ICC Cricket World Cup

First topic message reminder :

Table
England 2pts (+2.08nrr)
Afghanistan
Australia
Bangladesh
India
New Zealand
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
West Indies
South Africa 0pts (-2.08 nrr)


Pool Fixtures

Thu, May 30 
10:30 England vs South Africa  (The Oval)

Fri, May 31 
10:30 West Indies vs Pakistan (Trent Bridge)

Sat, Jun 1 
10:30 New Zealand vs Sri Lanka (Cardiff)
13:30 Afghanistan vs Australia (Bristol)

Sun, Jun 2 
10:30 South Africa vs Bangladesh (The Oval)

Mon, Jun 3 
10:30 England vs Pakistan (Trent Bridge)

Tue, Jun 4 
10:30 Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka (Cardiff)

Wed, Jun 5 
10:30 South Africa vs India (Southampton)
13:30 Bangladesh vs New Zealand (The Oval)

Thu, Jun 6 
10:30 Australia vs West Indies (Trent Bridge)

Fri, Jun 7 
10:30 Pakistan vs Sri Lanka (Bristol)

Sat, Jun 8 
10:30 England vs Bangladesh (Cardiff)
13:30 Afghanistan vs New Zealand (Taunton)

Sun, Jun 9 
10:30 Australia vs India (The Oval)

Mon, Jun 10 
10:30 South Africa vs West Indies (Southampton)

Tue, Jun 11 
10:30 Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka (Bristol)

Wed, Jun 12 
10:30 Australia vs Pakistan (Taunton)

Thu, Jun 13 
10:30 India vs New Zealand (Trent Bridge)

Fri, Jun 14 
10:30 England vs West Indies (Southampton)

Sat, Jun 15 
10:30 Australia vs Sri Lanka (The Oval)
13:30 Afghanistan vs South Africa (Cardiff)

Sun, Jun 16 
10:30 India vs Pakistan (Old Trafford)

Mon, Jun 17 
10:30 Bangladesh vs West Indies (Taunton)

Tue, Jun 18 
10:30 England vs Afghanistan (Old Trafford)

Wed, Jun 19 
10:30 New Zealand vs South Africa (Edgbaston)

Thu, Jun 20 
10:30 Australia vs Bangladesh (Trent Bridge)

Fri, Jun 21 
10:30 England vs Sri Lanka (Headingley)

Sat, Jun 22 
10:30 Afghanistan vs India (Southampton)
13:30 New Zealand vs West Indies (Old Trafford)

Sun, Jun 23 
10:30 Pakistan vs South Africa (Lord’s)

Mon, Jun 24 
10:30 Afghanistan vs Bangladesh (Southampton)

Tue, Jun 25 
10:30 England vs Australia (Lord’s)

Wed, Jun 26 
10:30 New Zealand vs Pakistan (Edgbaston)

Thu, Jun 27 
10:30 India vs West Indies (Old Trafford)

Fri, Jun 28 
10:30 South Africa vs Sri Lanka (Edgbaston)

Sat, Jun 29 
10:30 Afghanistan vs Pakistan (Headingley)
13:30 Australia vs New Zealand (Lord’s)

Sun, Jun 30 
10:30 England vs India (Edgbaston)

Mon, Jul 1 
10:30 Sri Lanka vs West Indies (Riverside Ground)

Tue, Jul 2 
10:30 Bangladesh vs India (Edgbaston)

Wed, Jul 3 
10:30 England vs New Zealand (Riverside Ground)

Thu, Jul 4 
10:30 Afghanistan vs West Indies (Headingley)

Fri, Jul 5 
10:30 Bangladesh vs Pakistan (Lord’s)

Sat, Jul 6 
10:30 India vs Sri Lanka (Headingley)
13:30 Australia vs South Africa (Old Trafford)




Knock Out Fixtures


To Follow

171-3 off 31 overs - England probably looking at 320-350 here, probably depends on if Buttler comes off. Could do with Stokes/Morgan rotating the strike a bit better

Game evenly poised!

Dare I risk saying they've recovered quite well at 200/3 from 35 ?

Won't be 360 plus though unless someone goes ballistic...

Stokes has somehow wriggled to 50. That's a fair knock in trying circumstances.

alfie wrote:Dare I risk saying they've recovered quite well at 200/3 from 35 ?

Won't be 360 plus though unless someone goes ballistic...

ALFIE

Good catch, Morgan gone. He never really got going, like all of England's batsmen so far today.

South Africa have done well in the field and contained the home side.

The batsmen have given their wickets away tbh, Bairstow aside. Loose strokes after getting to fifty

Hmm. Morgan gone after a very good little innings. (Great catch !)

No one has really "gone on" (yet) today : but the position isn't too bad as they've a decent platform and Buttler is in with thirteen overs left - pretty much ideal as time to play himself in and plunder the late overs....

That's the plan anyway

246/4 after 41. 12 an over sees England cross the magic 350. If Buttler bats through, it will probably happen.

Oh sugar. Buttler gets tricked by a neat slower ball.

247-5 Buttler gone. Ngidi has looked short of rhythm but gets the big wicket

Not today for Buttler...

Down to the all rounders now. Useful test for them.

Looks like a somewhat under par total coming up ; though we won't know until SA bat I guess. Certainly could do with a few runs from Moeen & his fellow bowlers...

Pitch looks like it’s gripping a bit for Ngidi’s slower deliveries. 290-320 will probably be above par imo

alfie wrote:Not today for Buttler...

Down to the all rounders now.  Useful test for them.

Looks like a somewhat under par total coming up ; though we won't know until SA bat I guess.  Certainly could do with a few runs from Moeen & his fellow bowlers...

If we can make 320-330 odd we're in the game. Tahir has got a few to spin, and Ngidi's slower balls do seem tough to get away...suggests it might just be holding in the pitch a little bit?

But a shame none of the batsman so far has gone on to make that match defining knock. Especially as they are all in good nick

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:247-5 Buttler gone. Ngidi has looked short of rhythm but gets the big wicket

Ngidi has been runs on a plate so far...but I'm sure they'll forgive him for taking that particular wicket.

Only one more to come from Tahir. Death bowling from the seamers going to be very important...

257/5 , seven to go : anything significantly over 300 probably welcome now ?

alfie wrote:

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:247-5 Buttler gone. Ngidi has looked short of rhythm but gets the big wicket

Ngidi  has been runs on a plate so far...but I'm sure they'll forgive him for taking that particular wicket.  

Only one more to come from Tahir. Death bowling from the seamers going to be very important...

257/5 , seven to go : anything significantly over 300 probably welcome now ?

If Stokes stays until the end I wouldn’t rule out 330+ tbh. One boundary is pretty short

alfie wrote:

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:247-5 Buttler gone. Ngidi has looked short of rhythm but gets the big wicket

Ngidi  has been runs on a plate so far...but I'm sure they'll forgive him for taking that particular wicket.  

Only one more to come from Tahir. Death bowling from the seamers going to be very important...

257/5 , seven to go : anything significantly over 300 probably welcome now ?

Yeah.

Moeens doing what I feared, scratching around early. they can still just go for it here, theres loads of batting left. 3 off 8 balls is not helpful.

Edit ...not overly upset hes been caught. The last 4 wont muck about.

Another fine catch. Not a bad wicket for England to lose, to be honest.

Ngidi’s day gets better Moeen falls 260-6.

Another excellent outfield catch ! SA fielding several classes above what Pakistan put up...and it has made rather a difference to England's free hitting batsmen.
Poor old Moeen can't buy a run at the moment ...

Gooseberry wrote:

alfie wrote:

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:247-5 Buttler gone. Ngidi has looked short of rhythm but gets the big wicket

Ngidi  has been runs on a plate so far...but I'm sure they'll forgive him for taking that particular wicket.  

Only one more to come from Tahir. Death bowling from the seamers going to be very important...

257/5 , seven to go : anything significantly over 300 probably welcome now ?

Yeah.

Moeens doing what I feared, scratching around early. they can still just go for it here, theres loads of batting left. 3 off 8 balls is not helpful.

Edit ...not overly upset hes been caught. The last 4 wont muck about.

Well hopefully they will bat out the fifty overs at least ! Losing too many wickets for mine ; bit like that practice match against Australia the other day. Apart from Stokes (and possibly Plunkett ?) there is no one left who can clear the ropes...

This pitch hasn’t really been conducive to continually battering it into the stands. Stokes realised that and has placed the ball well with excellent running between the wicket.

alfie wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:

alfie wrote:

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:247-5 Buttler gone. Ngidi has looked short of rhythm but gets the big wicket

Ngidi  has been runs on a plate so far...but I'm sure they'll forgive him for taking that particular wicket.  

Only one more to come from Tahir. Death bowling from the seamers going to be very important...

257/5 , seven to go : anything significantly over 300 probably welcome now ?

Yeah.

Moeens doing what I feared, scratching around early. they can still just go for it here, theres loads of batting left. 3 off 8 balls is not helpful.

Edit ...not overly upset hes been caught. The last 4 wont muck about.

Well hopefully they will bat out the fifty overs at least ! Losing too many wickets for mine ; bit like that practice match against Australia the other day.  Apart from Stokes (and possibly Plunkett ?) there is no one left who can clear the ropes...

How dare you disparage Sir Christopher of Woakes like that Alfie

This is not a good advert for cricket ...pointless replays

Stokes copped one of the back of his ankle. That will sting in the morning

Sorry Olly : but if Buttler couldn't hit sixes today your man Woakes wasn't going to...

Nathaniel is right , I think : this is not the sort of pitch that make six hitting simple. So 300 or so may well prove enough.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

alfie wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:

alfie wrote:

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:247-5 Buttler gone. Ngidi has looked short of rhythm but gets the big wicket

Ngidi  has been runs on a plate so far...but I'm sure they'll forgive him for taking that particular wicket.  

Only one more to come from Tahir. Death bowling from the seamers going to be very important...

257/5 , seven to go : anything significantly over 300 probably welcome now ?

Yeah.

Moeens doing what I feared, scratching around early. they can still just go for it here, theres loads of batting left. 3 off 8 balls is not helpful.

Edit ...not overly upset hes been caught. The last 4 wont muck about.

Well hopefully they will bat out the fifty overs at least ! Losing too many wickets for mine ; bit like that practice match against Australia the other day.  Apart from Stokes (and possibly Plunkett ?) there is no one left who can clear the ropes...

How dare you disparage Sir Christopher of Woakes like that Alfie

Pretty sure Plunket bailed england out with 10 off the last two balls in an odi ....
Archer can smack the thing too.

But it does very much seem that trying to clear the ropes ( as per woakes just now) is the best way to get out today. Again should shut MSP up ( wont)

We might’ve been wasteful with batsmen getting in and out after 50. But credit to the South Africans. They’ve shown good skills at the back end of innings.

Finishing quite well , helped by a few loose deliveries from the SA pace men. Several wides , and a couple of leg side gifts...

300 up with 8 balls left...

(One wide not called ? Bizarre)

alfie wrote:Sorry Olly : but if Buttler couldn't hit sixes today your man Woakes wasn't going to...

Nathaniel is right , I think : this is not the sort of pitch that make six hitting simple.  So 300 or so may well prove enough.

Fact Stokes hasn't really got going either suggests this too...and now he goes, a well made 89 nonetheless!

Should be an interesting game this one - 6/5 in play on a SA win does look tempting however, do think England might be 20 odd under par

Stokes falls short of his hundred ...but a very good innings for 89

Archer at ten not Rashid ? Hmm. We haven't really seen him bat yet...

300-8 Stokes gone for a solid 89 just couldn’t accelerate at the end. Ngidi 3-66 a rather decent day

Archer striking at 300%.

England fall short. Stokes has done brilliantly, but the other batters haven't kicked on. Stokes was clearly frustrated - he felt there were more runs out there.

Impressed with South Africa. Excellent in the field, mixed up the bowling well, Tahir was impressive. Perhaps a few too many wides, admittedly. Saffers have been under the radar in this tournament, very few really talking them up, but they've had a good first half.

Good test now for England's bowlers. An early chance for Archer and Plunkett to repay the faith bestowed in them. Narrowly favour South Africa - very short boundaries on one side, lightning quick outfield. 55-45 in their favour.

311. Not bad , with a couple of the big guns not firing a shot.

Have a feeling it will be enough , as long as they bowl and field near their best. Ground is fast ; but pitch just a little sticky , I think.

I’d say we are 60/40 favourites to win this. Pitch is difficult to smash it on and South Africa batting is pretty weak out of the top 3/4

Some really good use of pace, or lack thereof, and protecting the shorter boundary.

It’s defendable, clearly, and I trust the bowlers to have learned from what they’ve just seen

South African batting is very top heavy, so if Woakes and Jofra can strike early and knock a couple over then we should be able to get home. If QDK especially gets away then it could become nervy.

My feeling (and indeed what Root said there) is that the pitch feels a bit "tacky". A few balls sticking and gripping. While I'm not sure that particularly suits England's bowlers, they'll feel that 311 puts them in the game. Expect plenty of cross-seam from Plunkett (as usual) but also quite a few cutters from all the seamers.

Nice knock from Stokes, who played very nicely. The other batsmen will feel they left a few too many dots out there IMO, and the other three half-centurions will be frustrated to have got out straight after reaching their milestones.

Looks like a good toss for du Plessis to win but his bowlers have backed him up very well and his plans have by-and-large worked.

It's a shame no-one on the England side could kick on from 50 until Stokes who eventually fell trying to push the score past the 311 we ended on. But again, you credit the bowlers for that as much as anything.

A mark of how far we've come that we're not jumping for joy with 311, but I don't think we're too far out of the game. A couple of wickets in the powerplay to check South Africa from the start and then a few in the middle overs and we can get South Africa behind the rate. Unless our batsmen were just making massive meals of it, it's hard to get away good bowlers, so they won't want the rate getting too high too early.

If it was the other way I'd back England to chase this from here. It's not too many and you can structure those middle overs to work towards the total, you never have to race away thinking about 330/340. I'd say the game is fairly evenly poised, wouldn't be too surprised at either result from here. If I had to get off the fence, I'd say England by 25 runs, with South Africa all out in the last couple of overs.

Largely in agreement Robbo.
England have a fair crack with over 300 in th board and batting not easy for those looking to hit big. England batsmen are all saying the pitch aided the bowlers and there seems to be an expectation the grip will suit moeen and Rashid as well as slower balls from the seamers.
SA arent anywhere near as good a batting side as England. That said knowing they don't need to get 350+ will help guys like amala to bat at a pace they are comfortable with so England do need to find those wicket taking deliveries and hold their catches.
They are a touch short of where they would've wanted to be but its certainly defendable. I'd put it more on a knife edge though.

Half Time View
Eng 20 runs short
SA's middle over bowling Bits-n-Pieces-ish

You'd hope Rashid is fully recovered from his niggle...his bowling could prove pretty important in the middle to late overs.

Agree SA bowlers generally backed their skipper up pretty well. And their outfield catching was superb. England are usually pretty good in the field and will be hoping that applies today too... As I suggested earlier on , wickets throttled England , and will be the key to keeping
SA to a losing score...

Watching now and hope to until the game is won and lost. Mrs Bat is out and I've hidden the remote control as she'll want the French Open upon return!

Anyway, I'll go along with KP_f and say England seem a bit short. However, that won't be a problem if we can take 2 or 3 wickets early up.

Btw, cracking stop by Roy a few minutes to save 4 runs. I don't think the high calibre of his fielding has ever been properly recognised at international level.

Hate seeing them bowl without a slip so early... Woakes should have had one then.

alfie wrote:Hate seeing them bowl without a slip so early... Woakes should have had one then.

Agreed, especially when England need early wickets to assert control.

Amla off after a blow to the head. Hopefully not too serious.

alfie wrote:Hate seeing them bowl without a slip so early... Woakes should have had one then.

Fell short of 1st by quite a way no?

Archer now hurries Amla and hits him on the bonce - and Amla has to go off the field, presume concussion worries, will keep an eye out for any updates on him, could be an early "wicket"

Markram was looking good, but Archer snares him with one just short of a length. The extra bounce that Archer generates with his pace can be so dangerous. Timely wicket.

Jofra my bae

Huge wicket. Du Plessis can't time a Jofra bouncer. 44/2.

If Amla doesn't return, it'll only take 4 more wickets for England to be in to the Saffer tail.

I cant believe England picked archer after seeing so little of him.


Says noone now

A lot now riding on de Kock, especially if Amla doesn't come back.

Archer picks up two in the powerplay, but with Amla off the pitch the number 5 is out much earlier than he would have liked. How de Kock does from here will be key if South Africa are to get close to England. He's 23 from 30 and you think he'd need another 100 himself if South Africa are going to do this.