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Cricket World Cup 2019

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    Cricket World Cup 2019

    We don't need a fancy title for this one.

    So it's nearly here. The first World Cup not to feature any associate nations and the first not to include all the current Test playing nations. Just the ten coming - no Ireland and no Zimbabwe.

    All ten teams play each other in a round robin (45 matches) and then it's into the semi final for the top four, so there are only three knockout matches (and no bronze medal match).

    The round robin format will help the hosts England, whose approach to ODIs is to maximise the batting strength. This works on most occasions but can come unstuck against crafty attacks or on unpredictable pitches. But with nine matches, England will win enough to make the semi finals.

    They've been batting very well against Pakistan in the current ODI series too. So far 16 players have been used so one of them will get a phone call in the next couple of days to tell him he's not going to play in the World Cup. The Guardian think that Curran or Willey will be cut, though Denly is a possibility if they want more choice of seamers.

    I expect New Zealand to make the final four; they are a fantastic one day team. And then it should really be two from India, Australia and South Africa.

    And it's a shame there isn't some kind of quarter final stage because in a one off game sides like Pakistan, West Indies, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka could do over any of those I've mentioned already, but in the round robin I expect they'll all take wins off each other rather than one of them making the final four. But obviously that would have required a completely different format with more teams (the only team that has not been mentioned yet is Afghanistan).

    There are also ten warm up matches to be played between now and the end of the month, so that's two games each. These are not official ODIs as teams can utilise the whole squad rather than just an XI in them.
    Last edited by Kevin S; 18-05-2019, 22:58.

    #2
    I think if there was any player I would take as an England fan, it would be Jasprit Bumrah. An x-factor bowler offers more on these kind of pitches than another big hitter.

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      #3
      Yeah, Bumrah is almost certainly the best bowler in the world right now - him and Rabada were well above anyone else in the IPL.

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        #4
        According to the fixture list in the back of Wisden July 6th sees Sri Lanka playing India at Headingley then a day night game at Old Trafford against Australia. That could be quite a challenging day for them.

        England won't win it. They'll balls up a knockout game when the pressure rises and they're playing on a used pitch. I also don't get why we pick Joe Denly, but maybe that's why Ed Smith is chair of selectors and I'm not.

        Who's going? I've got tickets for:

        Australia - West Indies (Trent Bridge)
        New Zealand - South Africa (Edgbaston)
        West Indies - New Zealand (Old Trafford)
        Pakistan - Afghanistan (Headingley)
        Afghanistan - West Indies (Headingley)

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          #5
          New Zealand almost always make the semi-finals of this and then lose. Maybe this year they'll get it all in one place.

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            #6
            I've currently got tickets for :

            England v South Africa (The Oval)
            England v Pakistan (Trent Bridge)
            Bangladesh v New Zealand (The Oval)
            England v West Indies (Rose Bowl)
            Sri Lanka v Australia (The Oval)
            Pakistan v South Africa (Lord's)
            Bangladesh v Afghanistan (Rose Bowl)
            England v Australia (Lord's)
            Pakistan v Bangladesh (Lord's)

            Not sure I'll end up doing all those, depends on work/family schedule.
            Last edited by Ray de Galles; 19-05-2019, 11:10.

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              #7
              Pakistan the first to confirm their final squad.

              Sarfraz Ahmed (capt & wk), Asif Ali, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz.

              Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz recalled after their bowlers struggled against England in the recent series. Asif Ali included despite the tragic death of his daughter this week.

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                #8
                Top commitment by the lad Gen. de Galles there. I'm struggling to enthuse about this one (more down to the bloated group stage than Ireland's absence).

                Afghan warmed up with a sound beating in Belfast. I always said putting the Greens in Stormont would go well

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                  #9
                  I was going to say that that I was surprised that Ray's list has relatively little Windies in it, but then I see they are not playing in London at all - Trent Bridge twice, Rose Bowl twice, Taunton once, Old Trafford twice, Chester-Le-Street and Headingley.

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                    #10
                    In addition to England and NZ, I think India will make the semis because they have so much depth. England should start favourites in the semis and final but they are obviously beatable in one-off games.

                    A "big team" (Australia and/or South Africa) is going to fuck up and not make the semis.

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                      #11
                      Well yeah. Because there's five of them for four places.

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                        #12
                        Australia the ones to miss out.
                        Imho.

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                          #13
                          Yeah, tend to agree. It's only a year since we beat them 5-0 and while the returning players should improve them a bit, you'd rather face the Aussies than Rabada et al.

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                            #14
                            Australia have just won a five match series in India - before demolishing Pakistan in the UAE. And that was without Warner (who looks brilliant since his return) and Smith (who hasn't). I think over 10 matches, Australia will win enough to get through. I could see any of India, NZ or S. Africa missing out.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Kevin S View Post
                              I was going to say that that I was surprised that Ray's list has relatively little Windies in it, but then I see they are not playing in London at all - Trent Bridge twice, Rose Bowl twice, Taunton once, Old Trafford twice, Chester-Le-Street and Headingley.
                              Surely they missed a trick in not giving WI a game at The Oval.

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                                #16
                                This being England, it wouldn't surprise me if someone missed the semis because one of their winnable games gets washed out. South Africa no resulting with Afghanistan at Cardiff, perhaps.

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                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by Sporting View Post

                                  Surely they missed a trick in not giving WI a game at The Oval.
                                  Were the fixtures drawn up after WI qualified? Would ticket prices still put off their working-class supporters?

                                  Originally posted by longeared View Post
                                  This being England, it wouldn't surprise me if someone missed the semis because one of their winnable games gets washed out. South Africa no resulting with Afghanistan at Cardiff, perhaps.
                                  It's crap that they couldn't put any reserve days in for the group games. There at least 3 days between each team's games. I appreciate that they might want to make sure that a game that starts one one day doesn't finish on another but they should have provisions for a total day being washed out. I can only recall one wash-out in England in the 70s tournaments (WI v SL 1979); some games were finished on 2nd or 3rd days in the era.

                                  Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 20-05-2019, 18:05.

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                                    #18
                                    I think if you can't make the top four after a 10 team round robin then you've got no business still being in the tournament, even if you do get a bit unlucky with the weather.

                                    Guardian are reporting that England have left out Willey and Denly, with Archer, T Curran and Dawson getting the call. I think that's fair, Denly's not done anything to suggest he's worth a punt, and Willey has failed to maintain his new ball potency.

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                                      #19
                                      I share all the exasperation above at West Indies not playing in London at all, it's a bizarre state of affairs.

                                      I only secured the ticket to their Rose Bowl game against England relatively recently. This tournament has been absurdly hard to get tickets for, I've struck out completely so far for the knockout stages and have to hope that whatever big team doesn't make them has lots of fans unloading tickets they've bought in anticipation. If that's England supporters, all the better.

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                                        #20
                                        Odds...
                                        ENG 2/1
                                        IND 3/1
                                        AUS 4/1
                                        NZL 9/1
                                        RSA 9/1
                                        PAK 14/1
                                        WIN 16/1
                                        SRL 80/1
                                        BAN 80/1
                                        AFG 100/1

                                        Surprised to see Sri Lanka rated on a par with Bangladesh, wasn't aware they'd dropped off that much. Australia and South Africa look the value there, IMO.

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                                          #21
                                          Willey's out.

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                                            #22
                                            Pakistan have changed their kit for the World Cup. They've just finished the series with England looking like this:


                                            But today have released this:

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                                              #23
                                              Generally the kits look as you would expect them to. I do like this different design from Sri Lanka though.

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                                                #24
                                                Turns out there's a live ODI available on YouTube today, being streamed courtesy of Cricket Scotland. They are playing Sri Lanka:
                                                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du0ZE0ft3Pw

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                                                  #25
                                                  2-1 is a ludicrous price for England

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