CricAddict
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Yes, I will rank this WC one of the best already. The format has played its part in it. I like this format for WC.
Maybe they'll start to matter less towards the end if the top 4 get locked in pretty quickly. As of now, they feel pretty meaningful to me.What bugs me about the format is how little the matches matter individually. They only matter in volume.
When England lost to Pakistan it should have made it hard for them to make the next stage, as it is it hardly budged their odds at all. And at the end of India v Australia the commentators were trying to find reasons why we should care.
That is the beauty of this format, isn't it? While the England team is clearly the better team than Pakistan, one win in the WC by Pak over Eng shouldn't disqualify the better team. Best 4 teams in the world should go to the semis and best team should win the world cup.What bugs me about the format is how little the matches matter individually. They only matter in volume.
When England lost to Pakistan it should have made it hard for them to make the next stage, as it is it hardly budged their odds at all. And at the end of India v Australia the commentators were trying to find reasons why we should care.
*shrug*That is the beauty of this format, isn't it? While the England team is clearly the better team than Pakistan, one win in the WC by Pak over Eng shouldn't disqualify the better team. Best 4 teams in the world should go to the semis and best team should win the world cup.
I thought in previous 2 world cups league games were more immaterial. Top 4 teams from each group that had exactly 4 "strong' teams and 2-3 "minnows" would qualify. So you could lose all games to "strong" teams and win only against "minnows" and still qualify. This format certainly challenges top teams more to get to next round although they are allowed a few fails.What bugs me about the format is how little the matches matter individually. They only matter in volume.
When England lost to Pakistan it should have made it hard for them to make the next stage, as it is it hardly budged their odds at all. And at the end of India v Australia the commentators were trying to find reasons why we should care.
There were quite a few good ones in 2015 too, tbf:Think it's already better than 2015 as a spectacle. Bangladesh-SA, Bangladesh-NZ, Pakistan-England, Australia-WI, Afghanistan-SL have all been tight and well fought games, which already beats 2015's total output from what I can remember.
NZ vs Australia was an epic gameThere were quite a few good ones in 2015 too, tbf:
Ireland (307-6) beat WI (304-7) by 4 wickets
NZ (146-7) beat Scotland (142) by 3 wickets
Zimbabwe (286-6) beat UAE (285-7) by 4 wickets
SL (236-6) beat Afghanistan (232) by 4 wickets
Ireland (279-8) beat UAE (278-9) by 2 wickets
Afghanistan (211-9) beat Scotland (210) by 1 wicket
NZ (152-9) beat Australia (151) by 1 wicket
Pakistan (235-7) beat Zimbabwe (215) by 20 runs
India (185-6) beat WI (182) by 4 wickets
Pakistan (222) beat SA (202) by 20 runs
Ireland (331-8) beat Zimbabwe (326) by 5 runs
Bangladesh (275-7) beat England (260) by 15 runs
NZ (290-7) beat Bangladesh (288-7) by 3 wickets
NZ (299-6 - D/L) beat SA (281-5) by 4 wickets
A lot of those games were of fairly limited meaning between minor/minnow participants though, so it was hard to get too worked up about them (e.g. Zim v UAE, Scotland v Ireland and Ireland v UAE etc). For me, the only really thrilling games were NZ v Aus, Pakistan v SAF, Bangladesh v England and the Eden Park Semi-Final. Funnily enough they were all games involving modest-midsized totals (even if it was rain-enforced in the case of NZ v SAF).There were quite a few good ones in 2015 too, tbf:
Ireland (307-6) beat WI (304-7) by 4 wickets
NZ (146-7) beat Scotland (142) by 3 wickets
Zimbabwe (286-6) beat UAE (285-7) by 4 wickets
SL (236-6) beat Afghanistan (232) by 4 wickets
Ireland (279-8) beat UAE (278-9) by 2 wickets
Afghanistan (211-9) beat Scotland (210) by 1 wicket
NZ (152-9) beat Australia (151) by 1 wicket
Pakistan (235-7) beat Zimbabwe (215) by 20 runs
India (185-6) beat WI (182) by 4 wickets
Pakistan (222) beat SA (202) by 20 runs
Ireland (331-8) beat Zimbabwe (326) by 5 runs
Bangladesh (275-7) beat England (260) by 15 runs
NZ (290-7) beat Bangladesh (288-7) by 3 wickets
NZ (299-6 - D/L) beat SA (281-5) by 4 wickets
That went well. **** off with all the rain.Think it's already better than 2015 as a spectacle. Bangladesh-SA, Bangladesh-NZ, Pakistan-England, Australia-WI, Afghanistan-SL have all been tight and well fought games, which already beats 2015's total output from what I can remember.