Who will be the the top four teams to qualify for the World Cup Semi-Finals ?? Exactly a month ago… The Answer by all Cricketing Pundits was it’s going to be India, Australia, England and the fight for the fourth place. Now we are done with 32 matches of the tournament and we see that the tournament favorites the most supple of them all England are left fighting the jitters that have sank in their campaign… Winning emphatically over the South Africans , being put down by Pakistan, They came back all guns blazing against the Bangladesh team crushing the Windies and scoring the Highest total of this world cup against Afghanistan a mamoth 397 proving their mark to all the fellow contenders sending out a clear message that It’s surely coming home this time everything fine and right for the Englishmen there comes a match which most of us would have thought How early could England finish it and take up their run-rate but the Old Guns had to fire some day, unfortunately for England it was the day where chasing a mere target of 233 against the Under Dogs Srilanka they fall apart with Malinga and Angelo Mathews both performing in the same match defeating England by 20 runs and throwing the tournament wide open after the Post match presentation England skipper Eoin Morgan was calm and composed refusing any sort of panic inside their camp thinking that they could easily make up to the semi’s by winning 2 out of the 3 matches left to play.
The Most Enthralling Rivalry after India Pakistan is the England Australia rivalry Hence the stage was set and to repeat the history again since they have not been able to defeat Aussies after the 1992 world cup even with the Toss flipping their side , choosing to Bowl under Overcast conditions with the likes of Wood ,Archer and Woakes they were unable to take a wicket till the score board ticked 123 , bowling more short of length or half volleys to the Aussie batsmen they clinged their way back into the game taking 2-3 wickets back to back and having a target of 286 in front of them to chase down.
With a batting order which was termed as the most destructive one in the tournament where the were merrily making 350’s and 400’s they bat deep till number 10, England fancied their chances of chasing it down quite easily but Aussies had other plans their left handed John Cena’s doppelganger Jason Behrendorff struck as early as the second delivery of the innings, England surely missed their regular opener Jason Roy first against Srilanka and now in the big game against Australia.
With Starc getting over the middle order the Englishmen were never in the game but still their only ray of hope left was Big Ben who was bamboozled by unarguably the ball of the tournament till now , A reverse swinging yorker by Mighty Mitchell Starc and hence they end losing by 64 runs which now quite has changed the equation for the semi’s.
Who would have imagined a month ago that Australia will be the first team to qualify for the Semi-final’s. Now 3 berths left with most probably India going to fill another one along with NewZealand who still are undefeated in the tournament. For England it’s do or die situation they have to win both of their games which is against India and NewZealand , tough times for them ahead..!!
Pakistan can now fancy their chances if they will all their matches with England losing any one of their matches along with Srilanka and Bangladesh also losing one.
Srilanka’s story is quite the same, their win against England have created a chance to reach the knock out stage , they also have to win all their remaining matches which will take them to 12 points.
Bangladesh on the other hand have to win both their remaining matches with wanting Srilanka to lose one of their match. Still everything will boil down to the Net Run Rate at the end of the league stage which finally will decide who goes through.
A very interesting week of the Cricket fever is about to grope the Cricket fans.
Just wait and watch…!!!
My Prediction for final four will be
Australia (already qualified), India , NewZealand and Pakistan ( This might be a surprise) let’s see…!!
Till then keep reading..
See ya..!!
cricketatcore 