• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

*Official* Pool B Discussion

Simon

Request Your Custom Title Now!
*Official* Pool B Discussion

Discussions about Pool B matches here

Pool B

1 South Africa
2 Sri Lanka
3 West Indies
4 New Zealand
5 Kenya East
6 Bangladesh
7 Canada
 

Tim

Cricketer Of The Year
I think its expected that South Africa will make the Super 6 unless the possible burden of home support becomes too much for them.

Sri Lanka, New Zealand & The West Indies are all very unpredictable teams..its really hard to tell.

I'm going to pick South Africa, New Zealand & West Indies.
I think Sri Lanka rely on Jayasuriya far too much at the top of the order & if he fails twice then thats probably it for them.
There's always the factor of Muralitharan, but if a team plays his ten overs out for just 20 runs & lose only a wicket then the weak Sri Lankan bowling becomes exposed.
Sri Lanka I also think are the weakest fielding unit in this group, they give away 20 runs rather than saving 20 runs like South Africa or New Zealand.
 

Simon

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Pool B will finish for mine

1 New Zealand
2 West Indies
3 South Africa
4 Sri Lanka
5 Kenya
6 Bangladesh
7 Canada

top 4 will be extremley close but Windies will upset 2 of the big guns and NZ will win 5 games.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
The VWC seems to have made West Indies great, but one of their key players in that is Samuels, who has pulled out injured!
 

anzac

International Debutant
*SA are one of the current 'form' teams & also have Home ground advantage. They also seem to be relatively free of injury concerns and have a settled squad.

*WI have possibly the best 'lead up' form of the remaining Pool contenders after their success on the flat batting tracks in India. It remains to be seen how much the loss of Samuels will affect their ability to build an innings with their long tail. The SA pitches should be more to their liking than for the other 3 contenders.

*SL have not had a happy summer in SA or Aus. They have generally struggled for runs on the faster & bouncier pitches, but did show form on the relativley slower pitches. Their bowling attack & fielding are the weakest of the contenders, with spin not expected to be as effective as seam / pace. So far this summer they have relied too heavily on the Captain, Sangakarra, Arnold & Muri to provide their competitive edge.

*NZ defeated India in a series dominated by under done pitches. There are big questions re their batting lineup & form, with Bond having niggling injuries & Cairns not yet fit enough to bowl. IMO their ability in the field is second to none, and they loose nothing in comparison to either Aus or SA, apart from not having an attack with bat or ball to post / defend a total. Fleming is fast gaining a reputation as one of the better Captains in the game, and now has more than 1 weapon to play with.

Ordinarily I would be confident of NZ's progression, but I am wary as their batting has the least form of the contenders. Their saving grace V India was their ability to put together little partnerships when it mattered when chasing meager totals.
Playing SL first up & bowling may be to NZ's advantage and may make the difference in the end to their progression at the expence of SL. NZ batting will get better as the tourneyment progresses, as the SA / Aus type pitches are what NZ domestic cricket is trying to encourage / produce.


:)
 

Bazza

International 12th Man
I think

SA
WI
NZ

to go through, probably in that order. SA are my favourites for the tournament, but I think SL will struggle in the conditions.
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
*SOUTH AFRICA are a shoe-in I reckon
*WEST INDIES are in form and playing as a team unit, without any weak links and experience in South African conditions
*NEW ZEALAND have a brilliant team unit and don't have any particularly weak areas, as long as the bit-part players play their parts to the full and the "little partnerships" keep being put together
*SRI LANKA are a two man team. Without Murali and Jayasuriya (and on SA pitches) I'd be surprised at their reaching the Super 6.
*BANGLADESH struggle on the back foot. On SA pitches I'd be very surprised to see them finish fourth, but I reckon they will beat Kenya as, against Kenya's weaker bowlers they'll be able to cash in.
*KENYA don't have the talent to go far, but can create a shock on their day... India! :)
*CANADA are the other team

Chance of Progressing IMO
South Africa 0.99
West Indies 0.71
New Zealand 0.66
Sri Lanka 0.58
Bangladesh 0.04
Kenya 0.02
Canada 0.00
 

Tim

Cricketer Of The Year
Actually im pleased to see that NZ are not playing any Day/Nighters.

Not just because of the ungodly hours of the morning here in NZ to watch it lol, but it is difficult at times to bat at night so playing all day games might be good.
 

Choora

State Regular
NZ are probablygoing to skip their match against Kenya, as such they would struggle to reach the SS stage!!
 

R_Powell_fan

U19 Captain
Tim : Don't under-estimate Dilhara Fernando....he is quick and has good control of his swing and has done well for SRL in the past on SA turf.... Vaas is also pretty good although hasn't been in very good form recently.

Marc: IMO Ricardo Powell is as good a key player as Marlon Samuels....you may disagree with that so lets just leave it at that shall we.....

For the West-Indies to have a chance they have to preform both in batting and bowling in the same game IMO.
 

Tim

Cricketer Of The Year
Vaas can be very good, but you wouldn't back him to take wickets at the moment & Dilhara is a good quick bowler but he has a very bad problem with no balls & wides. If Sri Lanka are in a crunch match & he makes errors like that then its all over.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
R_Powell_fan said:

Marc: IMO Ricardo Powell is as good a key player as Marlon Samuels....you may disagree with that so lets just leave it at that shall we.....
I was only talking about his exploits in the VWC!

Of course with a name like yours, you'd think Ricardo is key, but what has he really done?
 

Bazza

International 12th Man
Agreed:

39 38 5 1087 108* 82 77 32.93 1 9 0
58 54 6 1248 124 88 83* 26.00 1 5 6

That's Samuels on top, Powell beneath. Samuels 10 times past 50 in 38 inns (1/4), ave ~33 no ducks. Powell 6 times past 50 in 54 inns (1/9), ave 26, 6 ducks.


Samuels a clear winner for mine, and on form also.
 

Mr Mxyzptlk

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Wow...I didn't even realize that he hadn't had a duck yet. Good for him.

Re: Powell, I think he may do well if he plays like he did in Bangladesh and India. He seemed to play more controlled innings rather than the typical 20 off 10 and get yourself out routine.

This to me indicates a positive application concerning his game and if he continues to persist as such, he could be a very, very good ODI player. He's also a useful bowler in domestic cricket and has been bowling a good deal quite recently for Jamaica but for some reason Hooper seems resistant to toss him the ball.

Hopefully he'll get a few overs against Canada and associates to prove himself to Hooper.
 

Tim

Cricketer Of The Year
I'd pick Samuels over Powell.

I remember back to when the West Indies last toured Australia. Marlon Samuels for mine played several innings that were full of determination & grittiness.

Whereas when Ricardo Powell came to NZ with the West Indies he pretty much threw his bat at anything and I don't think he averaged more than 15 in the One-Dayers. He also made his test debut in NZ I believe but didn't do well in that game either.
 

aussie_beater

State Vice-Captain
WI beat Free State quite comfortably today at Bloomfontein with Chanderpaul being the highest scorer with an 88 ball 97 not out.Lara and GAyle also scored runs in the 40s..... looking good...eh ?

I am looking forward to the first game.....should be an interesting one.
 

Top