England - Beware!!!

England made every other competitor to stand up and look at an opponent capable enough to spoil the chance of at least one of the teams which is expected to sail to the next round. English players exhibited a rare fighting spirit which was missing so far in the tournament. The English fielded well and bowled with a disciplined line. They seldom gave chance to the Lankans who appeared to take the same strategy they employed against the Windies. They started cautiously but when they wanted to pace up the innings they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. They ended up making a target which was not enough but competitive given their bowling forte.

England’s reply started off with a disaster, losing 2 quick wickets. But the Bell-Pieterson partnership showed the required maturity to steady the English ship. It did not take long for Sri Lanka to come back and England were staring at a defeat which looked unavoidable. Then the dual team of Bopara and Nixon steadied the innings and brought them closer to the target and pretty soon, England was within the reach of a great victory.
This took the action until the last ball. Victory balanced on the control of nerves and Fernando did an impressive job claiming Bopara of the very last ball of the innings. At the end, England will be ruing over the loss but Sri Lanka will gladly add the 2 vital points to its kitty and the crowd could not have asked for a better entertainment in this otherwise boring,lengthy tournament.

Playing Nostradamus...

It cannot get any better than this. 4 teams-Australia, Srilanka, South Africa and New Zealand, now have a realistic chance of winning the World Cup. Australia is a clear favourite. But this is the game of cricket; never discount the chances of others. This edition has been interesting thanks to the teams involved and their undying desire to win the cup. The super eights have been a revelation. All these 4 teams have shown their spirit by adapting to the conditions here and playing in a very sensible manner – very creditable for the professionalism that they have portrayed.
This time, it will not take a Nostradamus to find the team that will move to the next round. The writing is simple. The money is now on these teams. But who will go further to win the cup? All the predicted four have shown maturity and all characteristics required to make a champion team.
My prediction of the outcome at the end of super eights is Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka in the order of their rankings. South Africa and Srilanka will have the same points but since South Africa had beaten Sri Lanka, it will end up higher. The first semi-final will be between Australia and Sri Lanka where my bet is on Sri Lanka. They will cohere together as a unit and beat the Aussies. In the other semi-final, New Zealand will take on South Africa and emerge triumphant.
That leaves the final to be between 2 very evenly placed teams. Both the teams are so capable of upsetting the opposition and they have a team which is very adaptable to any conditions, be it spin or pace bowling. But my gut feeling suggests that New Zealand is going to have the last laugh. Anyone has a different reasoning? Share it…

Is it going to be the Deshis or the Lankans?

Bangladesh Vs Srilanka and Zimbabwe Vs Pakistan…These 2 matches assume significance for certain teams as a win will mean that they are through to the next round.
Srilanka has to win this match to keep their hopes alive. After the Deshis had overcome the Indians, Srilanka cannot take them lightly. The key to the match lies in the team fielding first. Predictions were made before the tournament started that the team batting second will have more probability of winning in the Carribean which has proven to be true so far in the tournament. A few wickets will give Bangladesh the breakthrough and they can beat the air out of the Lankans, the same way they did to the Indians..
The Pakistanis will hope to forget this tournament as early as possible- there were plenty of haunting moments- their early exit from World Cup, their worst show in recent history, their coach,Woolmer’s death under suspicious circumstances adding salt to their already excruciating pain. One thing they will not wish for is a complete wash in the tournament- they will be desperately hoping to win their last match and salvage some pride. Zimbabwe on the other hand will hope some remaining charm from St.Patrick’s day rubs on them as well
The Lanka-Bangla duel attains significance to the Indians as well. They will hope that either Bangladesh beats the Lankans and give the Indians a fair chance to move to the next round or Lanka drubs the Deshis to a big win so that the net run-rate will be favourable to the Indians. All this takes precedence only after assuming the Indians will win in the make-or–break encounter with Sri-Lanka on March23rd.