williamjm Posted July 2, 2019 Share Posted July 2, 2019 11 hours ago, The Winged Shadow said: So much shit fielding this World Cup. Dropping Rohit is going to bite. It may well have been the decisive moment in the match. Take out Rohit's innings and the teams seemed very evenly matched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted July 3, 2019 Author Share Posted July 3, 2019 Another great start from Bairstow and Roy sees England post 300+. I think it's advantage England provided they can prise Williamson out. Winning both tosses in the final two matches was vital after their poor chasing in the earlier games. If England do go on to win, the remaining four group fixtures will be dead rubbers, with only the order of the finalists to be decided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 39 minutes ago, Paxter said: If England do go on to win, the remaining four group fixtures will be dead rubbers, with only the order of the finalists to be decided. Pakistan could theoretically still qualify if they batter Bangladesh couldn’t they? It’d help if New Zealand lost badly today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted July 3, 2019 Author Share Posted July 3, 2019 3 minutes ago, ljkeane said: Pakistan could still theoretically still qualify if they batter Bangladesh couldn’t they? It’d help if New Zealand lost badly today. True. Pakistan's NRR is pretty poor though - it would take a real thrashing. Interesting/funny that the MCC has urged members to buy tickets for that match to avoid embarrassment: Quote "Members may recall the ICC Women’s World Cup Final in 2017, when unfavourable comparisons were made between the number of Members in the Pavilion and full stands in the rest of the Ground," wrote the MCC in a bulletin to its members on Tuesday. "This is damaging to MCC’s global reputation and the Committee is determined to avoid a repetition of these images on Friday." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted July 3, 2019 Author Share Posted July 3, 2019 Another day, another failed chase. Assuming NZ go down today, that makes it just 13 successful chases from 41 World Cup matches. Four of those came against Afghanistan. I don't think any team will elect to field in the semi-finals! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philokles Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 So Pakistan will need to bat first and win by 300+ runs. If Bangladesh bat first they are done no matter what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted July 3, 2019 Author Share Posted July 3, 2019 Assuming Australia does the business against SA we pretty much have our semi-finals locked in. Australia will take on NZ in a replay of the 2015 final and England will duke it out against India. Personally I don't see NZ getting past Australia (even if they do manage to bat first!) but India v England is 50:50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 It looked a little ropey for England's chances of making the semifinals after the loss to Australia so to make on the back of two solid wins against India and New Zealand is a big boost for them. Having Roy back makes the batting look a lot more convincing. On the downside Rashid doesn't look right and that does reduce the threat of taking wickets in the middle overs a bit. Woakes at 7 rather Ali is a slightly less imposing looking batting lineup too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosi Mynn Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 YES! England look like they've got their mojo back - which I guess makes Roy their mojo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted July 3, 2019 Author Share Posted July 3, 2019 2 hours ago, ljkeane said: It looked a little ropey for England's chances of making the semifinals after the loss to Australia so to make on the back of two solid wins against India and New Zealand is a big boost for them. Having Roy back makes the batting look a lot more convincing. On the downside Rashid doesn't look right and that does reduce the threat of taking wickets in the middle overs a bit. Woakes at 7 rather Ali is a slightly less imposing looking batting lineup too. Good point. I would probably drop Rashid for Ali at this stage. Is Buttler's form a concern? He got out of the blocks early with a hundred in a losing effort to Pakistan, but has only passed 50 once in the six innings since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 6 minutes ago, Paxter said: Is Buttler's form a concern? He got out of the blocks early with a hundred in a losing effort to Pakistan, but has only passed 50 once in the six innings since. I wouldn't be overly concerned. He got a 64 against Bangladesh, didn't bat against the Windies and was on a bit of a hiding to nothing coming in against Afghanistan after Morgan. 20 off 8 balls against India wasn't really a bad innings in the situation they were in either. I think he's good enough that 2 or 3 subpar games is no reason to panic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 2 hours ago, ljkeane said: It looked a little ropey for England's chances of making the semifinals after the loss to Australia so to make on the back of two solid wins against India and New Zealand is a big boost for them. Having Roy back makes the batting look a lot more convincing. On the downside Rashid doesn't look right and that does reduce the threat of taking wickets in the middle overs a bit. Woakes at 7 rather Ali is a slightly less imposing looking batting lineup too. It's certainly not removed all the doubts about England but they will be feeling a lot better after the last couple of games. New Zealand on the other hand seem to be losing form at the wrong time, their bowling still looks good (they did a good job of pulling back England a bit after the early fireworks) but other than Williamson the rest of their batting isn't offering much. India or Australia are probably the favourites at this point, but I still wouldn't count out the other two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mosi Mynn Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 21 minutes ago, Paxter said: Good point. I would probably drop Rashid for Ali at this stage. Is Buttler's form a concern? He got out of the blocks early with a hundred in a losing effort to Pakistan, but has only passed 50 once in the six innings since. Morgan won't drop Rashid. One of the main reasons Rashid has been so successful is because of Morgan's faith in him. I love Moeen Ali, but he's not reliable with bat or ball at the moment, and it would be harsh for anyone to make way for him. Buttler is never really a concern. He's great behind the stumps, and he's due a big ininngs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 42 minutes ago, Mosi Mynn said: Morgan won't drop Rashid. One of the main reasons Rashid has been so successful is because of Morgan's faith in him. I love Moeen Ali, but he's not reliable with bat or ball at the moment, and it would be harsh for anyone to make way for him. After two victories I think they might be reluctant to change the team much. If the pitch looks helpful for spin maybe Moeen will return, but I doubt the rest of the squad will feature as long as there aren't any injuries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 3 hours ago, Paxter said: Assuming Australia does the business against SA we pretty much have our semi-finals locked in. Australia will take on NZ in a replay of the 2015 final and England will duke it out against India. Personally I don't see NZ getting past Australia (even if they do manage to bat first!) but India v England is 50:50. Yes, I think that'll be a good semifinal matchup...don't see NZ beating Australia but you never know, they do sometimes save their best performances for us. It's a pity NZ haven't got their batting together, they just need an in-form Guptill and Taylor to go along with Williamson and they really could be contenders. Australia would have to be wary of Guptill coming alive in a semifinal. He can be a bit like Jason Roy is for England. England looked good, even if they had their characteristic mid-innings malaise they posted a good score. The real test is whether they can chase. We know they can bat first and set a good total but their last few chases have all ended in losses. The toss in their semifinal matchup may have a big impact on the outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philokles Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 Restoring Plunkett to the side has been almost as important as the return of Roy from injury. When the squad was announced I was a little surprised he got in over Willey (though I'm not sure why a 3rd spinner was needed ahead of either) but he is perfectly suited to the pitches that have been slowing up early in the afternoon for most the tournament. 46 minutes ago, Mosi Mynn said: Morgan won't drop Rashid. One of the main reasons Rashid has been so successful is because of Morgan's faith in him. I love Moeen Ali, but he's not reliable with bat or ball at the moment, and it would be harsh for anyone to make way for him. Moeen's batting may have fallen apart, but he doesn't get enough credit for how much his bowling has improved in the last year or two. With Rashid out of form, I'd much rather have Moeen in the side - especially as the need for the spinners to be taking wickets is much reduced since the emergence of Wood and Archer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted July 3, 2019 Share Posted July 3, 2019 12 minutes ago, Philokles said: Restoring Plunkett to the side has been almost as important as the return of Roy from injury. When the squad was announced I was a little surprised he got in over Willey (though I'm not sure why a 3rd spinner was needed ahead of either) but he is perfectly suited to the pitches that have been slowing up early in the afternoon for most the tournament. I think the inclusion of a third spinner may have been due to concerns over Rashid's fitness ahead of the tournament, it made sense to have a backup in case they wanted to play two spinners and Rashid was unavailable. Given that Tom Curran hasn't played a game yet I don't know if there was much need for another seamer in the squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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