The All New World Cup 2023 Thread.

[Durhamfootman]

well you should be, imo. England are at rock bottom and it would take something quite extraordinary for Australia to lose to them

[Arthur Crabtree]

SL innings disappearing down the plughole.

[mikesiva]

Sri Lanka 241 all out

Nissanka 46

Fazal 4-34

[Arthur Crabtree]

Loss of Gurbaz in the first over is a big blow. Recovery on though.

[Durhamfootman]

Afghanistan looking comfy atm. asking rate of 5 an over for the last 13 overs with 7 wickets in hand

[Arthur Crabtree]

About 60 runs since the last wicket, in ten overs. Seem to be on top of the ask.

[sussexpob]

Afghanistan play Netherlands next then Australia who are just above them in 4th...outside chance of qualification

[Durhamfootman]

ah yes, but Australia will have trounced England by then

[mikesiva]

Afghanistan 242-3

Rahmat 62
Hashmat 58*
Azmat 73*

[bigfluffylemon]

That looked like a totally different Sri Lanka from the one that beat England. That side was sharp and up for the contest. Last night they weren't at the races.

Meanwhile, the contest drags on and on and on. The semi-final spots are all but decided, England and Bangladesh are totally cooked, yet there is still another 12 days and 15 group stage matches. Yes, India, South Africa and New Zealand have some head-to-heads, and Afghanistan could theoretically sneak in if they beat Australia, but realistically, the chances of the semis being anything other than the current top four are remote. At least in most other tournaments, once you're knocked out you can just go home and be put out of your misery. England have another week and a half of this.

I'm not sure I buy the underprepared/not enough one day cricket excuse. While I wouldn't say the preparation has been anything close to ideal, other countries are in a similar position. Australia, India - their players play almost zero one day domestic cricket too. Pretty much every team (apart from India) has had a similar number of ODIs in the last year, and most teams had a warm-up series or two in September. Glenn Maxwell played one ODI since March before the tournament began. So did Mitchell Santner. They rocked up and performed. England had plenty of opportunity to prepare, they just planned and executed it poorly.

[bigfluffylemon]

Six matches into a World Cup that he's not playing in, Jason Roy is still England's third highest ODI run scorer of the last year...

Says it all, really.

[alfie]

Looks settled really. Even if Afghanistan were to surprise Australia they would still have to either win both their other games (including SA) or rely on Australia dropping another match to England or Bangladesh - and either way also have to make up a large NRR gap. Asking a lot.

More possibilities at the other end of the table with four teams battling to stay out of the bottom two and therefore qualify for the Champions Trophy. (Pakistan as host are safe so don't have to worry ; though as they play both England and Bangladesh they will have a big say in how that all works out). At least this means all teams still have something to play for despite most needing ridiculous combinations of miracles to crack the top four.

Not making any judgement yet on who is most likely to win the whole thing. India on top now , sure ; but they have shown some batting weaknesses at times ; and none of the other teams have looked impregnable. Could be some interesting finals when we get there.

[bigfluffylemon]

If the rugby world cup is anything to go by, South Africa will squeak home by 1 run in each knockout game thanks to a moronic umpiring decision

[Durhamfootman]

I'm not sure I buy the underprepared/not enough one day cricket excuse. While I wouldn't say the preparation has been anything close to ideal, other countries are in a similar position. Australia, India - their players play almost zero one day domestic cricket too. Pretty much every team (apart from India) has had a similar number of ODIs in the last year, and most teams had a warm-up series or two in September. Glenn Maxwell played one ODI since March before the tournament began. So did Mitchell Santner. They rocked up and performed. England had plenty of opportunity to prepare, they just planned and executed it poorly.

It's one of many factors for England's woes along with half the squad either just returning from injury or managing existing injuries. England's problem, as I see it, is the way the hundred nonsense is dominating the county season and marginalising everything else apart from the T20, and for this tournament they've picked a couple of younger players in Brook and Atkinson who had virtually no experience of 50 over cricket prior to ODI call ups and so haven't had the time to develop the skills required at this level (I'm not saying they aren't capable). This situation is only going to get worse moving forward 4 years unless action is taken to address this. As soon as a young player looks as though they have the potential to make the step up, they get signed by a franchise and don't play any more 50 over cricket.

All the teams doing well in this tournament are crammed full of players who've played bagfuls of 50 over cricket and know their business inside and out. England do too, but for whatever reason they now resemble a punctured balloon. Once other international players reach the end of their careers, their countries will have younger players coming through with enough experience of playing 50 over cricket domestically to put them on their national team radar, that just isn't going to be the case with England unless something changes. We all know that the ECB are not going to do the blindingly obvious thing, they're going to expand it and make that window longer so it remains to be seen what they will do and what the knock on effect will be for the changes they do make in the years to come

[mikesiva]

Bangladesh 204 all out

Mahmudullah 56
Das 45
Shakib 43

Afridi 3-23
Wasim 3-31