2015 ICC Cricket World Cup
The 2015 World Cup is already in its third week. After initial one sided encounters we have seen some interesting contests in last few days.
The initial 3 world cups were played in England with 8 participant countries. The format was simple with teams divided into 2 groups of 4 teams each. I started following World Cup in 1983 edition. During this world cup, the 4 countries in each group played each other twice. The matches were played alternate days with day in between those matches served as reserve day in case the weather didn't allow the match on prior day to complete. The advantage of this format was that at a given point of time, all countries would have played same number of matches; hence point table would not paint unrealistic picture.
1987 Reliance World Cup was the first edition when World Cup moved out of England. Slowly with each editions, commercialization took over and number of participant countries was increased to please the associate nations. The schedule was adjusted to always have countries with huge commercial value such as India play its matches over the weekends. This has resulted in uneven distribution of matches for the participant countries.
Let's look at the current edition. We have 14 countries divided in 2 groups of 7 teams each.
In group A, we have Australia, New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as 5 test playing nations whereas Afghanistan and Scotland are non-test playing nations. Since Bangladesh have not lived up to their Test Status, it is safe to consider them along with Afghanistan and Scotland as minnows.
In group B, we have India, South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies and Zimbabwe as 5 test playing nations. Similar to Bangladesh, Zimbabwe is also performing poorly recently and can be considered along with UAE, Ireland as minnows.
The fact remains that in each group as long as a one of the Top 4 countries does not get defeated by a minnow, we should see these top 4 qualifying for quarter-finals. The ranking in the group post league stage does matter in a way since any country would prefer to avoid run into another country who is on a roll.
So looking at results so far, Ireland defeating West Indies has been only instance of a minnow defeating test playing one. It has opened up Group B very much. West Indies did repair the damage to some extent by comprehensively defeating Pakistan. Pakistan played reasonably well today to ensure that they limit the qualification combinations.
In Pool A, there is no upset so far. Though England is looking really bad with 2 points from 4 matches, they have relatively 2 easy games with Bangladesh and Afghanistan coming up. So they are likely to finish league stage with 6 points.
The match between Australia and Sri Lanka will determine second and third position in this group. The match between Bangladesh and England will decide the forth qualifying country from group A.
India's match against WI will determine whether they finish at the top of the group B. If they do that then they will travel to Auckland to play the Q/F against 4th ranked team from Group A, which is likely to be England or Bangladesh in case they have managed to beat England. If India lose to WI and finish second in group B then they will face either SL or Australia in Q/F at Adelaide.
So some interesting matches lined up which will decide the Q/F line ups. Look forward to my next post in coming days.
The initial 3 world cups were played in England with 8 participant countries. The format was simple with teams divided into 2 groups of 4 teams each. I started following World Cup in 1983 edition. During this world cup, the 4 countries in each group played each other twice. The matches were played alternate days with day in between those matches served as reserve day in case the weather didn't allow the match on prior day to complete. The advantage of this format was that at a given point of time, all countries would have played same number of matches; hence point table would not paint unrealistic picture.
1987 Reliance World Cup was the first edition when World Cup moved out of England. Slowly with each editions, commercialization took over and number of participant countries was increased to please the associate nations. The schedule was adjusted to always have countries with huge commercial value such as India play its matches over the weekends. This has resulted in uneven distribution of matches for the participant countries.
Let's look at the current edition. We have 14 countries divided in 2 groups of 7 teams each.
In group A, we have Australia, New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as 5 test playing nations whereas Afghanistan and Scotland are non-test playing nations. Since Bangladesh have not lived up to their Test Status, it is safe to consider them along with Afghanistan and Scotland as minnows.
In group B, we have India, South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies and Zimbabwe as 5 test playing nations. Similar to Bangladesh, Zimbabwe is also performing poorly recently and can be considered along with UAE, Ireland as minnows.
The fact remains that in each group as long as a one of the Top 4 countries does not get defeated by a minnow, we should see these top 4 qualifying for quarter-finals. The ranking in the group post league stage does matter in a way since any country would prefer to avoid run into another country who is on a roll.
So looking at results so far, Ireland defeating West Indies has been only instance of a minnow defeating test playing one. It has opened up Group B very much. West Indies did repair the damage to some extent by comprehensively defeating Pakistan. Pakistan played reasonably well today to ensure that they limit the qualification combinations.
| Pool B | P | W | L | Tied | NR | Pts | Nrr | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | +2.630 | ||||
| South Africa | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +1.260 | ||||
| Ireland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.338 | ||||
| West Indies | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -0.313 | ||||
| Zimbabwe | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -0.723 | ||||
| Pakistan | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1.373 | ||||
| UAE | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1.326 |
Looking at the Point Table so far in Group B, it appears that India and SA are well placed to make it to Q/F. Ireland, West Indies, Pakistan seems to be competing for the remaining 2 slots.
Ireland has won both their games so far. Based on current form, we can assume that India and SA will manage to win their matches against Ireland and Ireland will manage to beat Zimbabwe. With these assumptions Ireland will be at 6 points before their final match with Pakistan.
West Indies have 2 games remaining, one against India and other against UAE. In case they lose against India then they are likely to end up the league with 6 points.
Pakistan will for sure beat UAE on Wednesday moving up to point 4 and likely to lose to SA. So when they arrive to meet Ireland on 15th March, they will be at point 4. Thus the match between Pakistan and Ireland on 15th March will be of prime importance for qualification purpose.
| Pool A | P | W | L | Tied | NR | Pts | Nrr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | +3.589 |
| Sri Lanka | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | +0.128 |
| Bangladesh | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | +0.130 |
| Australia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -0.305 |
| Afghanistan | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -0.760 |
| England | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1.201 |
| Scotland | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1.735 |
In Pool A, there is no upset so far. Though England is looking really bad with 2 points from 4 matches, they have relatively 2 easy games with Bangladesh and Afghanistan coming up. So they are likely to finish league stage with 6 points.
The match between Australia and Sri Lanka will determine second and third position in this group. The match between Bangladesh and England will decide the forth qualifying country from group A.
India's match against WI will determine whether they finish at the top of the group B. If they do that then they will travel to Auckland to play the Q/F against 4th ranked team from Group A, which is likely to be England or Bangladesh in case they have managed to beat England. If India lose to WI and finish second in group B then they will face either SL or Australia in Q/F at Adelaide.
So some interesting matches lined up which will decide the Q/F line ups. Look forward to my next post in coming days.
Comments
Post a Comment