CMS World Cup awards 2019

[Red Devil]

3 batsmen of the tournament - Rohit, Warner, Roy
3 bowlers of the tournament - Starc, Bumrah, Archer (Ferguson very close)
All-rounder of the tournament - Shakib (special mention for Neesham)
Wicket-keeper of the tournament - Carey
Captain of the tournament - Willamson
Emerging star of the tournament - Archer
Batting performance of the tournament - Jadeja in a losing cause in the semi and Carlos Brathwaite in a losing cause in the group stages
Bowling performance of the tournament - Shaheen Afridi v Bangladesh
Match of the tournament - Final
Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (team) - Pakistan almost getting to the semis
Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (player) - Avishka Fernando - SL
Biggest letdown of the tournament (team) - West Indies
Biggest letdown of the tournament (player) - Rashid Khan
Champagne moment of the tournament - Guptill run out of Dhoni in the semi, otherwise Ind were heading to the final
Overall player of the tournament - Shakib

[Durhamfootman]

champagne moment might have to change from Stokes' catch to Stokes' deflection

and I think Williamson will have to replace Finch as capt of the tournament

and, of course, the final will have to be the match of the tournament

[bigfluffylemon]

Thanks all who have voted.

Just under 36 hours to go to get your nominations in (I'll close at midnight BST on Sunday) - just totting up the scores there are several categories where it's pretty tight, so one vote might decide the outcome...

[ddb]

3 batsmen of the tournament - Rohit, Kane, Shakib
3 bowlers of the tournament - Bumrah, Starc, Lockie
All-rounder of the tournament - Shakib
Wicket-keeper of the tournament - Carey
Captain of the tournament - Kane
Emerging star of the tournament - Pooran
Batting performance of the tournament - Kane vs India
Bowling performance of the tournament - Starc vs NZ
Match of the tournament - bit obvious...final
Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (team) - Australia nearly finishing 1st.
Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (player) - Neesham
Biggest letdown of the tournament (team) - SA
Biggest letdown of the tournament (player) - Rashid Khan
Champagne moment of the tournament - Stokes' "6"
Overall player of the tournament - Shakib

[bigfluffylemon]

Hello, good morning and welcome to the TMS World Cup 2019 awards, brought to you by Gilette, sponsors of the closest of close shaves.

A self-appointed jury of 12 cricket tragics from among our TMS posters have put their collective heads together and come up with the following. Forget Wisden, the BBC and the official ICC awards, these tell you all you really need to know about the tournament.

Those of you who piad 2000 quid to a ticket scalper to be here in the expectation of entertainment as exquisite as the world cup final are in for a disappointment. Should have known better.

[bigfluffylemon]

On to our first category:

Three (four) batsmen of the tournament:

The first of our three was a unanimous selection by our jury, who else but top tournament run-scorer ROHIT SHARMA? 648 runs at nearly a run-a-ball would be a worthy winner in any edition of the tournament, but it was his record-breaking five hundreds in the series that cemented his place as batsman of the tournament, and surely a shoo-in to open alongside Tendulkar in an all-time Indian ODI XI.

Second and third place were split equally as three players were inseparable on an identical seven votes each. Appropriately one was KANE WILLIAMSON, alongside SHAKIB AL-HASAN and DAVID WARNER.

After a year in which many suspected he’d never play for Australia again, Warner came back to the side in the best possible way, finishing just one run shy of Sharma in the runs scored for the tournament, and the only other player to score more then 2 centuries (with 3). It’s not clear whether a most uncharacteristic SR of 90 is indicative of a more mature Warner or the pitches he played on, but most importantly, he let his bat do the talking. Redemption is a long road, as Ben Stokes will tell you, but maybe it began here.

Shakib played almost a lone hand with the bat for Bangladesh with an astonishing 606 runs at 86 and nearly a run-a-ball, and 2 centuries along the way. His 124* against the West Indies was a superb effort in a tough chase, and with just a little more support with the bat from his teammates Bangladesh could have got past India and New Zealand and into the semi

Like Shakib, Williamson was almost a lone hand with the bat for New Zealand. 578 runs at 82 with 2 centuries, over 200 more than the next best in the side, and even a (by modern standards) astonishingly pedestrian strike rate of 74 didn’t seem to matter as New Zealand played on some tricky pitches. His 106* against South Africa was one of the innings of the tournament, but perhaps the most impactful was 67 against India – not the most runs, but a superb judgement of the pitch in tough conditions.

[bigfluffylemon]

Three bowlers of the tournament

Our first bowler was another unanimous selection, and there can be no surprises that it goes to the dreaded left-arm inswing of MITCHELL STARC. Starc follows a player-of-the-tournament performance in 2015 with an arguably even better showing this time around, his 27 wickets at 18.5 and an astonishing SR of 20 breaking Glen McGrath’s all time record for wickets in a single edition of the tournament, and putting him up there with the tournament’s all-time greats. His performances against New Zealand, the West Indies and England in the group stages were match and league-table defining. The one blemish was getting tonked for 8 an over in the semi-final, but defending a sub-par total and with Australia’s back-up bowling in nowhere near the same league, he can hardly be blamed for that loss.

In second place, with not quite unanimous, but a strong majority of the votes was India’s JASPRIT BUMRAH. The world’s number 1 ranked ODI bowler coming into the tournament justified his reputation, with 18 wickets at less than 21 runs, but it was his quite astonishingly miserly economy of 4.41 that really stood him out – the best among any bowler to have sent down 52 or more overs in the tournament. When you consider that he often bowled at the death, this was quite the feat.

Third place was closer fought, but with a nod to the performance of Lockie Ferguson, third place goes to England’s new kid on the block JOFRA ARCHER. Eyebrows were raised when the 24 year old Archer was fast-tracked into England’s team so soon after qualifying, but he more than justified the hype with a return of 20 wickets at 23, a superb economy of 4.57, and breaking Sir Ian Botham’s England record of 16 wickets in a tournament along the way. His death bowling filled a hole that England have had for a very long time and his super over has already written his name into World Cup legend (just!).

[bigfluffylemon]

All-rounder of the tournament

The last of the unanimous nominations, this could have gone to none other than SHAKIB AL-HASAN. Probably the most underrated player in the world before the tournament despite being ranked the world’s top allrounder, Shakib proved he deserved the ranking and then some. As well as his batting exploits above, he was also one of the top spinners of a tournament unfriendly to slow bowlers with 10 wickets. It speaks volumes about the magnificence of Shakib’s contribution that the next best all-rounder, Ben Stokes, who had a stellar tournament in his own right and player of the match in the final, couldn’t muster a single vote in this category.

Wicket-keeper of the tournament

Not quite unanimous, but the overwhelming winner of this category was Australia’s emerging new talent ALEX CAREY, with a superb all-round performance. 375 runs at 62 and an SR of 104 showed his worth with the bat down the order as Australia struggled to make runs below positions 1-3, and he also performed ably behind the stumps with 20 dismissals, second only to New Zealand’s Tom Latham (with 21) for total dismissals and dismissals-per-innings.

Captain of the tournament

Also in the not-quite-unanimous-but-overwhelming category, this was won by the nicest guy in New Zealand’s team of lovely blokes, KANE WILLIAMSON. Williamson got the absolute most out of his team, who despite lacking the raw talent of England or India (particualrly with the bat) came within the narrowest of narrow margins of taking home the title. His marshalling of his bowlers and field placings when putting the squeeze on both England and India in the finals games was superb, and his grace and humility at the end of the most disappointing of finishes for his team demonstrated his true class as an individual (compare to Kohli’s whining after India’s semi-final defeat).

[bigfluffylemon]

Emerging star of the tournament

There were several nominees here, but the clear winner was JOFRA ARCHER. Despite having played only 4 ODIs before the tournament, Archer can rightfully be regarded as the missing link that turned England from a team of talented batsmen but limited bowling to one of the best all-around units of the tournament. And as proven time and time again, bowling wins tournaments. It was a mark of his rapid rise that Eoin Morgan had no hesitation in turning to him rather than his more experienced hands to deliver the super-over, and the rest, as they say, is history…

Batting performance of the tournament

It’s a rare performance in a losing cause that gets rated as among the best by our posters, but in this case CARLOS BRATHWAITE takes home the award for his heroic innings of 101 against New Zealand that fell agonisingly short of victory for the West Indies. Coming in at 142-4, Brathwaite soon found himself running out of partners with the West Indies batting line-up down to 164-7 with over 100 runs still to get, but with plucky support from Roach and Cottrel he played an astonishing hand with 101 runs at an SR of 123, taking the West Indies to within a single hit of a famous win, which took a stunning catch to stop him delivering.

Bowling performance of the tournament

Another dead heat, this one was shared between MITCHELL STARC with his 5-26 v New Zealand, and LASITH MALINGA with 4-46 v England.

Both performances rolled back the years. In Starc’s case it was just 4 years to Wellington, where he oh-so-nearly hauled Australia over the line defending 151. This time there could be no mistake. New Zealand were on track to what seemed to be a below-par target of 244 when Starc struck to remove Williamson on 40, and from there on it became a procession as he finished off New Zealand’s chase with some devastatingly accurate left-arm swing. It’s not often that a chase of 244 falls short by nearly 90 runs.

Malinga rolled back the clock to 2007, where he tortured the likes of England and South Africa. Defending a clearly sub-par 232 against England’s mighty batting unit, no-one gave Sri Lanka a chance, but Malinga had other ideas. After striking in the first over to remove Bairstow with a beautiful inswinging yoker, and following with Vince just afterwards, he returned to rip the heart out of England’s recovery with the crucial wickets of Root and Buttler. Sri Lanka held on by 20 runs for a famous victory.

[bigfluffylemon]

Match of the tournament

Amazingly not unanimous (presumably because one poster submitted his nomination before it was played), but the WORLD CUP FINAL was the clear and worthy winner. A slow burn rather than the bang-crash-wallop we have become used to from England v New Zealand games, the tension of this match rose and rose throughout eight hours of exquisite agony that proved once again (as if we didn’t know it) that cricket is at its best when there is a true contest between bat and ball. And what a contest it was, even before the most dramatic of dramatic finales (which I will return to). An astonishing advert for the game, and what a bonus that the most exciting day for English cricket since 2005 was the first match shown on free-to-air since that summer.

Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (team)

This was a close-run category, but with a nod to Sri Lanka, the winner in the end was NEW ZEALAND. Coming into the tournament number 4 in the world, it should have been no surprise that New Zealand made the knockouts, but they were the fourth best side on paper in the final four, and no-one gave them a chance of defeating India, let alone coming so close to the trophy, and their performance in the finals was a credit to their country, as was their grace in such a devastatingly close tie.

Biggest (positive) surprise of the tournament (player)

Plenty of people impressed the judges here, but the winner was a previous category winner, Australia’s ALEX CAREY. Carey has already shown plenty of promise in the shortest form of the game, but he erupted onto the 50-over stage having done little in the format prior. He defied characterisation as a T20 specialist showing the ability to adapt his game with the bat, and a lot of talent too. Definitely one to watch, and a possibility for the Ashes.

[bigfluffylemon]

Biggest letdown of the tournament (team)

This was a very close-run category, as the West Indies disappointed many of our judges, but SOUTH AFRICA took home the title. Now that England have perhaps finally shed the tag of the World Cup’s biggest underachievers South Africa have moved in to claim the crown. Number 3 in the world prior to the tournament, South Africa’s lead-up was already beset with problems, with an injury to Steyn and the de-Villiers debacle. Once in they didn’t even have time to live up to the ‘choker’ tag, as three defeats and a washout in their first four games meant their tournament was over before it even started, and they became the second side to be eliminated after the hapless Afghanistan. Victory over Australia at the end in some ways made it even worse as it showed what the squad was capable of, but it was far, far too little, too late.

Biggest letdown of the tournament (player)

There were plenty of nominees here as several former stars disappointed our judges, but the clear winner was RASHID KHAN. One of the most exciting emerging talents in the world in the last couple of years with a fearsome reputation from T20 tournaments, the third ranked ODI bowler and top ranked ODI spinner in the world coming into the tournament endured a horrible time, failing to even be 10th-placed Afghanistan’s third best bowler, let alone the world’s. A return of 6 wickets at nearly 70 runs per wicket and 5.8 runs per over was bad enough, but his mauling by Eoin Morgan will live long in the memory as he conceded the worst ever analysis in a World Cup of 0-110 off 9 overs.

Champagne moment of the tournament

This was a tricky one to adjudicate, as there was no one individual moment that got the most votes, but because so many of them were so closely related I have decided to lump them together and award this to the ENDING OF THE WORLD CUP FINAL as a whole. The ending of the match was so astonishing and so unlikely that it was a series of champagne moments that defy a single individual incident being singled out – from Trent Boult’s oh-so-nearly boundary catch (and Guptill’s sportsmanship in declaring the six), to the fluke deflection off Stokes’ bat (and Stokes’ similar sportsmanship in trying to get the bonus 4 runs erased from the record), the run outs off the last two balls of normal time, every single delivery of the super over, the highs and the lows of boundaries and yorkers, to Archer nailing the yorker off the last ball, Roy and Buttler catching Guptill short of his ground to send Lord’s into paroxcysms of emotion, to the immense grace of the Kiwis in defeat, Kane Williamson’s disbelief at being named player of the tournament, Ben Stokes’ award of player of the match finally redeeming him for bottling the 2016 T20 final, and finally Eoin Morgan lifting the World Cup four years after England’s 2015 humiliation, this was an ending that Hollywood bosses would have rejected as far too unlikely. Yet it happened, and in front of a TV audience of 8 million. If you’re not in love with cricket after all that, there’s no hope for you.

Overall player of the tournament

And finally, CMS’s overall player of the tournament defies sentiment and the ICC to award SHAKIB AL-HASAN the honour. Well played.

[sussexpob]

Captain of the tournament

Also in the not-quite-unanimous-but-overwhelming category, this was won by the nicest guy in New Zealand’s team of lovely blokes, KANE WILLIAMSON. Williamson got the absolute most out of his team, who despite lacking the raw talent of England or India (particualrly with the bat) came within the narrowest of narrow margins of taking home the title. His marshalling of his bowlers and field placings when putting the squeeze on both England and India in the finals games was superb, and his grace and humility at the end of the most disappointing of finishes for his team demonstrated his true class as an individual (compare to Kohli’s whining after India’s semi-final defeat).

Interesting how narratives can change on such thin margins.

New Zealand failed to beat a top 5 side in the group stages, and came nowhere close to doing so. They beat all the bottom half of the table, but my god it required some unparamounted luck; Mushfiqur accidentally knocking the bail off and letting Taylor off (who went onto score 90 and won a game by the tightest of margins), SA dropping Colin and Kane 5 or 6 times in that partnership that brought NZ back from the death. And then the Miller missed run out that was criminal.... and the icing on the cake, when Kane "true class individual" Williamson middled one to the keeper and refused to walk, wasnt given out, and the commentators left aghast at arguably the worst call in the tournament leaving South Africa to lose with 2 balls to spare, in a game theyd have almost certainly have won without the terrible umpiring decision..... Braitwaite being 3 cms away from knocking them out......

New Zealand had the best bowling line up coming into this tournament, they got pitches that could have been designed solely for their strengths, and really at the end of it their only true quality performances where they won without tremendous luck where blasting out SL on a green top, beating Afghanistan, and knocking out India in conditions highly favourable to them.

Did NZ overachieve? Absolutely not, probability would actually say the rain saved them from being knocked out, as NZ avoided having to play India in the groups, and Pakistan lost out a game to SL..... had both of those games gone to overwhelming favorites, NZ were going home, and that would have been a criminal under-performance. They never stamped their authority on this tournament at any time save for the semi-final and parts of the final, but even in the latter they found a way to lose.

What decisions Kane makes stand out?

Super over choices really do..... Colin bowls something like 0-22 off his 10 overs, a masterclass of pressure bowling in a final..... Boult had one of the worst games of his career and was responsible for allowing England to draw..... picks Boult for the super over. Then he picked Guptil, a guy who couldnt get bat on ball for 6 weeks, to bat..... very bad errors of judgement.

He also bowled a guy with a 4.8 econ rating for 3 overs in the final

Pakistan have a better group stage than NZ, but people seem to want Sarfaraz Ahmed to be shot by firing squad for underachieving, while Kane is the darling of the media. Quite why I have no idea.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Thanks, bfl, that was great.

Impeccable choices from the CMS analysts.

[Durhamfootman]

well done fluffy

nice one ... an enjoyable read, well delivered

[ianp1970]

Cheers BFL