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Old 03-02-2007, 01:43 AM
cognito20 cognito20 is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2005
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Default Re: **Official Cricket World Cup Thread**

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I understand that Lee is very important, but McGrath was one of the most phenomenal bowlers of his time and he dominated (Did he retire from ODI's?) and he truly will be missed.

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It was my understanding that Warne was done with everything but county cricket (he's going to honor the last 2 years of his contract with Hampshire before he retires completely), so he's technically only semi-retired, but he's definitely done with Test and ODI Cricket. I thought McGrath played his last -Test- in Sydney, but that he was going to wait until after the World Cup to retire completely. Unless I'm misinformed, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the West Indies. It would not surprise me, though, if he's taking the triangular Eng-NZ-Aus series off in preparation for his last hurrah for the World Cup. I really hope he plays, though. Australia isn't going to threepeat without him, and may not even with him. Lee is fast but erratic, and everyone else (bowling-wise)is either unproven or demonstrably -not- world-class. They actually have a very serviceable, almost world-class leg-spinner in Stuart MacGill, but they rarely if ever use him in ODIs...he's a Test specialist and the notoriously flat West Indian pitches wouldn't help him much anyway, and he's a bowler who needs help from the pitch to be at his best (note how his stats are much better in spin-friendly Sydney than anywhere else in Australia).

--Scott
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