Thursday, February 6

Tag: ICC Cricket World Cup

Match Preview – Australia vs Pakistan, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023/24, 18th Match
19Oct By adminNo Comments
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Match Preview – Australia vs Pakistan, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023/24, 18th Match

Big picture: Advantage whom?It's that strange time in the long group stage of the World Cup where the nebulous concept of momentum appears to matter more than a side's actual position on the points table. Pakistan are ahead of Australia every way you slice it - on points, on net run rate. But given Pakistan's penchant for panic the moment anything goes wrong, and Australia's ability to strike when they most need it, this is a contest between a team primed to make a charge, and one that can feel their opponent's breath on their necks. As any Pakistan supporter will tell you, the one team they don't want to play when they really need a win is the one in yellow.After hidings against India and South Africa, Australia demonstrated they weren't about to give up on their campaign with a whimper....
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Match Preview – India vs Bangladesh, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023/24, 17th Match
19Oct By adminNo Comments
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Match Preview – India vs Bangladesh, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023/24, 17th Match

Big Picture: Can Bangladesh spring a surprise?The defending champions have been upset by Afghanistan. Australia haven't looked like Australia of World Cups past. Pakistan seem lacking too. And the South African juggernaut fell apart against Netherlands. Of all the pre-tournament favourites, only India and New Zealand have played like favourites. The latter have made it four wins in four, and now India are looking to do the same, against Bangladesh in Pune.Bangladesh may have a favourable 3-1 ODI record against India in the last 12 months - most recently winning their Super Four encounter in the Asia Cup last month - but beating India in India is easier said than done.The hosts have played with plenty of main-character energy in their first three fixtures, scoring convincing victories agai...
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Recent Match Report – Netherlands vs South Africa 15th Match 2023/24
17Oct By adminNo Comments
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Recent Match Report – Netherlands vs South Africa 15th Match 2023/24

Netherlands 245 for 8 (Edwards 78*, van der Merwe 29, Jansen 2-27) beat South Africa 207 (Miller 43, van Beek 3-60, van der Merwe 2-34, de Leede 2-36, van Meekeren 2-40) by 38 runs 43 overs a sideScott Edwards' rousing unbeaten half-century gave his bowlers belief and they shot for the stars, demolishing South Africa's storied batting line-up to hand Netherlands a historic World Cup victory.South Africa, having won both their games at the tournament prior to this by more than 100 runs, after posting totals of 428 and 311, had insisted in the lead-up that they had moved on from a group-stage defeat to Netherlands which ended their T20 World Cup campaign last year. Netherlands, meanwhile, had shown fleeting glances of what they might be capable of here with heavy yet spirited defeats to Pak...
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Match Preview – Netherlands vs South Africa, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023/24, 15th Match
16Oct By adminNo Comments
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Match Preview – Netherlands vs South Africa, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023/24, 15th Match

"The only thing the past gives us is learning."South Africa head coach Rob Walter was talking about his side's defeat to Netherlands at the 2022 T20 World Cup when he shared this aphorism. South Africa were not only stunned but knocked out of the tournament. But, Walter said, they have learnt their lesson.So when the two sides meet in Dharamsala on Tuesday, South Africa will not be looking at Netherlands as a weaker opponent. At the same time, they should not be under any pressure. When these sides played two ODIs earlier this year, South Africa thrashed Netherlands by eight wickets and 146 runs.A bigger reason, perhaps, is South Africa's recent form - they are on a five-match winning streak. In each of those games, they batted first, smashed more than 300, crossed 400 twice, and won by 1...
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Recent Match Report – India vs Pakistan 12th Match 2023/24
14Oct By adminNo Comments
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Recent Match Report – India vs Pakistan 12th Match 2023/24

India 192 for 3 (Rohit 86, Shreyas 53*) beat Pakistan 191 (Babar 50, Rizwan 49, Bumrah 2-19, Kuldeep 2-35, Jadeja 2-38) by seven wickets The game that always promises and rarely delivers came and went once more, promising plenty at various stages, and ultimately delivering what a blue mass of humanity had come to see: a crushing India win. A stunning middle-overs collapse from Pakistan which had them lose eight wickets for 36 runs turned what should have been an enthralling run chase into a dull formality. Each India bowler played a part in their own way, five different players splitting the ten Pakistan wickets evenly. With Pakistan folding for 191, India - spearheaded by captain Rohit Sharma - dazzled and sizzled, though really, it was like bringing a gun to a knife fight. Pakistan had ...
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Recent Match Report – India vs Afghanistan 9th Match 2023/24
11Oct By adminNo Comments
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Recent Match Report – India vs Afghanistan 9th Match 2023/24

India 273 for 2 (Sharma 131, Kohli 55*, Rashid 2-57) beat Afghanistan 272 for 8 (Shahidi 80, Omarzai 62, Bumrah 4-39) by 8 wickets India vs Afghanistan was one of the closer encounters of the 2019 World Cup, but a blistering hundred from Rohit Sharma ensured there would be no double jeopardy in 2023. Any jeopardy at all was taken out of the game in the first ten overs or so of the chase, when Rohit, who went past Sachin Tendulkar for most hundreds at the ODI World Cup, took the attack to all Afghanistan bowlers, turning a potentially tricky chase of 273 into a net run rate boosting cakewalk. A half-century from Virat Kohli capped a near-perfect day for India as they eased to an eight-wicket win with 15 overs to spare, after a disciplined performance with the ball had restricted Afghanista...
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Recent Match Report – Bangladesh vs England 7th Match 2023/24
10Oct By adminNo Comments
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Recent Match Report – Bangladesh vs England 7th Match 2023/24

England 364 for 9 (Malan 140, Root 82, Mahedi 4-71) beat Bangladesh 227 (Litton 76, Topley 4-43) by 137 runs Defending champions England produced an emphatic response to defeat in their opening World Cup match, crushing Bangladesh by 137 runs in Dharamsala to get their tournament up and running. A total of 364 for 9 was underpinned by Dawid Malan's maiden World Cup hundred - and fourth this calendar year - before the returning Reece Topley ripped through the top order as Bangladesh faltered in the foothills of what would have been a record chase.Asked to make the running at the picturesque HPCA Stadium, backdropped by the Himalayas, England showed an appetite for the climb. Malan and Jonny Bairstow set off at a steady canter in recording their first century stand as openers, before the fo...
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Recent Match Report – Pakistan vs Sri Lanka 8th Match 2023/24
10Oct By adminNo Comments
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Recent Match Report – Pakistan vs Sri Lanka 8th Match 2023/24

Pakistan 345 for 4 (Rizwan 131*, Shafique 113, Madushanka 2-60) beat Sri Lanka 344 for 9 (Mendis 122, Samarawickrama 108, Hasan Ali 4-71) by six wicketsSri Lanka were served a harsh lesson in the realities of modern ODI cricket, as Pakistan hunted down a target of 345 - the highest-ever chase in a World Cup - with six wickets to spare. Leading their charge were tons from Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan, which trumped a pair of centuries by Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama, to make it two wins from two for Pakistan.Rizwan, who suffered from at times seemingly debilitating cramps - the physio came and looked at him twice - for the last 15 overs or so of the chase, remained unbeaten in the end on a 121-ball 131. Together with Shafique - who himself recorded the highest score by ...
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Match Preview – Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023/24, 8th Match
9Oct By adminNo Comments
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Match Preview – Pakistan vs Sri Lanka, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023/24, 8th Match

Big pictureIt seems bizarre, given this is a World Cup game, but just three weeks ago Pakistan and Sri Lanka played an ODI that arguably mattered more. They battled it out to the final ball of a knockout match at the Asia Cup, with Sri Lanka stealing the win and booking a berth in the final. Hindsight might cast Tuesday's fixture in Hyderabad to be just as pivotal, but at the moment nothing feels so urgent, so drastic, as everything did in Colombo.Both sides have played one game in this World Cup. Neither made the strongest first impression, but Pakistan have two points, while Sri Lanka have bruises. The mitigating circumstance, of course, is that Pakistan played Netherlands and still looked shaky during certain passages of play, while Sri Lanka took on a South African batting juggernaut,...
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Recent Match Report – India vs Australia 5th Match 2023/24
9Oct By adminNo Comments
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Recent Match Report – India vs Australia 5th Match 2023/24

India 201 for 4 (Rahul 97*, Kohli 85, Hazlewood 3-38) beat Australia 199 all out (Smith 46, Jadeja 3-28) by six wicketsThe hosts and favourites for the 2023 World Cup are up and running. But as clinical as India's six-wicket victory over Australia looks on paper, there was far more jeopardy out on the field in Chennai.Ravindra Jadeja's exemplary 3 for 28 restricted Australia to 199, but the pursuit of a modest target began with a historically bad start. India were reduced to 2 for 3 - the first time in ODIs three of their top four were dismissed without scoring; Mitchell Starc removed Ishan Kishan for a first-ball duck before Josh Hazlewood's double-wicket maiden snared captain Rohit Sharma lbw and Shreyas Iyer, caught tamely at short cover.But from the ruins rose Virat Kohli and KL Rahul...
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