Week Four of the ICC World Cup
The qualification matches ended mercifully.. I say this because , most of us knew which of the teams would go through to the Quarterfinals. It was no surprise that we had Australia , South Africa , India , Pakistan , Srilanka , West Indies , England and New Zealand go through . As Allan Border said before the start of these matches , Bangladesh would be the team to create the odd nuisance value but would not qualify and how right he was . The most improved team from the affiliates was Ireland and I think they would go to do well in the future. Kenya , Canada , Zimbabwe and the Dutch are far away from the top eight to trouble them . Now on to the knock out matches and many a heart is going to break as we finish the quarter final matches .
The last week of the qualification matches had very good matches in store and it was no surprise that England was involved in one more tension filled nail baiting finish.
England took on the Windies needing to win to stay in contention. Bangladesh on the other hand wanted them to loose to keep their chances open and the whole of Bangladesh prayed for a English loss.. Not to be ..
England created sensation in each of their six matches .. They scrapped to a win against the Dutch , created a tie with India , beat Proteas in a close match , lost against Ireland and Bangladesh and here they were in their final match needing a win. England managed a decent and defendable total with some run chipping in by the lower order. Windies seemed to be in a hurry as the 'Gayle ' wind tore in to the English attack . The spinners Swann and Treadwell brought England back in to the match and Ravi Boopara bowled his cutters intelligently. Andre Russell attacked and got the Windies going but took the attack to his fancy too far. In the end , England won and with that they kept their hopes alive.
Srilanka dismissed kiwis with no difficulty .. Spin is something that Kiwis are trying to cope with and a side with Murali in its ranks can be difficult to handle.
South Africa kept Bangladesh at a distance and put them in place. All roars from the Lion were not heard as they could not practice what they roared !!
Pakistan did the unpredictable. Facing Aussies in their last group stage match , they bowled superbly . Opening the bowling with a spinner , they dried out the runs and then wickets kept falling as Umar Gul delivered a few knock out blows. Ponting went red , as he was declared out caught behind by Kamran ( it was one of those he held and so he there was joy to him on catching this one ) . Ponting is in poor form for sometime and his frustrations are coming out in his leadership. Aussies were bowled out and then Pakistan were rocked by Brett Lee who seems to be bowling so well. However the young guns of Pakistan held firm , as Asad Shafique and later Umar Akmal took them to victory. The defeat was a severe jolt to the Aussie World Cup Pride having won 34 matches on the trot from 1999. Pakistan continues to be a mystery team and one cannot rule out them winning the title.
The last match was between India and the Windies at Chennai. India won the toss , batted on expected lines , loosing the plot in the batting Power play. The got to a respectable and after the match ended looked like a formidable score thanks to Yuvi's Century , Virat's half Century. West Indies batted so well for nearly 30 overs plus as the Indian blowing lacked sting , the fielders looked out of sorts. Then Zaheer produced a magical delivery to get rid of Devon Smith ( he was playing with so much time and never looked like getting out ) and then suddenly the bowling picked up. Bhajji looked menacing and wickets continued to fall including that of Pollard who played a horrendous shot to pick up the long on fielder and then the Indians ran over them. India romped home by 80 runs and now you will agree why the Indian score was formidable. Looks like it was the Indian strategy to mange till the ball became old and started to reverse swing and then Zaheer could influence the game …
The quarter final matches are going to be tight and personally I think the teams winning the toss and batting first and putting runs on the board will have a advantage to carry and if they have capable bowlers -- read "medium pacers who can reverse the ball and top notch spinners" .. They will be the ones to watch out. It is going to be a exciting week of the game of cricket .
The last week of the qualification matches had very good matches in store and it was no surprise that England was involved in one more tension filled nail baiting finish.
England took on the Windies needing to win to stay in contention. Bangladesh on the other hand wanted them to loose to keep their chances open and the whole of Bangladesh prayed for a English loss.. Not to be ..
England created sensation in each of their six matches .. They scrapped to a win against the Dutch , created a tie with India , beat Proteas in a close match , lost against Ireland and Bangladesh and here they were in their final match needing a win. England managed a decent and defendable total with some run chipping in by the lower order. Windies seemed to be in a hurry as the 'Gayle ' wind tore in to the English attack . The spinners Swann and Treadwell brought England back in to the match and Ravi Boopara bowled his cutters intelligently. Andre Russell attacked and got the Windies going but took the attack to his fancy too far. In the end , England won and with that they kept their hopes alive.
Srilanka dismissed kiwis with no difficulty .. Spin is something that Kiwis are trying to cope with and a side with Murali in its ranks can be difficult to handle.
South Africa kept Bangladesh at a distance and put them in place. All roars from the Lion were not heard as they could not practice what they roared !!
Pakistan did the unpredictable. Facing Aussies in their last group stage match , they bowled superbly . Opening the bowling with a spinner , they dried out the runs and then wickets kept falling as Umar Gul delivered a few knock out blows. Ponting went red , as he was declared out caught behind by Kamran ( it was one of those he held and so he there was joy to him on catching this one ) . Ponting is in poor form for sometime and his frustrations are coming out in his leadership. Aussies were bowled out and then Pakistan were rocked by Brett Lee who seems to be bowling so well. However the young guns of Pakistan held firm , as Asad Shafique and later Umar Akmal took them to victory. The defeat was a severe jolt to the Aussie World Cup Pride having won 34 matches on the trot from 1999. Pakistan continues to be a mystery team and one cannot rule out them winning the title.
The last match was between India and the Windies at Chennai. India won the toss , batted on expected lines , loosing the plot in the batting Power play. The got to a respectable and after the match ended looked like a formidable score thanks to Yuvi's Century , Virat's half Century. West Indies batted so well for nearly 30 overs plus as the Indian blowing lacked sting , the fielders looked out of sorts. Then Zaheer produced a magical delivery to get rid of Devon Smith ( he was playing with so much time and never looked like getting out ) and then suddenly the bowling picked up. Bhajji looked menacing and wickets continued to fall including that of Pollard who played a horrendous shot to pick up the long on fielder and then the Indians ran over them. India romped home by 80 runs and now you will agree why the Indian score was formidable. Looks like it was the Indian strategy to mange till the ball became old and started to reverse swing and then Zaheer could influence the game …
The quarter final matches are going to be tight and personally I think the teams winning the toss and batting first and putting runs on the board will have a advantage to carry and if they have capable bowlers -- read "medium pacers who can reverse the ball and top notch spinners" .. They will be the ones to watch out. It is going to be a exciting week of the game of cricket .
Comments
SA has the edge over NZ in all departments and should win barring a choke repeat from SA. SL has the edge over England. Eng has not performed to potential with losses to Bangladesh and Ireland - however, low expectations can lead to an inspired performance. SL have relied too much on Sangakkara. If England can get him early, game is on. Australia have the edge over India. Australia's bowling and batting have been fairly consistent. India's bowling has not contained any good line up - Eng, SA chased down big totals and Bangla got off to a flyer, only against WI did we allow a slower start with Ashwin and Harbhajan operating in the early overs - and the lower batting order has struggled so far. Aus has the edge in fielding also. This match up is sort of a virtual final - the winner can move on with a lot of confidence.