ICC Cricket World Cup 2019
After 48 matches and close to seven weeks , if it had to
take “ Number of boundaries “ hit during a match to decide the winner , it
cannot be more trivial than this – Common ICC – even kids that play on
the street with tennis balls have their rules well organized !
We can continue to debate as to whether the umpires were
right in giving six runs to England , as Stokes played that “Bat of God” to
guide the throw from Guptill to the boundary etc etc but the fact of the matter
is that England are Champions and this only will come up in all your searches
as to who the winner of the World Cup 2019 was and the rest can be “hot “
debate topics .It took England a good 40 years + to land their hands on this
trophy and with support of their Immigration as well J
India played really well and topped the group. At times , it
looked to me that they were in trouble ( With Afghanistan , Bangla and even
Australia when Alex Carey took the battle on , ( what a find for Australia )
)but the team always looked to be very confident of what they were doing and
with the wily pseudo captain taking over at these tense moments and
guiding the team very well while their
Captain patrolled the boundaries and supported the team cause !
Against Kiwis in the semis , things did not go well for team
India . First they lost the toss but bowled extremely well to keep the Kiwis in
check . The rains Gods did the Kiwis a big favour as the match went to the next
day. Conditions changed dramatically as the ball swung and the pitch helped the
Kiwi bowlers . We lost the match in the first 30 minutes of the second day
morning . Had we chased on day one , things would have been different. But
again we did not loose badly. We were in the hunt till MSD got run out (
Guptill’s only meaningful and vital contribution to team NZ in all
matches he played ). Dhoni and Jadeja kept India in the hunt and Jadeja was a
revelation as he counter attacked and put the pressure back on NZ. As MSD
batted deep , getting the needed runs was not a problem and I do strongly
believed that MSD did his calculations pretty well and Jimmy Neesham
would have been the target in the last over if not for that run out that ended
his innings an over earlier. But give it to the Kiwis.
The final was one hell of a roller skater – I was glued to
the Tennis – I mostly missed the NZ innings but as the English chased , I tuned
in between breaks in the tennis match .
Kiwis kept the pressure and bowled real good lines. But when Stokes and
Butler forged a partnership , I thought England will win on a canter . Not to
be – Kiwis came right back picking up wickets and then came that Bat of God
help that helped to tie the match and take it to the Super over. In the end
although the two teams could not be separated even with the Super over , but
the ICC found that technical method to find the winner.
The England team was a very strong one . With openers Roy
and Bairstow in the best of nick , a strong middle order ( Finally Stokes
delivered for England after all those earlier promising years ) and batting
deep , England found that balance to succeed. The bowling was greatly
reinforced by Joffra Archer ( a rookie to international cricket and bowling a super
over in the final and imported just in time for the WC ) , Woakes did well to
surprise himself and Liam Plunkett surprised everyone with his Cross seam
bowling in the middle overs and picking up wickets and Rashid bowling
wrist spin. Eoin Morgan captained the team coolly throughout the tournament .
Post their win against India in the league match, the team got its confidence
back and a confident home team with crowd backing can do marvels on the field
I felt bad for Kane Williamson and the Kiwis . Williamson
led the team very admirably even in those tense moments and taking the defeat
in to his stride. He batted brilliantly through the tournament and no wonder
was the man of the series ( the astrologer got this one right ). The surprise
packet for NZ was Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson . While both have been around
for some time and are fast and furious , they did lack length and line and
imagination to get the batsman out. The big change in this world cup was that
both the bowlers hit the right length and line and also found ways to get
wickets . Added to the Kiwi strength was their fielding . Every one of them
were outstanding in the field. Although they did not win the Cup, Kane
Williamson and his team won the hearts of the people all over the world.
They created no hype but quietly went about their business .
The Tournament in England & Wales :
- Outdoor in England is always risky and tricky. Some league matches were washed off and this may have disadvantaged some teams that lost the chance to qualify
- A reserve day could have been kept but the tournament may have got longer
- Special stands were temporarily erected in few stadiums. No prizes for guessing . It was for India matches and the Indian crowd . All the Indian matches were a sell out with waves of blue in the stadium . People travelled far to get to see the Indian team play. Tickets were at a premium and when India exited , the prices became stiffer ( the good old Indian business at play )
- ICC needs to take a good look at tournament rules –
- Umpiring took a real beating – Best for the umpires to use the technology even if it takes time . I doubt if there was any outstanding umpire of the world cup .
- The team that disappointed me was South Africa but it was not a total surprise.
- Expected a bit more from West Indies but that was asking for too much
- Pakistan kept up their tradition of being unpredictable.
- Australia looked like Champions but were thrashed in the semis by the hosts
- Bangla , the Lankans and Afghans need lot of work to do
Comments
It was a crisp summary, Sri!
One point I thought people would harp about was Boult (catch of Ben stokes), man renowned for taking outstanding boundary catches in IPL missed a compartive straight forward chance. May be if it was an Indian people would have been hard on him.