Ben Allan

@AJinHD Empire

What’s missing

@PaulTassi @Forbes

Professional ‘Acolyte’ Haters Fall For Fake Rotten Tomatoes Controversy via @forbes forbes.com/sites/paultass…

@andrewhdean Would you like a BlueSky invitation?

@michelappleton Kallis, Sangakara, Botham ... Chris Harris, obviously...

The greatest cricketer to play in a men’s Cricket World Cup but not win one is … Probably one of Waqar Younis, Dale Steyn, Brian Lara or Richard Hadlee, I reckon?

@michelappleton (Oh snap, someone already made this point :) )

@michelappleton Hmm, Conway's tournament ended up feeling like a disappointment to me. His average is getting a big boost from his initial 152* against what turned out to be a poor England side. We really could have used some more significant contributions from him in other games.

Great CWC: Mitchell, Ravindra, Williamson (injury-shortened), Santner Good CWC: Conway, Phillips, Henry (injury-shortened) Henry & Santner bowled average of ~16/50 overs per game, leaving a lot of average stuff. 5 batters listed made 2043/2712 runs scored, or ~75%. Job ~done.

@AdamKerrBell It was South Africa before but now it's India because I will never, ever want the Australian cricket team to want anything.

It would be interesting to know who NZ fans want to see win the WC. Lesser of three evils. India - pitch debacle and BCCI has left a bad taste in the mouth. SA - It would mean they would have won a WC before us. Also NZ lost the rugby to SA. Australia- NZs bitter rivals.

@AJinHD EeeeeeTHAAAAAN!

My biggest hater take of 2023 is that’s Dead Reckoning was easily the worst M:I since 2 and I’m surprised more people weren’t disappointed by it.

@elle_hunt At 75 pounds per centimetre, you definitely wouldn't want a Great Dane.

Is this legal??

@shortflyslip At the same time we were never out of it so much that I gave up and went to bed. Might have been interesting if we didn't have to bat like it was a test match for the first 10 overs.

Strange sort of match. India mostly so much better than NZ that 70 runs makes it sound closer than it was.

@shortflyslip Did the umpire just...space out and forget what the rules were?

In a crowded field, still think this is probably the worst lbw I've ever seen.

@eph__em__era MyNameIsByf is the way to go.

much like reading the warhammer wikipedia page, reading the destiny 2 wikipedia page is a form of masochism

@Indooshan @michelappleton @BLACKCAPS Yes spotted this too, thought it apt that Michael appeared to be taking out his phone to tweet :D

Okay I spotted a familiar face in the TV @michelappleton 😁 Perhaps the broadcasters also know that your excellency is a super fan of @BLACKCAPS

@michelappleton Genuinely feels like with better fielding, Afghanistan would comfortably be in the semis. A great tournament for them still, but what might have been!

Considering all these factors (and who they’re playing in their last games), I’d say 🇳🇿 now has a ~65% chance of qualifying, 🇵🇰 ~25%, 🇦🇫 ~10%. Situation is pretty tough for 🇦🇫 now - given the weakness of their NRR. 7/7

🚨🚨THE SEMI SCRAMBLE 🚨🚨 [updated] It’s a 3-horse🐴 race b/w 🇦🇫🇳🇿🇵🇰 for 4th semi spot - to play 🇮🇳 All are on 8 points with a game to play: 🇳🇿v🇱🇰 Thu 🇦🇫v🇿🇦 Fri 🇵🇰v🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Sat 🇳🇿 are ahead on NRR, 🇵🇰 2nd, 🇦🇫 3rd What each team needs to do to make the semis (a thread 🧵): 1/

@michelappleton (...oops, that accidentally sounds a bit conspiratorial. Merely mean they seem to be getting appreciably more movement than other sides, which I imagine is down to them being very skillful bowlers in home conditions.)

@michelappleton Never goes well when our very good swing bowlers get basically no swing at all. They need a friendly word with the Indian bowlers perhaps, because whatever they're doing in this department seems to be working.

While 🇳🇿 has now lost 4 in a row, I’m not that despondent about their campaign. Still doing better than I expected: played 8x & only been thrashed once v 🇿🇦. Played creditably v 🇮🇳 & could easily have won v 🇦🇺🇵🇰 In 2019, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇦🇺🇵🇰 inflicted heavy defeats- & 🇮🇳 was rained off. 1/

@PaulTassi In a small clan. Made friends there who I know only through the game. All pretty much been ride or die for the franchise through everything for a decade. Even done a lot to help some of us through very tough times. None of us now feel like playing. Utter, complete disaster.

Hey you know what isn’t going to raise low player satisfaction and Final Shape preorders

@eph__em__era Yeah, whenever you drill down into these study results about how "helmets technically make cycling *less* safe" the result is *actually* always "science finds that everyone is an idiot".

oh no people can't deal with looking a lil silly in exchange for protecting their skulls ive seen enough accidents - not collisions with cars, actual biking accidents - to never not wear a helmet grow some confidence, stop caring about what people think of you

@michelappleton Because I am a NZ cricket fan unfortunately this only makes me think: India are due.

🇳🇿 leads 🇮🇳 10-5 in men’s world cricket tournaments*: 1975: 🇳🇿 1979: 🇳🇿 1985: 🇮🇳 (semi) 1986: 🇮🇳 1987: 🇮🇳🇮🇳 1992: 🇳🇿 1999: 🇳🇿 2000: 🇳🇿 (final) 2003: 🇮🇳 2007: 🇳🇿 2016: 🇳🇿 2019: 🇳🇿 (semi) 2021: 🇳🇿 (final) 2021: 🇳🇿 *5+ team tournament, excludes Tests in 🇳🇿/🇮🇳 played as part of WTC

@Sportsfreakconz Various shots of Jos Buttler's thousand-yard-stare are becoming iconic for the tournament.

The pre tournament second favourites are on the verge of losing to a side coming off a defeat to the Netherlands by 300 or so runs.