2023 ICC Cricket World Cup (50 over version)

Decent effort today from Afghanistan! Again, showed a lack of experience in how to go about setting a target, as all the 'lower ranked nations' do, but set a number that has been competitive in a lot of matches. I actually considered the Aghan bowling attack to be their trump card, but today Pakistan set about ripping that to pieces, and the match was effectively done by the 15th over or so, perhaps even earlier!

(11-10-2023 11:21 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  Bangladesh where never in the chase, 49-4 after 8.3 overs, scoring under 6 when they required 7+ their skipper said that they were out of it at the post-match interview. Das was on his own as the only batting contribution that gave his team a chance of scoring at the required rate. They don't have the depth of batting to recover from such a bad start and have no real power hitters in the middle order, England are stacked in that regard, despite having a batmen light in this match. Stokes will add all his experience to the mix when he returns. Although as a non-bowler they don't have the luxury of 6 front-line options. Livingstone proved he is a more than handy option yesterday and looked more dangerous than Rashid.
Pakistan themselves lost 2 early wickets, but still had the firepower in their batting to allow the run-rate to climb. Neither side shone in the bowling department, but modern batmen will target 350+ scores on decent pitches. The white-ball will generally swing for 2 or 3 overs and the sides who utilize this best will profit. It's a very small window which England wasted to an extent. Topley was on the money at one end, but Woakes was poor again, Curran was the only bowler to come out of the New Zealand match with any credit and should've bowled ahead of Woakes.
As the tournament progresses, spin will play a bigger role, but the pitches will vary across the different venues dependent on soil types. Generally, sides are batting first as dew can be a factor.

Definitely the start killed them, but they actually recovered quite well in the 12 overs from there to the 20th. Again though, lost another cluster of 4 for 70, or so, so it was really in two phases they fell away. Amounts to the same thing in the end, but they actually had opportunities, which they didn't manage well. Das and Mushfiqur were going ok, until both got out to shots I think they would both like to have a second go at playing differently. Pretty much guarantee they were on the computer for quite a while analysing afterwards.

(11-10-2023 16:50 )hornball Wrote:  Decent effort today from Afghanistan! Again, showed a lack of experience in how to go about setting a target, as all the 'lower ranked nations' do, but set a number that has been competitive in a lot of matches. I actually considered the Aghan bowling attack to be their trump card, but today Pakistan set about ripping that to pieces, and the match was effectively done by the 15th over or so, perhaps even earlier!

India. Rohit will do that to far better bowling attacks, the game was effectively over after the 1st Power Play. The pitch needed to spin more to give their 3 slow bowlers a chance, only Rashid Khan got enough out of the surface, as a leggie tends to. Siraj had a bad day, otherwise India looked strong, Bumrah is a nightmare tough to stay in against let alone score off. I can't see Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or the Netherlands getting one over the others, Sri Lanka apart.

(11-10-2023 18:23 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  

(11-10-2023 16:50 )hornball Wrote:  Decent effort today from Afghanistan! Again, showed a lack of experience in how to go about setting a target, as all the 'lower ranked nations' do, but set a number that has been competitive in a lot of matches. I actually considered the Aghan bowling attack to be their trump card, but today Pakistan set about ripping that to pieces, and the match was effectively done by the 15th over or so, perhaps even earlier!

India. Rohit will do that to far better bowling attacks, the game was effectively over after the 1st Power Play. The pitch needed to spin more to give their 3 slow bowlers a chance, only Rashid Khan got enough out of the surface, as a leggie tends to. Siraj had a bad day, otherwise India looked strong, Bumrah is a nightmare tough to stay in against let alone score off. I can't see Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or the Netherlands getting one over the others, Sri Lanka apart.

No sadly, me either! No Portugal a la the Rugby World Cup here! I totally agree, Bumrah is world class! Has been for a long time now, but - apart from the cricket geek (us Booms) - would he get a mention from those that know a bit about cricket, but aren't steeped in it??, when drawing up a list of the best attacking fast bowlers of recent times?? By some maybe, but I would guess, he would be well down the list of many?

Ever match so far has been one sided.
Let's have more close matches.

^^ The South Africa v Australia class has the potential for a close game. In the recent ODI series in South Africa, the Aussies took a 2-0 lead, but the Proteas bounced back to win the next 3. The Aussies will want to bounce back from their defeat against India, losing your first 2 matches doesn't put a side out, but it makes it tough. Stoinis will add experience in place of Green. A big call to replace Carey with the Yorkshireman (Leeds) Inglis. Soth Africa opt for more spin with Shamsi replacing Coetzee.

(12-10-2023 10:34 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  ^^ The South Africa v Australia class has the potential for a close game. In the recent ODI series in South Africa, the Aussies took a 2-0 lead, but the Proteas bounced back to win the next 3. The Aussies will want to bounce back from their defeat against India, losing your first 2 matches doesn't put a side out, but it makes it tough. Stoinis will add experience in place of Green. A big call to replace Carey with the Yorkshireman (Leeds) Inglis. Soth Africa opt for more spin with Shamsi replacing Coetzee.

In the end, not so!! South Africa comfortable victory!! In truth, Australia never really threatened throughout the day. More than likely, it wouldn't have made any difference to the outcome, but Stoinis was royally screwed over!! Appalling officiating, the hands were clearly 'miles' from each other, and contact was made 'OFF' the bat! A long way back now for the Aussies, probably can only afford one more defeat - if that - (ludicrous in itself that they still get one more bite at the 'poisoned apple' before it 'kills' them) to stay in the tournament!

Class is Permanent!! First appearance in 6 months or, and K Williamson scores an imperious 78 (may not seem like much without the context of his abscence - sad he had to retire hurt though) Hope he will be back sooner rather than later, didn't look particularly good for him trying to pull up after completing a few lengths??

A comfortable win for the black caps will ease Williamsons pain, and although Bangladesh are not a consistent threat, NZ actually looked the part again for a realistic challenge for the big prize

^^ Like he'd never been away. I'll gloss over the one chance he gave, as he always looks like he'll never get out. Makes batting appear easy, among the most watchable batsman of all-time. He has every right to be bigheaded, not the Kiwi way, understated. Hopefully it was cramp and not the knee. The hand injury didn't look great no doubt an x-ray will be required.
Bangladesh battled hard with the ball but couldn't make enough breakthroughs. Shakib suffered from cramp and had a slog, his dismissal stalled the charge. Ferguson exploited their weakness against the short-ball.
Mitchell showed hiss consistency with a punchy knock, but the Kiwis tournament run-rate dropped, credit to Bangladesh for extending the match.
Still waiting for that close game, India v Pakistan clashes haven 't been that way in World Cups, maybe tomorrow changes that.

Pakistan, well placed at 155-2 with Babar and Rizwan, lose 8-36. Rohit looks like a man on a mission to capture this World Cup.
England could benefit from a dominant India win, with a superior run-rate over Pakistan ahead of tomorrow's game against Afghanistan, an England win woold see them leapfrog over Pakistan into all-important 4th place.