[Series Thread] World Cup 2019

[sam_ahm]

Superb win for Bangladesh yesterday. Great to see the kind of charecter Bangla boys have shown in this world cup.

Sunday was easy win for us to be honest, as exoected. Pakistan are no where near the team they once were and there is a huge gulf between India and Pakistan now.

In India we are already assuming we are in the top 4 and rightly so, unless there is a disaster and we lose 4 out of our next 5 relatively easy matches we should he through to the semis.

I still feel both Bangladesh and South Africa have a chance to make the top 4, esp with NZL havi g some tough games ahead.

[eugene]

I'm certain if India somehow fell out of the top 8 they'd change the rules for them, imagine a world cup without India?? fraction of the revenue

Yes but thats like saying when the US economy and global prestige drops below Zimbabwe's, the UN will rethink America's permanent seat on the security council.

India will never fall below 5th in the ICC rankings. Even in the 1960s when India was a relatively poor side, they were never ranked outside the top 5 or 6.

India were ranked below Zimbabwe at one point in the ODI rankings in the 1990s. They were really quite a wretched team, particularly away from home. It is hard to see India ever plummeting that far now, they seem to be very consistently one of the best teams, much like Australia.

[Kriterion_BD]

I'm certain if India somehow fell out of the top 8 they'd change the rules for them, imagine a world cup without India?? fraction of the revenue

Yes but thats like saying when the US economy and global prestige drops below Zimbabwe's, the UN will rethink America's permanent seat on the security council.

India will never fall below 5th in the ICC rankings. Even in the 1960s when India was a relatively poor side, they were never ranked outside the top 5 or 6.

India were ranked below Zimbabwe at one point in the ODI rankings in the 1990s. They were really quite a wretched team, particularly away from home. It is hard to see India ever plummeting that far now, they seem to be very consistently one of the best teams, much like Australia.

I thought the ICC rankings didn’t come out till 2002-03.

Hard to imagine India being lower than ZIM even in the 90s with Tendulkar. India’s win loss record has always been higher than ZIM’s hasn’t it. And India was always formidable at home, even as far back as the 60s.

[jaybro]

When I was doing the ‘Zimbabwe MOTM Thread’ I had to go through every match ever played by Zimbabwe (took months) and I can’t say I noticed a time where they won enough matches in a row to really move up the rankings.

Only time would be around the 1998-2001 period with the World Cup plus some other series wins but surely India were still doing better?

[jaybro]

Wow Eoin Morgan hitting 17 in an innings !!!!!

Rashid Khan 0-110 off 9 overs

Hmmm not so easy is it Mr Khan

[Andybligzz]

Mr khans ego dented

[zimbos_05]

Absolutely beautiful to see Khan bought down a peg and then all the Afghanis on twitter losing their shit, particularly with the tweet from Iceland Cricket. Gave me a good chuckle.

There is zero chance India will ever have to qualify for any tournament

I'm certain if India somehow fell out of the top 8 they'd change the rules for them, imagine a world cup without India?? fraction of the revenue

I don't think India will ever be at risk of not qualifying. The format idea I had in my head is something along the lines of:

Each continent has a qualifying tournament. So you have a tournament for Asia, Europe, South America/Caribbean, North America, Oceania, and Africa.

The host country gets an automatic spot.
2 spots for Europe
2 sports for Africa
2 spots for Oceania
4 spots for Asia
1 spot for North America
1 spot for SA/Caribbean

In instances where countries may co host, eg Aus/NZ, the automatic host is determined by who hosts the final. So Aus held the final in 2015 and would be the automatic spot. The next time the two teams do this NZ will host the final and they keep alternating.

It obviously offers up lots of variables because one of the Asian sides will miss out and at current it could mean one of Afghanistan/Sri Lanka/Bangladesh, and then if for example Australia are hosting, it most likely means a side like PNG will get the 2nd spot, which ICC probably do not want. This brings up the idea that spots on offer could change depending on the hosting.

Example, if Australia is hosting. The coefficient would say the standard is stronger in Europe. So in this instance, Oceania will drop down to 1 spot up for grabs, and Europe would pick up a 3rd spot. If England are the hosts, the spots on offer stay as they are. If South Africa is the hosts, the spots again stay as they are.

There are obviously cons to this as well as it will probably never happen, but it is obvious that the ICC want no one outside of the top 8 in this competition. It's becoming a glorified Champions Trophy and with the way games have been rained out this time around, interest is going to wane. This might be a way of regaining that interest and making a truly world cup event.

[jaybro]

The argument that 'India won't care because they'll never be shit enough to miss out' is wrong, why would India put themselves in that situation at all even if they know they'll never miss out??

If you have all the power why would you make a move that doesn't benefit you???

The only reason I could think of is if they think they can some how get Pakistan to miss out lol, which is more likely in the current 10 team - top 8 auto qualify format, hmmm coincidence no?

[Kriterion_BD]

The argument that 'India won't care because they'll never be shit enough to miss out' is wrong, why would India put themselves in that situation at all even if they know they'll never miss out??

If you have all the power why would you make a move that doesn't benefit you???

The only reason I could think of is if they think they can some how get Pakistan to miss out lol, which is more likely in the current 10 team - top 8 auto qualify format, hmmm coincidence no?

I don't think the 10 team format has anything to do with trying to force PAK out. The BCCI attempted that directly a few months ago and the ICC rejected the move.

The 10 team format has only 1 purpose: to maximize the # of games India plays against quality opponents. This format ensures that regardless of seeding, there will always be India v Pakistan, India v England, India v Australia, Australia v England matches.

[Kriterion_BD]

Wow Eoin Morgan hitting 17 in an innings !!!!!

Rashid Khan 0-110 off 9 overs

Hmmm not so easy is it Mr Khan

I think this exposes that as good as he is, Rashid Khan isn't the superhuman leg spinner everyone makes him out to be. Yes on turning pitches, he could be a handful, but leg spin is inherently a hit or miss art. Even the best leggies bowl some dross. Of course, that means Rashid might still be one of the best leg spinners going around at the moment.

But I think this highlights how decent Mehidy Hasan Miraz has been for BD in this tourney so far. I was looking up the econ rates for spinners and Mehidu has one of the best:

Santner (NZ) - 3.83
Kuldeep (IND) - 4.75
Nabi (AFG) - 5.31
Moeen (ENG) - 5.48
Miraz (BD) - 5.51
Tahir (SA) - 5.54
Shakib (BD) - 5.84
Mujeeb (AFG) - 6.05
Chahal (IND) - 6.14
Rashid (ENG) - 6.25
Shadab (PAK) - 6.52

If you set a minimum of 25 overs bowled, than Santner drops off, and Miraz is 4th amongst spinners on the list of best economy rates. In terms of bowling average, only Chahal and Moeen are better than him.

If you look at the pace bowlers, Amir, Starc, and Cummins are ahead of the pack. Ferguson, Archer, and Wood have also done very well, but I predict they will fall away as the tournament progresses.

Mustafiz's econ rate of 7.08 is disappointing and amongst the worst amongst seam bowlers. But in the two games BD has won he's taken 3 wickets in each, and took the biggest wickets in both games vs South Africa and West Indies. Against SA, they were looking set to chase down BD's total, when the Fizz struck and vs Windies, the Windies were looking set to post 350-375 when the Fizz restricted them to 320 - a woefully under par score on that particular ground.