ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 ongoing games results & news diary 7th edition

Sunday 23rd June

Pakistan kept their own semi-final hopes alive at Lords as they dealt a struggling South Africa the final blow that knocked them out of the World Cup.

For the Proteas it was their fifth defeat in the tournament and this was an absolutely must-win match, but although the 1992 tournament champions took this one by 49 runs it was only their second success in six games.

Pakistan won the toss in the London borough of the City of Westminster and elected to bat, their vibrant fans in full voice from the off. Remarkably, openers, Imam ul-Haq Haris and Fakhar Zaman were both caught off the bowling of Imran Tahir, and out for exactly the same score of 44. That platform of sorts was followed by a steady 69 from Babar Azam in 80 balls, in tandem with an entertaining boundary-rich 89 from Sohail, but there was little batting of consequence beyond this pairing. Pakistan made a final score of 308 for 7 in 50 overs.

South Africa might have had a better start, as Hashim Amla fell, lbw to Amir in 3 balls, and Markram later went for 7. But in and among, Quinton de Kock hit a bright 47 which looked to have potential before he was caught by Imam off the bowling of Shadab Khan. Followed by a stylish 63 from Faf du Plessis that took his side to 136 for 4, but then the Proteas captain was out having mishit another clever delivery from Amir. In truth, South Africa simply never got to grips with the required run rate, despite a 36 from Rassie van der Dussen, Miller’s contribution of 31 and Phelhukwayo not out on a rapid 46.

 

Beaten semi-finalists in 2015, South Africa who were ranked fourth coming into the World Cup finished on 259 for 9 losing to Pakistan by 49 runs. 

Meanwhile, The Men in Green moved up to 7th in the table, engineering a modest chance of making the semi-finals.

Monday 24th June

Bangladesh closed in on England a single point behind in the group table and the World Cup semi-final places when they beat Afghanistan by 62 runs at Southampton.

Afghanistan won the toss and opted to field down on the Hampshire coast and Bangladesh were soon up and running with the bat. Nevertheless, they proved relatively slow in accumulating a decent total. Liton Das (16), Tamim Iqbal (36) and allrounder Shakib al Hasan with another half-century had only taken the Tigers to 143 for 3 by the 29th over.

 

However, wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahman was still there with a magnificent 83 in 87 balls which kept things moving for a while until he was caught by Gulbadin Naib, beaten by the pace of Dawlat Zadran. Once Mushfiqur was out, with Soumya long departed for just 3 and Mahmudullah gone for a promising 27, Bangladesh were left on 251 for 6 in 48.3 overs. Mosaddek was still manning the barricades with a healthy 35, but ran out of overs finally losing his wicket trying to add a boundary off the penultimate delivery of the innings. Bangladesh ended on 261 for 7. It had been a used pitch on which it was difficult to score, which boded badly for Afghanistan batting.

Shakib Al Hasan was back starring again for Bangladesh this time with the ball, taking 5 for 29, making him only the second man to hit a fifty and take five wickets in a World Cup match, since Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh completed the feat against Ireland in 2011.

The Tigers’ spinners, with Shakib in the vanguard, then proceeded to smother the Afghanistan batsmen giving them limited scope to pursue their run chase. Captain Gulbadin Naib opened making 47 from 75 balls, but before Samiullah Shinwari marched to the crease and stayed the course unbeaten on 49, Afghanistan had lost four intervening wickets for the addition of only 55. Sadly the four batsmen that followed Shinwari’s steadying arrival fell for even less, a combined score of 36; and they literally never got up to the required run-rate. 

Afghanistan were all out for 200 in 47 overs and Bangladesh won the match by 62 runs.

Tuesday 25th June

England’s World Cup aspirations were suddenly hanging in the balance following an inglorious defeat to Australia at the nation’s ‘Home of Cricket’ Lord’s.

The 64-run loss meant that the hosts could well need to win their last two games, starting with India at Edgbaston on the coming Sunday, in order to make the last four. Leaving them with little margin for error, after three defeats in seven games, and indeed somewhat dependent on the way results went for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, all of whom could overtake skipper Eoin Morgan’s team.

England won the toss and decided to field. The hosts actually did a good job as they restricted Australia to 285 for 7, especially after their openers had looked in such decent nick. David Warner grabbed another 50 but was snared by Moeen Ali’s off-spin into the safe hands of Joe Root; however Australia’s skipper Aaron Finch had then swept effortlessly to a century to bring his team to a comfortable 173 for 1. Yet post Finch, England had confined both Steve Smith out and wicketkeeper Alex Carey not out to 38 apiece, Jos Buttler had caught Glenn Maxwell and Cummins behind on 12 and 1 respectively and run out Stoinis for 8. 

Nevertheless, this was a target likely to present a demanding challenge, given a fired up Australian attack in near perfect conditions for pace bowling; a prediction proved beyond reasonable doubt shortly thereafter. England’s top order was ripped asunder and at 53 for 4, their run chase in ruins. James Vince (0) and Joe Root (8) removed with purist swing, whereas the wickets of Jonny Bairstow (27) and Eoin Morgan (4) were delivered on a plate, both of them caught off rash and poorly executed pull shots.

In exactly the same fashion as he fought back against Sri Lanka, Ben Stokes stood tall and played a spirited  lone innings of 89, finally succumbing to a blistering yorker bowled by Mitchell Starc. England were meekly reduced to 221 all out and Australia won the match by 64 runs.

England probably now faced with having to beat two hitherto unbeaten sides: India (at this point the best team in the tournament) and New Zealand.

Wednesday 26th June

Pakistan’s World Cup semi-final hopes remained very much alive as they climbed the group table to within a point of England following a six-wicket victory over New Zealand.

New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat first on a slow Edgbaston pitch with a view to accumulating a decent score. However, Pakistan quick Shaheen Afridi had other ideas, shredding his way through New Zealand’s top order by the twelfth over. First out was opener Martin Gupthill bowled by Amir for 5, but then it was all Shaheen in a devastating spell. Colin Munro, caught by Haris for 12, then wicketkeeper Sarfaraz snapped up two caught behinds, Ross Taylor for 3 and Sarfaraz’s opposite number Latham for 1. 

With the situation looking grim for the Black Caps, Jimmy Neesham steadied a boat that could quite easily have slid under the waves, with his unbeaten 97. Neesham began his rescue innings in a partnership with captain Kane Williamson who eventually edged a delivery to the ever industrious Sarfaraz behind the stumps on 41, he then continued alongside the reliably consistent Colin de Grandhomme, who was unfortunately run out for 64 in the 47th over. New Zealand closed on 237 for 6 in 50 overs.

The crowd in Birmingham were pretty much Pakistan supporters through and through, so it was a loud reception as their heroes walked to the crease. 

Despite the instant hostility of the New Zealand bowling, very fast but not always accurate; Pakistan generally appeared to be on top chasing down an unexceptional total of 238 to win. Nevertheless there were moments. 

Lockie Ferguson bowled a number of 94mph (151.3kph) bouncers and struck with his second ball, a vicious delivery that homed in on Imam ul-Haq’s bat handle then veered into the grasp of Gupthill, bringing his innings to a premature end on 19. Later on in the match a brilliant spell from left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner tormented Pakistan’s batters causing them real difficulty. Yet despite Santner constantly beating the bat, wickets eluded him.

Babar Azam’s 101 was the bedrock innings that helped Pakistan across the line before the equivalent of a home crowd at Edgbaston. More accurately speaking, it was a combination of Babar and Haris Sohail, the latter having recently produced a sparkling 89 against South Africa, who virtually saw the game out in a match-winning partnership of 126. Haris was run out in the penultimate over leaving Babar to hit four off the first ball of the final over to win the match. The Men in Green kept their heads and batted calmly throughout maintaining the circa run a ball rate required.

Pakistan finished on 241 for 4 beating South Africa by 6 wickets

This result left England definitely needing wins against both New Zealand and India in their final two group games to guarantee a semi-final place.

Thursday 27th June

India thrashed West Indies in another stride toward the World Cup semi-finals, simultaneously dashing any hope the Windies’ might still harbor of qualifying; it was a total demolition at Old Trafford.

India put themselves in to bat after winning the toss; revealing a number of interesting aspects of the team, along the way. The top order remains dynamic, not so true today of Rohit Sharma, master of the big innings, out for 19, but the middle is tangibly fragile. While Kohli top-scored and made batting look easy, it will not be lost on him that he has yet to make a century in the competition, looking mystified as he pulled a delivery from Jason Holder straight down the throat of a fielder at mid-wicket on 72, with India looking to up the run rate. An exit made all the more infuriating as the wickets of those around him tumbled.

KL Rahul was bowled by Holder, vacillating between two courses of action on 48; while Vijay Shankar, who has found runs hard to come by batting at number four, was utterly deceived by a ball that moved off the seam dispatched for 14 and the generally minacious Hardik Pandya sliced a shot to cover on 48 after a flurry of silky boundaries.

Although MS Dhoni gave the packed Manchester crowd a vaudeville finish, smashing two sixes and a four off the final over, he is inclined to linger over his innings’, and the number of singles dwindled noticeably as he progressed. 

West Indies gave a good account of themselves in the field their bowling was economical and they made an effort to keep a lid on the runs.  Thus chasing 269 for victory was not a daunting task, but India simply tore the Windies batting apart, pace bowler Mohammad Shami took 4 for 16: Chris Gayle (6), Shai Hope (5), Shimron Hetmyer (18) and Oshane Thomas (6) while his speedster comrade Jasprit Bumrah gathered 2 for 1; Carlos Brathwaite (1) and Fabian Allen (0). 

West Indies were dismissed for an impoverished 143 in 34.2 overs losing to India by 125 runs, no doubt regretting their frenzied batting display on an utterly sedate pitch.

A day earlier India replaced England at the top of the ICC one-day rankings as the only unbeaten team in the tournament.