Who do you have pegged for your 4 semi finalists?

[Prince EWS]

You know outside of a few early drubbings, the rain in the middle, and the totally awful timezone, this has been a hell of a world cup.

I've definitely missed the associates (and er, two of the Test teams..) having a big stage in a format of cricket I vaguely care about, but I've used up most of my anger about that already since the announcement a few years back, and I realise I'm a bit of a weird cricket nerd in that regard anyway. That aside (and the rain in the middle) I've absolutely loved it.

As a compromise I'd suggest making the qualifying tournament to get to this feel more like the tournament proper by having it right before the main event in the same country. Make the broadcasters actually show it too so I can get my fix without people being annoyed about too many one sided games involving teams they don't know anything about.

 

[mr_mister]

That'd be quite the workload for the associate teams who manage to qualify. ~20 ODIs in 3-4 months lol

 

[cnerd123]

That'd be quite the workload for the associate teams who manage to qualify. ~20 ODIs in 3-4 months lol

Trust me they'd love it. Plus it would be awesome way for the Associate nations to secure sponsors and funding and really raise the profile of the game in their own countries. Get some proper local media coverage going.

If the ICC had properly marketed and tried to broadcast the 2019 WC qualifiers, plus found a way to play it in the UK closer to the actual WC (doesn't have to be England, Ireland/Scotland/Netherlands all work too), it would have been perfectly fine IMO.

 

[Prince EWS]

Trust me they'd love it. Plus it would be awesome way for the Associate nations to secure sponsors and funding and really raise the profile of the game in their own countries. Get some proper local media coverage going.

Yeah, West Indies might've been a bit pissed off though, especially if one of their quicks got injured. On the other hand it'd have actually given them a pretty awesome way to acclimatise and get used to the conditions.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Yeah, West Indies might've been a bit pissed off though, especially if one of their quicks got injured. On the other hand it'd have actually given them a pretty awesome way to acclimatise and get used to the conditions.

Well that's what they get for not being in the top 8 teams

 

[Stapel]

Before this - so far brilliant - WC started, I figured Eng, Aus & Ind would rather easily get through the semis, whereas the 4th spot would be any other team's to hunt for. I figured WI, NZ, Pak and SA would be favourites, not so much SL or Bang.

IMHO, the only big surprise is England. They had brought themselves to the #1 spot by ridiculous batting. Archer & Wood, now both top 5 wicket takers this WC, had no or very limited part in that. It's amazing to see the #1 team, having solved their only problem, struggling.

 

[aussie tragic]

And then there was 5, sorry BD

Eng v NZ game today is huge. NZ win and Pak must beat BD to qualify over Eng. If Eng win, final 4 is all over as no way can Pak get close to NZ run rate.

 

[smash84]

to make 1992 comparisons even more uncanny (I get the feeling this is where it will end.

Pakistan needed to win their last match and had needed Australia to beat the WI for them to make it to the semis (IIRC).

This time they need to beat bangers and hope that NZ win against England (tough ask).

 

[OverratedSanity]

to make 1992 comparisons even more uncanny (I get the feeling this is where it will end.

Pakistan needed to win their last match and had needed Australia to beat the WI for them to make it to the semis (IIRC).

This time they need to beat bangers and hope that NZ win against England (tough ask).

What's the similarity here?

 

[smash84]

What's the similarity here?

That going into their final match, to qualify for the semis they still need to depend on another team, not just their own win.

 

[ankitj]

Australia is going to play NZ likely in semi. That will suck. I love NZ but they have to be little more than a pushover in semi finals. Only semi they ever won was one against South Africa.

 

[Gob]

Australia is going to play NZ likely in semi. That will suck. I love NZ but they have to be little more than a pushover in semi finals. Only semi they ever won was one against South Africa.

Yeah Aust vs Eng/Ind final becomes inevitable by the day

 

[ankitj]

I really hope NZ make it but it would also be a shame for hosts England to miss out. It's a tough spot to be in as a cricket fan haha. Heres what I think is key in tonights game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=431KhNM3Tqo

NZ is at minimal risk of missing semi berth. Combined margin of NZ's loss to Eng and BD's loss to Pakistan would have to be somewhere around 150 runs for NZ to miss out.

 

[vcs]

NZ is at minimal risk of missing semi berth. Combined margin of NZ's loss to Eng and BD's loss to Pakistan would have to be somewhere around 150 runs for NZ to miss out.

I think it's closer to 300 or so runs. Pakistan's loss against WI was massive and NZ have had some huge wins (Sri Lanka, Afghanistan). They had a big defeat against the Aussies, roughly cancelled out by Pakistan's big defeat to India. Pakistan's other wins were quite narrow.

 

[ankitj]

Don't think so. NZ are +75 runs and PAK are -63 runs. Number of overs will play some role; too lazy to work that out.

 

[vcs]

Of course number of overs will play a big role - both NZ's big wins came when they were chasing and Pakistan's big loss came against WI who were also chasing. So it's not going to impact the absolute run differential in a big way.

 

[ankitj]

TEAM	M	W	L	T	N/R	PT	NRR	FOR	AGAINST
Australia	8	7	1	0	0	14	1.000	2363/384.5	2056/400.0
India	8	6	1	0	1	13	0.811	1995/337.3	1734/340.0
New Zealand	8	5	2	0	1	11	0.572	1488/294.0	1563/348.1
England	8	5	3	0	0	10	1.000	2411/383.1	2117/400.0
Pakistan	8	4	3	0	1	9	-0.792	1710/338.5	1773/303.4
Sri Lanka	8	3	3	0	2	8	-0.934	1342/291.0	1356/244.3
Bangladesh	8	3	4	0	1	7	-0.195	2057/341.3	2159/347.1
South Africa	8	2	5	0	1	5	-0.080	1580/315.0	1753/344.0
West Indies	8	1	6	0	1	3	-0.335	1658/313.4	1825/324.4
Afghanistan	8	0	8	0	0	0	-1.418	1544/389.0	1812/336.2

 

[TheJediBrah]

So basically if England lose and Pakistan win then England are out?

Come on kiwis!

 

[Prince EWS]

So basically if England lose and Pakistan win then England are out?

Come on kiwis!

Yep that's the exact scenario. If England win tonight it's more or less locked as the top four everyone predicted unless they lose by a huge margin.

 

[sunilz]

Except Bangladesh , no team has successfully chased even 280 in this WC . Toss would be very important in SF/Final matches.