Bangladesh/India: I know this is an obvious thing to say, but I can see a clear pattern - win the toss and bat first. It seems to be much easier to set a total than chase one.
India were lucky, Rohit should've been caught early and though Bangladesh have improved enormously and are no longer minnows at this level, they are still short of the very best. They really only have one world class player in Shakib, he would walk into any of the other teams.
As for England/New Zealand, Morgan will want to bat first as Durham is a slow wicket and a small ground with short boundaries. Posting a big total instantly creates pressure before a ball is bowled when you're chasing.
India certainly want to bat first as they don't have the firepower to chase big totals in this tournament, nor do they have the mentality below Pandya. There's an over reliance on the top order and the bowlers, which is India's biggest weakness for me. England and Australia in particular are the most balanced teams, bat deep and have the right mentality.
I thought India were sloppy with the bat yesterday and didn't attack sensibly given their good start. What I did like was Kohli's attacking intent with ball in the middle overs once a few wickets had fallen. I'm a bit concerned about Shami's ER - he's started shipping a lot of runs.
Sorry if it has already been mentioned, but why are the commentators on Sky suddenly referring to "bouncers" as "bumpers"?
No 300 odd for NZ to chase.
Apparently, it could have been nearer 400 at one stage (190-1 after 30 overs odd) but English cricket just isn't the same without some sort of collapsedata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
The NZ bowlers did well to force England’s collapse but poor batting form and a massive slice of luck for the Williamson and Taylor dismissals means it’s irrelevant. England will qualify but if Pakistan can win NZ are toast having already lost to Pakistan, which is a shame.
Barring a miracle New Zealand finish 4th regardless, Pakistan would have to do something daft like score 400then bowl Bangladesh out for about 10
England win by 110. NZ really only have three top class batters. England are in a WC ODI semi final for the first time since the early 90's. The top four is done and there are the inevitable dead rubbers left.
Are you sure? I thought if equal on points Pakistan would go through having beaten NZ in the group stages.
Run rate is the decider. Unfortunately in this case as Aus v Pakistan and India v England would have been two cracking games
I don't care about any of this, I just don't want West Indies to lose to Afghanistan!data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7