Ireland unbeaten, Sri Lanka survive, Bangladesh crash out as Group Stage comes to a close
Bangladesh, the group favourites, lost 3 out of 3 games in Group B to crash out of the tournament early
The First Round Group Stage of the ICC Men's World Twenty20 2018 in South Africa reaches its conclusion, after twelve games played over six days. Ireland, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe & Scotland emerge as the best four teams, thereby qualifying to the next Super 12 round of the tournament.
The major absence from the rest of the tournament will be Bangladesh, who started out with an upset defeat against UAE and went on to lose 3 in 3 games following losses against Ireland & Scotland. As the group favourites, along with Sri Lanka in the other group, high expectations were on them to remain unbeaten; a loss would have made it a substandard campaign, however it was a nightmare run where they ended only without a win.
Bangladesh skipper Shakib says that it has been a terrible few days, the team hasn't applied itself quite so well and let some close games slip away due to their own mistakes in execution that let it get to that level. Says that this will be a massive pill to swallow but also a very important learning point for the future, to ensure that they never go down this path again.
Ireland skipper Gary Wilson, on the other hand, is elated, and is very happy with his team's performance as they remain the sole unbeaten side of the first round. Says that the team has delivered exactly the way they planned to, and their ability to deliver in crunch moments undoubtedly won them games. Credits both the batters and the bowlers, says that the Super 12 stage is now the next challenge and they will hope to continue the form there.
Mathews, Sri Lanka's captain feels that they didn't give their 100%, let a game slip away which put their qualification at a higher risk than it should've been. Says they're still glad they have made it through and will make sure to learn from the errors to do better in the Super 12 stage. Credits Kusal Perera and the other batters for their consistent show through the group stage.
Netherlands, despite winning 2 out of 3 games, crashed out as they were singled out with the inferior NRR among the other 2 teams in the group on the same points. Pieter Seelaar, dutch skipper says that the boys fought well but unfortunately it wasn't quite enough, that the final chase shouldn't have slipped away to end so late and that costed them, and they need to work on their situational batting. Feels that there is a great future for the team with young players stepping up.
The Netherlands, UAE, Hong Kong & Bangladesh will return home after being eliminated in the first round, failing to finish Top Two in their group. The four qualified teams will remain in South Africa to travel for their Super 12 games as they stay alive in the competition. The Super 12 stage will commence on the 19th of August starting with the New Zealand-Australia clash in the morning.
Pitch Report: It's the first game on this Centurion Wicket. The pitch is a bit slow and has a bit of grass. Cracks are prominent, batting won't be so easy.
Toss: Australian skipper Aaron Finch calls heads and it lands on heads. Aaron Finch's Australia have won the toss.
Aaron Finch: We are going to bat first. The wicket looks dead and has a lot of variation. It might worsen as the game goes. We want to get the best out of it that we can in the first innings. It's good to be here on the first day of the Super 12. The boys have done well in the warm-ups and we are confident. The setbacks of the earlier months of the year, hopefully are behind us with this fresh team. We are going with 3 quicks and 1 main spinner. Marsh, Maxi & Stoinis are our fifth bowling options as all-rounders. Everyone were good in the warm-ups but unfortunately NCN, Kane, Agar & McDermott miss out.
Australia: Aaron Finch , D'Arcy Short, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey , Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Billy Stanlake
Kane Williamson: Not ideal to lose the toss in the first game. Australia have historically been key opponents for us and it is good to start off with the trans-tasman clash. The warm-ups could have gone better, but it has definitely help us figure our best combination out. We're going with 2 spinners in Santner & Sodhi and 3 pacers, Adam Milne returns to the team. CDG will be our sixth option over Corey. Seifert will be our keeper over GP as well. Tough for those who missed out but we are confident with our best team and hopefully everyone ends up contributing at some point.
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson , Tim Seifert , Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult
Australia won the toss and opt to bat first.
1st Innings
The Black Caps bowling unit uses the slow wicket to their full advantage, led by the antics of Mitchell Santner who topped the wickets chart with figures of 3/17, as the spin duo of Santner & Sodhi managed to secure half of the total wickets tally for just 35 runs in their combined 8 overs. The pacers too flourished, Milne going relatively expensive at 8 an over but the pair of Boult & Southee returned similar figures to the spinners. Australia's batting could never kick on, with D'Arcy Short's 29 being the top score, and the middle-order basically struggling to get quick runs in the middle-overs and death, finishing at a subpar 103/8 on this sluggish pitch.
New Zealand need 104 runs to win off 20 overs
@ 5.20 RPO
2nd Innings
Martin Guptill delivers for New Zealand in their steady & composed run chase, on a slow wicket that was tougher to bat on than it seemed. Guptill & Munro added 90 runs to the first wicket before the former departed for a well-made 58 off 49 balls at the end of Over 14- having secured the run chase with just 14 runs to get in the last six. Williamson and Munro had little to do, but the skipper finished in style with a maximum to his name in his five balls faced and the Kiwis cruised home by the sixteenth over. The Australian bowlers failed to utilise the wicket as everyone but Zampa ended wicketless.
Pitch Report: The Wanderers pitch is not as flat as usual, and has more grass cover, meaning it might have something for the pacers. Better decision would be to bowl first.
Toss: Virat Kohli, Indian captain calls heads and it lands on heads. India have won the toss.
Virat Kohli: We are going to field first. The wicket looks good, classic South African pitch. We feel chasing might be better suited here as the pitch might be better for the batters as the game goes on. We are going with 3 pacers and 2 spinners with Hardik being our sixth option, it's always safe to have six bowlers to start with. Chahal will be our main spinner, Krunal the all-round option so sadly Kuldeep misses out. Kaul was very good in the warm-up but we have gone with our senior men, at his expense. Obviously, this is a big game for us to start with. India-Pakistan is always a heated and awaited clash in these tournaments. Pakistan are a very strong T20 side and can't be underestimated. But we will give it our best for the people at home to cheer for and hopefully we start off with the win.
Sarfaraz Ahmed: We would have ideally wanted to win the toss. Big game for us. We have had a great run in this format in the past year to rise to the top so this tournament is important for us to start and end on a good note. India are a very tough opponent for us historically and the stakes are very high. We'll be going with 4 main pacers seeing the wicket, Shadab will be the lone spinner and Imad misses out as we have our senior all-rounders who can also chip in with spin. Under 19 youngster Shaheen Afridi will be playing today. Hopeful to start off on a high and continue our good form in this tournament.
Pakistan: Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed , Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Afridi
India won the toss and opt to bowl first.
1st Innings
India's bowling is on point today with a strong statement from Umesh Yadav, who justifies his selection as the third pacer over warm-up star Siddarth Kaul with a brilliant 3/15 off his 2 overs. Pakistan started off very well in the powerplay courtesy Babar Azam, who's quickfire innings ended prematurely by the end of the phase for 33 off 19 balls. The team's scoring rate collapsed massively thereafter, with Umesh and co wreaking havoc in the middle-overs. With the run rate well below 7, Shadab and Faheem accelerated partially in the last two overs to push Pakistan to 139/6, setting India a 140 target, which may not be as much as they would've wanted.
India need 140 runs to win off 20 overs
@ 7.00 RPO
2nd Innings
A crucial India-Pakistan run chase and what could be a better set-up for a Virat Kohli performance. India's powerplay started shaky as their danger-man Rohit departed for just 9 after scoring 2 fours. Dhawan and Rahul were dismissed on consecutive deliveries in the sixth over adding a hiccup to the chase, but Virat Kohli on the other end ensured India were never going to fall short. His 41 (36) was more than what the numbers may suggest as it provided that strong foundation for the chase to progress as nobody else made substantial scores on the other end. It got tense towards the death but Umesh Yadav, starring with the bat now after a brilliant spell, finished it off with an explosive 9-ball 19 that featured 2 sixes, to blow Pakistan away with just two balls to spare.
Pitch Report: This is a good batting wicket in Cape Town, but good bowlers can thrive. It is a good even surface without much variations.
Toss: South African skipper Faf du Plessis calls heads and it is tails. Scotland have won the toss.
Kyle Coetzer: We are going to bat first. It's a good wicket. Now the big games are on, we had a good outing in the first round but it's going to be a lot tougher now against top sides. South Africa, for one, are a dangerous unit especially in their own backyard here today. But the boys will hope to utilise the momentum we have and step up today. We're going unchanged as we have been on a successful run so far and don't want to tamper with the team. This is a massive game for us, will regardless be a big learning experience going forward.
Scotland - George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer , Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Matthew Cross , Craig Wallace, Michael Leask, Josh Davey, Mark Watt, Alasdair Evans, Safyaan Sharif
Faf du Plessis: Good to be here, loving the crowd, the support from the home nation. It's great to be out here playing a home World T20, and all the more pressure on us to go all the way for our first title. Also glad to be captaining South Africa today at the biggest stage, after quite a shaky year that we've had so far. The warm-ups were promising and we have our combinations set. Unfortunately Steyn is a bit unfit to play today, so he will be sitting out. We'll still be going with 4 pacers and 1 spinner, with Duminy being our sixth option. We have seniority as well as youth and promise in the lineup, hope this will be the beginning of a glorious run for our home crowd here to see.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock , Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis , Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir
Scotland won the toss and opt to bat first.
1st Innings
Scotland manage to put on a competitive show against their first big opponent as Michael Leask's attacking cameo of 31* in just 13 balls, with three sixes & two fours helps plummet them to 147/6 after a sluggish start with their top and middle order. Chris Morris removed both openers for a stunning spell of 2/13 in his 4 overs, only outclassed by Imran Tahir in terms of economy. Coetzer & Cross managed to get going but couldn't convert as Scotland were going at roughly a run a ball before Leask and Davey's final flourishes added 35 runs in the last 2 overs to get Scotland above the 140 mark. But will this pose a challenge to South Africa on their home turf?
South Africa need 148 runs to win off 20 overs
@ 7.40 RPO
2nd Innings
The opening duo of Quinton de Kock & Hashim Amla showed no mercy to the Scot bowling lineup with twin fifties to open up their account; De Kock took on the initial charge and got to his fifty first, departing in the ninth over for 55 off just 28 balls. The run rate steady at around 9 an over, then was Hashim Amla's turn to step up as he pressed on the accelerator to lead the charge with skipper Faf on the other end. This partnership added another 70 runs to the score and saw the side home- As Amla got to his fifty, unbeaten on 57* and Faf not out on a handy, quickfire 29* that helped the home side chase the total down with six overs to spare.
Pitch Report: Durban will be the final ground to host their first game, and we have a grassy green pitch on our hands. The pace bowlers will thrive here, and batters will have to work their way against them.
Toss: England skipper Eoin Morgan calls tails, and the coin lands on tails. England have won the toss.
Eoin Morgan: We'll have a bat. The surface looks typical, grassy and probably has a lot for our seamers today. Might be a tricky chase. It's good to be here, the warm-ups went well. We've worked out our best combinations- We're playing the one main spinner and 3 pacers today, of course we have Stokesy and Mo as the all-rounders on top of that. Plunkett & Curran miss out in the pace attack but will definitely get their chances soon. Malan was great in the warm-ups but unfortunately has to sit out; him and Root are great batters and definitely in plans but it's only the best 11 who play. It's a problem but we're very happy with our squad depth. Hope we start off on a high, and go one step further from what happened last time around in India. The conditions are good, it's going to be a great month of cricket.
England: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler , Alex Hales, Eoin Morgan , Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, David Willey, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
Hamilton Masakadza: Happy to be here in the next round after a good outing in the group stages. The loss against Sri Lanka broke off our momentum a bit, but it's all a learning process. England are a huge opponent in this format especially and this will be a tough challenge to begin our Super 12 journey- it's going to have some challenging matches and every game will be a massive step on the learning curve. Don't think we will be changing anything, sticking with the same team. We've had a good run so far so hope to apply ourselves and continue to perform in the much tougher challenge we have in front of us now.
Zimbabwe: Hamilton Masakadza , Solomon Mire, Brendan Taylor , Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Malcolm Waller, Elton Chigumbura, Wellington Masakadza, Christopher Mpofu, Kyle Jarvis, Blessing Muzarabani
England won the toss and opt to bat first.
1st Innings
Zimbabwe fall prey to the might of Jos Buttler's destruction with the bat as England's most dangerous opener shows no mercy today. Buttler was constantly hogging the strike for as long as he was there, taking on the bowlers before he was dismissed for 72 off just 33 deliveries- comprising of 12 fours and a maximum. England themselves only had 97 on the board by then, by the end of Over 10. But none of the other batters could take charge, not when Buttler was batting, and not after he was out. The Zimbabwean bowlers took control after his wicket, led by Muzarabani and with brilliant death bowling managed to restrict England to just 149/8 at the end, with Buttler having amassed almost 50% of the total runs. Can Zimbabwe pull off an upset??
Zimbabwe need 150 runs to win off 20 overs
@ 7.50 RPO
2nd Innings
England survive a massive scare but they have done it, with the nervy death bowling of Chris Jordan and the solitary over of Ben Stokes leading them to a nail-biting victory. Zimbabwe started off slowly but Solomon Mire and Brendan Taylor's partnership gave them hope as they were building steadily towards a rather modest target. The powerplay and middle-overs bowling had done its job- After Mire's dismissal for a well-batted 61, Zimbabwe still needed a big death-over finish. Williams & Waller tried hard to provide the flourish but the English bowlers shut them down just by a matter of margins.
Pitch Report: The pitch is green at Wanderers again, might be difficult for batting. Deteriorates as the match goes on. Expect low scoring contest.
Toss: Asghar Afghan calls tails and it lands on tails. Afghanistan have won the toss.
Asghar Afghan: We would like to bowl first. We want to first get a good read of the wicket before we go on to bat on it, and we have a good bowling unit which is our core strength. We feel we can restrict them to a score on this kind of pitch and chase it down based on our understanding of it. It's our first time having directly qualified to this stage of the tournament, the years of hard work in the format has paid dividend. Sri Lanka are coming in after a good first round performance so this will be a competitive game for us. We're going with 3 pace 3 spin, Mujeeb will be playing today. Spin is our biggest strength so we can't ignore that even on these conditions, and we feel we have an all-round attack that can extract wickets on this surface too.
Afghanistan: Mohammad Shahzad , Hazratullah Zazai, Usman Ghani, Asghar Afghan , Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Hamid Hassan, Aftab Alam
Angelo Mathews: We're actually content with batting here. Pitch looks like it might deteriorate. We've had a good couple of games behind us, two good wins and a narrow loss. Overall satisfying first round performance though could've been more perfect. Now we're onto the bigger stage, Afghanistan are a majorly improved T20 side and this is not going to be an easy game so we have to stick to our instincts and continue to perform how we did. So we're going with an unchanged team as well.
Sri Lanka's most dependable man Kusal Perera steps up yet again on a tough batting surface, somehow able to find quick boundaries in the conditions to get them off to a flying start with his 23-ball 40. In the partnership with Kusal Mendis, this laid foundation for the Sri Lankan innings after opener Gunathilaka departed early. However the rate slowed down completely after his wicket, as the Afghan bowlers kept the middle-order batters quiet apart from a quickfire cameo from Dhananjaya de Silva towards the death. In the end a few more cheap wickets and Sri Lanka finished on 139/7. A trickier chase than it looks for Afghanistan?
Afghanistan need 140 runs to win off 20 overs
@ 7.00 RPO
2nd Innings
The veteran spearhead Lasith Malinga finally came out of the den to haunt Afghanistan's hopes. Malinga removed both the Afghan openers, and alongside Akila Dananjaya's touch of spin masterclass, helped suppress any kind of fight from the Afghan batting in chasing this down. Zazai & Ghani showed some promise early on with a few boundaries but could not convert past the 20s, as Malinga & Dananjaya shared 6 wickets between them to completely shut the top and middle-order down. Nuwan Pradeep also joined in with 2 wickets and together the Lankan bowling shot them out for just 89, with over five overs still left to play- to start their Super 12 campaign in style.
Pitch Report: The pitch is a bit varied but also hard, batting will be easier when the game progresses. Chasing would be ideal on this wicket.
Toss: Windies captain Brathwaite calls heads and it lands on heads. West Indies have won the toss
Carlos Brathwaite: Yeah we'll have to bowl first here. Definitely a wicket that gets easier to bat on as match progresses. Looks a bit favourable for the bowlers early on. It's good to start the tournament as the defending champions, we can't forget that dream run two years back. The final was definitely memorable for myself, but the team too, we've come so far. So glad to be here now leading the West Indies myself. Sammy was a legend and quite large shoes to fill for me. We have retained a decent part of that 2016 core and have also welcomed players like Polly & Narine with their IPL experience so we're really looking forward to this tournament. They'll all be playing today- Fletcher will also be our wicket keeper after his warm-up performances, so Shai Hope will have to miss out. Ireland are not weak opponents, so we aren't going to under-estimate anybody. This is an important game as every other one is, so hope to give our best and start off with a win.
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Andre Fletcher , Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Carlos Brathwaite , Sunil Narine, Ashley Nurse, Kesrick Williams
Gary Wilson: Rough toss loss that, we'd have liked to chase as well. Windies are a massive opponent, as they are defending champions this is a big game for us. Our batters will have to step up big time to post a total that can challenge a lineup like theirs, but we have no doubt in the potential of our players to do what is needed. 3 wins in 3, we've had great form in the first round leading upto this so hope to continue it in this next stage of the tournament, but it's not going to be easy. We're going unchanged, not going to tinker with the winning side.
Ireland - Paul Stirling, William Porterfield, Andrew Balbirnie, Kevin O'Brien, James Shannon, Gary Wilson , Simi Singh, George Dockrell, Barry McCarthy, Boyd Rankin, Peter Chase
West Indies won the toss and opt to bowl first.
1st Innings
Ireland are rattled by the mystery spin of Sunil Narine on his return to T20I cricket after two years. Narine finished with figures of 4/10 in 4 overs with an economy of just 2.50, outshining the rest of the bowling which was also quite impressive. The pair of Russell & Williams ensured Ireland were silent in the powerplay. Kevin O'Brien's fighting 43 amongst the otherwise catastrophic batting was the lone warrior for Ireland, and nobody else made it past 15 runs. Narine & Brathwaite took care of the middle and lower order to prevent any sort of further fight-back to bowl Ireland out for just 94 in the end. This should be a straightforward chase for the defending champions.
West Indies need 95 runs to win off 20 overs
@ 4.75 RPO
2nd Innings
The Universe Boss Christopher Henry Gayle sees the West Indies home comfortably with a swashbuckling fifty in his first game. The 38 year old came in with doubts about his longevity but took proper charge on the Irish bowlers to make the chase nice and easy for West Indies, with Evin Lewis & Fletcher playing second fiddle to his match-winning knock that comprised of four boundaries & maximums each. Ireland managed to pick up a couple of wickets including Gayle himself- but it was a bit too late as Fletcher & Samuels saw the team home with over eight overs to spare in a crushing defeat for Ireland.
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