ICC Cricket World Cup

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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

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Jofra my bae

Serious HEAT

In Amla news, Dobell says he's currently undergoing a concussion test.

Duty281 wrote: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.

Yeah, only seen Markram the once but was very impressed. Feel it was impt for SA that he stayed there and others built around him. At first, I thought it was a rather tame dismissal but on watching again that didn't do justice tto the bounce that Archer generated. Unlike lesser fast bowlers in the county game, he seems to jog rather than race in - but wow, so effective!

And now another plus Amla off with a sore bonce. Looking very good for the hosts.

How has that not taken the bail off?! Hits the stump pretty full on, but the bail barely moves off Rashid - could be a huge moment!

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:In Amla news, Dobell says he's currently undergoing a concussion test.

Can't see South Africa winning this unless Amla can return.

Mind you, this pair currently at the wicket are having plenty of fortune!

Now Jos puts down Van De Dussen off Moeen - a chance that really should've been taken. Now he lets 4 byes through...can someone bring back the real Jos Buttler plz

Could/should have been four down. One unlucky, and De Kock was the wicket we really wanted, the other bad fielding. Not time to panic but hope they don't rue that De Kock piece of bad luck

South Africa definitely living a bit of a charmed life at the moment. A third of the way through their innings and they're 86-2. Same again and they're at 172 off 34, needing 140 from 16, so England will be happy with this rate.

South Africa will want to accelerate through these middle overs, so England will have to keep them guessing, keep creating chances and hold on to the next one or two that come their way at the very least.

Fifty partnership. de Kock keeping South Africa in this game. RRR currently at 7, which is very manageable.

Commentators talking nonsense about the RRR, when it's still well within South Africa's grasp. Even so, these two are starting to attack Moeen and Plunkett and turn the pressure on the English.

Looking likely that Amla can bat later on.

28 runs off the last two overs. South Africa starting to get ahead again.

SA back up with the rate with two big overs. Every run these two score will hurt England, given they both should probably be sat in the pavillion now. England could really do with a wicket.

Nearly Mid-way second inning view

There is spin in this pitch ( and probably English pitches throughout)
Eng's WK-ing has been shoddy......so shoddy that it might cost them the match inspite of having a superior bowling

I think Ganguly made a valid point regarding RRR tbh. South Africa have considerably less batting depth so QdK and RvdD have to take the game to Moeen not just let him bowl. The one gripe I have with Ganguly is he was a great player of spin whereas RvdD clearly hasn't faced top spinners before.

robbo277 wrote:SA back up with the rate with two big overs. Every run these two score will hurt England, given they both should probably be sat in the pavillion now. England could really do with a wicket.

And De Kock repays England by playing a poor shot to get out - Amla can bat, so England nowhere near there yet, but getting rid of De Kock is a huge wicket.

And de Kock goes! One shot too many perhaps. Duminy coming in; has time to play himself in.

Duty281 wrote:Duminy coming in; has time to play himself in.

Try telling him that. Absolutely garbage shot selection and execution.

Not watching, but JP Duminy getting out to off spin is not the shock of the century.

Good that Amla is okay, but he is not the man I would want coming in with the RR escalating!

I can't remember Duminy ever doing anything against England in any format. Yet give him Australia as the opposition and he's a completely different player

Now some half-hearted running and surely South Africa are done for.

Had to take a call and run into a meeting as de Kock fell. Was glad to see the back of him.

Was it Ali who had Duminy on toast in a test series or Swann? Either way, fancied the off spinner to get him here and he didn't disappoint.

Stokes with a run-out now, the wheels are coming off this South Africa innings. The number 8 is out there and they're still 160 runs behind.

KP_fan wrote:Nearly Mid-way second inning view

There is spin in this pitch ( and probably English pitches throughout)
Eng's WK-ing has been shoddy......so shoddy that it might cost them the match inspite of having a superior bowling

Although England's management would be more delicate in how they say it, I'm sure they accept that Foakes is the better keeper. However, as he is a far lesser white ball batsman, it's a question of balancing the options and the risks involved with the result that the lesser keeper gets the gloves.

Duty281 wrote:Now some half-hearted running and surely South Africa are done for.

I would think so too. SA have more than half our score after 29 overs - that's generally considered to put them on top provided not too many wickets have fallen. Unfortunately for SA, they have. Some soft dismissals which you are almost always going to be punished for against a quality team. The run out was especially dopey.

Highly decent innings from van der Dussen, going about his task with a minimum of fuss and heading toward 50. If South Africa are to escape, it'll probably have to be him and Amla scoring the vast majority of the remaining runs.

Don't think the South African top order learnt the lessons from England's innings. South Africa tried to win the game in the first 30 overs and lost too many wickets as a result.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Jofra my bae

My new king

Even if Amla comes back hes not exactly the guy to score at 8 plus an over. Theres a long tail here ...puts a lot of pressure on the two in now to stay in and score quickly. Itll take a hell of a thing for them to get close now.

Duty281 wrote:Highly decent innings from van der Dussen, going about his task with a minimum of fuss and heading toward 50. If South Africa are to escape, it'll probably have to be him and Amla scoring the vast majority of the remaining runs.

Don't think the South African top order learnt the lessons from England's innings. South Africa tried to win the game in the first 30 overs and lost too many wickets as a result.

Completely. South Africa aren't too far behind the runs, but they've lost far too many wickets for that run total. Unlucky to lose Amla as they did so early on, even if he comes back now he's not your Buttler-esque finisher, but he's the guy that others could have played around.

Jofra gets van der Dussen and that's surely it now. Keep Archer on, let him and Rashid finish the job and everyone can get to the pub early.

Edit: Gooseberry, we've gone for the exact same analysis. Something about great minds...

Another excellent bouncer. Archer is probably going to pip Stokes to MOTM.

Team spirit could counter this Jofra wicket-taking performance. You’ve got to feel the team would have been smiling more, even in a defeat, had Willey been playing.

In terms of the keeping it's a bad day at the office for Buttler but hes generally regarded as not too bad these days.
Theres always going to be the same flakes and bairstow argument that's gone on with tests, bit I don't see it as such a big deal when they have found a formula that's worked. Bairstows batting has improved since he lost his spot, he won it back as a pure batsman and has flourished at the top of the order. Butlers settled as a finisher. Foakes just doesn't have that much white ball pedigree despite being the best glove man, and has been fourth choice behind billings.
If they missed a trick by having buttler keep that's very much a hindsight opinion. Anyone would've it would be bonkers to drop him ...or bairstow...even if they have nothing been rubbish in this game.

The best catch of the tournament right there, on opening day.

England win by 104 runs. An absolute thrashing of a mid-tier side, after South Africa crumbled with the bat. Fielding was excellent from both sides, personified by Stokes' stupendous catch.

End of Game View

SA appear so mediocre & lacking the cut-throat desire

Maybe not the way we expected but in the end very comfortable.
SA arent very good with the bat. Englands best bowlers are good with the ball when given a pitch that is sporting. .
Picking 6 all rounders isnt a bad idea if they also happen to be your best bowlers. Picking just 3 proper bowlers and a load of all rounders who arent maybe isnt.
Moeen shouldnt be at 7 ( or 8 9 10 tbh) till he gets his head straight again but England can carry him.

300 is a defendable score still. ODI cricket isnt dead. Lower scoring games always that exciting though.

Good to get that out of the way, was a potential early banana skin, and avoided with a strong performance. South Africa look unable to balance their side, which is strange as all rounders are traditionally their strength. Can't see them doing much in the tournament after that display

Bookmakers reckon tomorrow's contest is a tight one and most are offering 10/11 on Pakistan and 10/11 on the West Indies.

I think that is an outstandingly generous price on Pakistan, who should knock over the West Indies without too much fuss. But, having looked at the tipping competition thread, perhaps most posters on here think it's a very lavish price for the West Indies!

Yeah Dury ignore the world rankings...Pakistan have 3 quality batsman and nothing else. They've been awful recently. The bowler who got all the wickets at the CT has been in rank form and they've lost 11 on the bounce plus a warm up to Afghanistan.
West indies on the other hand are getting better and better. They woke up against England and started trying again, adding in the returning stars who also seem to be trying currently they are looking very handy all of a sudden. Gayle shown he still has it even if he can run or field. Russel is dangerous. Hetmeyer can turn games. Hope is quality. Their captain is well liked and quality. They have some genuine pace.
Honestly if they had archer and a proper spinner I'd have them in the top 4. As it is they are surely a better side than Pakistan right now, although the wheels could come off pretty quickly and morale go south.

I hear what you're saying, but I believe this West Indies side will be engaged in a race to the bottom. Bangladesh have been knocking them over without too much difficulty, and I think the Pakistani seamers will inflict severe damage on them in swinging conditions. Hope is a good batsman, but he's the only one. Gayle/Hetmyer/Russell are all very hit + miss as to whether they come off.

I think Pakistan will threaten the top four, but likely won't get there. I know they've lost a tremendous number of games on the bounce, but I think 9 of those were against the heavyweights of Australia and England, and there's no massive shame in that. They've scored 340+ in three consecutive games against England, which bodes well.

I can't see the Windies winning tomorrow, unless Gayle or Hope score big.

Well I had to leave after the first 10 overs but the SA innings, so missed most of the second dig. Some thoughts nonetheless.

England's total was better than it looked. I said at half-way that the pitch looked a bit tacky with balls gripping and holding up, which made scoring very quickly difficult. With that in mind, I'm not sure it was the worst idea for SA to try to keep more or less up with the rate throughout, especially given their strength is up top. Not easy for their middle-order to have to come in to bat with RRR at 8+. But they just lost too many wickets too quickly.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but you wonder if SA were in the field almost too happy to let the game drift along and "restrict" England to just over 300. Could they have done more to take wickets in the middle, or squeeze England more? England basically seemed to pottle along at 6 runs per over more or less throughout. Then again SA aren't really helped by having to get through 20 overs of medium pacers and part-time spinners.

On that last point, SA's balance isn't quite right. As others have said, they're lacking a genuine all-rounder, and their out-and-out bowlers aren't great bats. As a result, they felt both a bastman and a bowler light today IMO. England's team of course is superbly balanced, with that deep batting line-up and plenty of bowling options.

Archer is the real deal. You can see why England were so keen to get him involved, and indeed why they didn't feel they needed to see too much of him in a match situation to make the call. He looks like someone who'll perform better on the bigger stage, and given his red ball credentials I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him involved in the Ashes Test matches later on.

Overall, this was an impressive performance from England. Laying down a bit of a marker by hammering the third-ranked ODI side. They'll be delighted with their days work.

They are questions for SA, mainly about how to balance the side properly. Morris is maybe an option (instead of Pretorius for instance), and Miller could also come in for some late firepower (instead of Duminy? Markram provides some part-time off-spin). Then there's the question of what to do when Steyn comes back. Can you go with Steyn or Rabada at 8? Seems a very long tail...

Have now watched the bite-size highlights. A couple more thoughts.

On the Duminy dismissal, he's clearly trying to go over extra-cover but is beaten by the drift/lack of spin, and gets a thick inside-edge to long-off. A poor dismissal, and certainly England's offies have a great track record against him, but perhaps not quite as bad as is being made out?

The run-out was a neat bit of work by Stokes and Morgan. Stokes gets to the ball quickly and fires in an accurate throw. Morgan gets in a great position in front of the stumps to take the bails off. Feels like it was rather dozy running though, looked like it should have been a fairly comfortable two off the bat? (no replays on the bite-size highlights, so hard to tell).

Agree with that point about trying to restrict England MfC. At the time it seemed quite smart though and did leave England short of comfort. Its also maybe a factor of the fear England inspire now, and how difficult it is to bowl out a side with Rashid at XI, a guy with a good first class record batting at 6. As it was keeping England to 311 seemed decent enough. I think England batted pretty smartly too and didn't get carried away chasing a 350. It shows a level of maturity and trust in the side that's maybe been lacking in the past.

Yes, as I said hindsight is a wonderful thing, and at halfway most pundits felt that England were only about par, with the game very much 50-50. It was interesting though that at the change of innings Root seemed happy with the score, and after the game Stokes said the talk from the top order during England's innings was that boundary hitting wasn't easy and 300 would be a decent score. As you say, it showed a level of maturity from England to "settle" for 311.

It's also of course a sign of just how good England's batting has been over the last 4 years that they could score that on a pitch that wasn't all that great for batting, and it still felt they hadn't really fired.

One thing that perhaps hasn't been talked about much on here has been the England camp's attitude. The likes of Roy and Wood have been openly saying they couldn't wait for the tournament to start, and how confident they were feeling. Morgan has in interviews fully embraced England's status as pre-tournament favourites. In general, the camp feels very confident, in a good way.

In Stokes' interview he claims Root and Roy said the pitch was 310 or 330 if someone gets in. In Tahir's interview South Africa had par up above 350 (he may have said 370?)

So it sounds like England read the pitch dead on and South Africa probably thought it was a bit better than it was. Explains why South Africa may have been happy with what they were doing in the first innings.

They say you can't judge a pitch until both teams have batted on it, I think the same is true for teams at the World Cup. South Africa got thrashed, but they played the fired up favourites at home in the opener. A lot of teams will get thrashed by this England team. South Africa may bounce back from this, get Steyn fit and make the semi finals.

Tournament favorites England off to a pretty decent start. And the tournament too. The pitch wasn't a nightmare, the ball was gripping just a touch when bowled slow, and the batsmen had to adapt, particularly England's who went beyond their one-dimensional slog everything approach. Ben Stokes played a very mature innings that ensured the initial good work from Roy and Root wasn't undone.
South Africa's batting, as expected, wasn't really up to task. They really are light on batting resources. Duminy is far too inconsistent, Pretorius I am not sure is good enough to bat 7. They would have been better of  with Morris perhaps, and David Miller in place of Duminy.
Terrific from young Archer, England selectors did really well to pick him as his talent demanded it, and he has had a fine start to the WC. Plunkett was good, and Stokes was electric in the field and gave final touch to the win with the ball.
A team performance from England, South Africa left with some serious questions...

I thought England's fielding set a real tone early in the chase. Within the first two overs Morgan and Roy had pulled of two excellent boundary saving stops.

It's an area of England's game that often gets overlooked because of the sometimes ludicrous batting from Buttler and co. Their fielding is exceptional though. Stokes anywhere on the pitch, Roy and Morgan in cover point, Root at first slip, Bairstow is now a very strong boundary sweeper with really accurate arm.

Faf du Plessis was outstanding for SA in the field as well.

Watching the stokes catch it's worth noting he did only have to make it like that because he slightly mistimed his run and ended up slightly past the ball facing the wrong way and admits himself sticking it was a fluke....but still good effort to be there and  having the awareness of where the ball was to even try.
England are benefitting in the field from having a pretty young squad, only Plunkett and Morgan really getting on and in the Amla age group. Apparently du plessis mentioned that they had to hide people in the field and think about their tactics to accommodate that, not good! I think they are also suffering as much as anything from a lack of class batsmen. After de kock and du plessis theres really no standouts, amla cant score quickly enough for the modern game and Markram is yet to make a real mark in limited overs. It needs those other batsmen to really stand up for them to be able to get rid of the likes of Duminy ( also losing his mobility) and also field 3 proper seamers ...accepting this means a very long tail. Currently they resemble to sort of team england fielded 4 to 8 years ago ( remember when stokes woakes and bairstow were rubbish? )
They will have better games than this but its confirmed the pre tournament thinking...they just don't have enough quality in the new generation to replace the likes of morkel and ABV or carry Amla. In particular Markram needs to step up, his domestic figures and RLC form havent yet translated into anything meaningful in ODIs to match his test scores, he is the future but they need him now.

Looking ahead today.... I'm maybe getting over excited about the west indies but this is the battle of the teams that always seem to ambush these tournaments. Both have had pretty poor runs in the last two years but Pakistan are sliding and the talk is about when the coach gets sacked , whereas the talk around west indies is if they can beat England to 500 (even msp must be looking forward to that fixture!). Recent games have shown Pakistan can compete with anyone but morale is rock bottom having lost them anyway, west indies have shown they can beat anyone on their day and that was before Russel came back.
Windies will certainly believe they can chase down any total and I suspect bat England style if put in first. On evidence of yesterday that could be suicidal assuming conditions are similar, as Duty pointed out if Pakistans seam attack lives up to its ability they could cause real problems. Gayle can only score in boundaries so he won't be able to tick over in 1s and 2s. The whole batting line up is pretty much power based to be honest. I fancy Pakistan will want to bowl first and hope west indies commit suicide chasing a 400 plus score.
Evidence is if Paksitan bat first they will be a bit more circumspect and settle for a competitive score in the way England did yesterday. If they can get there or not depends a lot on their top 3, which again is why you arent likely to see them gun from the off or to want to be chasing.
If this tournament was being played at trent bridge last summer I'd fancy west indies for the top 4. As it is if the pitch plays like yesterday I'm edging toward a Pakistan resurgence now, but I'll still back windies narrowly just due to the level of firepower they have. Some of them are capable of clearing the stands with the shots that got players caught on the boundary yesterday.
Overall I fancy west indies to be the team most likely to produce "shock" wins over the top 3 in this tournament...but also the one most capable of having complete melt downs and losing to worse sides.

Duty281 wrote:I hear what you're saying, but I believe this West Indies side will be engaged in a race to the bottom. Bangladesh have been knocking them over without too much difficulty, and I think the Pakistani seamers will inflict severe damage on them in swinging conditions. Hope is a good batsman, but he's the only one. Gayle/Hetmyer/Russell are all very hit + miss as to whether they come off.

I think Pakistan will threaten the top four, but likely won't get there. I know they've lost a tremendous number of games on the bounce, but I think 9 of those were against the heavyweights of Australia and England, and there's no massive shame in that. They've scored 340+ in three consecutive games against England, which bodes well.

I can't see the Windies winning tomorrow, unless Gayle or Hope score big.

West Indies win for me Duty - mainly because for Pakistan to make the final it'll be after they've lost their first four games of the group stage or some other thing which makes their eventual defeat of us in the semis all the more painful

Brilliant analysis Olly!

Today's game is at Trent Bridge ....which may again light up Gayle, Hetmeyer Lewis and Russel to chase that 500 and additional pay at second rate T20 tournaments around the world. The small ground will suit the T20 types ( yes Babar of hes allowed to play that way) but it's also another grey day early on with a hint of green and softness on the pitch. So something for everyone.
I'm finding this one increasingly intriguing now theres so many ways it could pan out. Seems like the toss could be influential, I suspect both sides will want to bowl first and find out how the pitch is playing as well take advantage of the weather.

Having watched the highlights Archer really does like the missing piece in the team has been filled. South Africa seem to have spent the last four years thinking England won the last World Cup and working on the gameplan of keep them to about 300 then collapse in a heap chasing it

Windies win the toss...and bowl first. At Trent Bridge.

That's bold!

Lewis injured for WI so they don't have to make a decision between Bravo and Pooran. Hafeez plays ahead of Asif and Wahab ahead of Shaheen for Pakistan

It is a touch overcast, but little else in it for the bowlers and very short boundaries. Pakistan should be used to the conditions, and the West Indies bowling shouldn't trouble them any more than the English did. Pakistan made 340 against England on this ground batting first, just a couple of weeks ago, and I think they'll want a similar score today.