ODI World Cup.

[Pies4shaw]

Smith has celebrated his return to the Australian team by being dropped by the Rajasthan Royals. Ashton Tuner came into the team and made a powerful first-ball duck.

[K]

Scyld Berry (The Telegraph, London) overestimates the Oz batting:

"No country, not even England ..., will have such a strong batting line-up as Australia after the return of Warner and Smith. Warner has looked fitter than at any time in his career in the IPL ... and motivated to make runs by the sackful in every format.

Smith, following an elbow operation, has eased back less spectacularly in the IPL - and his 50-over batting has never been quite the same forte as in Tests, where he averages 61 - but he still merits a return under the captaincy of Aaron Finch.

Warner, Finch, Usman Khawaja - who came good as an ODI opener during the winter - Smith, Shaun Marsh, and either Glenn Maxwell or Marcus Stoinis, or both: no, not even England can match that line-up for solidity - for pyrotechnics on a high-scoring pitch, yes, but not for solidity on every occasion, most importantly the knockout stages.

India do not have the same strength of batting either, not for English conditions when the ball is moving around - or the depth in pace bowling."


I don't know why he thinks that line-up has solidity. Only Warner and Maxwell inspire any ODI confidence. It's all relative, of course, and modern batsmen from every country crumble at the slightest sign of bowler-friendly conditions.

[K]

England preliminary World Cup squad: Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/26543181/jofra-archer-misses-initial-world-cup-cut-set-england-debut

But they said they might change it, so....

[Pies4shaw]

Warner just made 50 from 25 balls for Hyderabad. He was 21 from 15 balls and then belted 29 from the next 9 (with, it must be observed, no sixes). His thumping innings propelled his team to a simple win over (still) top of the table Chennai. Warner now has 450 runs from 8 games, with 1 100 and 5 50s. It is fair to say that the only thing standing between Warner and his opening partner, Bairstow, on the one hand, and tournament victory, on the other, is that no-one else in the Hyderabad line-up seems to be able to bat. Warner is, of course, the leading scorer in the competition by a long way and Bairstow is third with 365 (he would probably be second, except that Rahul's team has played an extra game, because of the draw) but the next "best" Hyderabad player has 139 and, after him, no-one has made more tha 60 for them.

[eureka]

my tip for the final is india v australia

[K]

South Africa WC Squad: Faf du Plessis (capt), JP Duminy, David Miller, Dale Steyn, Andile Phehlukwayo, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada, Dwaine Pretorius, Quinton de Kock (wk), Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Hashim Amla, Tabraiz Shamsi.


Sri Lanka WC Squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (capt.), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal.


Pakistan WC Squad: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abid Ali, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez (subject to fitness), Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt & wk), Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Sohail.


"The deadline to announce squads is April 23, but teams can make changes till May 23 without seeking permission from the ICC's event technical committee. ESPNcricinfo understands the April 23 date was put in place to allow the ICC to proceed with logistics like hotel and flight bookings."


This leaves just the Windies, Bangladesh & Afghanistan squads to be announced.

[Pies4shaw]

Warner is slowing down. Just 67 from 38 in Hyderabad's win last night. He's the first player to 500 runs (517 from 9 innings) and has a game in hand on everyone else in the competition (except for Bairstow, who has 445 opening with him and Rajasthan, whose best batsman, Steve Smith, is nearly 300 behind Warner). He's reached at least 50 in 7 of his 9 hits (and made 100 on one of those occasions).

[K]

Are you not worried he's peaked too soon? The WC is what matters.

[K]

Afghanistan WC squad: Gulbadin Naib (capt), Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Noor Ali Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Afghan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb ur Rahman.

[K]

After the Oz squad was announced, there was some grumbling that Turner would be a better choice than Stoinis, but now Turner has set an unfortunate record of 5 consecutive T20 ducks, 4 of them golden.

[Pies4shaw]

Turner has been fitting right in to the Rajasthan middle order.

[K]

Chappelli says the WC is wide open and bowling is key:

"In checking past World Cup scorecards of games played in the UK to try and gain a clue as to who might win in 2019, one thing stands out: the teams with the best bowling attack generally make the final.
...

And therein lies a clue to likely success in an England ODI tournament - the conditions. If it's a damp summer then the team with the best seam attack will start with a huge advantage, as batting will be a challenge. If, on the other hand, it's a dry summer, the batsmen will have the upper hand and it'll be the attacks with plenty of variety - the accent on genuine pace and spin - that are likely to make the final."


On the Oz batting, he says:

"The much anticipated return of David Warner and Steven Smith from suspension will substantially boost Australia's run-getting ability. The big question mark for the defending champions is how Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja will cope against the stronger attacks, especially if there is encouragement for the pace bowlers."


http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/26517691/leading-contenders-world-cup

[Pies4shaw]

Warner's 57 from 43 overnight was not quite enough to bring home the win over top of the table Chennai. Watson's 96 from 53 (his first 50 of the season) was the difference between the teams, as Chennai won with 1 ball to spare.

Warner now has 574 runs from 10 knocks, with 1 100 and 7 50s.

[K]

cricinfo's all-time World Cup XI

Adam Gilchrist (wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Viv Richards, Kumar Sangakkara, Imran Khan (c), Lance Klusener, Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/26591943/espncricinfo-all-world-cup-xi

[Pies4shaw]

Overnight, Stoinis contributed 46 not out, including 20 off the last 4 balls of the Bangalore innings (4,6,4,6) and 1/13 from 2 overs (a significant contribution in a match in which his team made 202 and the team chasing got to 184). ABD and he put on a match-winning partnership of 121 from 11 overs (including 64 from the final 3). But for that 27-run final over, Punjab would probably have won.