Much has been said and written about the start of this World Cup and the one sided games thus far. It’s certainly true that the only one with any real degree of doubt at the half way stage was the opener between. England and South Africa, and that uncertainty didn’t last overly long.
Yesterday Sri Lanka were demolished by New Zealand, while Australia comfortably overcame a spirited Afghanistan side. But we’re still waiting for a close game. This is sport, it happens, but it is relevant to highlight this when referring back to Dave Richardson using the argument of more competitive games as an excuse for booting out the Associates:
“Every match should be very competitive, and having 10 teams at the 2019 World Cup will ensure that’s the case”
He deserves all the stick he gets for the breathtaking stupidity of that remark, and to be reminded of it constantly. One sided matches happen, they always have and always will, but when used as a reason to turn the World Cup into a private club, opprobrium ought to follow.
And so today we have South Africa playing their second match, with India not scheduled to begin their World Cup until Wednesday, thanks to their insistence on a break from the IPL. Maybe today will be the tight, tense game we’ve been waiting for. Maybe.
Comments below as ever.
Being Outside Cricket 
“I was wrong to demand Morgan’s removal” – Oliver Holt.
Not a pisstake of “world’s least likely journalistic retractions”: it’s a real column for you all to get stuck in to….
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Blimey. Well, it is a version of someone finally conceding that ok, on reflection, perhaps the Titanic isn’t unsinkable after all, but at least he’s done it.
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My first reaction without reading it is “who gives a fuck what you think, you sanctimonious tosser?”
I have an inkling that view won’t deviate by reading it.
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Morgan was never part of the Cook cult. So he was always viewed with some suspicion by many of the media cultists. Remember Cooks quite bizarre attack on being dropped as Captain for the last World Cup?
As to Holt, I guess Manchester Utd are not playing football today so he has nothing else to write about. While one can welcome his u turn it smacks of getting his apologies in quiclky before England might win this World Cup. So maybe not quite as magnanimous as it appears.
If England do win the world cup, he was going to look like a pillock. Now he has both bases covered.
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Bangladesh putting England’s win over South Africa in a bit of context here. And we may see a massive contribution, 15/3 from Faf , Miller and Duminy in a few hours.
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True, but at least we may get a close game out of it…
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Well you jinxed it. South Africa probably won’t reach 200 now…
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SA will need 331 to win. And they may need to get them to have any chance of finishing in the last four. They play India next!
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Seems like they are on target, if they can do the last 10 acceleration without losing too many wickets.
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If two of the wickets are Miller and Duminy, you can safely add them as out to the equation. The best they can do is score a run-a-ball. They are finishers as much as Alastair Cook was a dashing Test fast bowler.
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It’s interesting to realise that having watched England a lot over the last couple of years, I think of a hundred in 10 as doable (far from easy, but doable), while Geoff Lemon says SA (facing roughly that) have nearly no chance…
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England have batsmen. South Africa have Duminy, who hardly ever gets out of REVERSE gear, let alone into first gear for such a chase.
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Ok, some of the reactions/commentary are starting to annoy me a bit.
Being beaten by Bangladesh in an ODI if you’re not on top form isn’t an “upset” these days.
Yes, they are not a team you’d tip for the semi-finals, but they’ve developed into a solid ODI team.
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More recent QFists than England, of course.
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Certainly Bangladesh beating South Africa isn’t a huge upset. Most “experts” seemed to favour South Africa based largely on their higher ICC ranking, but Bangladesh is on the rise whilst South Africa is falling.
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I actually went to the game today with cricket club team mates. It was never clear that SA mucked up by fielding first because Ngidi bowled such rubbish that he gave Bangladesh a flyer . To be honest apart from Phelukwelo no one in lime green acquitted themselves with any real quality and Tahir was a disappointment also.
I would agree with Lord Canis that Tahir and his celebrations look ridiculous, especially when his team were behind the eight ball.
I always thought that a score of 330 would be too much for SA and despite a reasonable stab at it the Bangladesh spinners bowled well enough to ensure that the rate was always a little beyond the batting side. I was not impressed by the Bangladesh seamers, I think they will get taken apart by the better batting sides and leave the seamers too much to do.
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Sorry, this is a PM but I don’t have any other way to reach him:
@NorthernLight, if you are reading: my blog will not be made public until July at the earliest, as I have a lot of entries to catch up on before going live. Cheers.
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The delay is not because I’m trying to monetise it… 😉
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Well, well. It isn’t just cinemas that have projection…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-03/booing-steve-smith-david-warner-australia-cricket-world-cup/11171946
I had to check this bollocks wasn’t written by Malcolm Conn.
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Must be the famous elastic white line that the Aussies are always operating on the right side of.
Always remember they made a “diplomatic incident” out of body line. They are always the victims. Or so they claim. I don’t think the average Aussie could give two shits.
Anyway, this article will just insure even mor sandpaper jokes.
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