate or have a lot of impact upon it

what you've got is a cop-out excuse

i agree with boeta again :shock:

 Not the ankle....more the being on the piss. Happens to us all. I'm not the svelte athlete I was when I was 29....in fact I can't remember when I was 29  :(

Ahem

India just won by 5 runs. What a game!

Needless shot to go out on with 3 balls left, but then if it had worked, he'd have been a genius hero.

I do like Sree Santh...

Brilliant match between the tournament's most exciting two sides.

Congratulations go to the India brain's trust of Dhoni, Yuvraj and Harbhajan for the way they've led the team.

A really courageous effort from Misbah.

I suppose the only shame is that when Misbah was down on his knees at the end there was a great opportunity for another Freddie-Lee moment, but then when a side is spearheaded by guys like Sreesanth and Harbhajan you have to understand that they're a pretty self-absorbant lot.

Didn't see any of it   :(   but sounds like a belter....this will have long term implications for particularly 50 over cricket.

   Glad that India won it....Dhoni came with a big reputation in the summer, and didn't really deliver, but his captaincy was spot on for this stuff, the players played as if they were enjoying themselves.   He just wont be able to go and get a haircut now, without accompaniment from a medium size troop of Bengal Lancers for a body guard.

I'm bored of India and Pakistan's obsession with each other. When one or the other wins it's almost like they have reached Mars or something  :-))(

  If they start loosing off their nukes at each other, then we all might be heading to Mars....

Not much different to England v Aus though is it

No the difference between us and the Aussies is that we are not obsessed with each other. Pakistan and India are. I'd rather they just play each other all the time and keep it on TV over there so we don't have to watch it.

Are you taking the piss Richard?

Both games in the T20 between these two, have been brilliant!

 :soapy tit wank: Yes quite frankly i am

i agree 8) made me laugh when he sort of squared upto hayden on saturday night when he bowled him.

i'm glad india won it, i like their sides attitude and i still don't like pakistan.