ICC World Cup 2019 March Newsround
Finch in squad pick conundrum
Aaron Finch, Australia’s ODI captain admits picking their 15-man World Cup squad is proving to be a real headache.
Of course it’s always a good headache to have when players are coming into form at the right time and Australia’s recent remarkable turnaround in fortune has brought lots of players screaming back into contention. Finch’s own batting form helped claw back a 2-0 looming defeat against India to claim a highly impressive 3-2 final result. That has then been followed up by an impressive 3-0 unassailable lead against Pakistan in U.A.E. in their current 5 match series
Add to that the return of the contrite Warner and Smith – who are currently getting game time in at the IPL – and Finch and the selectors find themselves scratching their heads to come up with a stable and winning squad.
Finch commented to Australian media:
“It is bloody hard, no matter who misses out on the squad. Especially when the side is playing so well, it’s going to be difficult. I will definitely have my views. Justin [Langer] and I, we talk all the time, every day, about selections and team make-ups, different scenarios and things like that.
“At the end of the day, they’re the selectors and it’s an incredibly tough decision” said Finch. “Whatever balance you go with in that 15-man squad, there’s going to be some very unlucky blokes out there.
“It [a settled squad] just helps out a lot and it’s been great that we’ve had a really similar squad for quite a while now. England have had a great four years since the last World Cup, but they’ve had a very settled side. India are no different.
“I think leading up to the 2015 World Cup; we’d had the same 15 players for a good 18 months or so. That goes a long way – not just to your culture but just an understanding of how each other play’s.”
Morgan confirms Archer to get his chance against Pakistan
England captain Eoin Morgan has no qualms about shaking things up before their home World Cup and has confirmed that 23-year-old Barbadian born Jofra Archer – who only qualified to play for England this month will be given a run in the England team against Pakistan in May.
The young explosive allrounder has already made a big splash on the international franchise circuit and Morgan is happy to trial him pre tournament.
Morgan commented:
“The hype about Jofra playing around the world and doing well and attracting a lot of attention is justified as he has put in performances that warrant looking at.
“Trevor Bayliss said after the West Indies series we will look at him against Pakistan and that’s what we will do.
“We don’t have to name our squad until the end of the Pakistan series so we’ll have a look and see how he goes.”
“You can’t ignore it but we’ve prepared for going into the World Cup as favourites,” added Morgan.
“It’s something which sits absolutely fine with us. The reason it is there is because of the success we’ve had in the past but that’s all in the past now and our focus needs to be on what’s to come and the things we need to do.”
Pakistan take many positives from defeat against Aussies
Despite going down 3-0 in the most recent 5 match series against Australia, bowling coach, Azhar Mahmood was very upbeat about the positives he has taken from the games so far. He was particularly pleased with the progress of his bowling attack and Usman Shinwari in particular:
“He has bowled really well,” said Mahmood after the game on Wednesday, 27th of March. “And [so has] Junaid Khan. We have got a young find in the form of Mohammad Hasnain.”
As far as the batting line-up goes he referenced the tons amassed by Haris Sohail and Mohammad Rizwan as highlights.
“Unfortunately, today, the ball was doing a bit, so we were not good enough.”
This defeated side was not at full strength however, with the likes of Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam and skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed rested as Pakistan have tried to find their squad players for the World Cup.
The bowling coach added:
“We know what our main strength is in batting and bowling. The regular guys are going to return, but we thought this series is a good opportunity to test the capabilities of youngsters.
“We are trying different combinations keeping the World Cup in mind. If we play only our main strength and then someone gets injured, we won’t have any options left. This series was our best chance to test bench strength.”
West Indies buoyed by England performances
Carlos Brathwaite, the West Indies all rounder is confident that if his team can carry the form shown against England in their recent series through to the ICC World Cup 2019, then they will have a very good challenge.
Only getting to the World Cup via the qualifying tournament, which they lost in the final to Afghanistan, they have experienced something of a renaissance.
Braithwaite said:
“I don’t want ourselves to be called favourites or underdogs. But we have recently played some great brand of cricket and if we can replicate that [in England] we will go somewhere close to challenging for the title,”
“We have been traditionally a good tournament team; so hopefully, we can win the third World Cup. From players’ point of view, we have the belief that we can win and we will play our best cricket.”
“We have to play our best game over nine or something preliminary games and then in the semi-finals and finals,” added Brathwaite.
“We know what we can do but we need to execute our plans. We have full faith that we can lift the trophy.”
From his own perspective, he’ll be happy just to play a small part – even if it isn’t quite the iconic feat of hitting four sixes in a final over as he did in the T20 World Cup.
“I would not be hitting four sixes again maybe, but I am happy to be contributing. It’s not about scoring a fifty or taking a hat-trick. I’ve matured over the years.”
Expat Sport’s Dan McTiernan performs his latest round of the news emerging from World Cup bound teams in the final week of March 2019.
