Win one of two will be enough, I think.
The key game is shaping as ENG v SAF.
Unless there’s a Mickey Finn involved ENG should snuff out the Saffers chances.
You say that, but Eng’s strategy does leave them susceptible to the occasional duff game. I think Eng have done enough - I don’t see them getting stomped by SA enough to destroy their NRR advantage against both - but they’re certainly capable of doing crap on Saturday. I think it more likely that Aus will stuff WI by enough that they will have the advantage.
It’s T20. You only need two half decent balls to totally roger any team’s strategy.
I really like the format of this tournament with the associates playing the prelims and just continuing into the main draw.
But there just aren’t many good T20 teams (in terms of ability, strategy and form).
PAK, ENG, NZ and a crap shoot for the last spot.
Also many of the batting lineups seem to be reliant on the strategy that won the last tournament and haven’t adapted to the local conditions … even more puzzling is that it’s not like they are totally unfamiliar.
The bowling is way ahead of batting.
Recall watching WI v BAN and Dwayne Bravo is bowling a metre outside the blue “wide” marks and getting a dot ball because the batsman was moving laterally so much in their crease they both voided the wide criteria and were so unbalanced they couldn’t hit the delivery anyway. A batter who now just stands in their crease and defends anything that will hit the stumps can now score at 4 runs per over from sundries.
If you get a series of games between the top nations and due to luck and circumstances the first innings is under 100, the whole T20 WC becomes a pretty average spectacle.
Is there a good primer on the “why?” of how certain pitches behave in certain ways. Having been watching all forms of cricket for a while, it seems that weather and atmospheric conditions are just one part of it, and often the pitches themselves have their own “personalities”. Even in the same country, they can be vastly different. Perhaps it’s the type clay/soil, the ground maintenance, type of grass, etc.?
ETA: one of my favorite parts of the broadcast is the “pitch report”, in which a couple of cricket experts inspect the ground and predict the behavior. This is very helpful when I decide to bet on a game.
This morning (US time) I had a feeling that a billion Indians were cheering on a team from a country most of them had never heard of before this tournament.
Yep, and for Sunday’s game, Afghanistan will have more fans than they’ve ever had in their history.
And tomorrow, Australia should be rooting for England, which is weird on many levels.
With all due respect, and buggered if I can speak for All Aussies (patent applied for) but the expectation is SA, faced with the best lead and best balanced T20 team going ‘round will make a spirited challenge, create the opportunity for a monumental boiler-over result and then choke at the death.
Of course SA flaming out in the first power play is good too.
Gayle’s gone already, hitting out early. He hasn’t fired at all in this WC - the WI team as a whole hasn’t, really. It’s a shame to see such a strong line up on paper do so badly.
WI 74-4 off 10 with most of the guns gone.
Could be one last bang from the old guard but think it might be a fizzle
Setting 158 will be a good chase.
AUS’s biggest target of the tournament.
Not confident
Interesting 1st over field by WI. Don’t think I’ve ever seen this in a T20.
What was it?
They had Kieran Pollard at silly point with Akeal Hosein bowling. Also, Jason Holder, I think, for the left-hander Warner.
Sorry, Just Pollard at silly point and silly mid-on for the whole over. Had to rewind the DVR to check.
Looks like Aussies aren’t just going for the two points, they are trying to make their NRR safe as well!
Yeah, was hoping that England-SA game would have meaning. Looks like it may be getting close to impossible for SA. Gotta say, very disappointing across the board from WI. Lackadaisical fielding and running between the wickets all tournament.
It;s not going to happen, but SA and Eng could technically collude in this game to put Australia out, by engineering a win by SA that overhauls Aus, but not Eng, nrr
Well, at least we’ll see SA try to put up 200, which will likely cause them to lose. This is why I still don’t understand why NRR is used as tie-breaker. It fundamentally changes the game. In the example of this group, if SA win, each of the 3 teams would have 1 loss, and would have 1-1 records vs.each other. In this case, they should have a playoff between the #2 and #3 teams by NRR. But none of the 1-loss teams should be eliminated just due to NRR.
131 is the magic number for SA. Will need early wickets.
ETA: Presumably England want to win the actual game, so would be expected to take more risk than an actual 131 chase.