30 Mar / 2015(300)…Home Team Win(CWC2015)

Before I give a brief summary of all teams i have a couple of thoughts to share.

In today’s age there is so much cricket played,that the FTP(Future Tour Program) literary gets inside the World Cup zone. There is no time and space(media attention, traveling, advt, endorsement, etc) for teams to rest before the tournament starts. Therefore…

These are two options ICC can look at.

• Either fade FTP as the WC tournament closes in (avoid having any series one month before WC)
• Warm-up games: abandoned playing against each other(irrespective of No. of participants), and keep it as option for teams. If they do require to play a warm-up game, than arrange a local team(s) comprising the best youth/future players, to play against the visiting side, so that they can acclimatize the region. Keep few local teams on leash

Summary of CWC2015 : This World Cup saw the best pitch/ground a cricket match ever have, both in Australia and New Zealand. The most pleasing aspect from the organization was it accommodated the weather factor. By having less grass or no grass and making the surface hard helped keep a balance between bat and ball. Only skills tilted the balance between bat and ball.

                             Australia: unexpectedly expected win for Australia.

– Australia started the tournament with a great win against England, and then after a gap of 14 days they were eager to dominate co-host New Zealand at their backyard. They started solidly (10 overs(68/1) but lost control of their steering and crashed to 151…. as Clarke rightly said, it was a kick up the back side they received as this game became an eye opener for them. It also became a blessing in disguise as they found another “game changer” who became an X-factor for them to win this tournament.

NZ like Australia wanted to dominate their opponent, and captain Bredon McCullum along with Guptill left no room whatsoever, and they had special plan for Johnson – going after him from the very first over with success.

In the end NZ did manage to scamper home and win the game, but Australia found a new hero, a game changer, who never really had spell that brought fear to batsmen. The Arrow-man – Mitchell Starc the tall left armer, whose yorkers are as precise and sharp as an arrow!.

After this game, Australia started to repair and build by making few changes. The most important one was to promote Steve Smith at No.3 and push Watson down the batting order, so that they can have All-rounders slugged together(Watson, Maxwell, Haddin and Faulkner). Yet none of the batsmen are featured in top five and only one(S Smith) in top 10 for most runs in this WC.

Here is a statistical analysis of Australia

The last column is the GAP FACTOR – difference in batting v/s bowling statistics. A gap of 0.1 point suggests their better performance in that particular indicator. The more the gap in primary indicates win factor.

                           New Zealand- Their best ever One Day Team

They had the best start to a World Cup campaign. Their last two series before the WC was a ODI series against SL and Pak at home. They won both the series in convincing fashion.

Led from the front by their captain Brendon McCullum who reappointed(Jan 2015 home series v/s SL)himself to open the batting. Although he finished 16^th in the list of most runs, but it was the manner in which he launched their innings, allowing his partner Guptill to build, accumulate and assault!. Guptill finished with most runs(547)in this WC.

As the tournament progressed their batting performance was fading as nobody was able to play a dual role of anchoring and assaulting or at anchoring which one thought experienced Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson would shoulder on. Surprisingly only two centuries were scored by them in this tournament. Batsmen like C Anderson, Ronchi didn’t get much opportunity in the middle, perhaps their good performance in those two series(SL, PAK) before WC went in vain.

Reason for not winning the finals – I think(might be wrong) playing in Australia after 6 years, in front of full house, and at the biggest ground might have got better of them. Their anxiety level must be very high, and the immense pressure when your captain, the game changer gets out in the very first over of the finals!. It was too much for them to make a fight back.

Later in the second half they looked fatigued and tired. One saw simple fielding errors occurring, as host slowly but confidently took over the chase. In a cricket match, a team (of 11 accommodate, game changers, role-players, and launchers) can still win even if 1-2 players play worse than expected, but you wouldn’t want to have to carry more than that in a game. In the finals apart from Elliott(bat) and Boult(bowl)none of them could play to their potential. They were unable to raise themselves and fightback under adverse conditions.

Nevertheless I personally believe that this NZ team is the best ever ODI team to have played(and with talent at hand they will be a force to reckon) as it has covered all the skill with exceptional performance. This is far better side than what Martin Crowe led in 1992- although I hate to compare eras, but New Zealand bowling was outstanding, much better than their batting in this tournament. Their bowlers got the maximum no. of LBWs and Bowled dismissals, which is not easily attainable on hard bouncy surface(including NZ).

No team was able to post >300 total and there was only one batsman to score a century (Mahmudulla of Bangladesh).