By Paddles - 21 Feb 2019 12:19 PM
Not long to go now.
England just made an emphatic statement over WI. Buoyed by the return of Gayle and Bravo, and with boy wonder Hope still starring, WI posted an impressive 360.
England however found the total far too small, and powered by Roy, Root and Morgan, chased it down like it was 40 runs too few.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/18913/report/1158066/west-indies-vs-england-1st-odi-england-tour-of-wi-2018-19
Discuss your team's hopes for selection and compare with the competition.
One thing I am intrested in is team balances. Faf wants Ngidi, Steyn, Rabada with Tahir, but if one quick man is out, wants allrounders not Olivier or another quick to replace said fast bowler. So Phelukwayo may be at 7 for now, but shifted to 8 with injury for wither Pretorious, Morris, or Wesie. Mulder seems to have left his hopes for form for selection too late.
India are batting short, with Kuldeep, Chahal, bumrah and 1 of BK or Shami, but have Krunal and Jadeja as possible replacements should they wish to extend their batting order.
England of course have no tail at all. Willey, Archer, Plunkett, Rashid, who will bat 9-11 are all domestic all-rounders. Only if Stone, T Curran or Wood play do they have any tailenders in the selection contention, and they aren't total mugs with the bat.
Pak have Imad, Shad, Faheem batting 7 to 9, with Hafeez at the 6th bowling option.
Australia seem to be building a team that bat's short with Cummins at 8 - but have Stoinis or Maxwell at 7.
NZ seem to be building to a team of 6 Neesh 7 CdG and 8 Santner - but not to 9 with Kugg's looking to be hard pressed to make the team due to the #metoo movement after his not guilty rape verdict 2 years ago.
WI are on the up. Dre Russ may be available later, don't think Pollard is, but with Hope, Gayle, Hetmeyer, Bravo and Holder, they have more batting firepower than they have had in years. They will hope either Lewis or Campbell fire as well.
SL have the two Pereras only for batting fire power really. Afg are relying on their spinners. Banga bat deep, bowl good spin, but just carrying too many weak links without enough flair. But there's enough there to cause an upset or 2 along the way for sure.
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By Paddles - 7 Mar 2019 10:57 AM
If Eng and Ind are shoo-ins for the semi's, and Aus needs luck, SA, NZ and now the emergence of a Gayle Bravo inspired WI team - I think everyone bar the form and winning teams which we expect to be Ind and Eng will need some luck.
The round robin format with no quarters will be brutal. 6 wins in 9 games will guarantee a semi final spot. but 4th place is likely to have a pile up be counting down that 5th win and NRR or NR points, or both...
The last time a round robin was played in 91/92, Pak scraped ahead in 8 games, 4 wins and 1 NR... tournament favourites Australia and WI were left stranded on 4 wins each and not qualifying. Pak got lucky a rained out game that they were losing badly to form team Eng. They were bowled out for 74! Noone else in the race for 4th beat England. Noone had beaten NZ at all in the round robin.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8039 ... up-1991-92
That tournament had 2 east beats in SL and Zim with India just flopping badly. But Pak totally fluked it, on the last day, they needed to beat then unbeaten NZ in NZ, and then have Aus beat the WI later that night where now after Pak's win could only WI could qualify instead of both. Aus only had pride to play for, WI had it all to play for. WI and Aus were totally outfluked by Pak.
Afg should be easy beats this time, and no-one is talking up SL or Banga's chances - but those 3 teams and the WI could throw up some upset wins quite easily and send SA or Pak off course. Because beating those 4 - means Aus, SA, NZ and Pak only need to 1 of the remaining 3 games to get to 5 wins, assuming losses to Eng and Ind. The fluke dramas get worse especially if a team or two gets rain off vs Eng and Ind... or a rain out to Afghanistan for points banked on...
I think it will be very easy for any of NZ, Aus, SA, Pak to miss out or get in on a fluke. WI would be widely seen as a bigger fluke - but with their form against England and India (which was better than NZ's to be honest) - it's seriously on the cards too.
I like the round robin system more, because it's a better tournament with constant high quality match ups. But there's going to be a train-smash heading into 4th in most likelihood. It could even happen for 3rd spot too.
If Eng and Ind do not perform at the Cup in a dominant fashion as expected, the whole thing will be a log pile. 4th is most likely going to be flukey. 3rd could be too. There will be rain. And Eng or Ind will drop a game somewhere you would think - even if they dominate the tournament. And there will be an upset wins by minnows too. NZ, Aus, even SA and Pak, and now WI, should play every game as a must win... It's going to be a fluky shoot out...
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