Cricket World Cup 2019!!!!!

**HUTCHYHIBBY** · 21-06-2019 03:55 PM

Root gone, England 127-4, making a bit of a mess of this chase.

***Radium*** · 21-06-2019 04:24 PM

170-6

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

hfc rd · 21-06-2019 04:31 PM

England living dangerously here

**HUTCHYHIBBY** · 21-06-2019 04:33 PM

Another wicket down. 178-8

hfc rd · 21-06-2019 04:33 PM

Woakes and Rashid both out!

Sri Lanka on the verge of pulling off a major shock!

***weecounty hibby*** · 21-06-2019 04:38 PM

English batting has been shocking. Some really shocking shots and decision making

hfc rd · 21-06-2019 04:51 PM

Archer now gone

186-9

**HUTCHYHIBBY** · 21-06-2019 04:54 PM

England under pressure in their last 3 games now.

**HUTCHYHIBBY** · 21-06-2019 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by weecounty hibby

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

English batting has been shocking. Some really shocking shots and decision making

Ali's decision to go for an unnecessary 2nd six got the ball rolling, needless shot at the time.

***weecounty hibby*** · 21-06-2019 04:58 PM

Stokes is going to be left high and dry here due to some of the other batters terrible play

hfc rd · 21-06-2019 05:02 PM

Two back to back sixes from Stokes.

***weecounty hibby*** · 21-06-2019 05:05 PM

Getting exciting. Loads of pressure on Stokes. He is capable of winning this though

hfc rd · 21-06-2019 05:07 PM

Stokes has turned this game right round

Back to back boundaries

hfc rd · 21-06-2019 05:10 PM

Sri Lanka have won it!

What a huge win that is when it looked like Stokes was going to win it for England

***weecounty hibby*** · 21-06-2019 05:11 PM

Middle order were a disgrace today. So many poor shots when all they had to do was bat out the overs and a win would have been a certainty.

***Mibbes Aye*** · 21-06-2019 11:43 PM

Quite the result from Headingley. Sri Lanka worked hard, Mathews in particular, to eke out their 232 in the face of some decent bowling, especially from Archer and Wood.

On a slow wicket, England’s shot selection with the bat was appalling though. Yet that shouldn’t detract from the SRL bowlers, with Malinga once again demonstrating his class, even late on in his career. A good few others in the Sri Lanka team stepped up as well, great performance.

England losing just opens the door a little, given they still have to face Australia, New Zealand and India. Sri Lanka face South Africa, Windies and India. England are the stronger side without a doubt but would take Sri Lanka’s run-in over their own in a heartbeat I suspect.

***Mibbes Aye*** · 22-06-2019 12:18 AM

Saturday brings us two interesting games.

Southampton hosts Afghanistan against India. Weather forecast is near enough perfect.

For India it will be interesting to see whether the replacement batsman and extraordinary young talent Rishabh Pant goes straight into the team. If Vijay Shankar hasn’t recovered from injury it’s a certainty. In the bowling Mohammed Shami gets to stake a claim in the absence of Kumar, who will be out for a couple of games.

For Afghanistan, things have been difficult internally. Their big strength is the quality of their spin attack. Unfortunately they are playing India who are masters of that game. I don’t think India have lost a wicket to spin yet in this CWC. Nevertheless I hope Rashid Khan gets a chance to show his skills after a rough pummelling from England.

Verdict - can’t see beyond India for this one.

Travelling north, we have a day-nighter at Old Trafford with New Zealand against the Windies.

Slightly tougher one to call, NZ have been getting the results but the Windies can blow anyone away if enough of them all click on the same day!

Regards team selection it will be interesting to see if NZ bring in Nicholls at the top of the order, he is very strong against the short ball and that’s what the Windies will be sending down. For the Windies it looks like Andre Russell will miss out, and if he does play he surely can’t be close to full fitness.

The Windies need the victory here to keep that very, very slender hope of top four still alive (though I don’t think it will ever be in their hands anyway) but I can’t see beyond NZ for this one, and possibly Trent Boult to do rather well - he has an outstanding record against his upcoming opponents.

hfc rd · 22-06-2019 09:26 AM

India win today and I am confident that we are through to the semi finals. Should confidently win if we play our game. Don’t take Afghanistan lightly. If we do, it will make it for an uncomfortable day.

hfc rd · 22-06-2019 11:32 AM

FFS, this is a brutal batting performance by India! Idiots need to get their fingers out or we are going to get embarrassed here.

Absolutely pathetic so far!

hfc rd · 22-06-2019 05:39 PM

Get in there! Phew! Safe to say our bowlers won it for us after our abysmal batting performance.

Mo Shami with a wicket hattrick to win it for us but Jasprit Bumrah was terrific! He virtually changed the game in our favour.

A scrappy win but a win is a win and we remain unbeaten.

Chak De India, Chak De Mera India!!! 🇮🇳

***Mibbes Aye*** · 23-06-2019 12:02 AM

Two excellent games IMO.

In the shorter versions of the game a lot of attention is paid to who can bat explosively. In this CWC there has also been much attention drawn to some outstanding fielding.

Bowling is often neglected and in the Afghanistan-India game I thought we saw terrific bowling from both sides, simply top-class.

India deserved their win but had more than a little fright there. Afghanistan should win lots of friends with their performances. Great game to watch.

New Zealand against the Windies was a very different game in many respects but a belter too, nevertheless.

There were a few swings of momentum in this match but NZ edged it in terms of performance. I will see the Windies next weekend and I’m hoping they will be up for it against a Sri Lankan side with still a bit to play for.

***Mibbes Aye*** · 23-06-2019 12:11 AM

Originally Posted by hfc rd

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Get in there! Phew! Safe to say our bowlers won it for us after our abysmal batting performance.

Mo Shami with a wicket hattrick to win it for us but Jasprit Bumrah was terrific! He virtually changed the game in our favour.

A scrappy win but a win is a win and we remain unbeaten.

Chak De India, Chak De Mera India!!! ��

Great bowling from both sides. The two Afghans to bowl ten overs had a combined economy rate of 3.2 while Nani and Gulbadin’s four wickets came at 4.67 an over combined.

That is tremendous in normal terms but against India is pretty much phenomenal.

For India, Shami’s hat-trick was eye-catching, but you are right, Bumrah’s double wicket maiden broke the back of the Afghans, and overall he demonstrated why he has the right to lay claim to being the best pace bowler in the world, despite his insanely short run-up!

I thought Chahal deserved credit too, he made a difference.

Interesting question for me is whether Shankar gets punted for Punt (excuse the pun). Virat looked livid when Shankar didn’t make the run for a catch, though Shankar has the excuse of being an injury doubt for this match. With Indian qualification pretty much signed, sealed and delivered I would like to see Punt get a chance in the middle.

***Mibbes Aye*** · 23-06-2019 12:34 AM

Sunday takes us to Lord’s and Pakistan against South Africa, the epitome of an ‘interesting’ match!

Both sides are technically still in it I believe, but would need to win all their remaining games and rely on other results going their way. That’s not impossible - there are a good few match-ups between the leading teams to come.

Travails amongst the top order have been problematic for both teams, with neither side really seeing their top threes consistently kick on. Nevertheless there is a seam of quality running through both sides.

While Pakistan can run rampant on a good day, I see more strength in the SAF side with three or four batsmen who know how to make big, big scores at this level. They also have Ngidi reunited with Rabada. Ngidi showed just how effective he could be on his return from injury the other day.

Decent weather expected at Lord’s, possibly better to be batting second. I’m going for South Africa for this one.

***Mibbes Aye*** · 24-06-2019 10:27 PM

Forgot to post last night! Dear, oh dear, South Africa. I really think it would make no odds if Dale Steyn had been fit, the batters just aren’t performing anywhere near the levels they are capable of.

As for today’s game I would have predicted a Bangladeshi win (honest, guv). Curious decision at the toss and sadly, it looks like the enormously-talented but very, very raw Rashid Khan is struggling a bit in this CWC. His time will come, in bucket loads I suspect.

***Mibbes Aye*** · 24-06-2019 10:56 PM

Tuesday brings us England against Australia at Lord’s, a real showtime game in this league stage.

After Bangladesh’s win against Afghanistan, there might just be the odd bit of trepidation in the England ranks. If they lose this one then they go into the final two games with both them and Bangladesh facing India, and England facing NZ in the other while Bangladesh meet Pakistan. We shall see.

Jason Roy being out is a huge blow for England, no two ways about it. If they end up bowling first I think they will still fancy themselves to chase Australia - there are a good half dozen or so players in that England team who can go big with runs and quickly.

In the bowling, Woakes, Wood And Archer look the part and it wouldn’t surprise me to see a fourth seamer with maybe Rashid dropping out, if only because Moeen offers more with the bat.

For Australia, it feels a bit like a high-powered sports car that hasn’t been driven for a while and is sounding just about there but not quite firing on all cylinders.

Warner and Smith both look like they are still getting themselves back into nick, but crucially it does look like they are getting themselves back into nick. Warner’s innings against Bangladesh is unfortunately for him the sort of yardstick you use. He should be achieving that far more frequently

In the attack, Starc in particular and Cummins have been impressive and I’ve also liked the way Finch has been using them. There’s maybe not quite as much depth outwith those two as Australia would have liked. Should be a different story for the Ashes when one hopes Hazlewood and Lyon return.

Tough one to call and as ever, so much depends on the toss, but I’ve got that wrong previously. While I have a sneaking suspicion England will find the wherewithal to win this game I am going to go with Australia. I think whoever bowls first has a slight advantage but they still have to capitalise on it and that’s not a given.