The third round of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 group stages saw not one but two major upsets as the tournament takes more twists and turns. For teams towards the bottom of the table, these games became must win, and now only Sri Lanka have yet to get off the mark not yet taking a win in the contest. Some teams will have a lot to discuss before their fourth matches, whilst others seem to have found a groove that they’ll want to stay settled into as semi final spots move from three teams looking guaranteed to two, leaving the Net Run Rate and wins scored from this point the focal point for the other seven squads in contention.
INDIA – RTS SCORE: 5/5
Home advantage is certainly something to be spoken for after India put on another great display against nation rivals Pakistan to continue their undefeated streak in the World Cup and place themselves top of the points table. Getting wickets frequently in the first innings restricted Pakistan to a sub 200 score as they were bowled all out before the completion of the 50 overs. A strong bowling attack, buoyed on by the sea of blue filling the Ahmedabad stadium, set them up for what was to become a competitive victory in one of the most anticipated group games of the tournament.
Rohit Sharma remained in form, being one of the final nails in the coffin of the game for Pakistan as he knocked 86 off 63 balls with six fours and six sixes, getting through nearly half the run chase alone before he left the crease. Shubman Gill, on return after missing the first two games due to injury, was the first wicket to fall leaving India on 23-1 and Pakistan with a bit of hope, extended when they caught Virat Kohli for 16 for the second wicket, but Sharma’s stand was too strong. When he left the pitch, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul had only 36 left to score and 29 overs in which to do it.
NEW ZEALAND – RTS SCORE: 3/5
Although keeping a perfect score sheet and building their campaign in the way they would have wanted with three wins on the board, New Zealand’s performance against Bangladesh was one of the more uninspired of the competition. The wicket aided in restricting Bangladesh to a below 250 score along with an impressive bowling attack from the Kiwi side, which felt like it was under capitalised on by the batting order.
With South Africa leading the way after two matches with Net Run Rate in their pocket, the low score and the attacking display New Zealand has consistently delivered with the bat so far made it seem like there was an opportunity for them to produce another performance akin to their knock against England in the opening game. However, instead, they did not come out of the gate strong, slowly taking the singles and only getting on top of the required run rate in the last 20 overs. Yes, it’s another win and an addition six points, but this one certainly feels like an opportunity lost for the two-time runners up.
They would have been pleased to see Kane Williamson back in the side, but having to leave the crease early, retired hurt after deflecting a ball off his left hand, it was a short cameo for the skipper. Similar to Tim Southee, Williamson has suffered a fractured thumb and is targeting a return to the team before the end of the group stages. As Southee has still yet to return to the squad after fracturing his thumb in the series against England before the World Cup, it’ll be an ask for the skipper to be back on the field for their final group games.
SOUTH AFRICA – RTS SCORE: 2/5
A bit like England, South Africa were expected to take victory in their third game of the tournament. Very similarly to England, poor performances with the ball and in the field saw them fail to catch the run chase, putting their first lost of the competition on the board. 32 no balls handed Netherlands a majority of the runs they won by, and had the final pair of batsman from South Africa only been seven runs short of the chase, it could have been a very different game.
Struggling to play against the spin attack of Netherlands, plus poor fielding and a collapse with the bowling attack towards the end of Netherland’s batting innings saw the demise of one of the competition’s favourites so far. It leaves only India and New Zealand with clean sheets and although South Africa retain third place thanks to their strong run rate, it’s the first chink in the armour seen from the Proteas and will give teams still awaiting to play them hope that they can beat the batting order.
PAKISTAN – RTS SCORE: 2/5
Pakistan crumbled against their most anticipated rival of the group stages for their third match. Still fourth with two wins on the board, it’s certainly not the end of the competition for them, but their performance against India is one they’d want to try to forget quickly.
Possibly unable to drown out the heavy support for their opposition, Pakistan never looked to get going with a frequent fall of wickets. Babar Azam brought the team their only 50 score at number three, with Mohammad Rizwan, star of their previous match against Sri Lanka, just fell short at 49. That was the best scores on the board for Pakistan as the middle and lower order of their batting line up crumbled to India’s attack.
Unable to break the top five of the Indian batsmen, it was only a matter of time before they rattled through the sub par run chase of 192 to give Pakistan their first lost of the contest. Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali did well to get the wickets of returning Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli cheaply, both falling for 16, but Rohit Sharma refused to be dispatched until he’d made a significant dent in the run chase, leaving Pakistan with too many wickets to claim whilst India had too many overs left to catch the score in under 50 runs.
ENGLAND – RTS SCORE: 1/5
Jos Buttler missing the first ball wicket catch and letting it go for four set the tone for the game England would play against Afghanistan as the reigning champions seemed to return to the style of play they had against New Zealand. An expensive opening six overs, mainly at the hands of Chris Woakes leaking 33 runs off three of them, gave Afghanistan the push they needed to know that a win was possible. Afghanistan did not narrowly win this game, but beat England significantly to take their second win in World Cup history.
England’s top order had been fairly strong in the opening two games of the tournament, so they were unlucky to see two of their top three out for less than twenty runs each (Jonny Bairstow fell for 2 with Joe Root surviving only for 11). With the middle order still lacking, England found themselves with four wickets remaining at the beginning of the 33rd over, 125 still remaining in the chase. Harry Brook held strong, remaining as England’s final hope until his wicket was claimed two overs later, but his 66 came from a more defensive play style than the attacking nature England should have taken into the run chase.
A word of credit should be given to Adil Rashid, Mark Wood and Reece Topley – the trio the only ones looking to have a desire to catch the chase as they came in at the tail end. The trio were also responsible for six of the eight wickets England were able to pick up in the first innings, even if Topley looked a little shaky on his return to the attack after having a knee injury scare in the outfield after the first power play.
AFGHANISTAN – RTS SCORE: 5/5
One thing Afghanistan and Netherlands proved in this week’s games is that no one should be underestimated, and there are no guaranteed wins in this competition. The pitch, wicket and past performances said the England vs Afghanistan game should have been England’s easily, but Afghanistan leave this round of games with their first win on the board.
The Delhi pitch offered more spin than was originally expected, giving Afghanistan an advantage as they have a very strong spin attack. This quickly became too much for England to combat as they fell to 68-3 just after the end of the first power play. With England having put them in to bat first, the pressure was on the reigning champions to close down a 286 run chase, pressure that Afghanistan kept on to take their first win of the competition.
The Afghanistan batters were incredible with the bat too, taking the challenge to England’s seam attack to put 114 on the board in the first ten overs. England proceeded to get some wickets fast, but Afghanistan bounced back to keep the scoreboard ticking up, making the run chase harder for England. Arguably, the 2019 champions lost the game when they decided to bowl first after winning the toss, with the dew not coming into as much effect as they thought it might. But at the end of the day, with bat, ball and on the field, Afghanistan were just the better team.
BANGLADESH – RTS SCORE: 3/5
Consistency is still something that seems to be lacking for the Bangladesh team as another loss sees them slip further from the top four semi final qualification spots. Defending the 245 they set New Zealand to chase, the Bangladesh bowling team did a great job to restrict the run rate early doors, looking like they had got on top of the Kiwi top order. But some sloppy fielding and some missed chances of important wickets allowed New Zealand to start slow, knowing they had enough in reserve to open the bat as the game came to its conclusion, taking 71-0 in the 31st-40th overs.
With the bat, New Zealand never let Bangladesh get going. Shakib Al Hasan (40) and Mushfiqur Rahim (66) led the charge when they came to the crease around the start of the 12th over to take the slow starting 56-4 up to 152-5 and 175-6 respectively, but around their partnership the team couldn’t seem to get going as frequent dismissals prevented them getting settled at the crease.
AUSTRALIA – RTS SCORE: 3/5
One of the teams on the back foot after the first two games, Australia really needed a performance to get their competition started. Coming out against Sri Lanka it was a much more assertive and aggressive side, which paid off as they took their first win of the World Cup. It started slow, with the team looking to have not learnt from their India and South Africa defeats, but once they got the first wicket the had-been looking strong Sri Lankan batting line fell apart. A notable performance from Adam Zampa, utilising the spin brilliantly to take four wickets to aid bowling Sri Lanka out for 209.
A positive start from Mitchell Marsh with the bat got the Australian batting innings started the way they would have wanted, claiming 52 off the 51 balls he faced with nine fours. The quick lost of David Warner and Steve Smith in the early stages of the game was a cause for concern, but Marnus Labuschange and Josh Inglis put in great performances as well to catch the run chase with only five wickets lost in 35.2 overs.
NETHERLANDS – RTS SCORE: 4/5
Coming into their third match game similar to Afghanistan, Netherlands were not expected to win their match up against South Africa. It certainly didn’t look to be going their way at the beginning of their batting innings, but fantastic performances from Scott Edwards and Ayran Dutt brought them back in the game with knocks of 78* off 69 and 23* off 9 respectively.
When it came to the second innings, defending a target of 246, it still seemed like the game was in South Africa’s hands. Having scored over 300 runs in their first two games, the 246 chase should have been easy, but like Afghanistan Netherland never let the pressure slip. Early wickets got them in a position to keep the advantage of the game, and when David Miller fell for 43 at the start of the 30th over, just under 100 left to score with three wickets remaining, it really started to look like Netherlands would be the second upset of the week. Winning by 39 runs, it really was an impressive performance from one of the competition’s under dogs.
SRI LANKA – RTS SCORE: 2/5
It had been looking good for Sri Lanka who, alike Australia, were chasing their first win of the competition, with their opening partnership standing for 125 runs. Australia didn’t seem to be able to do anything to get them out as Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera played superbly, looking like they were on par to giving Australia more cause for concern forcing them into another defeat. However, after a 21 over stand, the rest of the batting order fell apart as Australia’s seam attack came into fruition, unable to maintain the impressive run rate Nissanka and Perera started the innings with.
Not optimising on the two early wickets of David Warner and Steve Smith to keep the pressure on Australia’s batting, the writing was on the wall very quickly as the opposition smacked the ball around the Lucknow pitch for 22 fours and five sixes. The game showcased a lot of weaknesses in Sri Lanka’s game and, now the only team with three losses on the board, their World Cup campaign is certainly in danger of having an early finish.
Round The Stumps Cricket World Cup Standings
| M1 | M2 | M3 | M4 | M5 | M6 | M7 | M8 | M9 | TOTAL | |
| IND | 3 | 4 | 5 | 12 | ||||||
| NZ | 5 | 4 | 3 | 12 | ||||||
| SA | 4 | 5 | 2 | 11 | ||||||
| NED | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | ||||||
| PAK | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 | ||||||
| SL | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 | ||||||
| AFG | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | ||||||
| BAN | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | ||||||
| AUS | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | ||||||
| ENG | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
