The All New World Cup 2023 Thread.

[andy]

Game.and tournament couldn't be doing any worse for England...not at the races at all...selection scrambled...bowling plans scrambled and the batting has gone backwards

[Durhamfootman]

If anyone thinks this is a mismatch, wait until tonight. Double blood to SA today

[andy]

Big over 16 runs from it much needed!!

[Arthur Crabtree]

Willey is in soon enough anyway! 12th over.

[mikesiva]

Coetzee can be expensive. I think South Africa should have picked Shamsi instead.

We'll see.

Well, I can see clearly now.

Coetzee on fire!

[Arthur Crabtree]

70-6. NRR will be a bit grim.

[andy]

Still over 300 needed

[andy]

Rashid gone into the bowlers

[mikesiva]

England 170 all out

South Africa win by 229 runs.

[Durhamfootman]

Well, that all seems to have been a complete shambles

Only Atkinson and wood scoring runs

Didn’t even make it to half way.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Presume Topley will be out the next game.

[GarlicJam]

70-6. NRR will be a bit grim.

This was a heck of a surprise, opening up to see this result.

Looking at the table, England are only 0.002 points above Afghanistan on the table - two sixes from Wood in the last over kept E gland off the bottom of the table.

Whereas a good win (I now realise that was a laughable thought) would have seen them up in 3rd spot...

[bigfluffylemon]

Ok, that really stung.

How did we go from world beaters to so utterly shambolic?

[Slipstream]

Why bowl first? Buttler, we prefer chasing..... Most of the games I see the ball changes under lights and does all kind of things.
If Topley's finger is broken then they will call up a bowler. What about Archer, the reserve, who is in India? Mott says he won't play. He has been bowling for over a month, looks fine to me.

[alfie]

Yes choosing to field first in those conditions was inexplicable. I am at a loss to understand some of the choices they have been making - though I actually approved of introducing the "spare" pace men , albeit one game too late. Both actually bowled quite well in context , I thought - at least until Willey started to really cramp up in the heat.
Buttler claimed it was because the ground was a good one for chasing. But that smacks of relying on bald statistics instead of common sense. With England's recent poor record in batting second , and the extreme heat of the day , batting first was surely a no brainer.

Technically they remain alive. Still to play Pakistan and Australia : win both and they catch up to those two on points (though then you have to consider that England have yet to play India ) so their fate remains mathematically in their own hands. Trouble is they look shattered and I have not a lot of faith in the current leadership to be able to turn things around. Coaching group may be looked at in the aftermath of this campaign ?

Did feel coming in to the WC that the squad was a good deal weaker than the 2019 version (Archer , Plunkett , Roy , Morgan all gone and replaced with an honest but considerably inferior set - and the surviving players either much the same or less effective than four years ago - eg Stokes no longer bowling). But I didn't expect this frankly dreadful display.
"
Not sure whether the batsmen are truly all just out of form or just out of confidence ? Even in the one "good" game it was only the first two partnerships that really performed. They talk about belief but I'm not seeing it. Can they really rekindle their normal free striking ways ? And the bowling - ouch. Woakes and Curran both awful and now Wood turning into cardboard ... and Topley , easily the best so far , presumably out of the tournament . Thank heavens Rashid is standing up.

Sri Lanka next and no guarantees ...