T20, List A, and ODIs, Oh My: The Cricket Thread (No, Not That Kind of Cricket)

Seven Costanza

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Went to SA v Netherlands yesterday in New York. Decent crowd, but tame atmosphere. IIRC folks who wanted a ticket to India-Pakistan today had to buy a ticket to another game as well, so I think most of the crowd was there for that reason.

All the criticism of the field in NY is correct- balls were just dying in the field. Tons of would be boundaries squashed. Both teams started horribly, so it was at least a close match if not a high scoring or exciting one. I was there with a couple of South Africans and my brother so that made it fun.

When you think of T20 you think of just balls to the wall scoring and ridiculous shots being played everywhere. This was anything but that- didn't seem to be a lot of casual fans there so hopefully not a ton of folks were turned off by it.
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Went to SA v Netherlands yesterday in New York. Decent crowd, but tame atmosphere. IIRC folks who wanted a ticket to India-Pakistan today had to buy a ticket to another game as well, so I think most of the crowd was there for that reason.

All the criticism of the field in NY is correct- balls were just dying in the field. Tons of would be boundaries squashed. Both teams started horribly, so it was at least a close match if not a high scoring or exciting one. I was there with a couple of South Africans and my brother so that made it fun.

When you think of T20 you think of just balls to the wall scoring and ridiculous shots being played everywhere. This was anything but that- didn't seem to be a lot of casual fans there so hopefully not a ton of folks were turned off by it.
That was looking a bit dicey from SA's perspective until David Miller decided enough was enough & put them over the line.

Curious: how was the venue itself (seating, vantage points, concessions, etc.)?
 

Seven Costanza

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Vantage points were all good. Stands were entirely temporary, so it was a bit of a steep stair hike to the upper levels. Not entirely sure how comfortable I'd personally feel with the stands fully packed out (you could feel it shake a bit with a smaller crowd) but it's not like they'd put something unsafe out there. There were two decent sized video screens which was nice to have.

Security was through the roof- I don't know if I've ever seen something like that at a sporting event. We split the cost of VIP parking so that was fine, but had we not it seemed a bit of a walk to the venue. Concessions were plentiful and reasonably priced (for a sporting event at least). Lots of cool subcontinent type options like tikka masala, etc.

Watching the rain delay earlier today made me think- there's absolutely no cover there anywhere for the fans. Given the temp stands there's no concourse or anything and the grounds outside (where the concessions/bathrooms are) have no cover. Anyone who didn't bring an umbrella or raincoat must have gotten pretty wet.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Well, it was a nice little run.
View: https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1800954855269261507

The USA pushed powerhouse India all the way at the T20 Cricket World Cup but came up just short, losing by 7 wickets
Still so confusing for beginners to figure out how to interpret results. India had 10 balls left, which is a pretty decent showing for the USA I think.

USA still very much in it. They can book a place in the final 8 with a win versus Ireland, or even with a loss, though it's unlikely if Pakistan has a good win against Ireland.
 

Mr. Wednesday

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Still so confusing for beginners to figure out how to interpret results. India had 10 balls left, which is a pretty decent showing for the USA I think.
I'm assuming that describing the result only in wickets is based on test cricket where the wickets are the only thing that matter because there isn't a fixed number of overs. It seems like there would be an obvious fix for limited-overs formats, it doesn't seem that hard to say "India won by 7 wickets and 1.4 overs."
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Some updates:

Yes, USA advanced with a NR over Ireland. No 'Qudrat ka nizam'/Pakistan in the Super 8 this go-around. USA are set to play South Africa in the Super 8s. SA's bowlers have enjoyed some good form this tourney; Nortje/Marco Jansen/Rabada/Baartman/Markham are all elite players or have been really strong this WC. Plus, Tabraiz Shamsi went 4-0-19-4 tonight against Nepal. Yet, South Africa only beat Nepal by 1 run a few hours ago...

The last ball, Nepal swinged-and-missed, and both batters took off to get that run and sent it to a super over. But there was a run-out: QDK threw the ball, it deflected to Aiden Markham, who threw the ball to down the wickets. Nepal's batter, Jha, who was running to get that equalising run, was just short. He seemed to slow down a bit at the end there, too...

Nepal had a real fun showing, supporters coming out in droves, passionate. Played NED and SA really close. Had an unfortunate rainout against Sri Lanka.

Other countries who have advanced into Super 8s beside USA/SA: India, Australia, Afghanistan, West Indies. 2 other spots still open - 1 between England/Scotland. Scotland have to play Australia; England to play Namibia. England should advance; we'll see. The other between Bangladesh/Netherlands. BAN have 2 points in hand, so just 1 win sends them through. BAN also beat NED yesterday, so there may be an advantage there.

Once Super 8s begin, teams are divided into 2 groups of 4 teams each.

Group 1: A1 (India), B2 (England/Scotland), C1 (Afghanistan/West Indies [both of these teams will advance, but they have 6 points and 3 GPs - winner of this match on Monday gets the C1 spot]), D2 (Bangladesh/Netherlands).

Group 2: A2 (USA), B1 (Australia), C2 (Afghanistan/West Indies), D1 (South Africa).

An Associate ICC member in the USA having a Super 8 is a cool story, and for the Americans, they are shaping up to be in a tough Group 2. Anything is possible, however. Afghanistan has been a great story too - really building on the momentum of their previous ODI WC campaign to have some impressive wins in 2024. Plus, they have the current top run scorer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (167) [2nd place USA's Aaron Jones with 141 - both with 3 innings], and AFG also have the top wicket taker, Fazalhaq Farooqi (12 in 3 innings), 2nd place is Anrich Nortje with 9 in 4 wickets.

Super 8s begin Wednesday, 19 June, at 10:30am ET, with South Africa/USA in North Sound, Antigua & Barbuda.
 

AB in DC

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Not a cricket follower, but I gotta imagine losing by 9 wickets/55 balls remaining has gotta be one of the bigger blowouts for a T20 Super Eight match.
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Wow: a massive upset just now, as Afghanistan defeated Australia by 21 runs, 148/7 to 127 (19.2 O).

Australia won the toss and decided to have a bowl first. Afghanistan didn't lose a wicket until 118/1 in the 15.5 over as Rahmanullah Gurbaz went for 60(49), and Ibrahim Zadran had 51(48). The next 4.1 overs, Afghanistan scored 30/6.

On the opposite end of the fall of wickets spectrum, Australia lost their first at 0/1, when Travis Head went for a duck.

Afghanistan were amazing in the field, only with a couple of misfieldings, and the bowlers attacked very well.

Afghani bowler Gulbadin Naib took MotM, with a line of 4-0-20-4.

Catching up from previous posts...West Indies defeated Afghanistan to place themselves in Group A (& Afghanistan Group B).

Group A:
USA
West Indies
England
South Africa

Group B:
India
Afghanistan
Australia
Bangladesh

Results from start of S8 to current:

- SA defeated USA by 20 runs, 194/4 to 176/6.
- ENG defeated WI by 8 wickets (15 balls remaining), 181/2 to 180/4.
- IND defeated AFG by 47 runs, 181/8 to 134.
- AUS defeated BAN by 28 runs (DLS method), 100/2 to 140/8.
- SA defeated ENG by 7 runs, 163/6 to 156/6.
- (as @AB in DC alluded to) WI defeated USA by 9 wickets (55 balls remaining), 130/1 to 128.
- IND defeated BAN by 50 runs, 196/5 to 146/8.
- AFG defeated AUS by 21 runs, 148/6 to 127.

USA's chances of advancing to the next round is very slim. They would have to beat ENG (Sunday, 23 June, 10:30am ET, Bridgetown, Barbados) by a sizable amount and hope WI lose to SA.
BAN is in a similar situation: they would have to beat AFG by many runs and hope IND beat AUS. Conversely, AFG have a chance to advance with a win against BAN and an AUS loss to IND.

Realistically, WI, ENG, SA, IND, AFG, AUS all have decent chances to advance, but remember, only 2 teams per group will get through. That Group A 1-3 is tight, tight, tight. We'll know late tomorrow night (Sunday) who advances to the Semi-Finals after WI play SA at North Sound at 08:30pm ET.

Monday's fixtures are AUS vs. IND (Gros Islet, St. Lucia, 10:30am ET) and AFG vs. BAN (Kingstown, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, 08:30pm ET).

Not a cricket follower, but I gotta imagine losing by 9 wickets/55 balls remaining has gotta be one of the bigger blowouts for a T20 Super Eight match.
A little different because the group formatting was different, but last T20 world cup, in 2022, SA defeated BAN by 104 runs, 205/5 to 101 (16.3 O). An impressive feat from the South Africans against a fellow full-ICC-member, (also) test-playing nation. In 2021, Afghanistan defeated Scotland by 130 runs, 190/4 to 60 (10.2 O). Scotland aren't a full-ICC-member however, but an associate-member (like USA).
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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...and then there were 4.

Group A: South Africa went undefeated, yet, in typical SA fashion, still faced an elimination game against WI. England easily dispatched USA to get themselves that valuable Q in front of their nation for the Group, and SA/WI squared off to fight for the other berth. It was SA who triumphed.

Group B: tonnes of drama. After India also went undefeated, Australia had a shock defeat to Afghanistan. As of yesterday morning, all 4 teams in the table still had a chance of survival. India defeated Australia, and the cricketing world's eyes turned to AFG/BAN to see who would claim that 2nd spot behind India. If Bangladesh won, Australia would advance. If Bangladesh won and chased their target down in 12.1 overs, Bangladesh would advance. And if Afghanistan won, Afghanistan would advance.

After several off-and-on rain delays, a Sally Lightfoot crab pitch invasion, a football-dive-esque dive from Gulbadin Naib, and an ending time well past 01:00am local time, Afghanistan won by 8 runs (DRS method) and booked their ticket to the semi-finals for the 1st time in their history.

Just 3 games left:

1st semi-final, Afghanistan vs. South Africa, Wednesday, 26 June, 08:30pm ET, Tarouba, Trinidad & Tobago
2nd semi-final, England vs. India, Thursday, 27 June, 10:30am ET, Providence, Guyana
Final, 1st semi-final winner vs. 2nd semi-final winner, Saturday, 29 June, 10:30am ET, Bridgetown, Barbados
 

Jake Peavy's Demons

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Yeah, that was a shellacking from SA. I didn't watch the fixture (I had my nose buried in the Flamengo/Juventude e Bahia/Vasco football matches) but I wonder how Gurbaz' injury affected him (if at all). He's such a huge part of Afghanistan's batting.

SA will play winner of India/England.

Kinda feel for the folks who spent their hard-earned money to go to the grounds, anticipating they'd see ~40 overs, only to see ~21, & not even due to weather to boot.
 

SoxVindaloo

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Incredible final for the T20 World Cup yesterday. At one point in the chase SA needed 30 of 30 with 6 wickets in hand. Their win probability was pushing 99%. India kept picking up wickets and the incredible brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah pulled them back into the game along with some very spirited performances from Arshdeep Singh and the recently maligned Hardik Pandya. Also the catch by Suryakumar Yadav to remove David Miller was Malcom Butleresque in its brilliance at such a curtail time.