It was a week of needed bounce backs for some teams, whilst others continued their perfect record in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup after the fourth games were played. New Zealand and India certainly have put themselves in a position where they look like qualification is a given at this stage, whilst losses once again for England, Afghanistan, Netherlands and Bangladesh make them likely to find themselves eliminated from the semi finals before the group stages are over. Pakistan are looking to be on a downward spiral, whilst Australia have found their groove, the pair assumed to be the teams fighting for the final qualification spot behind South Africa.

NEW ZEALAND – RTS SCORE: 4/5

Facing one of the under dogs of the competition, New Zealand were expected to win against Afghanistan, so this was one of their chances to go big for a definitive win to extend their net run rate. Having seen Afghanistan’s performance against England, they would have been confident a low 300 score would be enough to secure them the win, but a big defeat could help in the latter half of the group stages.

With the bat, the early fall of Devon Conway gave Afghanistan something to rally behind, but they never kept the pressure on to restrict New Zealand to a low score. The second wicket fell just after the start of the 20th over with New Zealand already set for a par score of five per over. Quick wickets certainly put the advantage in Afghanistan’s hands, but Glenn Phillips and returning captain Tom Latham made sure the score was a high enough target on the slow scoring pitch to have the advantage going into the second innings.

The bowling attack of Lockie Fergeson and Mitchell Santner quickly became too much for the Afghanistan bowlers, and it was soon clear that New Zealand would be claiming their fourth win in a row. Their net run rate is narrowly ahead of India’s at the moment, giving them the top qualification spot, but they’ll need to take advantage of games like this, where they are expected to win, to really grow their net run rate if they want to stay on top. With the way they’re playing, however, it’s quite likely New Zealand will not need to worry about it too much to make it through to qualification.

INDIA – RTS SCORE: 4/5

In a similar vein to New Zealand vs Afghanistan, India were expected to win the game against Bangladesh, so it made sense that the opposition chose to bat first to try and build a run chase that would be a struggle for India to catch. After a strong first wicket stand and a worrying ankle injury for Hardik Pandya, seeing Virat Kohli bowl half an over, India were able to keep the run chase contained with frequent wickets. It still stands to be said that India have one of the weaker bowling attacks of the competition, but they are able to keep the pressure on with the opposition knowing their batting is incredibly strong. This usually sees the opposition open the bat to try and build the runs, which is where India takes advantage to get their wickets.

Another below 300 run chase sees India not having had to catch anything above 290 so far in the World Cup, and with their top five batters, a chase of 257 was never going to be that much of a challenge. Rohit Sharma remained in form to break the back bone of the run chase, handing over to Virat Kohli to get the crowd going wild as he farmed the strike to get him to his 48th ODI century. Shubman Gill had a much better second World Cup appearance, getting 53 to his name before he was caught out by Mahmudullah. With this opening trio in form, the run chase is going to have to be very high for any other team to keep them behind.

SOUTH AFRICA – RTS SCORE: 5/5

Coming off the back of their surprising loss to Netherlands in the last round of group games, South Africa wanted to come to the crease reminding the competition they were still a force to be reckoned with. The competitiveness of their win against England certainly told everyone South Africa are not out of this competition yet, and this squad has the potential to go all the way to the finals.

It’s the strength of their batting order that is making them such popular favourites in this contest, with most wickets favouring the batter over the bowler. When they lost the toss but were surprisingly put into bat first, the Proteas knew all they had to do was set a big enough target to keep the pressure on England, and the third win of their contest should come easily. The team were on the back foot come the 30th over of their batting innings, losing Quinton de Kock on the second ball, but as they have done in most other games, the second pairing of on debut Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen put together a partnership of 121, seemingly unable to be bowled out as the humidity surged and England lost top-bowler Reece Topley to injury.

Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen put on a spectacular performance in the third power play to move from 243-5 to 394-6 by time Klaasen fell. Klassen’s knock was incredible to watch, seeing him put the pressure on England with 12 fours and four sixes even when he was clearly drained on the crease. It was an incredible resilience and definitely deserving of the man of the match award.

With such a high run chase and the opposition already energy drained, South Africa knew if they took down England’s top and middle order quickly the win, and a substantial one at that, would be in the bag. As most of their bowlers had not taken to the field in their batting innings, they were fresh out the gate and ready to finish the game in style, securing a 229 run win and putting their run chase so high out of reach that, even if they don’t score highest points on the table, third in the semi finals is now almost guaranteed.

AUSTRALIA – RTS SCORE: 4/5

Australia have found a resurgence, and the batting performance they opened the game with against Pakistan had them on the front foot before they’d even started. Mitch Marsh and David Warner came out with the same intent they’d had against Bangladesh, and played a positive, attacking batting style on the wicket that was favourable to the bat. Their opening partnership of 259 lasted for nearly 34 overs, leaving absolutely no pressure on the batsmen coming in. Having been on course for a 400+ score at the halfway point of the game, Pakistan managed to rattle through the rest of the batsmen quickly to restrict them to a below 400 score, but the 367 set was certainly something Australia would have been happy with.

Going into bowl, they knew the wicket would be against them, but that Pakistan’s tail order was not strong. Breaking the opening partnerships would be crucial, and the attack of Marcus Stoinis and Adam Zampa was critical to Australia’s second win of the competition. Pakistan were only able to secure an opening partnership of 134 in 21 overs, keeping the pressure on those coming in. A little like what happened to Australia when they batted, once one wicket fell the others began to tumble. There was nothing Pakistan could do to stay ahead of Australia in the points table.

PAKISTAN – RTS SCORE: 2/5

A disappointing performance in the field cost Pakistan two chances to dispatch of David Warner, allowing him to bat on to 167 before he fell. The first dropped catch came when Warner was at 10, showing the difference good fielding could have made to Pakistan’s game. Shaheen Afridi couldn’t have done much more, securing a World Cup fifer, but it easily could have been more and he could have restricted the run chase heavier if the field had optimised every opportunity he gave them.

Just like was seen in the game against India, the middle and tail order of the batting line couldn’t hold up the performance of the top, seeing wickets tumble as they began to fall. On a wicket that was giving so much to the batsmen, Pakistan had to come out and start their batting innings as positively as Australia had to have a chance of catching the run chase, but that positive and aggressive batting style that Mitch Marsh and Warner hit the crease with was never evident in Pakistan’s game, leading them to their second loss of the contest. They sit on the same points as Australia, and it looks like the two teams will be the ones battling it out for the final semi-final spot.

BANGLADESH – RTS SCORE: 3/5

Three losses now put Bangladesh in the early relegation zone along with England, Netherlands and Afghanistan. Winning the toss, it was a good choice to put India on the field first and try to build a strong run chase that would put the hosts under pressure. The opening duo of Tanzid Hasan and Liton Das did a good job to set Bangladesh up well with 93 off of 88 balls, but as has become the trend of Bangladesh’s play style, the tail end couldn’t keep up the run rate.

As is the norm when facing India’s batting order, early wickets are crucial to success, so when India got through the first power play without loss Bangladesh knew they were already on the back foot. The pressure seemed to get to the field as the team put in a sub par performance, unable to stop Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill or Virat Kohli from getting into their groove at the crease. It became a question of not if but when as the bowling attack tried to stop India scoring, but averaged an economy 6.28 for only three wickets.

NETHERLANDS – RTS SCORE: 3/5

An early quick fall of wickets after opting to bat first saw Netherlands on the back foot, but remembering what they had done against South Africa kept the middle and tail of the batting order consistently playing positively to put a less embarrassing than predicted score come the early end of their innings. Sri Lanka bowled well, albeit fielding poorly, and took the attack back to the batsmen, getting important wickets early to prevent any of the top six batsmen scoring over 30 runs. The best run score from the opening 21 overs was Colin Ackermann with 29.

Sybrand Engelbrecht and Logan van Beek put on a great seventh wicket partnership to climb the score from 91-6 to 221-7 by time Engelbrecht was out. It gave the Netherlands something to defend as they came out to field, and knowing the weakness of Sri Lanka’s lower order, it was important to get wickets fast and wickets early. Unfortunately for them, although they did successfully get an early wicket, Sadeera Samarawickrama planted himself like a tree at the crease to help race Sri Lanka to their first win with seven fours as a part of his 91*. It still took Sri Lanka 48.2 overs to catch the run chase, showing that the 262 set wasn’t too far below par on that wicket. If Netherlands hadn’t given away 24 extras, they may not have conceded the loss.

SRI LANKA – RTS SCORE: 3/5

Getting their first win of the competition on the board will have come as a relief to Sri Lanka, who managed to successfully chase down Netherland’s run chase of 263 to take their first points of the World Cup. It, alike with England, Afghanistan and Netherlands, probably still won’t be enough for semi final qualification, but they’ll be grateful to end the group stages with some points on the board.

Having been put into bowl first, Sri Lanka did a good job of restricting the dangerous top order of the Netherland’s batting order to 91-6 at the close of the 21st over. The way Dilshan Madushanka was bowling gave the impression that Sri Lanka were going to get the Netherlands all bowled out in 30 overs, with a mid-hundred score on the board. That kind of a result would have done wonders for their net run rate.

The fielding is still an area of their game Sri Lanka need to work on, as well as maintaining pressure from their opening bowlers through the second power play, because this is where run rates for oppositions have been able to climb. Managing to only lose five wickets in the run chase also helped Sri Lanka to secure their first win, as it’s not secret their tail end has a tendency to crumble irrelevant of the stellar platform openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera are able to set. With Perera falling for five, giving Netherlands the hope that they might be able to stop Sri Lanka catching the chase and take their second win of the contest, it was Sadeera Samarawickrama who stepped up, coming in third, ending the innings with 91*.

ENGLAND – RTS SCORE: 1/5

Suffering their heaviest ODI defeat in history, there isn’t a lot good to write about England’s performance against South Africa. Jos Buttler’s decision to, once again, engage in the chase after winning the toss was confusing after the recent defeat against Afghanistan doing the same thing, but even more so when looking at the South African batting order who have shown they can bat deep and bat hard from ball one.

The humidity of the first game on the Wankhede pitch became too much for the England bowling attack and fielding efforts, as after three hours being on the field the entire team looked tired. Boundary defenders weren’t running for the ball. South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen was also dead on his feet, but he still managed to put on 151 runs with teammate Marco Jansen in the last ten overs he was on the pitch, taking one of the most impressive centuries ever seen in ODI cricket.

Had England managed to restrict South Africa to a 250 chase, which had been on the cards as wickets fell towards the final power play, they possibly could have caught it. However the fatigue of the team showed as the openers took to the field for their batting innings. Silly decisions were being made, batting plays were not assertive enough gifting South Africa the important wickets in a 400 run chase of Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Dawid Malan and Ben Stokes very quickly and very cheaply. At 68-6 with only the tail end remaining just after the end of the first power play, England were lucky to get to 20 overs. Once again, the tail end of Mark Wood, Adil Rashid and on World Cup debut Gus Atkinson became the final hope for the Three Lions. They played incredibly well, but it was never going to be enough to close in the impressive score South Africa had been allowed to set.

Unfortunately as well for England, their best batter in Reece Topley suffered a suspect broken finger in an attempt to complete a catch, which will likely see him retired from the rest of the competition. With every game now must-win for England, and even that might not be enough for semi-final qualification, this is a big blow to the squad. Travelling reserve Jofra Archer is not available for selection, so a new reserve bowler will be flown in ahead of the Sri Lanka game on Thursday.

AFGHANISTAN – RTS SCORE: 2/5

Buoyed from their win against England, Afghanistan had been looking for another big team upset as they took on New Zealand, winning the toss and deciding to bowl. It was an interesting choice knowing New Zealand’s batting power, a choice that perhaps captain Hashmatullah Shahidi came to rue. It had looked good after taking a wicket in the first power play, but as the second wicket stand grew longer and longer, the New Zealand batters finding their rhythm at the crease, it started to feel like a losing game.

A spurt of encouragement came in the 21st over as both the wickets of Rachin Ravindra and Will Young were claimed, shortly followed by only a brief stand by Daryl Mitchell to leave the Black Caps on 110-4. A sub 200 or low 200 score would have certainly been catchable for Afghanistan, but Glenn Phillips and Tom Latham were not going to go down so easy, adding 144 runs in their fifth wicket stand to end the 50 overs.

The 289 run chase was a similar score to what they had put on against England, so not an impossible feat for this team, but New Zealand were a much stronger bowling attack than England had delivered. Not only did they restrict the runs, but they took frequent wickets, not letting the Afghanistan batters settle at the crease. The best stand came from Rahmat Shah, taking 36 off of the 62 balls he faced, seeing Afghanistan all out for 139 in 34 overs.

Round The Stumps Cricket World Cup Standings

	M1	M2	M3	M4	M5	M6	M7	M8	M9	TOTAL
IND	3	4	5	4						16
NZ	5	4	3	4						16
SA	4	5	2	5						16
NED	3	3	4	3						13
SL	4	3	2	3						12
PAK	3	4	2	2						11
BAN	3	2	3	3						11
AUS	2	1	3	4						10
AFG	1	2	5	2						10
ENG	1	2	1	1						7