Re: CMS World Cup Awards 2023
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 6:35 amBowling performance of the tournament split our judges, but the clear winner was Mohammad Shami's 7-57 v New Zealand. Easily the best figures of this tournament, New Zealand were threatening at 220-2 to do the unthinkable and pull off a chase of nearly 400 before Shami took out Williamson and Latham in a single over, before returning a few overs later to not only remove their last hope in Daryl Mitchell and run through the tail.
Biggest positive team surprise of the tournament was easily Afghanistan, with a performance that won them a huge amount of support and good feeling from the global cricketing community. 4 wins from 9, and it so nearly was 5 wins and a semi-final spot if Maxwell hadn't performed a miracle, Afghanistan defeated the defending champions England, as well as Pakistan, Netherlands and Sri Lanka, and gave South Africa a decent run for their money as well. After a rocky few years and a dismal tournament in 2019, they have arrived as a serious contender.
Biggest team letdown of the tournament could have been none other than England, the unanimous call of our judges. Hard to fathom what went wrong for the defending champions, but Ben Stokes summed it up fairly well with 'we were cr@p'. It wasn't just the defeats, it was the manner of them, with so many utter thrashings, and a number of all-time great England white ball players made to look totally clueless. Captain Jos Buttler cut an increasingly forlorn figure during the tournament, as neither his tactics nor his dismal form with the bat (a dismal 138 runs at 15 in 9 innings) able to help England in any way, making him the biggest player letdown of the tournament too.
And finally, player of the tournament was a unanimous and very easy call for the incredible King Kohli, who bestrode the tournament as his own - most runs in any edition of a world cup ever, his 50th hundred surpassing his hero Tendulkar, he was behind so much that was great about India in this tournament. Even falling at the final hurdle couldn't take the shine off what was a special performance.
Biggest positive team surprise of the tournament was easily Afghanistan, with a performance that won them a huge amount of support and good feeling from the global cricketing community. 4 wins from 9, and it so nearly was 5 wins and a semi-final spot if Maxwell hadn't performed a miracle, Afghanistan defeated the defending champions England, as well as Pakistan, Netherlands and Sri Lanka, and gave South Africa a decent run for their money as well. After a rocky few years and a dismal tournament in 2019, they have arrived as a serious contender.
Biggest team letdown of the tournament could have been none other than England, the unanimous call of our judges. Hard to fathom what went wrong for the defending champions, but Ben Stokes summed it up fairly well with 'we were cr@p'. It wasn't just the defeats, it was the manner of them, with so many utter thrashings, and a number of all-time great England white ball players made to look totally clueless. Captain Jos Buttler cut an increasingly forlorn figure during the tournament, as neither his tactics nor his dismal form with the bat (a dismal 138 runs at 15 in 9 innings) able to help England in any way, making him the biggest player letdown of the tournament too.
And finally, player of the tournament was a unanimous and very easy call for the incredible King Kohli, who bestrode the tournament as his own - most runs in any edition of a world cup ever, his 50th hundred surpassing his hero Tendulkar, he was behind so much that was great about India in this tournament. Even falling at the final hurdle couldn't take the shine off what was a special performance.