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

And some awful fielding errors gifting these runs easily...

That was more Afghanistan throwing the game away than Pakistan winning it...

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Blimey, a plumb LBW against Imad completely missed by the umpire. The batsman was utterly clueless in that over against the bowling of Khan.

Incompetent umpiring...could have massive implications

Indeed, alongside Gulbadin's infamous over, it was the match-defining event.

One day Afghanistan will rule the cricketing world, but just not yet...maybe when Naib isn’t around anymore

alfie wrote:And some awful fielding errors gifting these runs easily...

That was more Afghanistan throwing the game away than Pakistan winning it...

Two golden chances for Afghanistan at this World Cup to get a win, and they've let both get away from them.

Wow, Pak-Afg almost pull off an Eng vs Lanka

Pressure turns human beings into jelly....and 220 appears like 320
Imad Wasim showed nerves of steel and losing Shadab was a blessing in disguise......Wahab cracked boundaries in a cameo.

Mindless / brainless of Afg captain Gulbadin to bring himself

NZ will also crumble to pressure in the other game,......245 is just too many

NZ going at 3RPO after 20 overs...teams batting second  juts not willing to lose wickets and crawling at retro rates of 1980s

Smith had dropped a sitter at slip off lyon....but I don't think it will be costly

New Zealand ahead at the moment, but their batting from 5 downwards isn't particularly strong, so these two need to take the target below 100. They can't leave too much work for the lower order.

Oops, sorry for the jinx, Kiwis! Soft dismissal for Williamson, that's the key wicket.

Some real dumb shots from the Kiwi batsmen. Five down, game likely gone.

I swear Botham just deliberately got Boycott run out

Australia and India are the two best teams and will likely meet in the final. NZ falling away now. 6th wicket gone.

NZ can hardly get a run, run rate required now 8.8 / over with four wickets remaining.

113 runs to get in 12 overs at a required run rate of 9.4 / over and four wickets remaining.

I pointed out 2 chinks/ cracks  in NZ' game about when they were sitting with 7 points on top

1-Their batting is too dependent on Wlliamson.
2-Their bowling standard drops significantly beyond top-3....their 4th, 5th are really weak.
and these cracks have become gaping holes in last 2 games.

their NRR might take a hammering today.

Aus & Pak found their optimal combinations quite late in tournament.....but now Berhandorf and Lyon are set as 3rd and 4th bowlers.
and pak's Harris, Imad and Afridi came late and have won them a game each in the last 3 games

108 runs to get in 11 overs at a required run rate of 9.8 / over and only three wickets remaining.

103 runs to get in 10 overs at a required run rate of 10.3 / over and two wickets remaining ...

So tomorrow we have India vs England at Edgbaston. I can't see England winning - and with India winning that will see both India and NZ definitely qualifying (with Pakistan and Bangladesh having to play each other next week Friday).

Yet again, a low-scoring game produces an absolute thriller. Unfortunately for Afghanistan, they failed to get over the line this time too. Apart from the thrashing at the hands of England, Afghanistan really didn't disgrace themselves in any games. They came close to Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. They need to play more, and need to play more test cricket to improve in ODIs as well. The notion of batting long is not quite settled in their minds yet, they should play more tests on sporting wickets. When some of their batsmen would eventually manage a few test hundreds, the idea of batting long will really get through to them. Unlike other newer sides or associates, they do have proper fast bowlers and proper spinners its the batting that is the problem.

New Zealand seem to have used up all the luck in previous games. The issues as pointed out by KPF, got covered up in previous game as Williamson was on top form and Boult and Ferguson did their job quite well. But with stronger sides, their issues are become far too much to cover up...

Do the Afghanistani cricketers play outside of Afghanistan?  Afghanistan is not one of those safe countries to be playing international cricket.   Pakistan is not exactly safe for international cricketers either.

No name Bertie wrote:Do the Afghanistani cricketers play outside of Afghanistan?  Afghanistan is not one of those safe countries to be playing international cricket.   Pakistan is not exactly safe for international cricketers either.

No they had to play all their game at the world cup in Afghanistan. Thats why they have struggled.

No name Bertie wrote:Do the Afghanistani cricketers play outside of Afghanistan?  Afghanistan is not one of those safe countries to be playing international cricket.   Pakistan is not exactly safe for international cricketers either.

Afghanistan play their ‘home matches’ in northern India

That 1pt New Zealand got against India could really hurt England

Fresh pitch at Edgbaston tomorrow, so it likely won't turn as much as it did during the NZ/Pak game. Roy set to play, Archer unlikely to play.

One game from calamity or four games from glory.

It seems that Afghanistan have four "international" level cricket stadia the first of which was opened in 2011 (capacity 6000).  Due to the "security situation" they play their home games outside of Afghanistan.  Up to 2016 their national team was based in Sharjah (UAE) and since 2016 they have been based in Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in India.

(ps just seen Nathaniels comment & didn't understand Gooseberry's response )

No name Bertie wrote:Do the Afghanistani cricketers play outside of Afghanistan?  Afghanistan is not one of those safe countries to be playing international cricket.   Pakistan is not exactly safe for international cricketers either.

Next you’ll be telling me Syria isn’t a safe country for cricket

NZ run rate took a bit of a battering. But they still look safe barring some extraordinary scores in remaining games.

Despite all earlier assumptions this qualifying tournament is still "live" going to the last week

Need an England win tonight now to set up the Bangladesh/Pakistan and England /NZ games as virtual qualifying finals...

Didn't stay for the NZ innings but not surprised they fell well short. Australia have a strong attack for Lord's conditions and anything around 250 there is difficult to chase. NZ really lost this game when they couldn't break up Carey/Khawaja partnership.
I rate Australia an extremely strong winning chance now as long as they bat first. Not so sure how well they might chase against a challenging total from one of the other "big" teams. But their WC record suggests they are entitled to be down to fairly short odds now...

Wonder what the pitches will be like come finals ?

Huge pressure on England tomorrow but a fresh pitch will help them.

Roy being back would be huge. I think the toss will have a massive impact. Both sides are excellent chasing.

alfie wrote:NZ run rate took a bit of a battering. But they still look safe barring some extraordinary scores in remaining games.

Indeed, had Pakistan hammered Afghanistan in the same way that England did, then the Kiwis might be fearing the exit door. Two wins for England and Pakistan beating Bangladesh will leave Pakistan and New Zealand tied on 11 points...but it will take a huge, unrealistic swing for Pakistan to make up the NRR difference in that scenario.

Plunkett apparently replacing Moeen in the starting XI, not Archer as previously thought.

It's going to be extremely tough for England today. But perhaps India are due a bad match. I'd like to see England bat first and make a big score.

The fact that England have struggled of late shows just how meaningless some of the LOIs are. England have run up huge totals in matches in the past. But come a World Cup and the really meaningful matches, they have not been able to produce.

Not just England, all teams have struggled. 250 is a good score at most of the venues, its like going back 30 years!

England win the toss and bat first.

Confirmed that Plunkett and Roy in for Ali and Vince. Appears that Cook hasn't been recalled.

Can KP_F confirm the post toss odds please?

India with one change as well the rather underwhelming Shanker axed and he's replaced by the big hitting Pant on World Cup debut.

On a separate note - this is the English men’s biggest cricket game since?? 2016 T20 final?

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:On a separate note - this is the English men’s biggest cricket game since?? 2016 T20 final?

Any big game?
How about the 2017-18 Ashes? I don't blame you for forgetting that, Olly

Well it's good news for England that they are batting first - I think!

As for the comparatively-low scores, it has meant that there has been more of a contest between bat and ball, with bowlers able to turn the match with wickets rather than a competition to see which team can hit the most sixes.

I think if India had batted first today I could have imagined that England would have been set a reasonably gettable target then England's batsmen would have mucked it up. At least we're spared that scenario today.

Pal Joey wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:On a separate note - this is the English men’s biggest cricket game since?? 2016 T20 final?

Any big game?
How about the 2017-18 Ashes? I don't blame you for forgetting that, Olly

Not sure there were any games in that one which meant as much as this tbh PJ - we just got pumped the whole tour, as quite a few expected!

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:On a separate note - this is the English men’s biggest cricket game since?? 2016 T20 final?

In limited overs, I would say since the 2017 Champions Trophy Semi-Final. In all cricket, I would say since the 4th test against India last year.

Either way, this is a big game, but defeat won't necessarily be terminal for England.

India's away kit is a total eye-sore.

England winning the toss and batting first. Think batting first gives them an advantage. If they manage to run up a big total, India's middle order and the lack of lower order batting might add more pressure in addition to the scoreboard pressure. The bowlers need to be on the money from ball one...
England would welcome back Jason Roy, and Plunkett for Ali is pretty much down to Moeen's indifferent showing so far in the tournament though Ali do have a pretty decent record against India with the ball.

Sourav couldn't resist saying England "haven't beaten India in a World Cup match since '92"...

I'm tipping England today... hoping for an upset of sorts going against convention.

Duty281 wrote:India's away kit is a total eye-sore.

Thought The Netherlands was playing for a moment...

Roy back in and already look like taking charge. Seems this is a pitch made for the England brand of cricket, expect it to be a high scoring game. That's again, advantage England as they are the top flat pitch side in the world currently. They have enough players who can really run away with the game in a matter of overs. Even the likes of Kohli usually can't just score 60 and 70 ball tons just like that as a Bairstow, Roy or Buttler can. Massive pressure on the Indian bowling unit, they have pulled the side out of a couple of tight corners in the last 2 games, but this is going to be a different challenge altogether.

Pal Joey wrote:

Duty281 wrote:India's away kit is a total eye-sore.

Thought The Netherlands was playing for a moment...

Wouldn't be good - England have a poor H2H record against the Dutch in both football and cricket!

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

No name Bertie wrote:Do the Afghanistani cricketers play outside of Afghanistan?  Afghanistan is not one of those safe countries to be playing international cricket.   Pakistan is not exactly safe for international cricketers either.

Next you’ll be telling me Syria isn’t a safe country for cricket

I was asking for information.  Only one person responded positively in providing information.   It is easy to be snide - we could all do it and then the place goes downhill (like some other sub-sections).  The security situation doesn't necessary stop local and regional cricket leagues which could be one source of supply for Afghanistani cricketers playing at an international level.

Roy looking pretty solid and dangerous for India, Bairstow a touch uncertain in early exchanges. A ball or tow have seamed, one kept low. But it does a good track to bat on as the ball is coming on to the bat well.

Think Virat should give Kuldeep an early bowl. Perhaps an experimental over... The seamers haven't done much wrong and they haven't been pushed around by the English openers, but Roy does have a bit of a starting trouble against spin and once set, he can savage them.

Bairstow looking pretty lost out there but, for now, he's surviving and scoring.