I am sorry to say but this is Cricket World Cup and it should live up to its name. So far, except for two Lankan games, all the matches are turning out to be one-sided boring affairs. No offence to Bengladsesh and Ireland (and their lovers), but the presence of these teams contributed immensly to hugely mismatched games. Plus, England and West Indies decided not to come to the party at all. Games getting over in 10 or 13 overs are an embarassment to the Super-8 stage of this tournament.
Our fingers are still crossed that we can see some close games in semis and final and the World Cup can finally begin before it wraps up.
Yeah, a World Cup that lasted all of three games :-(
Australia have a reputation of winning one-sided finals - e.g. finals of WC 99 and 03. Also final of last Champions trophy. Lets see if Lankans can finally give them a tough time.
This World Cup will be remebered only for two things. Bob's murder and extremely boring one sided matches, as you said.
The only thing that can spice it up is a new winner of the cup. Specially if its well deserving NZ side.
If its Aus-SL final, then Aus will have upper edge.
However if its Aus-NZ final, then its a 50/50.
If its SL vs SA, then it will be a 50/50.
But if its a NZ vs SA final , both first timer in final and first chance to lift the cup, and both being the top ODI sides that never won the cup, NZ has a clear chance to nail it this time around. It will be a heck of a game, both sides will give it anything to win it.
I know some people will come in and say "just because Pak and India are not there, so you are feeling morose about the whole cup". Partially true, but look at the friggin' score cards of the games. Its a mockery of Super-8 stage. Even if you watch these games for the love of the game, it will leave you feeling empty.
And teams are showing just choti choti khushiyaaN. Bangladesh is happy that they beat South Africa. Ireland is happy they beat Bangladesh. West Indies is happy that if they beat England they will be #5 team. At least with India Pakistan in the mix, you can't dismiss any game. Yes, they can be dud one day, but are a bomb the next. Even Aussies won't take either India or Pak lightly. Half the Super-8 teams right now are a joke! Seriously.
We have been having too many one sided games not just in world-cup, but in all tours and tournaments for the past few years. I do happen to have a theory on "one" of the (many) reasons why this is occurring.
In my view, teams whether batting first or chasing at least average scores are under immense pressure to score quickly in the early part of their innings as opposed to the old style of keeping wickets in hand and slogging in the last 10-15 overs. The favorable circumstances for making big scores in the form of helpful pitches, shorter boundaries and more aggressive crop of batsmen have resulted in a situation where teams are too fixated with achieving scores of 290+ in every match. Throw in the "power-play" rule and teams are under even MORE pressure to score very quickly in the early part of their innings. More often than not, this results in teams losing early wickets followed by a slow re-consolidation period, which leaves them worse off than if they had played normal cricket instead of going crazy in the power plays. This has resulted in frequent collapses in even the good batting sides (India, Pakistan middle order) which has severely dented the batsmen confidence. The result is that teams get too panicky even when they are chasing moderate totals, lose too many wickets EARLY in their innings, and get out of the match too early in their innings and hence producing one sided games.
I think it's time ICC realized that the introduction of power plays has worsened the situations. Instead of distributing power plays throughout the innings, most captains prefer (and rightly so) to get them out of the way in the beginning. This has resulted in an extension of the 'hit over the inner circle' period from 15 overs to 20 overs. The urge to score faster EARLY in the innings is causing collapses in batting lineup of ALL teams producing one sided games. If we went back to the old 15-overs-only fielding restrictions, the average total runs scored by teams would suffer, but we'd have MORE close games.
In any case, this is my candidate as 'one' of the many reasons why this is happening. It seems like many teams went into a rebuilding phase in early 2000's and never got out of it.
I know some people will come in and say "just because Pak and India are not there, so you are feeling morose about the whole cup". Partially true, but look at the friggin' score cards of the games. Its a mockery of Super-8 stage. Even if you watch these games for the love of the game, it will leave you feeling empty.
And teams are showing just choti choti khushiyaaN. Bangladesh is happy that they beat South Africa. Ireland is happy they beat Bangladesh. West Indies is happy that if they beat England they will be #5 team. At least with India Pakistan in the mix, you can't dismiss any game. Yes, they can be dud one day, but are a bomb the next. Even Aussies won't take either India or Pak lightly. Half the Super-8 teams right now are a joke! Seriously.
True, very true. I, like alomost everyone else, am counting down the days till the Super 8 is finished.
Ireland and Bangladesh are pathetic, crap and hopeless teams who should not be anywhere near the Super 8.
They have made this World Cup a flop, as has the two-month length.
Haha...
What a lousy tourny this has turned out to be......
I started atleast one thread a while ago on ICC's shortcomings. There are so many related to this WC that its hard to count them....
"I'm not saying this tournament is too long, but I left a pregnant wife back in England and they've both now finished their first year at university..." Arlo White on BBC
