By Adrian Meredith
VICTORIA, Australia (TheSportsNEXT) September 28, 2012: A quirk of the scheduling system is that it is based on rankings from a year ago, not on who finishes 1st or 2nd in each group and hence we have a situation where all of the unbeaten sides (Australia, India, Pakistan and South Africa) are in the same super 8 group, with only 2 of them going to make the quarter finals, while the other group features the 4 sides that have all lost a match (England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies).
It is hard to know who is traveling well and who isn't, given that 4 unbeaten sides are facing each other.
Sri Lanka are probably favoured to qualify out of their super 8 group but it is really somewhat up in the air who the other team is - though probably West Indies look the most likely.
England are reigning champions though and are ranked 2nd while New Zealand seem to always make the semi finals of every World Cup; so can't be written off.
In the other group, South Africa look like powerhouses and should qualify but then it is a question of who will go with them.
Australia seem to be in the best form of the other 3 but they are still the lowest ranked of them so who knows.India did do incredibly well against England while Pakistan have just showcased what they are capable of.
From here, I am going to pick Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa and Australia as my 4 semi finalists, with Sri Lanka and South Africa as the 2 finalists and Sri Lanka winning the tournament.
Such an odd system though!
Highlights, Review of ICCWT20 Match No. 9-12
In an ideal world, the last 4 matches of the group stage should have all had something on the line, with teams fighting for the last spots in the Super 8s. Unfortunately, only 2 spots were still up for grabs, with Group C already decided - even before they had their final match - and Group A also had been decided.
Match 9: New Zealand vs Pakistan (Group D) had something on the line though. It was Pakistan's first match - the last team to play, and if they lost this then they would have to battle against Bangladesh for the last spot in the super 8s. Oddly enough, they ended up doing that anyway, in spite of winning. The match was all about Pakistan though with Nasir Jamsheed the best of a pretty good batting effort scoring 56 off 35 balls as they scored a huge 177, only to have New Zealand go close to pulling off a huge victory. Pakistan's bowlers were fantastic too, with Saeed Ajmal in particular bowling well. All looked scripted for a huge Pakistan victory, only to have Ross Taylor almost pull it off at the end. In the end they didn't quite make it, though they got to within 14 runs of doing it. New Zealand showed that they had fight but ultimately Pakistan showed just how good they were, and that they are a real chance of winning the tournament.
Match 10: England vs India (Group A) was something of a warm up match for both teams and India treated it as such, changing 4 players to make sure that everyone in the squad had a game. England, though, took it more seriously with only 1 change. This should have led to England winning easily, but as it turned out experimentation was the right option, as India scored fairly well, with underperforming Rohit Sharma scoring 55 off 33 balls on the way to a decent score of 170. If that seemed below par at the interval, it seemed positively enormous after England started batting. England started badly and it got worse from there, with Harbhajan Singh in particular doing well, taking 4 for 12, including 2 maidens! What was perhaps more impressive was that Bhajji had barely played for a couple of years before this! So India not only won by 90 runs but managed to get 2 of their weakest links be the best players! Very well done!
Match 11: Ireland vs West Indies (Group B) was the only really exciting match out of the final 4, as this was a straight out shoot out for the last spot in the Super 8s from Group B. Ireland simply had to win to qualify. If it was a no result, West Indies would qualify by virtue of being beaten by a slightly smaller margin than Ireland were. Ireland started poorly, with their opener Porterfield clean bowled first ball, one of 4 players to be out bowled, out of 6, a pretty impressive bowling effort! But in between that Ireland had shown some fight. There was some rain mid innings, but they only lost 1 over per side. Just the same, Ireland's total of 6 for 129 off 19 overs looked grossly inadequate. We will never know, though, as rain then came in to ruin the match, and West Indies didn't even have to bat! West Indies therefore had 2 matches ruined by rain, losing one by Duckworth-Lewis and the other one washed out - and qualify for the super 8s without a victory! A hollow qualification but qualification just the same. Perhaps the organisers shouldn't have planned this during Sri Lanka's monsoon season?
Match 12: Bangladesh vs Pakistan (Group D) was a little bit more interesting, as Bangladesh could qualify if they beat Pakistan by 36 runs - if batting first - or with a really complicated formula if they batted 2nd - as it would depend on how many runs Pakistan made as to how many overs they would have to get them. As a result, in spite of conditions suggesting it was better to bowl first, Bangladesh batted first, presumably to make it an easier equation. And what batting they managed! Tamim Iqbal starred early before Shakib al Hasan came in. Shakib was largely responsible for Tamim's run out for 24 off 12 balls but then Shakib himself launched, finishing with a very impressive 84 off 54 balls, the highest ever score by a Bangladesh batsman in a T20 international, as the team finished with an impressive 6 for 175, Bangladesh's 2nd highest ever score in T20 internationals! Pakistan needed 140 to qualify; but while it would have been easy for Pakistan to have aimed for that first, they instead simply launched. In the 2nd over, Bangladesh had a chance to take an early wicket, a simple catch, but missed it, and then, two harder chances later, and they were all but out of the game. Imran Nazir capitalised on those early drops and other mistakes as he powered to 72 off 36 balls. Shakib probably deserved man of the match but Imran Nazir was given the total, as he was on the winning side. Nazir and his opening partner Hafeez were both out at around the 120 mark but the game was well and truly over by then and Pakistan cruised to an easy, and crushing, victory, as Bangladesh left the tournament; but at least they had given themselves a chance.
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