Weekend || Game 12+13+14 and bonus Monday
First things first. Friday game would have seen Pakistan play SL. No toss. No game points split. We would not know which team got luckier by gaining one point here. I would have predicted Pakistan taking those 2 points. We will see how that impacts this race to top 4.
Saturday England vs Bangladesh England are playing different brand of cricket for quite some time now. There has been a sharper focus on whiteball cricket in past 30 months with only one goal. Winning tge50 over title. Jason Roy Butler have been allowed to play with their natural style of batting. They have wasted no time to draf Archer in this side. They want Root to be the glue of this batting order. No major bowling workload for Stokes unless it is absolutely needed in a demanding match situation. All of this was on display on Saturday. Moeen Ali who is almost a certainty in home games but they decided to sharpen the pace attack by dropping him. These are very clear signs that they are determined . It shows their clarity of thoughts the planning and execution.
Bangladesh is a dangerous side in 50 over cricket. England realized that and fielded a sized that they felt that would do the job. Jason Roy was sensational at the top. Bairstow had a good hand too. Root contributed well. Buttler injected the burst of positive energy that just deflated Bangladesh. 386 was a huge total. Tamim did not fire . It was Shakib who crafted an innings that shaped a decent reply from Bangladesh. Their NRR still took a massive hit.
I think their bowling and bowling plans are a bit too predictable. They have the passion and the talent to win games consistently. They need to be little more inventive with strategies bowling changes and building on key moments. They have talented bunch of bowlers in their ranks. They must be eyeing to score wins against SL and WI to enhance their planning and strategizing future phase of this tournament.
NZ vs Afghanistan NZ is one team that is not talked about much/ often. Every time when someone asks me about major contenders in a big tournament. I start with NZ. They may have never won this tournament but they are rarely in the lower half when it comes to participating countries. They were finalists in previous edition. Let us not forget that. They are most definitely in my top 4 in this edition as well. Having said that they rely heavily on their captain +Taylor . Guptill is a good opening batsman and if he clicks consistently, it will help NZ immensely. Their bowling looks okay. They have played only SL Bangladesh and Afghanistan. They had a tight game against Bangladesh. If they get the same result against India as they got against all other Asian sides they are certainly going to have their morale and confidence high. For Afghanistan, they are underdelivering their promise. That said they are a fun side to watch. They will certainly learn a lot from this tournament and will make their presence felt in future editions.
Sunday: Big ticket game India vs Australia.
Defending champions vs Very strong contenders of CwC 2019. India like England have put a lot of planning to shape a side that delivers a strong performance in this tournament. They have world^s best batsman at 3 , one of the best wicket keepers in modern game Brilliant bowling combination at the top and quality spin bowlers. India Australia WC clashes have often produced enthralling cricket. This game did not disappoint in that regard. India started with slow and steady approach and it worked. Dhawan weathered the storm and cashed in later. Rohit might not have have a fluent fifty but it set up the platform for Virat Hardik and Dhoni. All of them played their shots. Sending Hardik at 4 was good move. End result India crossed 350. Daunting task for Warner and co.
Warner has not been at his fluent best and in this game that costed Australia. They left too much for Maxwell and NCN down the order. Smith has been in good touch if Warner regains his touch Aussies are going to be a tough nut to crack. I am looking forward to Australia vs England +Australia vs NZ . Those games will tell us a lot about all 3 teams in question.
Just to summarize, the weekend dished out expected results.
SA vs WI got washed out. SA running on thin ice. It will take some thing super special to keep them alive in this tournament. We already know that that super special is not ABD. Rain may be a catalyst to that but they really have to play some really good cricket. Everyone loves WI . They may not have won many games yet but they are capable of winning multiple games and can make those count.
I think we will definitely have more clarity on bottom 4 of the tournament if not on top 4 of the tournament.
Saturday England vs Bangladesh England are playing different brand of cricket for quite some time now. There has been a sharper focus on whiteball cricket in past 30 months with only one goal. Winning tge50 over title. Jason Roy Butler have been allowed to play with their natural style of batting. They have wasted no time to draf Archer in this side. They want Root to be the glue of this batting order. No major bowling workload for Stokes unless it is absolutely needed in a demanding match situation. All of this was on display on Saturday. Moeen Ali who is almost a certainty in home games but they decided to sharpen the pace attack by dropping him. These are very clear signs that they are determined . It shows their clarity of thoughts the planning and execution.
Bangladesh is a dangerous side in 50 over cricket. England realized that and fielded a sized that they felt that would do the job. Jason Roy was sensational at the top. Bairstow had a good hand too. Root contributed well. Buttler injected the burst of positive energy that just deflated Bangladesh. 386 was a huge total. Tamim did not fire . It was Shakib who crafted an innings that shaped a decent reply from Bangladesh. Their NRR still took a massive hit.
I think their bowling and bowling plans are a bit too predictable. They have the passion and the talent to win games consistently. They need to be little more inventive with strategies bowling changes and building on key moments. They have talented bunch of bowlers in their ranks. They must be eyeing to score wins against SL and WI to enhance their planning and strategizing future phase of this tournament.
NZ vs Afghanistan NZ is one team that is not talked about much/ often. Every time when someone asks me about major contenders in a big tournament. I start with NZ. They may have never won this tournament but they are rarely in the lower half when it comes to participating countries. They were finalists in previous edition. Let us not forget that. They are most definitely in my top 4 in this edition as well. Having said that they rely heavily on their captain +Taylor . Guptill is a good opening batsman and if he clicks consistently, it will help NZ immensely. Their bowling looks okay. They have played only SL Bangladesh and Afghanistan. They had a tight game against Bangladesh. If they get the same result against India as they got against all other Asian sides they are certainly going to have their morale and confidence high. For Afghanistan, they are underdelivering their promise. That said they are a fun side to watch. They will certainly learn a lot from this tournament and will make their presence felt in future editions.
Sunday: Big ticket game India vs Australia.
Defending champions vs Very strong contenders of CwC 2019. India like England have put a lot of planning to shape a side that delivers a strong performance in this tournament. They have world^s best batsman at 3 , one of the best wicket keepers in modern game Brilliant bowling combination at the top and quality spin bowlers. India Australia WC clashes have often produced enthralling cricket. This game did not disappoint in that regard. India started with slow and steady approach and it worked. Dhawan weathered the storm and cashed in later. Rohit might not have have a fluent fifty but it set up the platform for Virat Hardik and Dhoni. All of them played their shots. Sending Hardik at 4 was good move. End result India crossed 350. Daunting task for Warner and co.
Warner has not been at his fluent best and in this game that costed Australia. They left too much for Maxwell and NCN down the order. Smith has been in good touch if Warner regains his touch Aussies are going to be a tough nut to crack. I am looking forward to Australia vs England +Australia vs NZ . Those games will tell us a lot about all 3 teams in question.
Just to summarize, the weekend dished out expected results.
SA vs WI got washed out. SA running on thin ice. It will take some thing super special to keep them alive in this tournament. We already know that that super special is not ABD. Rain may be a catalyst to that but they really have to play some really good cricket. Everyone loves WI . They may not have won many games yet but they are capable of winning multiple games and can make those count.
I think we will definitely have more clarity on bottom 4 of the tournament if not on top 4 of the tournament.
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