Exactly half-way through the group phase of this tenth edition of the Cricket World Cup, you can’t help but think, ‘This World Cup is so open!’ I must say that this thought in itself is a win for this format of cricket that doesn’t appeal the purists as much and the neither does it excite the adrenaline seeking fans. I have to admit that I am not too keen an admirer of One-day cricket. I will pay extra to watch a test match and enjoy a T20 for its time and excitement benefits, but I will more often than not sleep through an ODI. Of course, the World Cup has its own legacy and brings with it an opportunity to crown the champions of the World and so it brings its own importance with it. And since there is a 40 year old history attached, it is prestigious. The memories and the legacy will never allow this format to die.
But if there is one word that describes why this tournament has caught interest, it’s “England”. Whatever happens here on, the English team can definitely stake a claim to at least a part of the advertising costs from the organizers. All four games they have played have kept people in the game to the very end. The betting sites in particular must have loved it! They were professional with the bat against the Dutch, while being poor with the ball. They maintain the latter with India but produced a stunning batting effort to almost overhaul a mountain and then again lost out to an innings of a lifetime from an Irishman that the Brits will never forget in a decade and Irish for a century! Just when you thought what they could do now, they pulled a Houdini against the Proteas defending a meager 171. Only 5 matches of the 22 played till Sunday have been exciting enough and 4 of them have featured England. Anyway, only 12 of the 42 at this stage did not involve the associates or Bangladesh, so the expectation had itself been low.
So who are the favorites at the half mark? Tough to say, but the favorites to reach the last 8 remain seated. I don’t think Ireland’s heroics can catapult them into the Quarters as all it could do is to make the other teams weary of their threat as India saw on Sunday. The Irish have to beat either the West Indies or the South Africans to put their name in the hat. Neither have Bangladesh given a sense that they belong to the elite group.
Only 3 teams remain unbeaten at this stage (Pakistan, Australia and India) out of which Pakistan has played only one top team and beaten them only just, Aussies have had a washout in a potential top game and India barely survived in keeping their record. So, definitely, this World Cup has been very open. The Quarter-Semi-Final format is in itself a bit of a lottery and so is much more exciting than the Super Six/Eight format as it puts the eight contenders in the same light: Have three good days and take home the coveted cup. I hope Poms stay the course to keep us guessing!!
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