Yes, I thought it may have been a bit more competitive.
Still the quarter finals look pretty interesting.
My “bold” predictions- which are more often wrong than right- I would think NZ have too much balance for the Windies on their own turf.
India too strong for Bangladesh.
RSA are over rated but I think they will still get past Sri Lanka.
And AK84 will probably have different view but I think Australia can ease past Pakistan.
Those last two games I believe are the most difficult to predict.
I do disagree. But, wrt to RSA and SL. I think SL will win.
Pakistans keeper sarfaraz Ahmed has made the difference. If I were Australia I wouldn’t take pak lightly at all, Team with momentum. Though they still are bad chasing side vs quality bowling n are the worst fielding side.
My prediction to be the best game of the tournament.
One of those curses “May you be reborn as a white ball in a SL v SA ODI”
Interesting to look at the batting stats.
1st by the length of the straight is Sangakkara (496)
Plenty of well credentialed batsmen at the top of the rankings but to show how well the Associates and 2nd tiers have performed throughout the tournament to date:
2nd Zimbabwe’s Brendan Taylor (433)
5th Bangladesh’s Mohammad Mahmudullah (344)
6th Zimbabwe’s Sean Williams (339)
9th UAE’s Shaiman Anwar (311)
15th Ireland’s William Porterfield (275)
The leading Australian is #17 David Warner (264)
Penultimate Thule, Sangakarra is without doubt the outstanding run scorer so far.
I could read a few things into the run scoring list though (here).
Firstly it seems that the bowling in Group B seems to have been more difficult to handle. Secondly, Australia and Bangladesh had one less match so their results are skewed a bit. Add to that the majority of the leading players all got 6 innings as opposed 4 for a few (Maxwell, Smith, Dhoni etc) and that is 1/3rd more.
Difficult to say that is a compelling statistic.
I think it is interesting in the bowling list the impact of Johnson and Steyn- or lack there of.
Well, in Group A, they did all get to play England, so there is that.
Good line up for the quarters. The SL-SA game does look the pick of them but, as I said up thread, under-estimate Pakistan at your peril. Australia should win that match but I wouldn’t put it past Pakistan to come up with something ridiculous that throws the tournament on its ear.
I am still pulling for NZ to win this whole thing.
One could say that the stronger teams play each other in the bottom half of the finals Draw (Aus, Pak,India etc) Any of the potential matches (excluding BD) would be a fair final.
I think the winner will come from this half.
I would only exclude two teams from being the winners- that would be Bangladesh and the Windies.
Not one of the others would be a surprise. And also, in one game a few errors can get rid of a better performed team leading up to the game.
I wouldn’t be betting on the final but I think it will be either Pakistan or Australia. (And of course both them can’t be there).
India should not count their Semi Finals, before they are secured. BD have a couple of dangerous players and India have lost to them recently.
As for the English and change. They played the 1992 WC Final with bits and pieces players (seriously, De Freitas came in at 10 in that match) and lost to Pakistan who played specialists. They should have learnt their lesson then, they did not. They have persisted with this strategy (with few exceptions) since then. Its not surprising that the best England limited overs players are those who have been specialists, Trescothick, Pietersen, Anderson, Gough. Having lots of “allrounders” gives you options true, but if a specialist gets into you, your jack of all trades are not going to help you. It was true in 1992, when Imran and Javed played their innings and Wasim ran riot and also true against Sangakara and co this time around.
They did not play Robin Smith and Phil Tufnell in 1992 final and should have taken Cook this time.
Well my first set of predictions totally underestimated the sub-continental teams and massively overestimated the English. Here’s what I think will happen in the quarters.
South Africa v Sri Lanka - Pakistan’s bowlers exposed the South African batsmen, but Sri Lanka don’t have bowlers that good. De Villiers and Sangakkara both score mountains of runs, but South Africa go through.
India v Bangladesh - Bangladesh will run India close, but the Indian batting juggernaut will rumble on.
Australia v Pakistan - Inspired pace bowling rash and shot selection will skittle the Aussies. Australia dumped out amidst much wailing and nashing of teeth.
New Zealand v West Indies - A game decided in the first 15 overs, as the West Indies fall apart early on. New Zealand’s brittle batsmen make chasing a poor target look hard again.
I was with you all the way until the end. We absolutely, definitely and without equivocation should not have taken Cook on this jaunt to Australia. He is in terrible form, hasn’t played a decent ODI innings in years and probably needs the break to refind himself mentally (if he locates his off stump in the process, all the better). Your point is undoubtedly correct but the solution was picking Hales earlier, picking Roy in the squad and looking at guys that have performed well in T20 cricket, particularly in the BBL, like Stokes. The answer for England is not to continue picking players who play ODI cricket like it is the mid 80s. This tournament has shown that you have to score quickly throughout and accelerate at the end of the innings. This is not, nor has it ever been, Cook’s skillset. Taking him would have been an utter disaster.
Well Irfan is out of the World Cup.. Might as well change your prediction.
New Zealand have the best Plan A.
Sri Lanka would likely run them close.
Australia have the best Plan B with bat & ball
India’s batting Plan B is more than serviceable, unconvinced about their bowling.
West Indies, Bangladesh and SA don’t have a plan B
Pakistan don’t have a Plan A or B, but their Plan C is a world beater.
To win from here is three from three against the best so luck & misfortune will play a role.
While it’s been largely a batsmen’s tournament and the “Hit 300 and smile” theory still holds but chasing 300 won’t intimidate whoever makes the semi-finals. Hence the capability to take wickets and/or recover from losing early wickets to my mind will be the mark of the team who ends up holding the cup.
Who could still post or chase 300 from being 3 down for 30?
The Kiwis are good enough to win if they can deploy Plan A for three consecutive games. But if the Aussies go back to batting Watson at 6 a bloody lot has to go wrong before they are shot ducks either setting or chasing.
RSA it seems have choked again…about choking. 116/6 SL. Looks like SA in the semis.
If it’s a NZ/RSA Semi Final, then Pakistan will lose the record of having reached the least amount of finals.
Duminy gets a hattrick, Sangakkara gone and the rains come with Sri Lanks 127/9.
I really didn’t expect this…
C’mon SL.
Win it from here and it will be a bigger buzz than the POMs going home early. 
this is turning out to be some serious minnow bashing.
Well, the upshot of today is that
i) RSA have at last won a KO game in a World Cup. But, still two more games for the choke remain.
ii) Mahela and Sangakara are going to end their careers without a WC winners medal. Do you know that Iqbal Sikander has one? Who? Exactly! (google him).
Well, the upshot of today is that
i) RSA have at last won a KO game in a World Cup. But, still two more games for the choke remain.
ii) Mahela and Sangakara are going to end their careers without a WC winners medal. Do you know that Iqbal Sikander has one? Who? Exactly! (google him).
So what happened after the World Cup that Sikander was never selected again? He finished with a first class bowling average of 23 and best innings of 9/81! His batting average was 20 which almost qualifies him as a legitimate allrounder (batting ave > bowling ave).