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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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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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