Cricket World Cup : Early Stage Update
We’re about a quarter of the way through the Group Stage of the Cricket World Cup with 11 of 45 games completed so far. It is still early in the tournament but with every team now having played 2 games it’s enough to start to see how teams are performing and what the strengths and weaknesses of their form are. I won’t go through every team in detail because some have performed predictably. I’ll try to focus instead on some of the more the surprising developments and the front-runners.
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Probably the biggest surprise to the upside is South Africa. They put on a massive score of 428 against Sri Lanka first up and blew Australia off the pitch in their second game. They clearly are packing a very powerful batting lineup and the bowling attack looks pretty solid too with good pace and spin options. Not many had South Africa in the Top 4, but they look really good so far.
The other standout is New Zealand. They upset England in the World Cup Opener and have gone on to dispatch weaker rivals Netherlands and Bangladesh with relative ease. With 3 wins on the board and pundits expecting that 6 wins of 9 games in the Group Stage will earn qualification, they are already half way to the semi-finals.
Unquestionably the biggest loser is Australia. They were beaten comfortably by India in Chennai after failing to adapt to the local spinning conditions before going on to be trounced by South Africa. That 2nd game was a massive concern with an abundance of dropped catches and sloppy play in all areas. Australia is usually a class outfit but they are 2nd last after 2 games and need to turn things around very quickly to have any hope of qualifying for the finals.
The other loser is Sri Lanka. There wasn’t any huge expectations for Sri Lanka to win the World Cup, but they were expected to be competitive after recently making the Asia Cup Final. They’ve dropped games to South Africa and Pakistan which were both games they would have wanted to win to have a hope of making the next stage. They will win a few games from here but I don’t see them qualifying for the Final 4 with this poor start.
Both India and Pakistan are also sitting on 2 wins from 2 games but this was mostly expected and both had an easy game so it’s too early to get carried away with their early form. I do expect both India and Pakistan to be very hard to beat in Indian conditions with local support and I have placed a value bet on Pakistan at 12.00 to Win the Cup.
England similarly is hard to call early. They copped a surprise upset against New Zealand before demolishing Bangladesh. If they can find some consistency they will be pushing for a spot in the Final 4 but I would not be surprised if they miss.
Unfortunately it looks like Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Netherlands will just be making up the numbers this World Cup. That will not be a big surprise but still a disappointment for their fans and those who drew them in my Sweep.
Looking forward for tomorrows match between India and Pakistan, it's very crucial.
It should be a very good contest. If Pakistan can win that then they will become one of the clear favorites. But even if they lose I will not be too concerned.
Do you really think Pakistan can win the world cup? with out their main bowler playing good cricket? currently, Shaheen Afridi is not in form. Naseem Shah is not playing. Harris Rauf is not doing good.
The tournament is long enough that they can find form over the coming matches. Pakistan has historically done this and come from behind to do well. To have started with 2 wins early is very positive for them.
Wish us best of luck !!!
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That's a great overview. You have told about all participants teams very greatly. Each team is working hardly and world cup will also won by the team whose hard work beat the efforts of other teams.
I hope that someday, I will see the name of my country on this list but I don't think it will be anytime soon, hahaha
Cricket is not one of our top notch games here
Yes it is. Afghanistan & Netherlands are just good enough to participate in the world cup, But I dont think Bangladesh is just like doomed to be in the bottom half of the points table. They faced England, lost the match.
New Zealand on the 3rd match, lost because they are stronger than all these oppositions.
But, its not the end. More of the matches to come and they still have chances to come back and secure a comparatively higher position.
Good luck for other teams as well. 👍
I cannot see Australia going through due to the big losses and net run rate going to play a factor. Pakistan, Australia and England are going to struggle unless something changes very quickly. 6 games to win just seems so far off now.
One of those 3 teams will make the Final 4. I think you are right though, Australia is unlikely to be the one.
When Pakistan lost to India, there was a lot of regret and a lot of sadness because Pakistan lost badly. The matches that have played and beaten England are also going to be very interesting.