Today’s ICC Champions Trophy 2013 match between West Indies and South Africa at Cardiff is touted as the unofficial semi-final to grab the Semi-Final berth from Group B.
The conventional wisdom is whichever team wins this match would qualify along with India for the semi-finals, as both West Indies and South Africa have 2 points each from one win against the poor Pakistanis.
I am not so sure. One reason is (as of this writing), rain has delayed the toss in the match. If this match (#9) is also abandoned due to rain like the match #7 between Australia and New Zealand and points shared 1 apiece, then South Africa do go through because of their better run rate. India would top the table with South Africa tagging along from Group B. In effect even a draw/abandoned match would do fine.
To think that everyone (including the twitteratti) rated Group B as the group-of-death, only exposes the vagaries of the game. Even the pulse poll at icc-cricket.com reflects that opinion.
It is the so called easy Group A which has gone topsy-turvy.
Group A in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 is really in turmoil. At this stage, no one expected New Zealand of all teams to top the table or Australia to languish at the bottom.
And the Poms must have had a galling evening yesterday when Sri Lanka defeated them in match #8. It would actually become unpalatable to them come match #12 (17 Jun) when Australia play Sri Lanka. The English would have to root for a Australian win for England have to go through to semi-finals.
If Sri Lanka win that match, it would be down to Net Run Rate (NRR) to decide the qualifier between England and Sri Lanka. If Australia win, Sri Lanka with 2 points would be eliminated and it would be between Australia and New Zealand with 3 points each on NRR.
:-)
Of course that is assuming that England do win against New Zealand in the preceding match #11 on 16 Jun. If they don’t they would remain stuck at 2 points and the winner of the Australia-Sri Lanka match would automatically go through, with 3 or 4 points respectively, along with New Zealand.
I hope it does not get any more messy. For e.g., if England-New Zealand match #11 gets washed out to rain, New Zealand would automatically qualify with 4 points. England still have to wait for the decider in Australia-Sri Lanka match.
:-D
In effect, all the matches from today would be interesting, provided rain does not play spoil sport -
Friday 14 June – West Indies v South Africa -Winner Qualifies
Saturday 15 June – India v Pakistan - always an entertainer
Sunday 16 June – England v New Zealand - must win for England
Monday 17 June – Australia v Sri Lanka - Qualifier decider
Semi-finals
Wednesday 19 June – A1 v B2 (d), The Oval
Thursday 20 June – B1 v A2 (d), Cardiff Wales Stadium
Final
Sunday 23 June – Edgbaston (d)
The conventional wisdom is whichever team wins this match would qualify along with India for the semi-finals, as both West Indies and South Africa have 2 points each from one win against the poor Pakistanis.
I am not so sure. One reason is (as of this writing), rain has delayed the toss in the match. If this match (#9) is also abandoned due to rain like the match #7 between Australia and New Zealand and points shared 1 apiece, then South Africa do go through because of their better run rate. India would top the table with South Africa tagging along from Group B. In effect even a draw/abandoned match would do fine.
To think that everyone (including the twitteratti) rated Group B as the group-of-death, only exposes the vagaries of the game. Even the pulse poll at icc-cricket.com reflects that opinion.
It is the so called easy Group A which has gone topsy-turvy.
Group A in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 is really in turmoil. At this stage, no one expected New Zealand of all teams to top the table or Australia to languish at the bottom.
And the Poms must have had a galling evening yesterday when Sri Lanka defeated them in match #8. It would actually become unpalatable to them come match #12 (17 Jun) when Australia play Sri Lanka. The English would have to root for a Australian win for England have to go through to semi-finals.
If Sri Lanka win that match, it would be down to Net Run Rate (NRR) to decide the qualifier between England and Sri Lanka. If Australia win, Sri Lanka with 2 points would be eliminated and it would be between Australia and New Zealand with 3 points each on NRR.
:-)
Of course that is assuming that England do win against New Zealand in the preceding match #11 on 16 Jun. If they don’t they would remain stuck at 2 points and the winner of the Australia-Sri Lanka match would automatically go through, with 3 or 4 points respectively, along with New Zealand.
I hope it does not get any more messy. For e.g., if England-New Zealand match #11 gets washed out to rain, New Zealand would automatically qualify with 4 points. England still have to wait for the decider in Australia-Sri Lanka match.
:-D
In effect, all the matches from today would be interesting, provided rain does not play spoil sport -
Friday 14 June – West Indies v South Africa -Winner Qualifies
Saturday 15 June – India v Pakistan - always an entertainer
Sunday 16 June – England v New Zealand - must win for England
Monday 17 June – Australia v Sri Lanka - Qualifier decider
Semi-finals
Wednesday 19 June – A1 v B2 (d), The Oval
Thursday 20 June – B1 v A2 (d), Cardiff Wales Stadium
Final
Sunday 23 June – Edgbaston (d)
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