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Australia

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[langer17]

What I find funny is that the 2 minow teams that have had good games, have both been against England. I think there may be something to that, 

[procricket]

pike or salmon bud

[Boydie]

Regarding the associates, what we're seeing in the world cup right now isn't representative of the best the associate nations have to offer.  Scotland and Afghanistan are both far superior to Canada and Kenya.  The qualifiers took place in 2009, Scotland were going through a rebuilding phase and Afghanistan have come into their own in 2010.

Pretty ridiculous to suggest that Ireland beating England is always going to be a one off, Ireland took England to the brink in 2009, albeit with the assistance of D/L but they clearly showed they have the potential to beat any nation.  Ireland have beaten both Bangladesh and Zimbabwe prior to the world cup and if they hadn't messed up an easy run chase would've secured a comprehensive victory against Bangladesh and increased their chances of progressing.

There don't seem to be many calls for Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to be excluded despite their performances yesterday in giving WI & NZ 9 & 10 wicket wins.  It's just a shame that the performances from Kenya and Canada have been so abysmal throughout, but with such a large period of time between the qualifiers and the actual world cup there's not going to be an accurate reflection in the quality of the associate teams.

If the ICC had any desire to make cricket truly a global sport the idea of decreasing the number of teams in the 2015 world cup would never have entered their heads but they obviously only care about one thing and i'm sure we all know what that is.

[pacman75cricket]

Whos ready for an early start tomorrow 4am start i believe

[mattw]

I hopefully will be, unsure about what im doing tonight yet and how long to stay out for before coming back and watching the cricket.

get a nap in before hand, or see how it goes?

[Colesy]

I'm up for getting up early, but last weekend at 6am and 7am and today at 7:30am I don't fancy getting up too early...

[Buzz]

The Telegraph is reporting that Bopara will be playing instead of Collingwood... they will use the excuse of an injured knee rather than him being dropped.
This could be the end for the great man.

[mattw]

It's about time he is dropped though, he's not scoring the runs we need down the order at the moment to be fair.

[Jeet]

I'd play 3 spinners at Chennai if I was England. In domestic cricket, spinners dominate at the Chepauk and seamers usually get battered.

[mattw]

Tahir is going to have a field day against the england lower order.

[johnnyw]

I am going to be brave and say that Ireland will beat India tomorrow. If England can draw with them then why cant Ireland beat them??

[mattw]

Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice...

[johnnyw]

Lightning doesn't strike the same place twice...

But the win over England was not a fluke and Ireland should have beaten Bangladesh

[johan95]

i think its time for the ICC to really think about the weaker teams in the World cup.

So far we have see from most of the weaker sides that they are actually lowering the standard of cricket.

the west indies game on friday was poor.

Ok the Irsih did well against England however that is always going to be a one-off.

Do these lower teams really have the depth and talent to compete against the test playing sides, in my opinon the answer is NO.

I know this is late, but I strongly disagree with that. They outplayed the English and have done so in the past, so it is no real fluke. They have some quality players who can cut it in the English County Championship so are no mugs. Some of the lower-ranked teams can play well, and as Dave said, even teams like SL have come up from associate status to become strong forces. I think there should be more tests and ODIs/T20s between associate nations to see which countries would be best suited to represent them at the WCs, as you wouldn't want too many so as not to drag the groups on for too long - a month for the groups is ridiculous!!

[Jeet]

But the win over England was not a fluke and Ireland should have beaten Bangladesh

Sorry it ain't happening. Once bitten, twice shy.

India won't underestimate the Irish, as they did the same to Bangladesh in 2007 and where promptly packing their bags and heading home.