It's the same old story.

In my experience, Sponsors always help but for a paid contest, just creating the main thread is not enough. One should also approach several active members via cricket threads or PMs (if you've interacted with them enough in the forum). At times, it could be depressing because lack of responses but in a good season one could find 12-15 active members who are willing to pay. At worst, 7-8 members. In the last couple of seasons, I got damn busy irl otherwise I'd have taken this initiative but I will try to get into it again from the next IPL season.

I've noticed 2 prediction threads for the t-20 WC and at least 3 separate threads for the IPL, not including the main T-20 thread.  

This one: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5494879.0

Congrats to all participants and winners.

Overall, one observation, it would've been great if we had more engagement and discussions. At times, I felt the vibes kinda went down but still had some fun. CT will come soon so Keep em coming libert19 and it would be a lot better if we don't have multiple threads for one competition, noticing this trend for some time or I dare to say some sort of competition between individuals, it's not good for the small cricket community because we are already small community and hardly any outsider takes us seriously.

Anyway, Cheers finally we have a trophy lol. Guess not keeping your hope up does wonders sometimes xD. I remember many (including me) were having a laugh about the Indian jersey but now the very same jersey is in history books.

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2 undefeated teams and chokers. The skippers showing calm, after all, they can't look scared on camera but for obvious reasons, fans from both sides are nervous  . No one wants to jinx anything and just to be safe downplaying their team and chances.  

According to pitch reports the deck looks more like a belter and India are batting first after winning the toss, which means early good night if things go south lol.  

Well, they were going 5 rpo so yeah, it was completely flat but again South Africa don't have any quality red ball spinner as they hardly play this format.

But now Indian spinners are bowling and out of nowhere the pitch misbehaving a bit, there is a purchase for spinners and it's keeping silly and short forward interesting. 

112 overs and counting. These girls hardly play any test matches so can imagine the tired legs for SA's Women and the scoreboard is not slowing either.

Women's test played over 4 days so the declaration should come in the next hour or maybe the hosts are targeting 675-700 runs on the board.

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Edit

Oh well, 2 quick wickets and here comes the declaration.

Kuldeep was sitting out in USA's leg because India hardly needed his service, NY pitch was a candy shop for seamers.

I think they might not change the winning combination. The last match did bring down Dubey's stocks but opposition teams surely acknowledge his hitting reputation and consider him a dangerous man when up against their spinners. Although, won't mind if Sanju replaces Dubey. Down the order they hardly face more than 20-25 balls so need more destructive options.  Kohli didn't click but I'd still prefer him at the top.

I think Rinku is in reserve and can't get in the 15 member squad automatically. For him to come in, someone needs to get strategic niggle or injured in the next 12 hours lol.

More experienced when playing in the final but at the same time, experienced in losing as well. Overall, strength wise India looks balanced outfit and playing quality cricket. Proteas are good and unbeaten but they are yet to bring their A game and at times they looked vulnerable.  

So, I'd say IND got a slight edge over SA but players from both sides will feel the heat tomorrow and it's a t-20 format so anything could happen.  

Playing XI could be interesting. What if Jaiswal gets in and Kohli goes back to his usual position and Dubey gets dropped or Sanju replaces Dubey in the middle order?

 

The Indian Women's team had some fun today.

-Highest opening partnership in Women's tests.
-Second highest runs partnership for any wicket in Women's tests.
-Most runs(525) scored on a single day in the Women's tests.
-Fastest double ton for Shafali in Women's tests.
-Shaifali smashed 8 sixes today, no other women cricketer managed to cross even 5 sixes in their entire test career.

Call it PTSD   Mighty please with the all round performance though. This is 3rd back to back ICC final for us in all 3 formats but we lost the WTC final and ODI WC final and want this to change in the T-20 WC, so fingers crossed for 29th June.

Both SA and IND are certified chokers so IDK, maybe there is some hope.  

167 was supposed to be a par score here and India ended up with 171, pitch is also tricky with low bounce. Indian bowling especially spinners and Bumrah are on a roll.

But still, I'm not feeling safe with this score because England has a gun batting lineup and more importantly it's knockout. We are knockout chokers for a reason, fingers crossed Let's hope for a slow powerplay.

I am not a fan of these shenanigans because it's not fair to teams and players. Yeah, India benefitting this time due to washout but in the last 5-6 years India lost 1 WC semi and 1 WTC final due to rain interruptions, both against Kiwis.  

Having said that, it's a t-20 WC so any scenario is alright because we'll have another T-20 WC in the next 2 years and also in the long run no one remembers T-20 stuff.

Everyone still taunts them for the 2019 WC so can't blame them.

The weather is creating a bit of suspense in Guyana but I guess we might have some game anyway because the draining system is quite good at this ground and we have around 3.5 hours of buffer.

It would be a bummer for the Poms if it's a washout. They've already suffered similarly in the Group stage but knockout fixture facing washout is heartbreaking. If India were in England's shoes, then the broadcaster would've rioted for obvious reasons.

Woke up early, just to watch a match and oh uh! I wasn't expecting that scorecard, Umpiring did help the Proteas a bit but jeez that's some brutal performance from their bowlers and equally clueless batting from the Afghans with virtually no footwork.

Anyway, it's safe to say, Proteas will play their first ICC final on 29th June.

The first semi and final got the reserve day, only 2nd semi is without reserve day and as usual the ICC explanation is a tight schedule. Don't know what they were thinking, final knockouts not having a backup plan looks so bizarre.

If there is some washout then India will proceed to the Final without playing a single ball due to their group points.

It happened but I am not sure if it was deliberate because of the camera. In hindsight, everyone can call it a genius move or just a coincidence. Bravo the bowler had the capability of outfoxing any batter so maybe he did something there. 

BTW the forecast for 2nd semi final (IND vs ENG) is not encouraging and we've no reserve day for the 2nd semi. 

CA can hide behind this "Taliban" excuse but the fact is they don't see any monetary benefit of a bilateral series with Afghans, hence they avoid everything with virtue signaling.

Similarly, that's the main reason CA was never interested in hosting Bangladesh as well and Bongs don't have a Taliban problem.

From the start, I had no expectations from the batter Jadeja. In bowling he's under bowl as well, he kind of lost all his white ball tricks. He did fumble in the field but still, he's our gun fielder so I am not worried about his field.

Having said that, I don't think they will drop him because slow pitches in the Caribbean require a different skillset and an extra full-time bowler who can bat is a big plus, although he's not in form with the bat but still looks like a good bet when comparing to specialist batter or seam bowler.  

Bumrah + Arshdeep + Hardik (Batting allrounder) + Kuldeep + Axar (Spin all rounder) + Jadeja (Spin all rounder). This combination is working nicely so far and it's important for team balance. It gives you an extra bowler and most importantly with this combination, your team can bat as deep as number 8, which is necessary.

The first semis is between AFG vs SA so one thing is for sure, we will get at least one new face for the finals. this will be the first ICC final for Afghans or Proteas (Guess for them too).

I think, after Australia, England are the worst match for India. England are also a clutch team and India needs to up their game against them with no 30 minutes of bad cricket, also it's a knockout (Achilles heel of India).

To qualify, they had to chase this target under 13 over but Bangbro has a defeatist mindset. Had they played with some intent in such a scenario, then there might be some proud faces in the dugout and back home. It was a tough pitch for sure but when you have nothing to lose, at least try to maximize your chances by swinging.

Group 1 turned out to be more competitive and produced a thriller and an upset, although i won't call Afg vs Aus outcome an upset. Afghan deserves all the praise and they deserve it, they were about to beat Australia in the ODI WC too but were bodied by Maxwell-ed. More than 2 decades and Bangbros are yet to qualify in any WC semis, in contrast, look at Afghan.

India are Group Matches bullies, they bully every team and get humbled and heartbroken in every semis or Finals. In the last decade, I've seen this story countless times in every ICC tournament. Let's hope they get their shit together this time.

PS: I won't mind if SA or Afghan lift the trophy.