ICC Cricket World Cup - Part 3

First topic message reminder :

Table

Australia	8	14	1.00
India	7	11	0.85
New Zealand	8	11	0.57
England	8	10	1.00
Pakistan	8	9	-0.80
Sri Lanka	8	8	-0.93
Bangladesh	7	7	-0.13
South Africa	8	5	-0.08
West Indies	8	3	-0.36
Afghanistan	8	0	-1.42

Remaining Pool Fixtures

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

India treating the spinners with far too much respect.

Pal Joey wrote:In the other game, West Indies won the toss and chose to bowl first. Looks a nice day... not sure why they wouldn't bat.

A lot of teams choosing to bowl first ...haven't actually checked the stats but I'm thinking batting first has been winning at least it's share so far in this WC ?

Ha ! What do I know...Cottrell saluting with the very first ball !

And now a second wicket in the same over ! That tiresome celebration comes out again ...but I guess he's entitled with both Kiwi openers gone for ducks already...

Up to Williamson again.

So that's why, alfie!

I won't listen to BMac next time when he calls it a belter... although I suppose the Windies thought that when they scored 320 odd v Bangladesh and still lost; then maybe they should try something else this time?

India way shot of a decent total. The Afghans can surely bowl a bit, and the pitch had some life in it. But this is poor for sure. Rahul, Kohli, Dhoni, Shankar, all got starts but none of them could make a big one, Kohli's effort was decent in the context of a limited overs game, but the skipper needed to do more in the kind of situation his side found itself in.

All of a sudden we have real contests between the "good" teams and the riff raff breaking out all over...

Might not be 19 " dead" matches after all

Still fancy India to defend 224 ; but it shows they too are vulnerable if they lose early wickets. Other teams will be watching with interest.

No one wants to see that salute twice in an over. Come on New Zealand!

Afghanistan bowled very well with great discipline, but they were allowed to by a very passive Indian batting effort. The Afghans were never pressured by aggressive batting - like the sort which England subjected them to.

Interestingly poised. Narrowly in Afghanistan's favour. If the Afghans can put together one big partnership, they've got this. But they're not a side used to winning, or a side experienced in pressure moments at World Cups.

If they do get the 225, it'll be the biggest upset in World Cup cricket since Ireland beat Pakistan 12 years ago...or maybe the biggest upset ever?

Very impressed with the SuperHero Afghans today. Who saw that coming? So India need 225 runs to win. This could be interesting.
The Afghans certainly showing no fear of the big guns of India.

VTR wrote:No one wants to see that salute twice in an over. Come on New Zealand!

Luckily only one, VTR. The first wicket went to DRS so we were spared the salute for that one.

Shami coming at No.8 shows the bankruptcy of india's lower order.

And with an eye on that India middle order played within themselves to avoid being bowled out....on a pitch that looked slow, spinning and a "sticky" wicket.

One part tells me we can defend it....pitch is too difficult...and another part tells me we might be 20 to 30 short and AFG in with a chance.

Only when Indians bowl is when we can figure, how difficult the pitch is

Kohli arguing with the umpire after a failed DRS. Clearly feeling the pressure.

I stand by my earlier statement.


This sport is ridiculous!

Shami with the first strike for India.
Kuldeep and Chahal will have to be on their top game today if India is to snatch this one back. Bumrah and Shami should provide them with as much cover as possible. Virat should give one of the spinners an early bowl...

Shami bowling some solidly quick stuff. If only Kuldeep and Chahal can bat like Harbhajan and Srinath.... But as KPF said, Shami in at 8 is a serious lack of batting depth. So we will have to go back to Bhuvi when he's back to fitness though Shami is slightly better with the ball currently. Else Shami has to up his game with the ball even more. Can't expect him to do anything other than slog from ball one as he's programmed like that as a batsman.

Meanwhile, New Zealand's best batsmen skipper Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor engineering a nice recovery after those early losses and are now in control. Both approaching their half-centuries... Think West Indies got the dramatic bits out of the way pretty early and have set about losing control job straight away.

37/1 after 10. It's a good opening ten for Afghanistan. Seen off the initial burst of Shami and Bumrah without too much damage. They played some very dumb shots, though, and had a bit of luck along the way.

Strange team selection from the West Indies by the way. Carlos Brathwaite, who's best performance with the bat came in a 4 ball face way back in 2016 is slated to bat 7! They have 6 regular bowling options and Gayle! And only 5 batsmen and the proper all-rounder skipper Holder who still is a number 6 in the making, more like a 7...
Brought Roach back in though, and that is a good call...

With West Indies batting set to bat for 20 rather than 50 overs and with not enough batting in their ranks, anything above 250 will be challenging for the West Indies. The way KW and Taylor are going, they should get many more.

West Indies may have 6 bowlers in their ranks, but they don't seem to have much of a clue as to where the next wicket is coming from. Williamson and Taylor seadily building the tempo of the innings. Run Rate on the up consistently now.

Windies bowling is too one dimensional and suffers from an appalling lack of fitness that means speeds drop drastically after the opening spells.

As for the other game, surely they cant do it? Can they?

At 61-1 after 16, Afghanisthan are in control of this chase. The all the runs haven't come in the most convincing way, but they are already on the board and they are only 1 down. It is their game to lose now. Kuldeep not able to make an immediate impact.

71/2 after 20. They're nudging their way to glory, Afghanistan. Bat down to 9 as well.

Rahmat's played himself in and really needs to go long in this innings.

Afghanistan lose two in one over and that's ripped the heart out of the chase. RRR going towards 6.

A pitch with balance between bat and ball makes things so much more exciting!

68 from 60 with five wickets left. Nabi has to get the bulk of the runs if Afghanistan are to stand a chance, while the Indians have the best death bowlers in the business.

Afghans giving this a red hot go...suspect they may fall a few runs short but they've certainly shown up some cracks in the Indian machine.m

And with nine overs left to get 60 they may even bring off the shock of the event ...

Yep another wicket down, looks like this will be a brave effort from Afghanistan, but a defeat nonetheless. Plenty of batsmen got starts, but none kicked on like Kohli did. The difference, most probably.

They've taken it down to 21 off 12, Nabi resisting bravely, but 7 down overall.

Shami wins the game with a hat-trick. India win by 11 runs. Commendable effort from Afghanistan who pushed India closer than most would have thought possible.

Afghanistan have absolutely blown that, what a missed opportunity.

Boy what a heart-break for AFG....and heart in the mouth for India but they got out of jail.

The pitch dried and no longer was as much spin or slow stickiness any more in the second half.

and the moment India realized there is no spitting cobras to roll over Afg...they tightened & , bowled & caught out of their skin....and choked them progressively.
It seemed like a game out of 1980s. ( as did the Lanka game yesterday)

But heartening to see inspite of not having runs on the board, and not enuf help for spinners, Ind still managed to pull it through.

Shami is more than an apt replacement for Bhuvi but the tail gets too long....BUT I doubt we will be subjected to such quality spin attack in such difficult conditions again.

Team with nothing to lose like Afg first and now WI are batting in  a more carefree manner.

Good to see a contest being made by WI....although I have a feeling they will lose steam at some point
sitter of gayle dropped......too many sitters have been dropped in deep in the tournament by good sides.
World Cup Pressure

Windies have lost three wickets for 12 balls, so it looks as though New Zealand will win this one.

Moment of the tournament so far, courtesy of BBC coverage, the BCCI twitter feed has posted that "India thump Afghanistan by 11 runs"

VTR wrote:Moment of the tournament so far, courtesy of BBC coverage, the BCCI twitter feed has posted that "India thump Afghanistan by 11 runs"

game finished 1030 PM India time....looks like the "Twitter Operator" guy had, had too many pegs of whiskey by that time

and mercenary WI duly run out of steam

Ha, or the headline was written at the start of the match. Instructions to replace x with margin of victory and job done!

So India managed to cling on! Commendable effort from Afghanistan, but Indian bowlers made up for the poor showing from the batting. Excellent return to the 11 for Mohammad Shami, proud holder of a World Cup Hat Trick! Another impactless game for Kuldeep Yadav, He showed signs of finding his rhythm in the Pakistan game but is not quite kicking on. He is a ar superior wicket taking option to Ravindra Jadeja, though the latter is a fine player overall. Shami at 8 is a serious issue though. Should they play Jadeja in the next game ahead of Kuldeep as Bhuvneshwar won't available for that game? And going into the tournament, Shami was a head of Bhuvi in terms of recent form, and Kumar got in for his better overall record and end over skills, an area in which Shami is only catching up recently. But it was a splendid performance from Shami today, making it difficult to bench him. They may not quite go there yet, but Sir Jadeja should be given a strong consideration...

In the other game, Cottrell had that over when they bowled, and then Gayle and Hetmyer had that partnership. Around that, the West Indies was just rubbish. And today they had terrible team selection. They have this guy Fabian Allen in the team. Apparently he can hit them miles and bowl some slow left-arm orthodox as well. From whatever little I saw of him, his bowling is pedestrian and he didn't do anything remarkable with the bat. There is no harm in trying him instead of Nurse who isn't a serious improvement on Allen with the ball. Bravo for Brathwaite too. Unless he can have another magical moment so that we will always remember his name. Carlos is not good enough for the 50 over game with bat or ball and most certainly is never a number 7 despite today's innings. That was absolutely ridiculous!

Carlos is doing it again!

Oh! What have you done, Carlos Brathwaite? He single handedly brought them ever so close to an unlikely win and then lost it at the brink!. New Zealand continues to find ways to get out of tightest of corners!

Sport is cruel. But we all knew that. Carlos Braithwaite, comfortably his highest ever ODI score, nearly smiting his side to a win, but he fell a few metres short of pulling off the unlikeliest escape act.

Wow, what a nail-biter! Closest match so far this World Cup. That second last over went for 25 runs but the Kiwis lucky to win it by only 5 runs.

Just watched the last hour of the West Indies v New Zealand.

Wow what an ending. Felt sorry for the Windies. Couldn’t get much closer interns of the catch.
If only they had one more wicket in hand.

Harsh on Braithwaite.

msp83 wrote:So India managed to cling on! Commendable effort from Afghanistan, but Indian bowlers made up for the poor showing from the batting. Excellent return to the 11 for Mohammad Shami, proud holder of a World Cup Hat Trick! Another impactless game for Kuldeep Yadav, He showed signs of finding his rhythm in the Pakistan game but is not quite kicking on. He is a ar superior wicket taking option to Ravindra Jadeja, though the latter is a fine player overall. Shami at 8 is a serious issue though. Should they play Jadeja in the next game ahead of Kuldeep as Bhuvneshwar won't available for that game? And going into the tournament, Shami was a head of Bhuvi in terms of recent form, and Kumar got in for his better overall record and end over skills, an area in which Shami is only catching up recently. But it was a splendid performance from Shami today, making it difficult to bench him. They may not quite go there yet, but Sir Jadeja should be given a strong consideration...

We won & a look at some finer points:

-That we batted on a pitch where par score 180-200 runs, but managed 225....... & bowled on one where 260-270 was par, but restricted AFG to 210
Bad toss to win though

-The lack of batting depth for India...a hopeless tail starting from No.9 or No. 8 if we play shami is what I wrote on the very first post of part-1 of this thread.
BUT the good thing....that India knows its limitations and has built it's game hence on a template where we keep wickets in hand...and even yesterday we were only 5 wkts down until the 48th over.

-Shami was brilliant in his first spell....upright seam at 140+kph, sometimes hitting mid 140s.......Afgans could't lay bat on ball
He was lots in his second spell...putting too many length ball that got a bit slogged.....Bhuvi would have varied a lot more
and was brilliant again in his last spell...when he found his 140+ kph yorker.

--So when Bhuvi is fit if not for WI then by the Eng game....who do you play?
I would put Bhuvi back in for he delivers  the same value as a bowler with the ball......and is worth 12 to 15 runs with bat in a crisis and that can mean a 40 run partnership with an established batsman at the other end

-Kuldeep's' bucketful wickets come when batsmen are going after him in an attempt to accelerate.
Afgans had a strategy to see him off.....and the few boundaries he conceded were to rank long-hops.
BUT the pressure he builds in the middle overs , often in tandem with the other leggie is sometimes intangible in terms of direct wickets against his  name.
In my view Pandya's middle over wickst against pak and yesterday came because the batmen built pressure on themselves deciding to see-off Kuldeep....and went after Pandya for release giving him wickets.
So no way will kuldeep be dropped for jadeja
We might as well then bring Pant for Kuldeep in and use Jadhav and Shankar as 5th bowler...which is also a bad idea.

-Pandya is the best 5th bowler India has had in a long time....because he can when pumped can hit 144kph and vary pace down to 120 kph
Hi problem is too many variations ( about 4 to 5 per over)....which might be needed in IPL on patta pitches defending 12RPO targets...but in ODIs & defending 5 to 6RPO....he has to be more steady...no more than one variation. He is muhc better when bowling steadily.

That's why he does not make a good test match bowler...is lacking steadiness.
That's the limitation seen in those who have not played 2 or 3 seasons of FC / Ranji and gone through the grind of bowling 20 overs a day on unhelpful pitches for few seasons.

-That we got out of jail now we can see positives that Shankar and Jadhav got full innings and Jadhav once again showed why he is a very good No. 6 ....can build innings and can play cameos in all sorta pitch and match conditions.

-I went to sleep when Roach fell....and it was sad this morning to see how close they came again
WI saddens me.....they have so much man to man talent but are an unorganized chaos, lacking passion
( that comes from playing for your country)

-Today's game Pak vs SA....Eng would be hoping SA wins this.
For that takes Pak out as a semi-final threat.

-Another noticeable feature of this world cup
The Par scores have dropped by about and upto 100 runs
Pressures of world cup

The nature of the pitches is playing a part as well. Some of these are nothing like what have been played on in this country over the last few years. That could be to do with the weather, and I am not sure what role ICC play in pitch preparation vs home board/groundsman.

Either way, it has lead to three classic matches in three days

VTR wrote:The nature of the pitches is playing a part as well. Some of these are nothing like what have been played on in this country over the last few years. That could be to do with the weather, and I am not sure what role ICC play in pitch preparation vs home board/groundsman.

Either way, it has lead to three classic matches in three days

Hi VTR - I believe that the same wicket is being used at each ground. It's touched up and repaired as far as possible after each game to get it ready for the next one but still won't be as good for batting as a totally new unused strip. The reason being that Sky want ''straight on filming'' for every game. That's what I was told for the Oval games anyway.

I understand that the ICC are ultimately in charge of the pitch preparation and presumably give instructions as to its preparation but that the legwork is carried out by the usual head groundsman and his troops at the particular venue.

I agree with you about how much more entertaining the last few games have been. You can have a lot of excitement without a lot of runs.