2015 Cricket World Cup

[Jerome]

Come on South Africa!!!!

[CRAZY-HORSE]

damn, i forgot the semi final between New Zealand and South Africa kicks off today....
i have 51 minutes to make my prediction(if the game had started i would have forfeited my right to do so....

ok,
New Zealand.....unbeaten in tournament, playing on home soil in front of home crowd,really cock-a-hoop right now
South Africa......never won any world cup finals match since the Aparthied ban was lifted on them,but they won their quraters match easily.

both sides are very,very good teams,
New Zealand probably playing their best cricket in decades...
South Africa probably not quite as good as an allround team since the Hanse Cronje/Allan Donald years but still a formidable opponant for any team to face....

this one is a flip-o-the-coin job really, would love to see both teams win as theyve never lifted the finals cup in this competition but....

i am predicting South Africa to win today in a very close nail-biter of a game.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

well, a nail-biter of a match it was!
just like the Australia/New Zealand match three weeks ago, this one went right down to the wire....
and New Zealand won, therefore i got it wrong, but i dont care because the game was that good!
neither New Zealand or south Africa have ever made it to the Grand Final of a World Cup, but now New Zealand can say theyve made it.
here's the match summary: http://www.icc-cricket.com/cricket-world...wc-2015/47

Wins...................38
Losses..................8
No Result..............1

[CRAZY-HORSE]

now it is Semi-Final #2 time(on thursday)

Australia v India....
this should be another cracker of a match....
India won the last World Cup, and Australia won the previous three tournaments...
both sides have the experience and knowledge to know exactly what to expect in this sort of situation...
the winner of this match play New Zealand in sunday's Final....

i think Australia should win this one, only becasue the tournament is played on Australian soil, the fans will be predominantly Australian,
the grounds are second nature to the Aussie players and i really want to see an Australian/New Zealand Grand Final(its the local rivalry thing i guess)

[CRAZY-HORSE]

Come on South Africa!!!!

sorry Jerome.....
i did predict a South African win, but they lost in the closest of circumstances mate...
they played very,very well and at the end of the day the team that handled the pressure best won on the day

[SteveO]

The crowd was loud and what an awesome match...I only get highlights,,,it sucks!

[CRAZY-HORSE]

Australia v India....
the Indian's love their cricket so much its almost a religion to all castes in that nation, and one million of them
flew to Australia to see this tournament....
unfortunately for them they failed to beat Australia in their Semi-Final match today...
the game was not the close affair i thought it would be with Australia dominant for most of the game....
here's the match report: http://www.icc-cricket.com/cricket-world...wc-2015/48

Wins...................39
Losses..................8
No Result..............1

[CRAZY-HORSE]

so after five weeks and forty-eight matches of International cricket it comes down to the final match on sunday at the MCG(melbourne cricket ground) as to who will be crowned
the 2015 "world champions" of Cricket(for the next four years)....

Australia have already won four "world cups" since 1974.
New Zealand have never made it through to the "final" previously.

its going to be a great game,
i am not predicting who i think will win yet....
i am waiting to see who the team selections are, and awaiting possible injuries and/or injury flare-ups of players from both sides....

i'll post my prediction on Saturday....

[SteveO]

Were there any glowing upset(s),Crazy mate or was an Aussie NZ final pretty much expected?

[CRAZY-HORSE]

i think most of the experts predicted Australia to make the final, a few thought New Zealand might make it, so i guess most people with cricketing knowledge were correct...

pre tournament in this thread i predicted Australia,New Zealand,South Africa and Pakistan to be the last four left....i got three of those right(Pakistan didnt get there but India did)

so to my way of thinking it was obvious....

New Zealand have been the best team in the tournament so far IMO, a bit of a surprise,but theyre certainly in the top4 teams right now.

the biggest disapointments in the tournament were England who only won two games in the "pool" part of it.
the Sri Lankan's were also a bit disapointing to me...
but hey, thats sport...you win some, you lose some...someone's gotta win, which means there has to be losers????

at the moment my head says Australia will win the final on sunday, my heart says New Zealand....
i'll let you know tomorrow who my prediction will be ultimately be(i have a fair idea now, but im not committing to it until i see the final make up of both teams, and possible weather conditions for the Sunday.