June 2019
It’s the halfway stage of the cricket World cup. 24 matches have been played with 24 more to go. All teams except India and New Zealand have played 5 matches each. A good chance to re-assess.
England – sitting on top of the points table now. Going along expected lines with strong performances. Just had one bad day against Pakistan where they forgot to turn up. Otherwise looking solid to be table toppers. Roy, Root, Morgan, Bairstow Buttler, Ben Stokes have all got good hits. Even Moeen Ali seemed.to find his touch. Bowlers have been threatening with Archer, Wood, Woakes and Stokes. Rashid and Moeen haven’t found their rhythm yet but have 4 more games to do that. Look set to go all the way but have a couple of tricky games against India, Aussies and Kiwis coming up.
Australia– wobbled against India but are slowly coming together. Warner, Smith have found form. Finch looks devastating. In 3 games against Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies they failed to finish well when batting.But the bowling looks settled now. Still not trusting a full time spinner. Concern will be they looked threatened to lose against Pakistan, West Indies and Sri Lanka before pulling it back.
New Zealand – have looked unbeatable so far except by rain. Batsman in form and bowlers in better form. Kane Williamson in good captaincy form. They look more the part than they have ever done.
India – They have lived up to the expectations so far. Never looked like losing at any stage of any of the matches so far. New Zealand could have been a tricky one but got rained out. They have so far outplayed big guns Australia, Pakistan and South Africa in batting, bowling and fielding. Apart from England game, rest of the games should be smooth. Concerns will be on the injured Dhawan and Bhuvi.
Bangladesh- They have done so well. Set up a big score against South Africa and squeezed. Chased down a big score against Windies with ease. Shakib has carried the batting and bowling so far. They still need a couple more bowlers apart from Shakib and Fizz to fire. They should beat Pakistan on current form. If they can surprise Australia or India they give themselves a chance.
West Indies – most disappointing team of the World Cup so far. They promised so much with X factor players, a good captain, solid bowlers but have played with no plan or thinking. Only have a mathematical chance of going through.South Africa – another disappointment. Couldn’t pull together the right strategy and struggled with injury to key players. Have left themselves too much to do in the last 4 games and need other results to go in favor. Will have a long journey back and lot of soul searching to do.
Pakistan– Their bowlers seemed to have a brain fade against India. Their batting looks wobbly except Babar. They may still surprise like against England but need an Imran like force to pull them through, one they don’t have.
Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have shown good cricket in pockets but no real threat anymore.
So the top 4 – England Australia, New Zealand and India, seemed to have set themselves up well. They’ll fight to retain their top slots in the final pecking order. Game on!
THE CRICKET ROUND UP 