2022 T20 World Cup thread

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

First topic message reminder :

We're now just over a fortnight out from the qualifying round, and team news is ever changing around the teams in the tournament.

Unfortunately today Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the tournament (and a while after) with a back injury. Big blow to India that one, and a World Cup with no Archer/Bumrah (arguably the two best t20 fast bowlers in the world) is a huge shame

[alfie]

Seven to get 84 ? Only two down so NZ might actually be favourites. Rashid for his last...

[alfie]

Oh dear . Looking like Moeen dropped the WC. Phillips slaughtering Rashid. England need wickets or they are gone.

[alfie]

England get a break...Stokes (who else ?) gets rid of KW. But it's Phillips they need to take out.

Right now , NZ are on course to settle this.

Buttler has some bowling choices to make.

[KP_fan]

Williamson out is blessing in disguise

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Absolutely textbook probably a good wicket for NZ to lose there with Williamson going

[alfie]

Neesham gone ! Wood with a timely wicket. Still need to get Phillips...

Tight. NZ marginal favourites.

[KP_fan]

NZ need a 20 run over NOW to stay in

[alfie]

Great over from Wood ! Going to the wire , this one.

Woakes really needs to stand up now...

[alfie]

Side note : Ravi Bopara is a rotten pundit

This is good from Woakes...and caps it with a wicket ! Mitchell can't clear sub Jordan...131/5

Advantage England...

[KP_fan]

Pace off the ball did it for Eng

[alfie]

Curran and Jordan combine to do for Phillips ! Think that is Game Over...

[Duty281]

Phillips out, England getting out of a tough situation...could be a tidy boost to the NRR as well!

[Soul Requiem]

Convenient time for Chris Jordan to come onto the field.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Why is Simon Doull trying to make a thing out of Jordan being on for Livingstone in the field? Livingstone is one of, if not our best fielder - they wouldn't want him off the field, no matter how good Jordan is!!

[alfie]

Jordan just doesn't drop catches. Might never make the XI these days but an essential sub option.

Curran has been excellent again. NZ need a bit of a miracle finish...Wood to snuff it out ?

[alfie]

Why is Simon Doull trying to make a thing out of Jordan being on for Livingstone in the field? Livingstone is one of, if not our best fielder - they wouldn't want him off the field, no matter how good Jordan is!!

Yeah that is a bit silly. Jordan is an ace ; but Livingstone is catching that , ten out of ten. So is anyone.Wasn't a difficult one .

NZ need 26 off one after a last ball six from The penultimate over...

[alfie]

Is Csrlos Brathwaite in the house ? Ticking down...

[GSC]

Looked dicey for a minute but pretty well managed in the end. Now Afghanistan to be competitive against Australia

[alfie]

No NRR boost but England stay alive with a vital win. Not easy but they'll be relieved to get through that one. They will take a nice lead for second place into the Last Round.

Curran doing the business again at the death

[KP_fan]

180 is above par
Between top sides more than 160 is not really chasable

[GSC]

Seemed a difficult pitch to get started on, once Kane went, nobody really got going and Phillips had too much to do

[Duty281]

Tidy enough win for England in the end, but some concerns remain.

Very good effort from the openers to push England to 179. Though he had some luck, it was great to see Buttler ignite his tournament with a big innings. The disappointment came through very little support from 3 downwards, despite breaking the mould with Moeen at 3 and LL at 4. Stokes is really struggling with the bat.

Even so, 179 was about 20 ahead of par and, as I said before the tournament, if England bat first they'll need those sorts of scores to mask the weaknesses in the bowling department. The bowling was so-so today. Good in the PowerPlay, poor in the middle overs, then good enough in the latter stages to win the game. We need to see more variety from the seamers as they bowl too much short stuff, and it's clear the spinners are struggling (which is the main problem with the middle overs) - 0/63 from the three spinners today in 8 overs. Rashid's tournament figures are 0/89 from 12 overs. This is a problem not massively talked about.

Fielding, was below-par, which is disappointing after a highly-intense effort in the first game v Afghanistan. Moeen's drop of Phillips was a disgrace and it nearly cost his side the game, just like Nissanka's. You can't afford drops like that in a knockout game. It was a 99% chance and he was far too casual.

Anyway, job done. And England know to bat first.  If England beat Sri Lanka they should be in the semis as they carry a decent advantage in NRR terms over Australia. There is the possibility that Australia destroy Afghanistan - score 200 batting first or bowl the Afghans out for 70, that sort of thing - so that could upset the apple cart; however England have the advantage of playing last and knowing what they need to do.

In the scope of the wider tournament, I've only been majorly impressed by South Africa so far. NZ were excellent v Aus, but it seems like a one-off magic performance where everything went right. They were fortunate to beat SL and have just been beaten comfortably here. India don't look particularly strong (losing to SA even with the advantage of batting first) and England have too many holes, it seems.

[Pal Joey]

Perhaps one of the best batting starts of the tournament so far from England to set the platform for a very good score. It was looking like a 190-200 run total after around 11 overs. It was also a pretty tight all round bowling effort considering Topley was missing and Phillips was in his usual aggressive mode. They all chipped in effectively and once Phillips was gone that very decent total was too tall a mountain for NZ to climb.

[Duty281]

That should also spell the end of the weather worries at this World Cup. It seems the next couple of weeks in Australia will be hot and dry, so hopefully DLS and the umbrellas can be put away. Two games tomorrow in Group 2:

Dutch v Zimbabwe - Dutch have been hopeless so far. Zimbabweans will be highly confident of notching up another win and giving themselves a punchers' chance v the Indians in the final game.
Bangladesh v India - Should be a comfortable night for India, but we've seen a fair few upsets in this tournament. Bangladesh winning would blow the race for second wide open (again).

[alfie]

Very significant win for England. Didn't see the batting though I see they had some luck...but the bowling wasn't bad really. Have reservations about the tactics though : spinners overused early ? In the end Wood didn't bowl his four and Stokes only bowled one (OK he went for ten but he got a vital wicket) and the spinners weren't exactly savaged but they got no wickets. Not sure Jos is too clear on what is the best way to go with his bowling options. At least they have options - though Rashid's lack of wickets continues to trouble me a bit.

Might trouble Moeen too

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Excellent win - above par total set, and some excellent powerplay and death bowling to get across the line - still feels like room for improvement too. Given themselves the platform to go and do it vs Sri Lanka now, and hopefully the Afghans (or Irish!) can put up good fights in the other games

[alfie]

One should , I suppose , be wary of making predictions around t20 cricket...but I would think , now , that barring a huge Australian win over Afghanistan , England have only to beat Sri Zlanka to progress...at any rate , they will know what they have to do.

Tonight will have been a relief to them. Hopefully lets them relax a little and play as they can - because I'm not sure they've done so yet.

Australia will be in a slightly difficult spot going into round five : they will want to maximise their NRR ... But going too crazy early can be counterproductive. Injury problems too - but I would never underestimate an Australian team with their backs to the wall.

NZ will be OK unless they mess up the Ireland game. That batting after number four is a bit of a worry though.

Hope no more weather issues

[KP_fan]

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so NZ, Eng and Aus all at 5 points play Ire, SL and Afg...the 3 easy opponents...Lanks being the most difficult of the 3

NZ is significantly ahead on NRR and will go thru surely
Eng is ahead of Aus but have the more diffcult game against Lanka
Its between Aus and Eng for the 2nd semifinalist and to me Aus is marginal favorites

[alfie]

Just watched the batting highlights. Hales getting off to a rapid start made a big difference : helped Jos settle into his work (although he had his share of good luck today !)

Flexible batting order seemed to work today. Certainly pushing Livingstone up was a winner.

Yet to produce a "perfect " batting performance. But this was pretty good

[KP_fan]

Let me revise my assessment of this group
How many runs does Aus need to beat Afg by to come from -0.3 to say +0.75?

[JDizzle]

Let me revise my assessment of this group
How many runs does Aus need to beat Afg by to come from -0.3 to say +0.75?

Need to win by 52 runs to even pass England’s NRR, so Twitter tells me. So, assuming England were to beat SL. Aus would need to win by quite a bit more than 52 runs you would think.

[GSC]

I'm by no means an expert but I think if Australia score 200 and bowl Afghanistan out for 100 they'd have a NRR of about +1.04. if they scored 120 in response they'd be about +0.8

[alfie]

Let me revise my assessment of this group
How many runs does Aus need to beat Afg by to come from -0.3 to say +0.75?

I will leave the calculations to Duty...  But whatever it is , Australia need first to get ahead of England , and then to set them a serious chase. Not beyond them of course (and England could even lose to Sri Lanka though I think that is unlikely) ; but I think the situation at present favours England.

JD and GSC have done it already I see...

[dummy_half]

Let me revise my assessment of this group
How many runs does Aus need to beat Afg by to come from -0.3 to say +0.75?

Not sure how NRR deals with matches abandoned without a ball being bowled, but my 'back of an envelope' calculations are that if the abandoned games are included, Australia would need to win by 99 runs, and if not, by 78 runs. These numbers may be off by a few if any of the Aus matches didn't go to the full 20 overs (having checked, two of them didn't, so these are probably slightly over-estimated).

Basically, the hammering they got off NZ in the first match has put them at a huge disadvantage with regard to run rate, especially compared to NZ. The abandonment of the Aus v Eng game also hurts them in not being able to recover the situation by their own actions.

[Duty281]

Let me revise my assessment of this group
How many runs does Aus need to beat Afg by to come from -0.3 to say +0.75?

I will leave the calculations to Duty...  But whatever it is , Australia need first to get ahead of England , and then to set them a serious chase. Not beyond them of course (and England could even lose to Sri Lanka though I think that is unlikely) ; but I think the situation at present favours England.

   JD and GSC have done it already I see...

I can do goal difference, but NRR has always confused me.

Maybe we'll end up with Livingstone doing an 'Agueroooooo' off the last ball.

[KP_fan]

Let me revise my assessment of this group
How many runs does Aus need to beat Afg by to come from -0.3 to say +0.75?

I will leave the calculations to Duty...  But whatever it is , Australia need first to get ahead of England , and then to set them a serious chase. Not beyond them of course (and England could even lose to Sri Lanka though I think that is unlikely) ; but I think the situation at present favours England.

   JD and GSC have done it already I see...

Lets keep upsets aside...and work on the highly likely scenarios
NZ is clear
Aus will beat Afg and quite healthily and will very likely by more than 52 runs....perhaps by 70 to 80 runs
Eng will beat Lanka and I understand that's the last game so they might know that they have to kock off Lankan target in 18 overs for example
So in the worst case it will come down to a shortened chase for Eng and they should bat first if they can.

From the other group barring upsets ...it will be SA and Ind....
Pak vs SA will decide whether Ind or SA top the group

[Duty281]

And we're currently looking at these to be the semi-finals if SA beat Pakistan and no more upsets:

NZ v India
Eng/Aus v South Africa

Switch India and South Africa around if Pak beat SA.

But I've got a feeling we'll see at least one more upset before the semi-final stages are reached. The only team I'm 100% sure about being in the semi-finals is South Africa.

[GSC]

I think if Australia beat Afghanistan say 180 to 110 or something, England would probably have to chase in about 17-18 overs

[GSC]

Anyway Australia needs a massive win to make it relevant anyhow

[JDizzle]

Aussies trying to gun it for 220 against Mujeeb and Rashid could be interesting… They’ll want to bowl first and let Starc and Hazlewood blow them away.

[JDizzle]

Totally irrelevant, but the all time NRR game is Netherland vs Ireland in 2014 when Netherlands needed to chase 190 in 14.2 overs and did this:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/world-t20-2013-14-628368/ireland-vs-netherlands-12th-match-first-round-group-b-682919/full-scorecard

[Duty281]

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/men-s-t20-world-cup-2022-group-1-scenarios-what-nz-aus-eng-sl-need-to-do-to-make-the-semis-1342828

Cricinfo have some idea of the permutations, but at least it'll be crystal clear by the time England take to the field v Sri Lanka. Imagine if all three final games were played simultaneously, like at the football World Cup!

Sri Lanka could still sneak through (beat England and hope Australia and/or NZ lose), and Ireland are technically in contention but need a practically impossible combination to unlock the door to the semis (beat NZ by about 100+ runs and hope Aus lose to Afghanistan).

I wouldn't be surprised if Sri Lanka did topple England, it wouldn't be a bigger upset than Ireland doing it to England. Sri Lanka had Australia in difficulty before Stoinis' innings (perhaps the best of the tournament) rescued his side; and then the Sri Lankans had NZ on the ropes before Nissanka's drop let the Kiwis off the hook. I hope England don't underestimate them and think it'll be an easy day, because it won't be.

[Mind the windows Tino.]

Totally irrelevant, but the all time NRR game is Netherland vs Ireland in  2014 when Netherlands needed to chase 190 in 14.2 overs and did this:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/world-t20-2013-14-628368/ireland-vs-netherlands-12th-match-first-round-group-b-682919/full-scorecard

45 off 15! Striking at 300!

Tom Cooper. Good Dutch name that one.

[king_carlos]

I don't think England will underestimate Sri Lanka but I do get that uneasy, "I hope Jos does something today", feeling watching this England side. It's a bit like the Test side, "hope Joe gets a few", feeling before each innings. This batting line-up is stronger than the Test one of course but without YJB it's a lot less destructive.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

While Sri Lanka are undoubtedly the toughest of the three games for Aus/NZ/Eng, it should be noted that it is fairly likely they'll know their fate is sealed by Friday, and won't have anything to play for. Now, maybe not a huge *thing*, these are professionals after all, but suspect it would take some edge off the game for them

[Duty281]

Be interesting to see if England do make changes to the batting, which largely hasn't fired yet:

Stokes has scored 2, 6, 8...so expect 14, 22 and 36 for the final three games? At least it's an upward direction! He'll of course remain in the side because his bowling is proving to be an asset so far - 44 balls bowled, 4 wickets, 37 runs - and he's a strong fielder and all-round presence.

Brook hasn't got going yet. Only mustered 7, 18 and 7 thus far. May be the most vulnerable to the axe and getting Salt in?

Also struggling, but in a slightly different way, is Malan who has scored 56 runs in 3 innings, but has taken 68 balls to amass those runs. Quite surprisingly in those 68 balls he has only hit 2 fours and 0 sixes, which may be one of the worst boundary-to-balls ratio of any batsman at this World Cup! Stokes is actually yet to hit a boundary at this World Cup. Where's the fire?! It was dampened by losing Bairstow to injury, and Roy and Morgan to form.

Overall, I'd like to see Salt come in for Malan and take the number three spot. Will it happen? Probably not. Brook is the more likely to be dropped.

Main issue with the bowling has been the middle overs. Rashid short of form and yet to take a wicket, and Moeen's drop may hurt his confidence even further. Other than that the bowling has been mostly decent, if a little too short from the seamers. Stokes as mentioned, Curran is one of the leading wicket-takers at this tournament, and Livingstone has proved his worth as a useful asset. But I don't think we've seen the best of Wood yet, and Woakes got destroyed by Ireland.

[alfie]

Can't see England changing their batting now. Certainly wouldn't be getting rid of Malan . He gets a bad press at times ; but I think he's an important component whose qualities are not always appreciated. Figures above aren't fantastic but he has the disadvantage of having to come in when both openers fail to try and rebuild ; but when the openers fire - as they did yesterday - he is then shuffled down the order so doesn't get an opportunity to cash in against bowlers on the back foot. No problem with them changing the order yesterday , by the way but it isn't happening if they are two down for twenty !

True Brook and Stokes are yet to get going but if you are coming in with just two overs to bat you don't have time to do anything but try and smash it so am not marking them down for low scores in this game. Wouldn't be surprised if one or other went big in the last match.

Bowling was quite encouraging ; Woakes much better yesterday , Curran and Wood continue to do their job well - and if the spinners didn't take wickets they didn't get destroyed either. Even Moeen got to turn his arm over for a change ! Plenty of options ; hope England use them optimally - which of course can be a bit of an issue since there is so little margin for error with bowling choices. The poor old skipper can make an apparently reasonable decision re a particular bowler and see it rebound in his face due to a few loose deliveries at the wrong time...

Can forgive Moeen for a terrible drop but he'd better not repeat it ! Generally the fielding has been outstanding ; which is one thing that gives me some confidence going forward. Won't be taking Sri Lanka lightly (and never any guarantees in this format) but off the back of this latest performance I like their chances of doing what is required to qualify.

[eirebilly_01]

Howya all,

I was offline as I was home with the family doing family things . Hope ye all had a good Halloween.

Ireland, well, where to start? They have been a thorn in both England and the Aussie's side which is to be expected. I think they will leave the tournament relatively happy but may think they could have done more.
England, finally turned up to the tournament in proper fashion with a very good win against New Zealand. New Zealand's performance against the Aussies seems to be a bit of a one off which may concern them.
England will have a very tough match against Sri Lanka who seem to be getting their mojo back so victory is by far not guaranteed.
Australia, they seem to be on a roll somewhat but have a mountain to climb but i would never write them off in their own back yard.
India, strong as always but just do not seem to be be as fluent as they possibly should be.
South Africa, well they look the team to beat but what do they do with Bavuma? Yes he is Captain but boy is he not suited to T20 at all. You would think that he would move himself down the order and only come in when a steadying bat is required. He is costing them in the power play very badly.

[eirebilly_01]

On todays match, the Dutch look very likely to end Zimbabwe's tournament. Some excellent bowling and a decent start to their run chase might see them get their first win. Not unhappy about that

[alfie]

The Dutch have really turned up today...on the verge of finishing a good win to end Zimbabwe's hopes . Have to say this one has surprised me as Zimbabwe had been looking pretty good. Wonder if they had got a bit ahead of themselves and had almost assumed they'd win this en route to their final round clash with India ?

Anyway , congrats to Netherlands They've had a very decent WC.

Hey , eirebilly : your fellows going to upset NZ on Friday , perhaps ? Too much to do to make semis , but would be a good finish for Ireland , no ?

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