We finally get a chance to catch our breath, unlike Pakistan who would probably struggle to catch breath, as the World Cup completes another action packed week.

We must admit at The Gurgler that the thought of 50 over cricket earlier in the year and previous season leads to channel changing yawns. Maybe it’s the different nations playing, maybe it’s the minnows, maybe even the Foxtel, but this World Cup has actually captured the imagination. Another reason is that we can talk about the cricket on the field, and not Michael Clarke injury updates, who David Warner or Shane Warne has offended this month, or how bad the channel 9 commentary is.

Our favourite moment was the attempted cartwheel from the Afghan bowler in their gallant attempt to upset Sri Lanka, just in front of England pantsing by New Zealand.

First of all it’s time to catch up on the tables and then the results. Further on from that is our best bets.

CURRENT STANDINGS

ENGLAND 8/303 (50) def SCOTLAND 184 (42.2)

STAR MAN – MOEEN ALI 126 (107) + 2/47
To be fair Moeen Ali with his man sized proper non wanker kale eating beard doesn’t have to do much to earn our plaudits, but his century and useful bowling is a worthy achievement itself.

So England have won a game, and against powerhouse Scotland no less. The performance was a large improvement on Friday’s half a game against NZ, and a 300+ score appears to be the minimum to win a game against the top tier teams this World Cup which England achieved in this game.

Scotland meanwhile were well beaten but not disgraced again, another shot in the arm for the minnows who have better than expected and certainly worthy inclusions for future World Cups if the greedy ICC can grant these teams a go. Not sure how they expect to improve otherwise.

INDIA 7/307 (50) def SAF 177 (40.2)

STAR MAN – SHIKHAR DHAWAN 137 (145)
A big century from Dhawan set up a win for the home side against South Africa.

In front of a crowd of 86,786 at the MCG (2,500 more than Australia v England) the Indians put another major player in their pool to the sword, turning around the form of a said who looked bored shitless in the recent ODI series with Australia & England.

The atmosphere wasn’t quite as good as the Pakistan game, but the result certainly was, and one is left in no doubt who the ultimate cricket fans are in world cricket if they can fill a stadium for a non Australian fixture.

A cynic could argue that South Africa have had the loss they needed early, and have also got the inevitable choke out of their system too. Probably not if they make the semis.

SRI LANKA 6/236 (48.2) def AFGHANISTAN 232

STAR MAN – HAMID HASSAN
Produced the highlight of the match with his wonderful cartwheel after getting the vital wicket of Sangakarra.

WATCH IT HERE

So close for another upset, this one would be hard to argue as a bigger upset than Ireland over the Windies.

The Afghans set a smallish target of 233 for Sri Lanka, and they took nearly all of their 50 overs and 6 wickets to get there. Some typical heroics from Jayawardene with a 100 and some lusty tail end batting saved Sri Lanka from an embarrassment which looked possible when at 4/51 chasing the 233 runs.

Afghanistan, in what has become a trend in the World Cup, held their own and almost produced a notable result for the minnows, to continue to highlight the folly of removing such teams.

AUSTRALIA v BANGLADESH – Abandoned.

No game, which means more Michael Clarke injury blah blah blah, Shane Warne blah blah blah.

WEST INDIES 6/310 (50) def PAKISTAN 160 (39)

STAR MAN – ANDRE RUSSELL 3/33 and 42 (13)
3 wickets and some quality lower order slogging earns him plenty of kudos and out star man pick.

The battle of the two most unpredictable and untrustworthy teams in World cricket clashed with the Windies moving forward in their pool to try and erase the Irish game stink from earlier in the week.

Another 300 + target was always going to be hard work, but at a one day record 4/1 Pakistan were no hope, and the immediate questions were raised over which sides the Pakistan players had bet on.

You could always stay with the run chase in case Shahid Afridi does something exciting, but those times are too few these days.

NZ 2/125 (12.2) def ENGLAND 123 (33.2)

STAR MAN – BRENDON MCCALLUM
Yet another star man for the NZ star, but his dismantling of England’s total showed the best way to chase a small target. Doing it for the fans who could bugger off to the pub before they turned the night lights on.

It’s hard to imagine that in a World Cup with 4 minnows and other fringe nations (of which West Indies are fast becoming) that England produced the worst result and effort thus far.

To be bowled out for 123 and then watch Brendon McCallum batting like he had an early dinner planned, England could have been worse, but not much more. The form of NZ is ominous heading into their big clash with Australia coming up.

Kudos for McCallum again, teams crawling to small totals stinks, and blasting the runs as quick as possible is really doing it for the fans.

The No Result between Australia and Bangladesh means England can’t afford to lose any more games. Another early exit awaits otherwise who can get the same early exit as their World Cup football team.

ZIMBABWE 6/286 (48) def UAE 7/285 (50)

STAR MAN – ANWAR 67 (50)
With UAE getting close, we thought we give our Star Man to a less likely repeat offender for this game. His runs were good, and had to be to beat a fellow player with the best name of the World Cup Kristna Karate.

The smokiest of minnows gave the smokiest of Test Playing Nations a good run. UAE played well and came quite close to knocking of Zimbabwe in another example of good minnows blah blah blah already said it a few times.

Zimbabwe showed enough to prove their warm up win over Sri Lanka was no fluke.

BANGLADESH 267 (50) def AFGHANISTAN 162 (42.5)

STAR MAN – MORTAZA 3/20
This one will do nicely, there were similar level perfromances, but this is the only one we write down.

The Afghans did well to recover from 3/3 a better start than their illustrious border sharers Pakistan. Not quite good enough to beat Bangladesh this time, but it appears that gap could close in the future.

WORLD CUP MULTI $1 for $3.04

TUESDAY – WEST INDIES to beat Zimbabwe
WEDNESDAY – IRELAND to beat UAE
THURSDAY – SRI LANKA to beat BANGLADESH
SATURDAY – AUSTRALIA to beat NZ

THIS WEK’S FIXTURES
TUESDAY – WEST INDIES v ZIMBABWE
WEDNESDAY – IRELAND to beat UAE
THURSDAY – SRI LANKA to beat BANGLADESH
THURSDAY – SCOTLAND v AFGHANISTAN
FRIDAY – WEST INDIES v SOUTH AFRICA
SATURDAY – AUSTRALIA to beat NZ
SATURDAY – INDIA v UAE
SUNDAY – ENGLAND v SRI LANKA
SUNDAY – PAKISTAN v ZIMBABWE

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

POOL B

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.