What have we learned from the 2015 CWC?..so far

Ireland celebrates the dismissal of West Indian player Chris Gayle

Source: www.sports.yahoo.com

Well the Cricket World Cup preliminary round has been completed and the quarter finals are almost upon us. There has been plenty of exciting cricket played over the last few weeks. The World Cup started with a big bang, but slowly petered off in intensity over the last week. In hindsight, the draw could have been done differently, but achieving the right balance is always difficult.

Here are the takeaways from the tournament's preliminary round:

·        Team scores have risen – This World Cup will be known as the World Cup where batting changed forever. With T20 cricket now starting to take hold, the scoring rate has increased in this World Cup. For instance, prior to this event there had been only one match where a team scored more than 400 in an innings (India 5/413 vs Bermuda at Port of Spain in 2007). However, in the preliminary rounds for this World Cup there have been three scores over the 400 mark. This could be due to the new fielding restrictions in force during the 41-50 overs, but could also be a result of a more aggressive batting approach. Surprisingly, none of these 400+ scores were made in New Zealand which generally has smaller grounds than their co-hosts Australia.

·        Is 300 the new 200? – There have been 25 innings where a team has scored more than 300 during the preliminary rounds of this World Cup and five of those instances were in the second innings. Three of the five second innings instances resulted in a successful chase. That is the team batting second won the game. Compare this to the 2003 World Cup in South Africa and there were only 8 instances of a team scoring 300 or more in the preliminary rounds and all of these were by the team batting first.

·        The demise of England – For a cricketing powerhouse, England has played poorly during this World Cup and seems to be a side that is dysfunctional and rudderless. Their only wins came against Scotland and Afghanistan which were expected. Their losses are a different story, Sri Lanka won by nine wickets chasing 309 in Wellington. New Zealand demolished England by 8 wickets at the same ground by chasing 123 in just 12.2 overs. Australia won by 111 runs in the first game of the tournament at the MCG. Lastly, Bangladesh rubbed salt into the wound with their 15 run win at the Adelaide Oval. Apart from the Bangladesh game, England’s losses were by big margins and really showed how far the team had slipped in recent times.

·       The rise of Associate nations – Ireland and Afghanistan both performed well in the preliminary round of the World Cup with Ireland only just missing out on qualifying for the quarter finals by losing their last game against Pakistan. Ireland won their matches against the West Indies, Zimbabwe and the United Arab Emirates. Afghanistan won their first World Cup game against Scotland which is a great achievement considering they only started in the World Cricket League in 2008. With the next World Cup containing just 10 teams at this stage, it seems unlikely that Ireland and Afghanistan will be competing in the next tournament…..unless common-sense prevails.

So far, I think the tournament has been great, there has been a large amount of runs scored and the first ever 200+ score by Chris Gayle against Zimbabwe in Canberra. However, it has not been all doom and gloom for the bowlers with brilliant spells from Southee (7/33 vs England), Boult (5/27 vs Australia) and Starc (6/28 vs New Zealand). At this stage, it is difficult to pick a winner from New Zealand, India, South Africa and Australia. However both South Africa and Australia have tricky quarter finals to overcome first.

Who will win the Cricket World Cup?

Source: www.aussiedigest.com

Well, it is less than one week until the start of the cricket world cup in Australia and New Zealand. The tournament officially starts on Valentine’s Day at the MCG and finishes at the same venue on March 29. To be honest, I am really looking forward to the next six weeks of cricket and expect that many hours will be devoted to watching the great game.

The format is fairly simple this time around, with two pools of seven teams playing six matches in a round robin format. After playing the six matches, the top four teams in each pool progress to quarter finals where it takes a knockout format until the final. The pleasing aspect of this format is that the minnow nations such as Afghanistan, Scotland, and the United Arab Emirates all play six games against quality opposition. This is important for the development of the game and should provide valuable experience for those nations.

The obvious question is which teams are the most likely to win the tournament. Well it is difficult to go past Australia, South Africa and India at this stage. However New Zealand come through as a dark horse given that they play all their group matches in New Zealand, including the one against Australia.

Australia will be aiming for their fifth World Cup trophy and have won the World Cup on every cricket playing continent except their own. The pressure is enormous to win this one given that it is on home soil. The squad is full of match winners such as Warner, Maxwell, Johnson and Smith just to name a few. They are currently the best team on the planet and are in form, as proven by their recent win in the one day series against India and England. Anything less than an appearance in the final will be considered a failure by many pundits. Barring injury and self-implosion, I believe the team will make the final and they should win it. However keeping a lid on expectation within the team will be the key.

South Africa are the perennial chokers in major cricket tournaments and amazingly still have not won a World Cup. Quite simply they are the masters of self-destruction and I expect that both Allan Donald and Lance Klusener still have nightmares about their exit from the 1999 World Cup. In terms of talent, South Africa oozes as much talent as Australia with de Villiers, Amla, Steyn, Vilander and du Plessis. For South Africa everything is in place, it simply comes down to execution and mindset. Basically, this team needs success like I need coffee. They should make the March 29 final at the MCG, but will they win….well that is anyone’s guess.

India, they would only make the quarter finals based on current form. However tournaments such as these also rely on timing and if India finds form at the pointy end of the tournament then they are in with a real shot. The Indian’s have the ability to score runs quickly with players such as Dhoni and Kohli. Their bowling is still a little raw and if they bowl first their batsmen could find themselves chasing some large totals. The advantage India has over most other teams is that they have been in Australia for a couple of months now and hence should be used to Australian conditions. For me I think India can make the semi-finals if they find their form.

My dark horse is New Zealand, who has two things going its way. First, New Zealand get to play all its group matches at home and possibly even a quarter final. This is a huge advantage for New Zealand who really knows how to play to their conditions. Plus their grounds tend to be smaller than the Australian grounds which will bring players such as Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor into play. Second is their squad, while it does not boast the depth of Australia’s or South Africa’s squads there is enough depth to trouble most sides. Their bowling attack of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Daniel Vettori is very capable of bowling out most sides. This is complemented by the aggressive style of batting from McCullum and Taylor, the accumulation capabilities of Williamson and the all-round abilities of Corey Anderson. The Kiwis have an opportunity to make the semi-finals and if things go their way then who knows it could lead to their first finals play-off.

Like many others, I suspect that the World Cup Final will be played between Australia and South Africa. However both India and New Zealand will have a fair amount to say in the matter and either country is quite capable of causing an upset in the semi-finals and progress to the final.

Observations from the 2015 Sydney Test

David Warner kisses the spot where Phil Hughes was hit by the bouncer that resulted in his death

Source: www.examiner.com.au 

As I predicted prior to the start of the series,  the Border-Gavaskar trophy was won by the Australians two matches to nil. I may have got the individual test results wrong, but the overall score line is what matters. So it is time to celebrate !!

The Sydney test itself ended up in a draw, Australia batted first and made 572 before India replied with 475 in their innings. Australia made a quick fire 251 before declaring and setting the Indians 349 to win which seemed unlikely from the start. The Indians held on in the last ten overs to force the draw.

What were the takeaways from the Sydney Test:

• An emerging talent – when Joe Burns was selected it was unexpected, but Joe showed some justification in the decision with fifties in each innings. The second innings was a well-made 66 off only 39 balls with three sixes and eight fours. Burns started his innings slowly with 11 off 12 balls before launching into 55 off the next 27 delivers. It was entertaining, but more importantly it allowed Australia to set a decent target with plenty of overs available to bowl the opposition out. Could Burns be Australia’s next permanent number three?
• Both captains show the way – Smith and Kohli continued their rich vein of form by scoring hundreds in the first innings, although Kohli may feel that he missed out with only 46 in the second innings. These two batsmen scored 1,461 runs in total for the series with Smith scoring 769 and Kohli contributing 692 for their respective sides. If they maintain their form it will make the ODI series and the World Cup really interesting.

What have we learned from the series?

• India is now a side in transition – India’s bowling attack is relatively young and spearheaded by Ishant Sharma. There is some promise with Umesh Yadav, whereas Varun Aaron needs to become more consistent and reminds me of a younger Mitchell Johnson. There has been a change in leadership from MS Dhoni to the more combative and aggressive Kohli, which will prove to be a good strategic move in time. The Top 6 can build itself around Kohli and Murali Vijay which should mean that most opposition sides could be chasing some rather large totals.
• Australia is starting to build consistency – Although its best batsman and regular captain Clarke was missing for most of the series, Australia was still able to post large totals. Smith had a blinder of a series with the bat and seemed to thrive even more with the captaincy role. The Top 6 may need a reshuffle perhaps by moving Burns to three and Australia will most likely need to find another opener within the next 12 months as Rogers is expected to retire soon. At the moment the Top 6 would probably be Warner, Rogers opening with Burns, Smith and Clarke at three, four and five. Number six is difficult but I would put Mitchell Marsh ahead of Watson once he regains fitness. The pace bowling stocks are plentiful for Australia and considering that Siddle only played one test and Cummins, Bird and Faulkner did not play at all, there would appear to be sufficient depth for Australia.

Overall the series started with a tragedy and finished with the tradition of test cricket remaining firmly intact. The cricket was very entertaining with 5,870 runs scored across the four tests. Naturally, the bowlers would think that the wickets were too docile, however there was the possibility of non-draw results in every test.

Observations from the 2014 Boxing Day Test

The Australian and Indian teams shake hands after the Boxing Day Test

Source: www.smh.com.au

The Boxing Day Test was a tightly fought contest in the first few days and resulted in a draw. There has been some debate about whether Steve Smith missed an opportunity to go for the win by declaring earlier on the fifth day. This would have provided more opportunity for his bowlers, however by declaring when he did he ensured that Australia would win the series. In the end India were set 383 to win off 71 overs and at 2 for 5 spent the rest of Day 5 in survival mode.

What were some of the takeaways from this test:

• Runs galore - the glut of runs scored in the series continued with the Melbourne test providing 1,487 runs over the five days and compares to 1,556 runs in Adelaide and 1,267 runs in Brisbane. The cricket has been entertaining over the three tests and it would appear that this will continue in Sydney.
• Fielding woes - perhaps it has been the result of playing three tests in quick succession but the standard of fielding in the Melbourne test was well below par. On the first day the Indians leaked almost 30 runs in the field through poor fielding and the Australians were uncharacteristically sloppy. 
• MS Dhoni retires - like England's Graeme Swann last year MS Dhoni has retired mid-series effective immediately with the Sydney test remaining. While I wish Dhoni all the best I do find it a little soft to retire mid-series and especially in a series where the quality of cricket played has been very good. MS Dhoni scored 4,876 runs at 38.06 per innings with six hundreds and 33 fifties. As wicketkeeper he took 256 catches and made 38 stumpings during his career.
• Kohli's red-hot form - Virat Kohli scored another hundred for India, this time it was a very classy 169 in India's first innings. In doing so, he became the first Indian player since Sunil Gavaskar in 1977-78 to score three centuries during a series in Australia. Kohli's partnership of 262 with Rahane in just under 58 overs was very entertaining and showed a glimpse of what might be on the horizon for Indian cricket.
• Watson's missed opportunities - In the first innings Shane Watson had the opportunity to make a stand and put all those who have doubted him in their place by scoring a hundred. But Shane played true to form and threw his wicket away after scoring 52 that was scratchy at best. Finally my prayers might be answered as one selector has now hinted that he needs to score runs to retain his spot.
• Did Australia declare too late? - Australia played safe and won the series which will be great for Smith's confidence as captain, but there was a lesson to be learned about decision making for declaring an innings and setting a target that encourages the opposition to chase it and provide enough time to bowl the opposition out. Admittedly, there was some bad weather in Melbourne on Day 5 and play did stop on a couple of occasions, which may have impacted the decision.

So Australia head to Sydney with the Border-Gavaskar trophy already in the cabinet and India begin life without MS Dhoni. Virat Kohli steps in as captain and going by his performance as captain in Adelaide we should expect that India will continue to play aggressive and entertaining cricket.

On a special note - Congratulations to Brendon McCullum who scored 1,164 runs in 2014 to become the first New Zealander to score more than 1,000 runs in a calendar year.