T20 World Cup 2021
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@booboo said in T20 World Cup 2021:
Cool reading this thread.
So pessimistic.
@hooroo said in T20 World Cup 2021:
@booboo said in T20 World Cup 2021:
Cool reading this thread.
So pessimistic.
It's our way. Despite well over a decade of the best cricket I can remember. We still have the 90's - 2010ish etched into our memory.
To be fair, it did look absolute pants in our innings up until about three and a half overs to go...
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@donsteppa said in T20 World Cup 2021:
@booboo said in T20 World Cup 2021:
Cool reading this thread.
So pessimistic.
@hooroo said in T20 World Cup 2021:
@booboo said in T20 World Cup 2021:
Cool reading this thread.
So pessimistic.
It's our way. Despite well over a decade of the best cricket I can remember. We still have the 90's - 2010ish etched into our memory.
To be fair, it did look absolute pants in our innings up until about three and a half overs to go...
And even then we were in 'trip over the last hurdle' territory.
When Satnav ended up on strike I had all sorts of bad thoughts.
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@donsteppa said in T20 World Cup 2021:
@booboo said in T20 World Cup 2021:
Cool reading this thread.
So pessimistic.
@hooroo said in T20 World Cup 2021:
@booboo said in T20 World Cup 2021:
Cool reading this thread.
So pessimistic.
It's our way. Despite well over a decade of the best cricket I can remember. We still have the 90's - 2010ish etched into our memory.
To be fair, it did look absolute pants in our innings up until about three and a half overs to go...
Absolutely!!!
Even with 4 remaining, I was still worried. Those last two overs though! FREAK!!
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@donsteppa said in T20 World Cup 2021:
Always been a fan of the Neesh.
Can someone tell him to give test cricket a go now that CDGH has gone though ?
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@mn5 said in T20 World Cup 2021:
@donsteppa said in T20 World Cup 2021:
Always been a fan of the Neesh.
He's a funny bastard. Wish more cricketers had a personality.
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@nta said in T20 World Cup 2021:
@mn5 said in T20 World Cup 2021:
@donsteppa said in T20 World Cup 2021:
Always been a fan of the Neesh.
He's a funny bastard. Wish more cricketers had a personality.
He can play too. Better than any Aussie all rounder currently.
Sorry, that was a bit of a @Virgil thing to say.
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@donsteppa said in T20 World Cup 2021:
@dogmeat said in T20 World Cup 2021:
I loathe T20 but if there's any room on the bandwagon can I please jump on board?
See you at 3am on Monday morning
I also loathe T20 and only half watched the game. With 4 overs left and 57 runs to get, I started getting ready for work. Came back to the TV with 34 needed off 3 and 2 overs later I loved T20 cricket.
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@billy-tell said in T20 World Cup 2021:
Do we want the pakis or the Aussies in the final??
There’s a real desperation from the Aussies to win this tournament given they haven’t tasted success previously.
But I like this Pakistan side. There’s a bit of steely resolve and calmness in there. Azam, Malik, Hafeez are quality.
I think Pakistan will win tonight in a close one.
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We weren't the only ones in doubt for most of the game:
ESPN CricInfo: Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham pull off heist as New Zealand storm into final
James Neesham contemplated retirement in 2017. He didn't. Daryl Mitchell never contemplated opening the batting. He did. And together they dragged a New Zealand side adamantly trying to lose all the way to a T20 World Cup final.
It was utter madness. And it came from outta nowhere. England, much like they did five years ago on a sparkling night in Kolkata, had the game in their hands. And not one but two big-hitting allrounders took it away from them.
The equation was 57 off 24. More than two runs a ball. As much as conditions in this tournament have favoured the team batting second, here there was no dew. The single biggest thing that made run-scoring easy on these dry UAE pitches was nowhere to be found.
That's why Mitchell - the best T20 six-hitter in New Zealand's domestic circuit for the last five years - could find only one boundary in the first 10 overs of a 167 chase.
That's why Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson were dismissed for single-digits.
That's why Liam Livingstone could bowl four overs of his part-time all-sorts for just 22 runs. When he finished his spell - after taking out New Zealand's then top-scorer Devon Conway for 46 - England's chance of victory according to ESPNcricinfo's forecaster was nudging 80%.
Neesham has had enough of these games. His Twitter timeline is a tribute to his wit - yes - but also to how badly that 2019 World Cup final broke him. He was out there in the Super Over. He hit Jofra Archer for a six. He ignited New Zealand's hopes when they really shouldn't have had any on that night only for them to fall so agonisingly short.
Just as Neesham and everyone watching were reeling from the deja vu, Chris Jordan came up to bowl and leaked a monster six over square leg. That shot became the centerpiece of New Zealand's breathtaking resurrection, 23 runs coming off an eight-ball 17th over - including a relay catch that quickly morphed into another monster six - as one of England's go-to men just crumbled under pressure.
Suddenly New Zealand only needed 34 off 18 balls. And it was Mitchell's cue to wind up. He set up deep in his crease. His front leg had the good sense to keep away. Chris Woakes missed his lengths. And three brutal hits in the 19th over - two over the ropes and one onto it - brought sweet, unbelievable and everlasting victory.
England change it up
This semi-final had all the feels of two heavyweight boxers sizing each other up. But there was no real KO punch.
Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow were rather cautious at the top, their gameplan dictated in equal parts by the early swing on offer and the big occasion they found themselves in.
England went away from their typical T20 template - attack every ball - to a more nuanced one - respect every ball. For the first time since 2014, they had to wait till after the 15th over of the game to pick up their first six.
Malan and Moeen adapt
England's approach protected them from early wickets, but that left a lot on the middle-order's shoulders. A middle order that hasn't had too much time in the middle at this tournament.
But Dawid Malan controlled things beautifully. If you're in any doubt about that, pull up clips of his cover drives. With flowing hands and sublime timing, he guided England through the middle overs and was unlucky to miss out on a half-century.
Moeen Ali didn't make that mistake. Playing the world's most elegant leg-side slogs, his 51* off 37 provided the finishing kick that took a good total to a defendable one. With most of England's batting tonight revolving around left-handed blades, New Zealand's best spinner Mitchell Santner bowled only one of his four overs.
No dew
Guptill was caught off a flick. Williamson was caught off a scoop. Now those shots come off when there's pace in the pitch. And there's always pace in the pitch if there's dew around. New Zealand expected it to come. But it stood them up instead.
Woakes - who before this World Cup was left in T20I wilderness for five-and-a-half years - picked up both those wickets and set England on their victory march. This team prides itself in being on cutting edge pf both batting and bowling. But in Abu Dhabi - where cricket takes a time machine back to the 90s - they realised knocking it around for 160 and building on scoreboard pressure with tight Test-match lengths had the better chance of success.
And all of that would worked a treat if a big-hitting allrounder hadn't decided to turn everything on its head. Again.
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Cricinfo signed off with this:
"New Zealand chased down 57 runs in the last four overs, the most target runs successfully chased by any team in men's T20Is at the death overs (where we have BBB data). Previous most was 56 by Australia vs Pakistan 2010 and Zimbabwe vs Scotland 2021."
The most remarkable thing is that we only needed 3 of those 4 overs.
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@billy-tell said in T20 World Cup 2021:
Do we want the pakis or the Aussies in the final??
I don't want those Aussies!
This tournament remains, to a fair degree, a crapshoot based on winning the toss and fielding.
You just know those feckers would win the toss against us.
But, Pakistan is surely due for a toss loss - especially if they win yet again tonight!!
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That is just magnificent. I didn't watch the game, but watched the highlights before I knew the result. England have a stronger T20 side than us, but man we have mental toughness in spades. Losing Guppy and Kane early should have been the end of us, but Mitchell and Conway just stuck at it and built a partnership to give us a sniff at the end. And then Neesh provided the point of difference between the two sides, what a knock that was; going out and hitting from the word go is an insanely hard thing to do.
Mitchell opening sure looks like an inspired selection now, he's had a great tournament.
Credit to @Donsteppa and @nzzp for ensuring the thread went the typical way of any Black Caps game thread, initial optimism to absolute utter despair in the middle stages, to hiding behind couches too scared to post before the sheer jubilation at the end. Also credit to @booboo for going to bed and staying there.
Bring on the final. Don't mind who we play, both Pakistan and Aus have a mental edge over us at the moment, but in T20s anything can happen so we are a great chance of snatching a white ball trophy.
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@chris-b said in T20 World Cup 2021:
Cricinfo signed off with this:
"New Zealand chased down 57 runs in the last four overs, the most target runs successfully chased by any team in men's T20Is at the death overs (where we have BBB data). Previous most was 56 by Australia vs Pakistan 2010 and Zimbabwe vs Scotland 2021."
The most remarkable thing is that we only needed 3 of those 4 overs.
That really is some absolutely phenomenal hitting under pressure in a semi final.
