The International Cricket Thread

[olaftab]

This will require careful run gathering rather than bang wallop approach as it would not be easy to deal with Sri Lankan spin. However at about 7  an over there is no need to take any risk.

[PaulWinch again]

Great start.

[olaftab]

Honestly these England boys ...they never listen I said take it easy

[paul_e]

Honestly these England boys ...they never listen I said take it easy

I think they got it spot on, took the runs early whilst the field restrictions favoured them, which takes away the pressure of having to score big runs in the middle overs against the spinners. This part of the reply was always going to be where it got difficult, we need to be careful with losing too many wickets like that Brook one, that was a really poor shot. I like Livingstone though and he's generally good against spin, so probably a good option to come in here.

[paul_e]

Another dreadful shot to see Moeen off. This is clearly a mental thing because we're playing silly shots. It's less than a run a ball and the field is spread, just keep it low and take the singles.

[Villan For Life]

They’re playing very sensibly now, the pressure has reduced. It looks to me that once pace was taken off the ball then batting became more difficult.

[Villan For Life]

Game on….again

[olaftab]

Crucial over this.

[olaftab]

NEVER IN DOUBT

[olaftab]

Bonus is it provides good rest for Australia.

[cdbearsfan]

Oh no, does this mean the hosts Australia are out?

Spoiler for Hiden:

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[paul_e]

Got there but the pitch was clearly favouring spin so we needed every bit of that early thrash from Buttler and Hales.

[tomd2103]

Blimey, made a meal of that!!  We seem to have struggled against lowish totals in this tournament and it's almost like they are trapped in two minds of how to approach it.

Never mind, we're in the semi finals now, likely going to be against India.

[PaulWinch again]

Interesting pitch - as soon as the ball scuffed up it seemed to become pretty tricky. Hales’ knock was key and Stokes played an excellent knock.

[paul_e]

Interesting pitch - as soon as the ball scuffed up it seemed to become pretty tricky. Hales’ knock was key and Stokes played an excellent knock.

Yep, was definitely one where you needed to score off the new ball. What was strange though is that it normally happens because the spinners can keep the ball low making it tough to pick on length but here it was getting extra bounce if anything. It meant the biggest problem was stopping the players from thinking the deliveries were 'bad' balls when they were actually at a good length. That's why we had a couple of shots that came through early (Buttler and Livingstone both did it) and a couple that were 'punched' as if playing for a single but ended up being catching practice (Brook an Moeen).