Tag: Recap

Cricket World Cup: Day 7 Recap

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We genuinely thought New Zealand’s third pool game against England could be a nervy one.  Then we started watching and 55 minutes later (including 40 for a ridiculous tea break) it was over.  It wasn’t nervy. The confidence of the English batsman was shot, even before this game, we just didn’t realise.  Hopefully you disregarded our advice to back England (or at the least also backed Joe Root to top score and came out even).  See a quick review of the action below – and it has to be quick because the game didn’t even last 50 overs.

Day 7 Result

A day night match finished before the lights came on.

An England bowler who went for 0-49 from two overs (including half of his balls going for six).  Compare that with New Zealand’s man of the match who took 7-33.  Those points highlight the gulf between the two sides in what was arguably one of the most one sided World Cup contests of all time.  The scorers were kept unbelievably busy filling in wickets and recording sixes, mainly in the columns of Tim Southee and Brendon McCullum.

After winning the toss on a nice looking Wellington surface England’s under fire captain, Eoin Morgan, opted to set New Zealand a total.  What he didn’t account for was Southee and the late movement he was able to generate that perplexed the England batsman and eventually saw them shot out for just 123.  Southee was a marvel, especially in his second spell of 5-10, where he used the crease to excellent effect to take regular wickets.  His 7-33 was the third best bowling figures at a Cricket World cup and he was on track for becoming the first man to take 8 World Cup wickets in an innings before Adam Milne joined the party and took the wicket of Joe Root, for 46, to finish things off.

For the second game in a row New Zealand had to come out and bat before the tea break.  Brendon McCullum was clearly fine with that and even threatened to finish the entire match before the 40-minute break, despite only having time for 9 overs.  McCullum smashed it to all parts and scored his 77 off just 25 balls.  He cut, slashed and ramped his way to the fastest World Cup fifty (breaking his own record in the process).  McCullum dented pride, sponsors cars that were on display and the plans for hundreds of fans that hadn’t even left work to get down to the game.

We mentioned that the English media have a story angle in Eoin Morgan’s poor form – they have a new one now.

New Zealand 125 for 2 (McCullum 77) beat England 123 (Root 46, Southee 7-33) by eight wickets

Cricket World Cup: Day 6 Recap

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Nelson delivered the closest game of the Cricket World Cup thus far courtesy of the Zimbabwe and UAE team’s collective batting efforts.  While the bowling and fielding on display wasn’t always of the highest quality, the decent turns at bat provided some tense times for both sets of fans in an exiting finish.  Check out who did what below.

Day 6 Results

Zimbabwe v UAE

UAE got straight back on the horse of Cricket World Cup’s today with a handy first up batting effort against a confident Zimbabwe side that nearly proved enough to sneak a second World Cup win.  Playing nice and straight initially, and holding wickets for the final assault, the UAE found an effective way of taking advantage of their opponents strangling field placements by manipulating the field and exploiting some of the smaller Saxton Oval boundaries.  The big runs were made by Shaiman Anwar and Khurram Khan, but coach, Aaqib Javed, will rue the fact that no one went on to an 80 or hundred.

Zimbabwe may have been ragged in the field but with bat in hand it was a different story.  The big chase could have proved difficult, with the regular wickets stifling threatening to compound them to an upset, but at no stage did the Africans panic.  Instead each new batsman contributed to the run rate and aptly supported the man in.  Contributions from most of the side, save for Masakadza and Mire, eventually got them home by four wickets with a couple of overs to spare.

This match was further evidence of the closing gap between test sides and associate nations.  Remember, just a few days ago Zimbabwe scared South Africa with a strong showing.  Here, they were almost on the receiving end of a similar scare.  It’s great for the Cricket World Cup.

Zimbabwe 286 for 6 (Williams 76, Taylor 47) beat UAE 285 for 7 (Anwar 67, Khurram 45, Chatara 3-42) by 4 wickets

Cricket World Cup: Day 5 Recap

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We were way off the mark predicting a win for Bangladesh.  Sorry.  Afghanistan’s debut in the Cricket World Cup didn’t go to plan against a classy Bangladesh outfit in day five’s only game.

Day 5 Results

Afghanistan v Bangladesh

The two most important players to Bangladesh Cricket World Cup chances both delivered in their opening effort against Afghanistan.  Mushfiqur and Shakib both broke the mould of twenties to combine for a partnership of 114, and set their opponents a demanding total of 267.  The top-order’s earlier efforts lacked momentum as Afghanistan made a good fist of bowling first after Bangladesh opted to bat.  Those efforts were overturned, however, after the captain and former captain entered the fray.  Shakib in particular justified his ranking as the world’s top ranked ODI all-rounder with an entertaining 63.

Afghanistan can play, but when they lost wickets in each of the first three overs the writing was on the wall.  Mashrafe Mortaza did most of the damage.  He took 3-20, and Afghanistan mustered just 162; bundled out in the 43rd over.

Bangladesh deserved to be buoyed by their enterprising opening in a mac that could have been trickier than they made it.  They’ll back themselves to snap up a quarter-final spot now and plausibly push for an upset once there.  Afghanistan can look forward to games against Scotland and Australia (lol) as the games to target in order to achieve a first Cricket World Cup win.

Bangladesh 267 (Mushfiqur 71, Shakib 63, Shapoor 2-20) beat Afghanistan 162 (Nabi 44, Mashrafe 3-20) by 105 runs

Cricket World Cup: Day 4 Recap

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Just the one game in today’s Cricket World Cup action, and although the game saw the end of the 300+ batting first scores, it still provided plenty of entertainment.

Day 4 Results

New Zealand v Scotland

New Zealand did one of their disciplines exceeding well today to topple a brave Scotland side on a beautiful summers day in Dunedin.  It’s just a shame they did their other discipline so poorly.  New Zealand surprised a few, and disappointed the local crowd, by bowling first when little was expected to be on offer for the bowlers.

Trent Boult and Tim Southee made a mockery of that statement though and generated prodigious swing and off the pitch movement to have the Scots reeling at 12/4.  Trent Boult, fresh from picking up an $800,000+ IPL contract took two in two balls in his first over, and Southee followed suit with a possible hat-trick of his own just three overs later.  Scotland recovered thanks to Matt Machan and Richie Berrington, before losing their final 6 wickets for just 33 runs; all of those wickets falling to Daniel Vettori and Corey Anderson.  Either side of the 97 run partnership – which was actually really nicely done by the two half-centurions – Scotland were a bit of a shambles, failing to come to grips with the moving ball.

New Zealand were just as reckless at their turn at bat.  Whether the Black Caps were seeking to boost their Net Run Rate, or whether they got complacent, they threw wickets away with as much regularity as repeats of the famous sitcom Friends on television.  Even Mr Reliable, Kane Williamson, slogged wildly to lose his wicket, and only Grant Elliot can say he didn’t fall to a loose swish or swipe.

New Zealand go two-from-two but we imagine they’ll spend a fair bit of time in the nets before they face England in Wellington on Friday.  Scotland play England next too, on Monday.

New Zealand 146 for 7 (Williamson 38, Davey 3-40, Wardlaw 3-57) beat Scotland 142 (Machan 56, Berrington 50, Anderson 3-18, Vettori 3-24) by three wickets

Cricket World Cup: Day 3 Recap

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The first upset of the 2015 Cricket World Cup took just 3 days, and has left a West Indies team on the verge of crisis.  Ireland eased their way to a resounding victory over the West Indies in Nelson with 4 wickets in hand and 25 balls remaining.  The win is yet another example of Ireland’s giant killing prowess, but equally highlights the Windies uninterested approach.

Day 3 Results

West Indies v Ireland

Game three of the Cricket World Cup was an excellent example of the old sporting cliche – a see-sawing battle.  Initially, all the cards were being held by the Irish as they reduced their opponents to 87/5 on the back of accurate bowling and George Dockrell’s individual brilliance.  The stat that best proves the Irish were at their stifling best was Chris Gayle’s party strike rate of just 55.  However, the West Indies did recover.  An excellent partnership between Darren Sammy and Lendl Simmons restored some competitiveness to the West Indies total and eventually propelled them to a potentially winning total of 304/7.  Sammy made a hard hitting 89 and Simmons became the fifth centurion of the tournament in making 102.

Ireland set about the target with confidence and intent.  A strong start was carried all the way through and only the slightest wobble at the end of the chase gave the West Indies a chance.  The victory was never really in doubt as Peter Stirling, Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien controlled the scoring rate beautifully; all posting half centuries on the way to another famous Irish Cricket World Cup win.

Ireland 307 for 6 (Stirling 92, Joyce 84, N O’Brien 79*) beat West Indies 304 for 7 (Simmons 102, Sammy 89, Dockrell 3-50) by 4 wickets