Welcome to our occasional catch up on what’s happened thus far in the 2015 Cricket World Cup – One Day International’s last chance to interest anyone before T20 consumes all.
Happily, it’s been one of the better starts to the tournament with plenty of runs, wins for the home nations, a blockbuster between India and Pakistan, and the standard upset all covered in the first half a week.
Here’s the standing thus far.
POOL A
Team | Played | W | L | NRR | PTS | |
1 |
New Zealand | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2.624 | 4 |
2 | Australia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.22 | 2 |
3 | Afghanistan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
4 | Bangladesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
5 | Sri Lanka | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1.96 | 0 |
6 | England | 1 | 0 | 1 | -2.22 | 0 |
7 | Scotland | 1 | 0 | 1 | -3.039 | 0 |
POOL B
Team | Played | W | L | NRR | PTS | |
1 |
India | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.52 | 2 |
2 | South Africa | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.24 | 2 |
3 | Ireland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.618 | 2 |
4 | United Arab Emirates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
5 | West Indies | 1 | 0 | 1 | -0.618 | 0 |
6 | Zimbabwe | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1.24 | 0 |
7 | Pakistan | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1.52 | 0 |
We’ve also provided the internet’s least complete match guide, providing you with just enough information to compete with any pubside or workplace conversation.
NZ 6/331 (50 Overs) def SRI LANKA 233 (46.1)
STAR MAN: B.McCULLUM 65 (49) – 4 of his first ball and 22 from just one over, we hope it continues.
The trend started in this game where the team batting first made 300+ and the second team looked unlikely throughout. NZ will be hard to beat with their home ground advantage over the ditch, and with a quality explosive batting line up. Sri Lanka last tilt with the golden era looks shakey after the first up loss on the back of a touch up from Zimbabwe in a warm up match.
AUSTRALIA 9/342 (50) def ENGLAND 231 (41.5)
STAR MAN: MITCHELL MARSH 5/33 + 23 (20) Easy to pick Finch with his century, but with 300+ scores, an all rounder who picks up 5 wickets (all top 7 batsmen) will prove just as valuable through the tournament.
Solid, quality batting from Australia, with the only blemish being Shane Watson’s attempt to get himself back under pressure with a golden duck. Sure it was a good ball, but they always seem to be when out of form. The only minor blip was allowing what has been called the worst hatrick of all time. England never looked likely which gave fans a chance to get some more sleep than usual. The huge crowd at the MCG showed why Melbourne is the capital of sport in Oz.
SOUTH AFRICA 4/339 (50) def ZIMBABWE 277 (48.2)
STAR MAN: D A MILLER 138 (92) + 30 runs in one over, yep that’ll do nicely.
Zimbabwe may regret winning the toss and bowling, but did a better job than most would have thought getting within a 100 of the big total. Showed more in defeat than England or Pakistan. They may regret having not capitalised when SAF were 4/83. Shows the upset of Sri Lanka in a warm up was no fluke and could cause headaches for the big boys.
INDIA 7/300 (50) def PAKISTAN 224 (47)
STAR MAN: VIRAT KOHLI 107 (126) – Three innings at Adelaide this year and three 100’s. Maybe SA or Adelaide should look to hire him for Big Bash.
The most impressive part of this game was the incredible crown and noise. Very rarely do we hear a crowd like this in Australia, and unlike the Australian games, don’t usually requires litres of watered down lager to increase volume. Although the punch up at a Sydney RSL says otherwise.
IRELAND 6/307 (45.5) def WEST INDIES 7/304 (50)
STAR MAN: NIALL O’BRIEN 79 (60) – A quality innings showed why the irish were deserved winners.
The first upset of the tournament, but not quite the surprise when it comes to the West Indies, who are the three toed sloths of international cricket. With commercial disputes and player bust ups the norm for the Windies, they always looked capable of a decent choke, and choke they did.
Ireland meanwhile should be noted for how comfortably they did it in the end, and have beaten a recent T20 World Cup winner no less to go with their wins against England and Pakistan in the last two World Cups. The win puts them in a good place to make the knockout stages, providing a f*** you to the ICC who will reduce the World Cup to 10 team next time around because they believe only 8 teams can win, and the rest are rubbish. Not sure if they include West Indies in the 8, going on their previous effort, maybe not.
NEW ZEALAND 7/146 (24.5) def SCOTLAND 142
STAR MAN: MATT MACHAN 56 (79) – Could give it to any New Zealander, but why not reward a Scotsman who will unlikely to get close to a man of the match award very often in this world cup or ever.
The result you expect, but perhaps not New Zealand making such a meal of it. After their first easy win, they should have got the warning from the Ireland-Windies game the day before. Too much class in the end, but another respectable showing from the ICC’s mot unwanted.