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Loading ...Surely if SA beat England, but England beat WI, then England can still qualify on NRR over SA? Silly, isn’t it? The goal posts keep moving.
It all comes down to Tuesday
By Will 3 years ago, mid-April Add your comment below
So New Zealand are through to the semi-finals. Rajesh has written a really useful piece on who might take the final semi-final spot, and how England’s win (or loss) impacts on the other contenders.
Scenario 1: England beat South Africa
England will then be level with South Africa on six points, and will have an excellent opportunity to seal their semi-final spot with a win against West Indies. South Africa will finish their Super Eight campaign on six points, and will sweat on the results of the other games to keep them in the hunt: for them to go through, West Indies will have to beat England, which will then leave three teams – South Africa, England, and West Indies or Bangladesh – on six points. Net run rates will then come into play, which is again bad news for South Africa – they are currently languishing at -0.21, and a defeat against England won’t help their cause much. Graeme Smith might just regret the fact that he bowled five overs for 56 against West Indies, allowing them to come within 67 runs of their 356.
England going past South Africa will also suit West Indies and Bangladesh perfectly. Brian Lara and Habibul Bashar have been talking about their World Cups being over already, but they just might have rushed it a bit. If England’s victory margin against South Africa is a narrow one, and if West Indies thrash Bangladesh and England (it might look unlikely at the moment, but nothing’s beyond a team which has Chris Gayle and Lara in their batting line-up), their NRR might just sneak up beyond that of England and South Africa. Ditto for Bangladesh, if they beat Ireland and West Indies.
Scenario 2: South Africa beat England
Realistically, that’s South Africa’s only chance of making it to the last four. A South African win will also shut out England, West Indies and Bangladesh, making two of the last four matches – West Indies versus Bangladesh and West Indies versus England – completely redundant. Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa will then be the four semi-finalists, with the rest of the matches only deciding the positions within the top four.
Tuesday, as Rajesh puts it, really will be a cracker.
Tags: 2007-world-cup, england, new-zealand, south-africa, world-cup-semi-finals |
5 Responses to “It all comes down to Tuesday”
April 15th, 2007 at 2.14 am
April 15th, 2007 at 2.41 am
Christ, I’m a barrel of nerves about it already. I’m so uptight, I’ve just had a rant at Mike Atherton about the England team, over on the Sunday Telegraph under his article “England’s Faith is Blind”.
April 15th, 2007 at 2.58 am
Then again, if by God’s grace, England DO qualify for that fourth spot, is there any permutation that would make Australia not top of the table, so England didn’t have to face them in the semi? I guess an Aussie loss and a Kiwi win in the remaining super 8s might do it. So many unlikelihoods, but who knows? Then again, England is capable of beating Australia on their day, and also of losing to Sri Lanka or NZ so I’d just be happy if they made the semis. Even coming 5th wouldn’t be such a disaster, considering they are ranked 7th and never even made the super 8s in the last two tournaments.
April 15th, 2007 at 12.22 pm
I take it back – it would be nice to get through with a higher run rate, but I guess we do have to get the same number of points first! DOH!!!
April 16th, 2007 at 6.17 am
Well Bangladesh are gone from the equations in “Scenario 1″
A good win from Ireland last night has taken care of them….
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