The results today have made many things clear in the ICC Cricket World Cup. South Africa beat Bangladesh by a huge margin at Mirpur today to confirm India and England’s progress to the next round. The battle at Colombo ensured Pakistan a place at the top of the table as Australia were finally beaten in a World Cup game. It has taken thirty four games for a team to beat Australia at the World Cup, just goes to show how dominant they have been.
Bangladesh were beaten comprehensively by South Africa. To say comprehensively is an understatement as it was a demolition job by the South African bowlers. On a slow pitch South Africa batted and did very well to get to 284. At one stage it looked like 240 would be a good score, but most of the South African batsman played well to take them to their score. Kallis was the anchor yet again as he ensured wickets didn’t fall after Amla, Smith and Duminy fell in the space of a few overs.
In such situations experience helps as Kallis was quick to assess the conditions and pace his innings accordingly. He took the singles early on and did not try expansive strokes. It was only during the batting powerplay that he opened his shoulders and played his shots. This is where the West Indies missed the trick the other day. Firstly the dropped Chanderpaul and then promoted a youngster like Devon Thomas ahead of Ramnaresh Sarwan. You cannot do that in the World Cup and especially in crucial games.
I had written in one of my articles on Cricketcountry that South Africa are sometimes susceptible to middle order collapses. Such a collapse was averted today as Kallis and Du Plessis played very mature innings. Du Plessis in particular was very impressive. He got lucky with one decision of a caught behind but like Kallis he paced his innings brilliantly. Du Plessis is certainly here to stay in international cricket as he is a very good batsman, an exceptional fielder and a tweaky bowler. It remains to be seen how the South African team management handle him in the course of this tournament and in the coming matches.
Once South Africa put up 284 on the board all the pressure was on Bangladesh. The Bangladesh batting just collapsed today and scored just 20 more runs than what they had scored against the West Indies. Some of the strokeplay from the batsmen was really tentative which one does not expect from a very talented Bangladesh side. The pitch wasn’t the easiest to bat on but it certainly wasn’t the one where you expect a side to get bundled out for 70 odd.
It was pointed out by quite a few experts today that Bangladesh are full of talent but their thought process must change. In my pre tournament preview on Bangladesh I had written that their batsmen play a shot too many at times. Many times they try to do something out of the ordinary which is not needed and that is what costs them. There is no dearth of talent but they need to mature a lot more. They have good bowlers, good batsmen and a captain who is counted amongst the best all-rounders of the World.
The progress they have made so far has got them out of the minnow category but they need that little extra to be counted amongst the top teams. For that to happen they should mature a little more, which I think will happen with time and in a few years they will be in the top league. The average age of the team is probably the lowest in the World Cup. It just shows how much young talent is there in Bangladesh cricket and in a few years all these players would mature. When this would happen they would be a force to reckon with. As I said earlier they are where Sri Lanka were during the 1992 World Cup. Who knows, Bangladesh may become so strong that they may be contenders for the next world cup? I wouldn’t rule that out any day.
Australia were finally beaten in a World Cup game. Pakistan continued their good performance in this World Cup and are looking good to go the distance. They had one bad game which was against New Zealand and they would hope such a thing wouldn’t happen in the knock out stages. Pakistan have shown consistency in the tournament so far and will really look to maintain that. The key for me has been how all their departments have performed. Their batting and bowling has done well on most occasions but it is their fielding that has really impressed me. They were not known to be a very good fielding side but they have really changed that. The youngsters in the team are really energetic and some of the seniors have improved. It was great to see a senior statesman like Misbah throw himself around in the field to stop the ball. The run out he effected was simply brilliant.
Australia have lost this game but shouldn’t panic. Most of their key players have been there and done the ultimate. They have the confidence in them to do it once more and it would be a mistake to judge them now. In the knock outs anything can happen. This is the most consistent team in ODI cricket so they can really turn it on then.
Kenya and Zimbabwe will face off at Eden Gardens tomorrow. Zimbabwe should win that on the basis of their all round strength. India play the West Indies and this game will decide the line up of the quarterfinal. It would be very interesting to see where the teams end up. Both teams should make one change each in my opinion. Ashwin should come in for India and Chanderpaul should play this crucial fixture. They may make more changes but these two are the ones they need to make.
Till next time, Good bye.
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