THE QUARTER FINALS

                                  

                              With the round-robin stages of the tournament over, the tournament now shifts to the knock-outs where the teams cannot afford to have a bad day at the office. If so they go home, and it would be over. The Quarter finals will be held in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Wellington from March 18 to March 21. The teams that have qualified for the quarters are New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, and South Africa.  So without any delay let us look into what each team has had and they have to do look ahead the next 2 weeks.

                         

NEW ZEALAND:

           

                The co-hosts will need to play only the final in Australia on the event they qualify for the finals as both their quarters and semis will played in New Zealand itself. Having reached the semis 6 times out of the last 10 editions, they would like to do what a Martin Crowe or a Stephen Fleming failed to achieve. They are at a strong position and they solved the questions regarding the form of the middle order with some displays against Bangladesh. With Boult and Vettori in fine form, and the speed of Milne and swing of Southee their bowling attack is above par and the batting led by the blitz of McCullum seems to get that fire-power needed at the starting of the innings. With Guptill, Williamson, Anderson in fine form, they are sure a hard team to beat at their own backyard.

AUSTRALIA:

               

                The other co-hosts are chasing history like what Brazil is chasing in football, to win the world cup across all continents. Having won the cup in Asia, Europe, Africa and in America (Caribbean), they need to win that trophy in the Antipodes, their home. Having seen the group stages, they are very much intended on that approach with their only loss coming in New Zealand where they do not have to play a single game anymore. Their bowling is strengthened with Mitchell Starc, the best death bowler at the moment and their batting is aided with fireworks from Finch and Warner and Solidity in Smith and Clarke who can also go for the kill and the BIG SHOW Maxwell. They have many all-rounders in their ranks which can provide more options to Clarke should any of the main bowlers are taken to cleaners.

SRI LANKA:

           

                The Asian Champions magnificent run in this World Cup is all about a single player, Kumar Sangakkara. Get him out, raise your hopes of winning, or else better start packing… is what I have to say about the impact of that man in this edition. Having raked up 4 centuries in a row, he is the lynchpin of the Sri Lankan batting order. With Jayawardene and Dilshan playing their last World Cup they would surely would like it to end on a high. The bowlers have not been under the scanner so far in this tournament as they are provided by huge totals to defend with and it was against Australia they came under the hammer and would like to improve on that. Lasith Malinga is up to be fully fit and this was evident from that Yorker that rattled Clarke’s stumps. The bowlers need to up their game and need to support their batsmen if they want to get what they failed to get in the last 2 final outings.

BANGLADESH:

      

                 The Bangladesh Tigers was the pick of any pundit to have a team outside the top 8 teams in the rankings to qualify for the knock-outs. And they did it in style. Having won against Afghanistan and Scotland and a point from the washed out match against Australia, a place in the quarter-final was at stake when they met England at Hobart. And against all the odds they won the match and qualify for the first time to the knock-outs. Their batting is having the fire-power of Tamim Iqbal and the in-form Soumya Sarkar and Mahmudullah, Shakib gives some all-round performances and does the job of a No.1 All-rounder and their bowling was at peak against that England mach. Having to play in Australia for the rest of the campaign would make them lessen that fatigue factor if they advance to the next stages. What they need to do is be unified and not let that team morale go down.

INDIA:

                

                The Defending Champions. Could MS do what Ponting, Lloyd had done by retaining the Championship and take home the 3^rd ICC World Cup?? Yes, of course. Going by their current form, there is no stopping them from doing that and only a bad day at the office could rob them of the chance. What has surprised every cricket fan worldwide is the Indian bowling attack. Considered as the weakest link among the top 8 teams, India are the only team to take all 60 wickets from the group stages. With Dhoni likely to retain Shami, Yaadav and Mohit for the remainder of the tournament, India’s most experienced swing bowler Bhuvaneshwar Kumar is fighting for a place in the squad which is a healthy competition. The Batsmen are in fine form with all having at least one remarkable outing in the tournament. With India to play only in Australia for the remainder of the tournament, where they had been playing since December, it is hard to beat the Men in Blue.

SOUTH AFRICA:

                                        

                The Proteas or now having reached the knock-out stages they would be known for the other name they earned worldwide-CHOKERS. The South-Africans are this time an even more strong line-up that what they played in the all the previous outings and were the team to beat for the cup. Losses against India and Pakistan would have hurt their morale but not their consistency and thirst to win matches. This time they are to win something what no other South African team has done. Knock-out wins and the World Cup. Their batting order has the world’s best 2 batsmen at the disposal, AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla. Apart from their batting, it is their bowling attack that is more dangerous. With likes of Steyn, Morkel, Abbott and Philander they could rattle any side and have Imran Tahir to spin the ball and apply brakes on the run rate. A Quarter final win would result in them travelling to New Zealand and then back to Australia on the event of playing the final which could be fatigue given the amount of travel already the players have undergone.

PAKISTAN:

                     

                The Men in green, the Antipodes defending champions. Can the 40 year old Misbah do what the 40 year old Imran did in the 1992 Benson & Hedges Cup?? If the swing of Wasim Akram has won them the 1992 World Cup, this time it would be the four-pronged pace attack that would do them the job. Their batsmen have found some runs coming off the bat in the later stages of the group phase and with the inclusion of gloves-man Sarfraz their batting and keeping have strengthened. The only thing which is due in their armoury is that BOOM BOOM Afridi is yet to give the fans some dhamakha and hope he will do so in the knock-outs as Pakistan need their most experienced all-rounder the most at these stages. Having already played 2 matches in Adelaide, their venue for the Quarter-finals, they would have by now known how the pitch behaves and if they go on with the current form, their bowling can dictate victories and prove the world the point that BOWLERS STILL DECIDE THE OUTCOME OF GAMES.

WEST INDIES:

          

                The Caribbean boys. The party continues for them, the advertisers of limited overs cricket have not any remarkable outings since the retirement of the legends of that West Indies which spelt doom over its opponents. The good thing to note is that their batting does not revolve around a single player which is very good as all players have contributed with the bat, starting from Gayle at the opening to Holder at 9. Gayle apart from that record breaking 215 against Zimbabwe has remained a mere shadow of himself in the remainder of the matches. The bowler aided by Ambrose are now have some quality attack and Sammy and Russell continue to be entertainers of the game contributing with both bat and ball. A victory at Wellington would see them to wait at Auckland for the semi-final and with considerable smaller boundaries in New Zealand, let the party continue for the Caribbean boys!!!!!

                Who among these 8 will win the next 3 matches on their schedule and lay their hands on the trophy?? Are we going to see India defend the cup, or a former champion get the cup once more time or a new champion??....Let’s Wait and Watch…..Stay tuned Folks!!!!!

-S.T. Guha Karthikeyan

CRICKET WORLD CUP PART 2

In the previous post all must have read about what happened in the Antipodes over the first fortnight of the World Cup 2015. As always the second fortnight also brought some high voltage clashes and thrillers to keep us updated with the tournament daily. If it was Gayle’s 215 that was the highlight of the first 2 weeks then the man of the moment in the second 2 weeks is Sangakkara without any doubt. Not to say the bowlers have also decided matches just like the previous fortnight. Starc’s death bowling and a spirited Pakistani comeback were all instances where the Bowlers shared the lime-light.

NEW ZEALAND:

             

                The co-hosts were simply superb in the first half and maintained that in the second half also by maintaining a clean sweep of 6-0 wins in the group. Having played against all the big boys in the first half itself the second fortnight was just like gearing up for the quarters for them. Trent Boult and Dan Vettori continued to beat batsmen and the middle order was also put into the test and they also performed well showing that there are hardly less problems for the Kiwi’s. McCullum as always continues to be the aggressor no matter what and his opening partner, Guptill also joined the party scoring a century in the last match. 

AUSTRALIA:

                  

                The other co-hosts came into the 2^nd fortnight with 3 points from as many games but collected the full bounty from the next 3 outings and finished second best to New Zealand. Coming into their performances, all players are in form and Mitchell Starc is arguably the best death bowler of the tournament. Not to forget the solidity of Clarke and Smith and the blitz from Warner, Finch and Maxwell. At the end they finished second in the group with 9 points.

SRI LANKA:

            

                The Asian Champions, came into the 2^nd half with 4 points from 3 matches and also got the same from the next 3 games. Sangakkara continues to just score centuries at will and their bowlers are backed up with huge totals to defend, which was seen against Bangladesh and Scotland and against England, though the bowlers failed, the batsmen scored the target without any problem. Lasith Malinga is on track to be full fitness and this was evident that toe-crushing Yorker that rattled Clarke’s stumps. Others contributing with the bat were Dilshan, Thiramanne who scored centuries and Mathews who has scored the fastest Sri-Lankan 50.

BANGLADESH:

                 

                The tigers, surprised everyone and were favoured as one of the teams outside the top 8 to qualify for the knock-outs. Led by Mortaza, their batting was ably supported by Soumya Sarkar and Mahmadullah Riyadh and Shakib came in with some fine all-round performances. The bowlers on the other hand were not at their best against New Zealand but in the all-important match against England, they fired down perfect and sent the Poms Packing. Mahmudullah became the first Bangladeshi to score a world cup century and doubled it in the next match and is looking in fine form.

ENGLAND:

             

                What Newton is to gravity is what England is to cricket. But what they showed here was some dismal performances and led to their early exit from the cup. They were not unified on the day. When the batsmen racked up 300 on the board, the bowlers failed to apply pressure and when the bowlers restricted the opposition to under 280, the batsmen lost the plot. As many of the experts said what they lacked was imagination and creativity, the batsmen knew that once they withstand Anderson and Broad in the initial overs, there are no problems after. They managed to defeat Afghanistan but the damage was already done.

AFGHANISTAN:

             

                Probably the second best associate nations as they never lost the match before putting up a fight. Against New Zealand, they were the first team to restrict the Kiwis to under 5 runs an over. Against Australia, they were totally outclassed by the Kangaroos and against England in a dead-rubber they failed register a win which if they had done would have just dented England’s campaign further. But with the provided background and the amount of match practice they got, they put up a good fight for that.

SCOTLAND:

                         

                 The Scott’s, are still in search of a maiden world cup win and will continue to be in search of that having clean washout of 0-6 in this campaign. Josh Davey put up some performances and not to forget Coetzer’s 156 that almost won the match against Bangladesh. But apart from that they were totally in a disarray and might as well improve their strengths the next time they qualify.

INDIA:

                     

                The Defending Champions were just like Pool B’s New Zealand. Collecting the full bounty in all the 6 matches and also all 60 wickets, they look like a formidable line-up and when questions were raised over form of middle order, they responded with match winning contributions. The Pace trio of Shami, Yaadav and Mohit continued to ask questions to the batsmen and Ashwin was bowling miserly spells apart from the outing against ZIM. Raina too chipped in with some off-spinners and Jadeja continues to fill in the spot of the 5^th bowler in the team.

SOUTH AFRICA:

                                           

                 The Proteas, entered this fortnight with 4 points from 3 games and were expected to take full bounty from the remaining matches, but they lost against a quality Pakistan attack but went on to dominate the other 2 matches against the UAE and Ireland. De Kock continues to raise doubts over his place in the squad whereas Amla and du Plessis scored centuries and de Villiers just meant business. The South African Pace attack was not just a single man show but a combined attack of Steyn, Abott, Morkel and Philander ably supported by the spin of Imran Tahir.

PAKISTAN:

                               

                 The Men in green, the antipodes defending champion, started their first leg on a silent note and then were resilient as they shrugged of the staring blues as they collected all the 8 points from the remainder 4 games. Fielding an all-pace attack was finally its strength and the Pakistan bowlers dictated victories against the opponents. Their batsmen were coming back to form as one player some bits and pieces knock in one game or the another with Misbah alone performing in all those matches. Shezhad had a magnificent outing against UAE, Sarfraz had a good outing with the bat and the glove bagging 2 times the player of the match award. Apart from them Younis, Harris have also scored some runs in their bags. Fans are yet to witness BOOM BOOM Afridi magic.

IRELAND:

                      

                Probably the best Associate nation of the 4 teams that played in the World Cup. Having 4 points from 2 games in the first half, they started off with a hammering blow from South Africa, and then managed to win over Zimbabwe to keep their hopes alive and then lost to India and in the final do-or-die game against Pakistan, barring Porterfield’s century other failed and they managed only 237 on the board which wasn’t enough. Their bowlers are all medium pace bowlers who bowl in the 130s and they do not have a 140s+ bowler who could have made the difference in the team.

WEST INDIES:

              

                The Caribbean boys. Having played 4 games already in the first 2 weeks they had more rest than other teams and they played only 2 games winning one and losing one. Their first match against India was a thriller as they managed to bring down the Indian batting order with some quality bowling and that continued to run through the UAE line up. Their batting doesn’t revolve around anyone with all players making useful contributions with the bat.

ZIMBABWE:

                          

                The Zimbabweans almost pulled out a narrow win against Ireland which would have seen them in contention for the quarters and hopefully have some pride as their board in under debt for having to pay salaries to players for months. As a result of those incidents, their prolific run-getter Brendon Taylor signed a Kolpak deal with a county sacrificing his national duties. Sean Williams put up and all-round show and the bowlers who held the plot in the initial overs seem to be nowhere in the successive overs and it cost them as all the matches they lost were by close margins and also their fielding was below par.

UAE: 

             

                The Emiratis. They came to the World cup surprising all associate nations and provided some quality cricket with Shaiman Anwar their stand-out performer and some bits and pieces performaces from the others, unlike the first half of the tournament where they played some good cricket, the second half was a big test and against Pakistan, and South Africa they conceded 300+ totals and against West Indies, their top order totally surrendered. But like Afghanistan, they also take some positives from the tournament and hope to do better the next time. 

                So with the group stages over, it is up to the 8 best teams that qualified to provide some cricket over the next 2 weeks and who takes the World Cup????   Wait and Watch………

-S.T. Guha Karthikeyan