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Australia scored and win big v the Netherlands yesterday in the 2023 Cricket World Cup with the Trans-Tasman Rivalry next up v NZ’s Blackcaps in two days time

by Sports Benches

The Aussies have won the toss by choosing to bat first v the Netherlands as the openers have fired off well during the first 2-3 overs until Mitchell Marsh mistimed that pull shot where it landed straight up to the fielder. But fortunately, they have made lots of excellent runs in a total of 399/8 with Steve Smith & Marnus Labuschagne both scoring half-centuries, while Dave Warner backed up another 100 before Glenn Maxwell rounded off Australia’s 50-Over batting shift with a quickfire 40-ball century of his own. Then they went on to bowl the Netherlands all out for 90 after just over 21 overs led by spinner Adam Zampa, who once again got his 4fer for 8 runs with the ball, as the Aussies take their 3rd win of the CWC by 309 runs.

It wasn’t an easy day in the office from the Netherlands when they made some early wickets, such as that early Mitchell Marsh dismissal by Colin Ackermann off Logan Van Beek including Roelof Van Der Merwe’s stunning grab that ended Steve Smith’s shift at point – even though his first catch attempt was rejected by the 3rd umpire where it carried into the ground & not covering the whole hand that gave Warner a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, it didn’t pay off from here with a mix of expansive overs & missed catches while the Aussies including Warner went on to score more runs before they couldn’t do anything about it later on, despite a good 25 runs from opening batter Vikramjit Singh before their quick collapse for the night.

Meanwhile, glad the Aussies quickly moved on from Mitchell Marsh’s early dismissal where Smith & Warner built a great partnership together. Labuschagne also didn’t do bad after the dismissal of Smith where he’s an decent top-order batter as proven in Test Match level, as well as Maxwell, who didn’t hesitate smashing lots of boundaries, where he’s been an unreal white-ball specialist thanks to his quickfire ton. And speaking of white-ball specialists within the Aussie ODI squad, Adam Zampa did well to dismantle the other half of the Netherlands batting card – including the first two being back-to-back wickets within his 2nd over of his spell – after a few of their seamers did well to share a couple early wickets on hand.

These two teams will now play different sides next up on Saturday with the Aussies set for Trans-Tasman rivalry with the Blackcaps from NZ earlier in the day (starting at 4pm in the afternoon AEDT) while the Netherlands v Bangladesh.

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2023 Cricket World Cup, India def. Blackcaps out of the best undefeated sides yesterday in a low-scoring contest

by Sports Benches

The Top 2 & also both undefeated teams have finally met yesterday where host nation India take on the Blackcaps (New Zealand), having seen India won the toss by electing to bowl/field first. India fired off with two early wickets while the Blackcaps eventually got off the mark when Rachin Ravindra scored 87 at his own pace as well as Daryl Mitchell who made lots of runs so quickly at 130 off 127 balls before they were all out just at the finish line of their batting shift for 273. Then India went on to make an impressive batting performance right away including Virat Kohli where he might not be able to get his 100 after being caught by Glenn Phillips on 95, but it’s still not hard for to meet the 274 run target with the win by 4 wickets.

Commiserations to the Blackcaps for losing this match when their openers weren’t up & firing yesterday. Although nothing against from Ravindra & Mitchell whom they’ve batted so well, but the rest of them including their on-field and bowling performance just wasn’t there to give themselves a better chance towards frustrating that in-form Indian side. Yes, I know they had 1-2 overs left to make an outside chance of turning this around after getting a couple of the opposition batters out, but it’s still hard get out of jail under pressure when trying to make them swing & miss or flick straight to the fielder.

And hats off to the remaining undefeated side in India right now who not only made good use of their winning toss, but they’ve produced an all-round display that made them easier to chase – even though it was a low scoring match against a fellow top notch team in the Blackcaps. As said, it was good seeing India remove both openers early, while Mohammed Shami caused a huge domino effect towards the rest of the NZ batting card after he ended Ravindra’s patient innings that led to his five-wicket haul. With the bat, they didn’t have any problems getting the ball rolling before Virat Kohli came in & scored something special despite being five runs short of a 100. Plus, shoutout to Shreyas Iyer for backing him up as well as Ravi Jadeja, who can do spin & bat a bit by scoring the winning runs for Team India.

Next up, India have the near whole week off ahead of facing the under-fire England team this Sunday. Meanwhile, the Blackcaps meet the Aussies with our Trans-Tasman rivalry the day beforehand (Saturday afternoon at 4pm AEDT) as the 2nd-4th places are heating up that would mean a semi-finals berth going past the halfway group stage mark.

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2023 Cricket World Cup, Proteas big hitting spree of 399 has made it impossible for England after they were all out for 170 with the win v the defending champs last night

by Sports Benches

It’s no surprise last night that the Proteas has scored even big against England despite the loss of toss, having made a whopping 399 runs throughout their 50-Over batting shift before they’ve bowled them all out for 170 that sums up a 229 run victory when the English couldn’t meet the huge 400 run target within 22 overs.

Wow!! Well batted by the Proteas where a few of them did brilliantly to keep the flow of runs going from start to finish. Great seeing Reeza Hendricks struck an immediate impact in the opening role after being called up last minute in place of the unwell Temba Bavuma. Plus, Rassie Van Der Dussen backed up well at the other end with his 61-ball 60 run performance, while Heinrich Klaasen went big on what has been his One Day 100. And shoutout to the tall all-rounder Marco Jansen who helped finish off the team’s excellent innings on 75 off 42 balls including two wickets that oversaw England’s top order collapse alongside Gerald Coetzee (3 wickets) off his right fast bowling hand.

Meanwhile, it’s not an easy day once again from England who suffered a shock loss against Afghanistan last weekend likewise with the Proteas after their loss to the Netherlands the other day. They fired off well thanks to the quick dismissal of keeper Quinton De Kock being caught behind 2nd ball, but Reece Topley’s damaged finger hasn’t been the same unfortunately, before he returned at the wrong time later on while Proteas kept smashing with runs everywhere downtown. Although Gus Atkinson did well on his World Cup debut where he ended the big show of Klaasen as well as a brilliant knock to stay in there from the tail on a 21-ball 35, but then the whole team couldn’t help themselves in the end – that is all I can say to the defending champs. Proteas take on Bangladesh on Tuesday while 10th-placed England v 9th-placed Sri Lanka two days later.

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The Aussies see off a resurgent Pakistan effort en route towards another Cricket World Cup win last night by 62 runs

by Sports Benches

It’s two wins from two now to wrap up the rest of this week for the Aussies that began with Sri Lanka a few days ago on Monday & now Pakistan as they sit just inside the Top 4 finals bubble also just ahead of Pakistan in the 10-team standings. They might have lost the toss when Pakistan chose to bowl/field first, but the Aussie opening pair of David Warner & Mitchell Marsh has fired off to the best possible start – having whacked lots of shots downtown before they each recorded their own 50s & then 100s over the first 30 odd overs of the afternoon. Even though Pakistan finally got the ball rolling with a few wickets on hand after the end of the huge Warner-Marsh partnership, Australia still topped up to 367-9 following the end of their 50-over batting shift. The tables have turned to the Pakistanis later on, who started not bad in the middle, where there were some good performances along the way by both openers (Abdullah Shafique & Imam Ul-Haq), as well as keeper Mohammed Rizwan & Saul Shakeel. However, they just couldn’t hold it off a bit longer through the end where being all out for 305 wasn’t enough to meet their big target of 368 as the Aussies take home the win by 62 runs.

Commiserations to Pakistan with the loss where they’ve turned things around after a difficult time by finally ending the Warner-Marsh partnership through some dropped catches that would’ve gave them a bit more chance of winning. It was good seeing Shaheen Afridi being so desperate from the start with the ball, who eventually got the job done thanks to a five wicket haul on his own. Plus, their batters wasn’t bad where the opening pair has worked well earlier on, while the top & middle order did the best they can to try & close down to Australia’s big 368 run requirement. But sadly, it just wasn’t enough when the tail end were thrown at the deep end under pressure to bring things home before Pakistan were 62 runs short in the end with five overs to spare. Meanwhile, great seeing the Aussies win again as there’s still some unfinished business going into next week. Love the swashbuckling opening batters performance from Dave Warner & Mitchell Marsh where Warner scores big quickly while Mitchell works off through the gaps & scores these safe shots down the ground. When it comes to the on-field performance, yes they were under threat at times when Pakistan never gave up as the runs were there from the opposition’s end but glad the Aussies eventually shut them down. Adam Zampa did well once again as the main spinner with his 4fer; Plus, you can’t ignore the all-round brace of Marcus Stoinis who was outstanding with both bat and ball as well.

Pakistan will face Afghanistan on Monday while Australia’s next World Cup match will be against the Netherlands on Wednesday. For now, there’s two big match-ups to watch with England v South Africa tonight (and again when it comes to the 2nd Rugby World Cup semi tomorrow AM) followed by India v New Zealand tomorrow night to round off this weekend.

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Australia’s capture of both Sri Lankan Openers has eventually nailed down their first win of the 2023 Cricket World Cup by five wickets

by Sports Benches

We thought it would be a big Sri Lankan day in the middle following a great start through the first 20 odd overs with the bat, but the Aussies have turned themselves around though from 157-2 to restricting them to 209 before they were able to bring it home by recording their first win of the 2023 Cricket World Cup by 5 wickets.

Great seeing Pat Cummins pile up the two early wickets off SL’s two opening batters who gave the Aussies a hard time until he eventually found his team a huge breakthrough before the rewards were helped by their own fielders. Plus, also huge shoutout from spinner Adam Zampa with his four wicket haul (4fer for 47) by wiping off the rest as well. With the bat, I’m glad that not one but two players from WA have proved me wrong today in both opener Mitchell Marsh & keeper Josh Inglis, whom they’ve backed up their own half-centuries. Let’s hope they can keep on shining, especially when there’s still some top teams to tick off like Pakistan this Friday followed by New Zealand & then England over the next 10-14 days.

And as said, Sri Lanka has built a nice opening stand with Passum Nissanka & Kusal Perera in there. Sadly, SL just couldn’t bridge the 2nd half of their batting shift where the good runs they’ve got has saw them being locked out by the Aussies to 209. Speaking of starts, they too were not bad with the ball when it comes to these early wickets. But again, it would’ve been better if they didn’t get out early too much & SL follow up their good opening stand by keep on scoring more runs along with another good batting stand (either one – top or middle order) that would’ve seen them safeguard their lead between the 300-350 run mark. The search is still on to try & register their first World Cup win as SL’s next game is against the Netherlands this Saturday.

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2023 Cricket World Cup, Pakistan’s steady start has turned into another round of India’s all-round winning performance at Ahmedabad

by Sports Benches

There’s a massive rivalry that is so synonymous of the Cricket World Cup where India v Pakistan on another huge occasion last night, but the winning team has always gone India’s way – having restricted Pakistan to 191 in 42 overs before they had no difficulties getting the job done in return with 20 overs to spare (30 of 50) by seven wickets (192/3). Gotta say that Pakistan started not bad with the runs they’ve built step after step, especially when they’ve got the ball rolling with their top-order card. However, they just couldn’t turn into quickfire and consistent boundaries when being tested under pressure in the 2nd half batting shift. Sadly, that’s where things have gone India’s way before Pakistan found it incredibly difficult to defend 191 on the field – despite seeing Shaheen Afridi cleared out both openers & Hasan Ali caught Virat Kohli out early with the ball.

And hats off to India who holds the most wins including last night against their arch-rivals (Pakistan) that will live on to the next World Cup edition. They did well to find the breakthrough off Pakistan’s safety first start with the bat before India turned themselves around when Pakistan tried to score big during the 2nd half of their 50-over shift. Plus, their batting was fine where Opener Rohit Sharma did well on 86, while Shreyas Iyer helped the Indian fans move on from the early disappointments of Shubman Gill & Virat Kohli by bringing them the winning runs home in such tremendous style – thanks to his own quickfire batting spell of 53. Such a huge crowd when getting the chance to see their favourite team play at a 120,000 seater Stadium in Ahmedabad along with a huge fan base elsewhere across both countries no matter the result that happens once in a while during World Cup (either way in both ODI & T20I tournaments) and/or even Champions Trophy years.

Although seeing India win all the time in this contest is like the Cricket version of the Bledisloe Cup where the Wallabies keep on losing over the last 20 + years while the All Blacks always get to take home the series trophy every year. India will now v Bangladesh on Wednesday while Pakistan take on the under pressure Aussies this Friday.

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Australia’s sloppy fielding gave South Africa the upper hand with 300 + runs while still poor with the bat on what has been another loss to reflect at the 2023 Cricket World Cup

by Sports Benches

After two games so far, Australia has still yet to record a win in the 2023 Cricket World Cup following back-to-back losses v India and now South Africa. Yes, they won the toss by choosing to field/bowl first from skipper Pat Cummins. However, their fielding displays has been extremely poor when a few catching opportunities were supported to be taken, but then dropped it that should’ve held back South Africa’s batting card. Instead, Quentin De Kock has scored his 100 while Opening partner Temba Bavuma didn’t do bad before Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen & David Miller finished off the team’s innings nicely past the 300 mark (311-7).

Then the tables turn on our batsmen to try & respond to that big total of 312 being set by South Africa. Unfortunately, SA has proved to them that catches win matches – the line Pommie Mbangwa always says on commentary – including some great calls they’ve made too when appealing a review. The Aussies were way out of hand likewise with the bat that saw them being bowled all out for 177 before SA take home the win by 134 runs. So far, so good from the Proteas who made an explosive batting performance led by Quinton De Kock, while they were excellent not just with the ball but also on the field that led to some good catches & appeals along the way. Let’s hope SA can stay on the up for the rest of this tournament in the hope of winning a trophy for the first time & not choke it like they’ve done a few times in the past.

And where do we go from here for the Aussies? First of all, gotta feel sorry for the bowlers who created some great chances for the fielders to finish off the good work for them. But most of the executions from these fielders just wasn’t there sadly where some couldn’t see where the ball is landing while another could’ve easily been a wicket or two but then dropped the ball which was really frustrating to watch. Plus, Alex Carey should be opening with Dave Warner next game v Sri Lanka on Monday, as don’t think Mitchell Marsh can stay on like this who is an all-rounder that opened the bat recently. M. Marsh would be better back at five if he’s not axed for their next game v Sri Lanka on Monday & nothing against Josh Inglis behind the gloves last night, but sadly he didn’t do any good & will have to hand the WK gloves back to Carey in a few days time.

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2023 Cricket World Cup Week 1: Blackcaps def. England in 2019 Final rematch while the Aussies looked lost with the bat against India

by Sports Benches

We’ve reached the first week of six in this year’s Cricket World Cup over in India with some exciting match-ups to kick things off, such as the 2019 Final rematch opener between England v New Zealand. England didn’t do so bad for a start thanks to Joe Root (77) earlier on of 282-9 even though they couldn’t reach 300, but that big batting partnership of Opener Devon Conway (152) & No.3 Rachin Ravindra (123) has helped NZ wow the defending champions by a nine wicket win – having each recorded their own 100s.

Sounds like NZ’s attacking approach is the original birth place of Bazball where it has been adopted to England since last year by their Test coach Brendon McCullum. Although it’s safe to say that he’s not their white-ball coach (Matthew Mott is who formerly coached the Australian women’s side), despite having a similar kind of dedicated coaching staff who shares the same philosophy as him. NZ went on to beat the Netherlands two days ago by 99 runs two days ago (Monday) while England has also recorded their first win of the 2023 CWC v Bangladesh yesterday by 137 runs.

Then the tables turn on our Aussies who unfortunately didn’t get the win they wanted from Sunday v the host nation, India. It looked so promising from the start when you got Dave Warner & Steve Smith smashing 30/40s, but then the rest didn’t do so well where they ended up just above 200 before India were too good to bring it home with the winning runs by six wickets.

Their next game is tomorrow night AEDT v South Africa who got their first win from Saturday v Sri Lanka. Now the Proteas would want to treat carefully with water later on who is well known for being chokers like India – but so far, so good. 

SA recently beat the Aussies at home out of a five-match ODI series last month (3-2) & that it’s something the Aussies needs to do in order to turn things around such as their batting card on such hot conditions over there. There is still some time left to play for where Australia will look to win some matches against 2-3 top teams & then hopefully put themselves into the Top 4 finals, with Sri Lanka coming after this next game on Monday.

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An outlook of Nine Network’s 2023 Cricket World Cup coverage starting next month over in India

by Sports Benches

Now we all know that the Rugby World Cup is going on right now but Today, Nine has announced their 2023 Cricket World Cup content ahead of the tournament’s start on Thursday October 5 between England v New Zealand next month.

Unlike the Ashes a few months ago in England, they will be sharing the rights with Fox Cricket as the free-to-air partner that will see them broadcast air all Australian matches & Finals. Plus, they will also air a handful of key International matches since Nine lost the home International domestic rights to Seven & Fox back in 2018. Although there won’t be full match replays, but there will be mini matches to look back on-demand in addition to live coverage on the main channel (Channel 9) & 9Now. 

It’s the same rights-sharing arrangement that has been going on for such a long time including last year’s T20 World Cup on home soil, as this could be the last time Nine would be airing one of the ICC events in the Cricket World Cup ahead of the next rights cycle going into 2024. As per usual, we will be getting the world feed commentary team since cricket is a different sport that includes several people rotating every half-hour rather than soccer/rugby where you’re allowed to aseemble your own commentary team.

Meanwhile, Nine will always have pre-game, post-game & mid-break studio coverage back in Sydney on top of the world feed commentary with just Roz Kelly (Host) & Mark Taylor (Analyst). They may have a bit less analysts than usual but these two know their stuff every well where Mark was a great opening batsman back in his day for Australia including his long-running association providing cricket commentary with the network for over two decades now, while Roz is more than just a decent sportscaster via her husband Morne Morkel whom they have two young boys as a family together.

The scheduling is great even though all of the matches are going to be held over in India from 7pm at night apart from the final Australian group stage game v Bangladesh where it will be begin at 3.30pm on Saturday, November 11. It’s gonna be a great one to watch on what has been a big World Cup year of sport, then once the CWC is done we’ll have to wait and see whether or not if Nine would stay on airing ICC events for the next four or eight years contract cycle with Fox since Nine now has their own paid streaming arm of Stan Sport.

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Thoughts on ESPN handing over the remaining Monday Night Football games to ABC just for this season amid ongoing scripted programming halt due to strikes

by Sports Benches

In an unexpected twist just for this NFL season, ESPN has decided to share their free-to-air coverage more often each Monday night with ABC due to the ongoing writer and actor strikes. We also thought that the return of Dancing With The Stars on ABC for Season 32 would also go back on Monday nights like it always been before, but they will take up Tuesday nights instead between 8-10pm.

It’s going to be like the good ol’ times again when Monday Night Football was such a huge staple on ABC between the 70s until 2005 before they went separate ways for the next 15 or so years until they came back on a occasional basis under the ESPN umbrella. Although ABC did air the Wild Card Playoff game as well as the Pro Bowl a few years beforehand & will continue to do so again that will include the Divisional Playoff Game in January.

Other than that, if the strike didn’t happen, then we would’ve seen The Good Lawyer be a great lead-in to The Good Doctor at 9pm. Now it’s going to be close to impossible now that the strike won’t end anytime soon which means there won’t be The Good Lawyer as a series while Home Economics & The Rookie: Feds would be on the chopping block as well, having seen The Wonder Years (revival) being axed a few days ago after 2 seasons.

Nothing much to look forward unfortunately when it comes to scripted programming other than rescuing 9-1-1 from FOX as well as giving an American version of High Intellectual Potential a chance that was a huge hit over in France involving a mother of three who can solve cases really well thanks to her high IQ.

Then once the strike really ends at some stage, we’re going to see a bunch of new comedy ideas looking to get past the first round while it may be possible to revisit the idea of having a reboot on the 90s hit comedy legal drama Ally McBeal.

For now, enjoy MNF while you can each Monday during the 2nd half of this year on ABC. Yes, they got the Super Bowl back for the first time in a long time but that will arrive in 2027. Plus, we never know for sure if ABC will be separated off ESPN at some point since the boss (Bob Iger) wants it to be a cable-free business. But I guess just keep ABC and sell off the rest like FX & Freeform. And once the next NFL contract comes around in 2033, we may see MNF be a weekly thing once again.

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