Key Features –
1. David Warner now has the highest individual score of World Cup 2019 with a 166(147) today. The earlier highest score was 153 held by his co-opener Aaron Finch along with Jason Roy.
2. Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja supported Warner in building partnerships for the first and second wickets respectively to take the total to a 300+. Both of them scored respective half centuries and had scores of 53(51) and 89(72) respectively.
3. Glenn Maxwell had a quick firing knock towards the end with the help of the finishing from Stoinis and Carey to take the score to a 381 in 50 overs. They scored 32(10), 17(11)* and 11(8)* respectively.
4. Soumya Sarkar was the pick of the bowlers from Bangladesh who was given charge after Shakib, Mashrafe and Rubel went for plenty in their spells. He bowled a spell of 3/58(8) to help them get the required breakthroughs.
5. Tamim Iqbal regains his form as an opener and even though Sarkar went early on, Tamim and Shakib built a partnership of 79. He ended up scoring 62(74), his first half-ton in this world cup.
6. Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah built up an excellent partnership of 127 for the 5th wicket and scored 102(97)* and 69(50) respectively to take their total to a 333. This is Mushfiqur Rahim’s highest individual score in a World Cup game.
7. Bangladesh record their highest-ever ODI total, that too in a World Cup game against a team like Australia! They surely are a team to reckon and will do wonders in the near years, especially with this batting lineup consisting of Tamim, Sarkar, Shakib, Mushfiqur, Liton and Mahmudullah. This is a batting order worth contesting against and surely a wake-up call for India who play them real soon.
Post-Match Analysis –
1. Seems as if the Law of Averages just got to the better of Shakib who wasn’t as good with the bat as he has been in this world cup and went for plenty with the ball and was given less than 10 overs that too wicket-less for the first time in the 6 matches they’ve played. He bowled a spell of 0/50(6) and scored a 41(41) while chasing a target of 382.
2. Warner was dropped on 9 and he ended up scoring 166. Very evident that “Catches win matches” once again. The mistake Afghanistan did against England and South Africa did against New Zealand was repeated today by Bangladesh taking the score to a 381. Warner’s catch when he was on 9 would have meant a completely different scenario.
3. Mohammad Saifuddin’s injury has come as a loss to Bangladesh since he’s been their most successful bowler in this World Cup and has taken 9 wickets in the 4 games he has played with atleast 2 in every game. Rubel Hossain, though an amazing bowler, couldn’t really fill his shoes.
4. Chasing a target of 382 usually makes the chasing team to fall under pressure and give wickets at regular intervals and gradually choke and thereby, lose by a huge margin, but Bangladeshi batsmen are on a roll to win the hearts of all the people with their batting skills, and the way they’ve been playing against every team as a complete batting unit has been tremendous. Even though they always knew they couldn’t chase such a huge total down against a quality team like Australia, they never gave up and scored as much as they could.
5. The fact that is commendable about this Bangladesh side is that they never give up, no matter what the target is. They fight till they post a decent total even when they know they’ve lost the game. They play their natural game and do well for the whole 50 over innings when they come out to bat.
6. Australia has practically qualified for the playoffs, being the first team to do so, with 10 points in just 6 games with the last 3 to be played against England, New Zealand and South Africa in the same order. On the other hand, Bangladesh hasn’t lost hope and are still planning to fight all the way till their last game and are placed on the 5th position with 5 points in 6 games, with their final 3 to be played against the Asian subcontinent teams, i.e., Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, in the same order.
7. Australia are back to the top of the points table with David Warner back to the top of the list of the leading run scorers of World Cup 2019, and Mitchell Starc at the top of the list of the leading wicket takers of World Cup 2019. It just shows sheer dominance of Australia over World Cups once again!
Up Next –
England vs Sri Lanka
Jason Roy’s absence opened the spot to James Vince but he couldn’t capitalize on his start in the previous game against Afghanistan, and hence would be looking to score big tomorrow before Roy returns from injury. On the other hand, the middle order of Sri Lanka has just been involved in huge collapses and giving away wickets at regular intervals with just the openers scoring majority of the runs for them with the likes of Kusal Perera and Dimuth Karunaratne, and hence would like to regain control in their middle order in a must-win game for them tomorrow.
Joe Root is coming for tomorrow’s game with 2 centuries and 2 half centuries up his belt in the 5 games they’ve played, Eoin Morgan with a 148(71) in the previous game and a fifty otherwise, Bairstow back into form with 3 consecutive 40+ scores for him including a 90 in the previous game. This shows the batting strength of England which is always going to be a difficult task for the Sri Lankan bowlers to defend knowing that England has batting till No.11 and also the fact that their middle order has just been a failure and a cause of concern for the team management including the form of Angelo Matthews which is the biggest problem for them knowing he has a lot of experience up his alley.
England go into tomorrow’s game being the favorites and knowing they have the upper hand in tomorrow’s battle and they also would practically qualify for the Playoffs with a win tomorrow which would take them to 10 points, similar to Australia.
Probable XIs –
SL – K Perera, Karunaratne, Thirimanne, K Mendis, De Silva, Siriwardana, T Perera, J Mendis, Malinga, Udana, Pradeep
ENG – Bairstow, Vince, Root, Morgan, Buttler, Stokes, Moeen, Woakes, Archer, Rashid, Wood
Possible Replacements –
1. Angelo Matthews has been a failure for the team and might be rested/dropped for Jeevan Mendis giving them an extra spin bowling option against England including a reliable batsman down the order with De Silva and Siriwardana having the chance to bat in the middle order. Suranga Lakmal’s Injury extent is still unknown and so is his availability for tomorrow’s game due to the same. If he’s fit, any one could make way for him since he’s been one of their in-form bowlers and it depends on the team as to what team balance should they go for. He can even replace Matthews with Mendis being on the bench yet again.
2. NONE for England since they’re on a winning momentum and are coming off from a 150 run win against Afghanistan in the previous game. They’re unlikely to make any changes to their winning combination unless someone’s being rested or has an injury concern before the game begins.
Analysis of various cricket matches 