The 2023 Cricket World Cup

by Duty281 Mon 18 Sep 2023, 1:09 pm

First topic message reminder :

After the drama-free finish to the 2019 Cricket World Cup, the 2023 Cricket World Cup will finally get under way on the 5th October, having been initially delayed by Covid and then threatened by a Pakistani boycott.

England are the defending champions, and they're also the reigning T20 World Champions. Doubleplusgood, eh? They're looking to be the first nation to win consecutive ODI World Cups since the Aussie vintage of 1999-2007. Biggest adversaries to that are likely to be India, who haven't won a major global competition since the 2013 Champions Trophy, but will no doubt be heartened by the knowledge that the last three ODI World Cups have been won by a host nation.

Five-time winners Australia can never be ruled out, while Pakistan are fueled by a burning motivation to win the World Cup in the homeland of their greatest rivals. New Zealand have made the last two finals - losing the last on boundary count, would you believe? - and will hope to make the final step this year.

South Africa will presumably think they're due to win something, as they've not won a global competition since the 1998 Champions Trophy, while the Afghans will believe they can spin anyone into submission. Bangladesh will be hoping to make a sizable impact at the ODI World Cup for the first time.

Sri Lanka breezed through qualifying and will be encouraged by making the recent Asia Cup final, even if they did get hammered in said final. The Netherlands round off the ten teams after performing minor miracles in qualification, which of course means the West Indies, the winners of the first two ODI World Cups, will be missing out on this tournament for the very first time.

The ten-team format for the World Cup remains as simple as ever. Ten teams all play each other once, and the top four teams in the group at the end of it go through to the semi-finals, where it becomes a straight knockout. 48 matches total. There will be reserve days for the three knockout matches and, if necessary, Super Overs. But you can't win games on boundary count anymore...

Fixtures:

Tournament Odds:

Squad Lists (Teams have until the 28th September to finalise their squads):

by alfie Mon 23 Oct 2023, 4:54 pm

Think they need to take serious runs off Shadab and Usama now...Rauf and Afridi won't be easy pickings at the death. Tight finish coming up ?

by dummy_half Mon 23 Oct 2023, 4:58 pm

Afghanistan making slightly heavy weather of knocking off the remaining runs, letting the rate climb to nearly 7 an over, but still with 8 wickets in hand. Obviously just looking to ensure the win rather than making too much of the net run rate situation.

by Duty281 Mon 23 Oct 2023, 5:04 pm

They'll be fine, Afghanistan. Pakistan built some pressure, but didn't take enough wickets during that phase.

by wisden Mon 23 Oct 2023, 5:07 pm

250 up...32 needed from 33 balls....easy

by alfie Mon 23 Oct 2023, 5:12 pm

Good couple of overs then got the chase back on track...Pakistan really need a burst of wickets from Afridi. But with Hashmat scoring freely now that looks a forlorn hope.

Still run a ball required. Usama back on ??? Got to try something I guess...

by KP_fan Mon 23 Oct 2023, 5:15 pm

Babar must be tactically the most unastute captain and most uninspiring leader
More specifically he should be having close ins to squeeze singles and catch chances

by GSC Mon 23 Oct 2023, 5:18 pm

Is it too late to reclassify Afghanistan as a top side

by alfie Mon 23 Oct 2023, 5:21 pm

Good as done now...just 11 needed from the last three.

Historic win for Afghanistan over Pakistan. And guess who is now relegated to the bottom of the Ten Team Table

by KP_fan Mon 23 Oct 2023, 5:24 pm

AFG should beat Netherland
If they get one more win against SL, Aus or SA
Can they go through?
Can we dream of a fairy-tale ....Kenya made it to the semis

by alfie Mon 23 Oct 2023, 5:28 pm

Congratulations Afghanistan clap

And is that the first "N" result for the Tipping Competition?

by Duty281 Mon 23 Oct 2023, 5:29 pm

Well, what a shock that is. Afghanistan's first ever win over Pakistan in ODIs, plus their highest ever ODI run chase. Pakistan's bowling was errant and toothless, and Afghanistan were always ahead in the chase. Full credit to the top four for their innings. It was the bowling and fielding that lost it for Pakistan, the target should have been defended.

We've had a few shocks at this World Cup. The strange thing is they've all been comfortable victories. Normally when a shock happens it's a close-run thing, but Afghanistan have beaten England and Pakistan comfortably, plus the Dutch beat South Africa fairly easily in the end.

Puts Pakistan into crisis mode, like England. Three straight defeats, turning a 2-0 record into 2-3. South Africa up next and they have to win it.

Afghanistan, you know what, they've got a chance of making the semis now. A 2-3 record, yes, but their next two games are against Sri Lanka and the Netherlands. Afghanistan will be favourites for both, and if they do win both then they suddenly have a 4-3 record. Then they're just asking for one more upset over Australia or South Africa and they'll be on five wins, which may be enough...They're alive!

South Africa v Bangladesh tomorrow. Let's not rule out another surprise, eh? But if South Africa do win they'll have more than one foot in the semis, and they'll be safely leaving the chaos behind them. Must-win for Bangladesh, who are currently on a run of three big defeats, with every aspect of their game struggling. And if they do win they'll be hauling themselves back into the semi-final fight.

Semi-finalists - India
Virtually secure - New Zealand
Good progress - South Africa
In the hunt - Australia
On life support - England, Pakistan, Afghanistan
Brown bread - Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Netherlands

Hoping for Bangladesh and Dutch wins in the next couple of days. Anything for more chaos!

by Duty281 Mon 23 Oct 2023, 5:31 pm

alfie wrote:Good as done now...just 11 needed from the last three.

Historic win for Afghanistan over Pakistan. And guess who is now relegated to the bottom of the Ten Team Table

Is it England and Wales?

by VTR Mon 23 Oct 2023, 5:57 pm

alfie wrote:Good as done now...just 11 needed from the last three.

Historic win for Afghanistan over Pakistan. And guess who is now relegated to the bottom of the Ten Team Table

We've got a game in hand! And, err....

by alfie Tue 24 Oct 2023, 6:43 am

Top effort from Afghanistan. Helped by the pitch which might have been made to order for their attack but nothing but praise for the professional way they chased a potentially tricky target down. Pakistan flakey as ever it seems... reckon their challenge is on very rocky ground now.
Could the Afghans seriously bid for the knock outs ? Can't underestimate them after those two wins ; but I think they'll be hard pressed to win three more out of four.

Looking like five wins (with a good NRR) might get a spot , given all the "upsets" and the way India is getting away from the field. So everyone is still at least technically "alive" for now. Say what you like about this seemingly interminable round robin format but it is keeping the possibilities open - and may do so quite late into the programme.

Could really do with some more close games though !

by KP_fan Tue 24 Oct 2023, 8:07 am

BD vs SA today as the same Wankhede stadium Mumbai where SA demolished Eng
BD& SL have been the most underwhelming team so far in this World Cup ( along with Eng)

SA's chink is choking while chasing...so BD should bat first if they get a chance , put runs on the board

by Duty281 Tue 24 Oct 2023, 11:10 am

Couple of early losses for SA, but de Kock and Markram have rebuilt things well and they're 131/2 at halfway, looking on course for a score in excess of 300.

Bangladesh working hard in the field, but they need some inspiration from the bowlers to get them back in this.

by Duty281 Tue 24 Oct 2023, 12:41 pm

De Kock absolutely flying. His third century of the tournament, first 150, and Bangladesh are going to be massively up against it. Can't fault their application, but their bowling just hasn't had enough threat.

by Oakdene Tue 24 Oct 2023, 12:47 pm

Duty281 wrote:Couple of early losses for SA, but de Kock and Markram have rebuilt things well and they're 131/2 at halfway, looking on course for a score in excess of 300.

Bangladesh working hard in the field, but they need some inspiration from the bowlers to get them back in this.

And a bit more! de Kock on fire!!!

by KP_fan Tue 24 Oct 2023, 12:51 pm

SA & Ind compete for the best top-6 & SA wins.....far more destructive
On course for 360+ today
To win vs SA you need to break their template....get them to chase

by Duty281 Tue 24 Oct 2023, 1:23 pm

382. Absolutely brutal again from South Africa. 144 from the last ten overs. De Kock with the highest tournament score, Klassen 90 off 49 and Miller 34 off 15.

The South African batting has been the most destructive in the tournament, with scores of 428, 311, 399 and now 382. Makes it all the more remarkable that the Dutch stopped them!

Barring a Bangladeshi miracle, this will be four wins from five and SA almost assured of a SF spot. Could this finally be their year? Of course it won't be.

by Soul Requiem Tue 24 Oct 2023, 2:22 pm

That South African middle order possesses real fire power, two games in a row they've turned a good foundation into a great score.

by VTR Tue 24 Oct 2023, 3:46 pm

Could England move up to 9th after this? Sign of a good team, climbing the table without even playing

by king_carlos Tue 24 Oct 2023, 4:35 pm

Soul Requiem wrote:That South African middle order possesses real fire power, two games in a row they've turned a good foundation into a great score.

They've been doing it consistently for a while now as well. The ability of Rassie, Markram, Klaasan and Miller to go into T20 mode from a good platform is nuts. I think the question was whether they'd do it against the best bowlers as bilateral series are so often below full strength. They definitely are though. It certainly helps that so many of those gun batters have significant IPL experience so know the conditions.

by Soul Requiem Tue 24 Oct 2023, 4:39 pm

king_carlos wrote:
Soul Requiem wrote:That South African middle order possesses real fire power, two games in a row they've turned a good foundation into a great score.
They've been doing it consistently for a while now as well. The ability of Rassie, Markram, Klaasan and Miller to go into T20 mode from a good platform is nuts. I think the question was whether they'd do it against the best bowlers as bilateral series are so often below full strength. They definitely are though. It certainly helps that so many of those gun batters have significant IPL experience so know the conditions.

The fact they have five batsmen capable of going into full on T20 mode is a big advantage, chances are they won't all fail.

by Duty281 Tue 24 Oct 2023, 5:43 pm

149 run win in the end for South Africa. Looked like it was going to be more, until Mahmudullah's century salvaged some pride.

England have indeed risen to 9th as a result of this game. Rising in the table without even going on the field, marvellous stuff.

South Africa are up to a 4-1 record, just that bizarre loss to the Dutch counting against them, and they have a 4 point advantage over 5th with just 4 games to play. An out of form Pakistan await next, then NZ, India and Afghanistan. One foot in the semis, but still work to do.

Bangladesh, horrible World Cup for them. Four big defeats in a row now. A loss to the Dutch in the next game would equal outright humiliation.

Semi-finalists - India
Virtually secure - New Zealand, South Africa
Good progress -
In the hunt - Australia
On life support - England, Pakistan, Afghanistan
Brown bread - Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Netherlands

Australia v Netherlands tomorrow. Australia have a chance to build a 2 point advantage over 5th place, but if they lose then it's all very open in the battle for 4th. Travis Head is set to return from injury, a huge boost for Australia.

by KP_fan Tue 24 Oct 2023, 6:18 pm

Pummeled, crushed, butchered, slaughtered all those words continue to apply as SA roll on with their script of batting first and putting colossal totals
Putting into relativity BD's play was more dignified than Eng's and also in the same line of perspective SL did exceedingly well to score 330 against this SA attack.

Ind, NZ, Aus and SA look given
Distant outside chance SL & Afg

Pak & Eng two of my pre-tournament favorites to win the cup are No-Hopers in my view now
Pak because they have clueless leader and infighting in team by many accounts
and Eng are past expiry date impression I get
Have not moved on from the 2019 mentality .......and the more they lose the more muddled their team selection gets

by Jetty Wed 25 Oct 2023, 12:15 am

KP_fan wrote:Pummeled, crushed, butchered, slaughtered all those words continue to apply as SA roll on with their script of batting first and putting colossal totals
Putting into relativity BD's play was more dignified than Eng's and also in the same line of perspective SL did exceedingly well to score 330 against this SA attack.

Ind, NZ, Aus and SA look given
Distant outside chance SL & Afg

Pak & Eng two of my pre-tournament favorites to win the cup are No-Hopers in my view now
Pak because they have clueless leader and infighting in team by many accounts
and Eng are past expiry date impression I get
Have not moved on from the 2019 mentality .......and the more they lose the more muddled their team selection gets

Think Morgan has to take over as coach after this WC.

by KP_fan Wed 25 Oct 2023, 5:17 am

I had heard and think posted here too....around the time of WTC final loss.

That BCCI was keeping Morgan warm and in discussion as a potential Dravid replacement.
He will make a good coach though whoever gets him

by wisden Wed 25 Oct 2023, 9:38 am

I'm surprised the Aussies haven't rested josh Hazelwood today....a game they will win and knowing hazlewoods injury record...

by alfie Wed 25 Oct 2023, 12:00 pm

Won't be any surprise results today...

Australia 199/2 after 31 and looking for 350 or so. Netherlands can forget about this one and start planning to upset England later in the competition Smile

by Duty281 Wed 25 Oct 2023, 1:00 pm

I see no Travis Head today.

Bit of a fightback from the Dutch - 244/2 to 290/6. Not enough, but it should keep Australia to below 380, although Maxwell is still there.

by dummy_half Wed 25 Oct 2023, 1:11 pm

NEtherlands have done pretty well in the last hour to turn a truly dire situation into one that is only mostly hopeless. The Aussies looked on for well in excess of 400, now looks like 350-370, and if they were to lose Maxwell could even end up below that.

by eirebilly_01 Wed 25 Oct 2023, 1:12 pm

Just wait until Max O'Dowd does not do Max O'Dowd things and get a 60 ball ton to set Nederlands on the road to victory.

by compelling and rich Wed 25 Oct 2023, 1:25 pm

unbelievable hitting from maxwell, at one point thought my thrashing pick in pj's game was looking in danger

by Duty281 Wed 25 Oct 2023, 1:26 pm

Ah, yes, Maxwell is still there.

A 40-ball century, the fastest in WC history, and beating Markram's record (set at this World Cup) by 9 balls I think.

400 back on.

De Leede has also conceded 115 runs in his ten overs, which is another WC record. At least he got two wickets.

by dummy_half Wed 25 Oct 2023, 1:44 pm

dummy_half wrote:NEtherlands have done pretty well in the last hour to turn a truly dire situation into one that is only mostly hopeless. The Aussies looked on for well in excess of 400, now looks like 350-370, and if they were to lose Maxwell could even end up below that.

My predicting ability as good as ever Wink

I did say 'if they got Maxwell out', which they didn't until the last over. Didn't know he was going to go quite so beserk though...

by king_carlos Wed 25 Oct 2023, 3:42 pm

Netherlands are doing a banging England impression today.

by Duty281 Wed 25 Oct 2023, 3:49 pm

Dutch currently 86/8. This game is going to do wonders for Australia's NRR.

And we'll wait and see, but I think England will be lifted up to 8th because of this. The momentum is becoming unstoppable. Give it another week and England will be top.

Four games left for Australia after this are NZ, Eng, Afg and Bangladesh. Two wins out of those four will lift them to five wins total, and would probably net them a NRR shootout at worst, barring Pakistan or England catching fire and going on a 100% winning run from here to the end. If Australia can beat NZ in a few days time then they've got a foot in the semis.

The semi final door is beginning to close on Pakistan and England...

Tomorrow is the final fifth round game, between England and Sri Lanka. England desperately trying to salvage a wreck of a World Cup campaign. A loss here and it really is all over, and the WC campaign would rank among the worst that England have indulged in, rivaling 1999, 2007 and 2015. But an England win and we can all commence dreaming once more.

And it really should be an England win. Sri Lanka are dreadful, their bowling especially, and hopefully England can bat first, pile up a monster total like the old days, and win by a three figure margin. Not just winning, but repairing the NRR. Because unless England win all five of their final games, they will almost certainly need NRR to qualify.

England's team selection is, as ever, a bit of a mess. Cricinfo reckon that one of LL, Moeen or Curran is going to come back in at 7, and Cricinfo reckon it'll be Moeen, with Livingstone seemingly falling out of favour. Willey retained, Woakes coming in for Topley and a final selection call to be made between Atkinson, who put in a solid effort v South Africa, or Wood, who promises so much but is currently suffering a torrid tournament. I hope they stick with Atkinson.

by KP_fan Wed 25 Oct 2023, 3:56 pm

Duty wrote:And it really should be an England win. Sri Lanka are dreadful, their bowling especially, and hopefully England can bat first, pile up a monster total like the old days, and win by a three figure margin.

Garbage to be precise
SL are Garbage..... worst or second worst side The 2023 Cricket World Cup - Page 15 1f601

by KP_fan Wed 25 Oct 2023, 4:06 pm

309 run win for Aus and if you think that would be the largest ODI win ever.....
well India won by 317 runs vs Lanka one time

by dummy_half Wed 25 Oct 2023, 4:14 pm

England need to win the toss and bat first tomorrow, and do to SL what the Aussies have just done to Netherlands - score big and knock them over quickly for not too many. Still going to need a small miracle to get through to the semi-finals - might still be possible if they lose to India but win every other game, but that would then rely on other results, and given the NRR positon, would probably need a pretty big vicrtory over Australia. Win every game and they'll almost certainly make it - just that they haven't looked close to playing well enough to beat any of the decent teams.

by VTR Wed 25 Oct 2023, 4:34 pm

England move up the table without playing again, what a time to be alive

by alfie Thu 26 Oct 2023, 1:42 am

Thumping win for Australia ! Not just destroying the Dutch with the bat but slicing their batting apart too...has given them a very strong position in NRR terms.

Surely going to beat Bangladesh and Afghanistan (I suppose - but maybe I shouldn't !) which would give them five wins whatever they do against NZ and England , and would likely have them in the mix for a spot even were they to lose both. Has been a great comeback from those early losses : perhaps playing two of the better teams first up actually did them a favour ? Warner is having a good WC - though he has benefited from some shoddy opposition catching. And quite the innings from Maxwell. Bring back Head and that batting is a bit frightening - at least on a flat pitch.

Last chance saloon for England tonight. Assuming nothing about Sri Lanka ; but they have no choice but to win it , preferably by a lot. Getting that horrible NRR up will be tough so they may well have to win all five games - but for now must just concentrate on the one in front of them. I do expect Woakes back but it looks a bit of a tossup between the other choices. Really need their Big Guns to start firing with the bat. We can hope at least ...

by KP_fan Thu 26 Oct 2023, 6:45 am

There are 2 variants of pitches being served by BCCI in this world cup
The hard with a very light sprinkling of green grass left on top,
like the one in Eng v SA game
And Pak vs Aus game

Or
The softer black soil like the Eng v Afg or Afg v Pak and Ind v Pak games

And in my understanding most grounds have both types of pitches possible

I think Eng would prefer the first variant where brute batting force outbats the other team and seamers are effective if the hit a very tight length.

Lanka with upto 4 spin options will prefer the second variant, with slow spin

ENG have to be careful not to jump into variant 2 pitch with a preconceived template 11 for first type pitch

by alfie Thu 26 Oct 2023, 8:58 am

England always misjudge the pitch , KP_fan so better just hope they get lucky...

by GSC Thu 26 Oct 2023, 9:10 am

Topley for Woakes and then Brook and Atkinson miss out for Livingstone and Mo. England expect spin then

by KP_fan Thu 26 Oct 2023, 9:12 am

alfie wrote:England always misjudge the pitch , KP_fan so better just hope they get lucky...

It is variant-2 type pitch

Pitch report: Ravi Shastri says the pitch today might be a little bit on the slower and dryer side, but still very good to bat on. There's a lot of grass on the centre of the pitch but less closer to the batting crease, so the bowlers need to exploit the rough patches. There could be some turn as well, which means it won't all be one-way traffic for the batters.

Eng have read it well and gone in with 4 spinning options i.e every one who can bowl spin in the squad is in the 11
I just hope they have give themselves enuf batsmen.....I see no Harry Brook
Normally variant 2 pitches are 275ish par...but will write more on this when i see the game a bit

by alfie Thu 26 Oct 2023, 9:12 am

Anyway England have won the toss and chosen to bat...three changes : Woakes Moeen and Livingstone in for the departed Topley , Brook and Atkinson. Going for experience...

Angelo Matthews at seven for Sri Lanka so they'll bat a bit deep... but their bowling is the issue. Three seamers for them too.

by KP_fan Thu 26 Oct 2023, 9:35 am

alfie wrote:

Angelo Matthews at seven for Sri Lanka so they'll bat a bit deep... but their bowling is the issue. Three seamers for them too.

It's a cliche based on one game ( Pak game)

by Duty281 Thu 26 Oct 2023, 9:39 am

And presumably the game where they conceded a world record total to SA...

Good to see England bat first, but once again fiddling with the balance of their side gives an impression they're not really sure what's best.

Bairstow was out very first ball, though Sri Lanka didn't review. Might be the fortune he needs?

Pitch looks a beauty, and will be once this early swing dies down. A 350/375 par type, as we've seen many times.

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