ICC Cricket World Cup 2023

Sri Lanka may have choked this one with the rubbish last 10 overs. 50 runs on this wicket seems criminal.
 
This Pathirana kid is out of his depth, poor bloke. Had a shocker in both games.
 
This Pathirana kid is out of his depth, poor bloke. Had a shocker in both games.

Funnily, Dhoni said something about protecting the kid/limiting his game time. The Sri Lankan coach dismissed that idea though now its look like Dhoni may have had a point.
 
Crazy that this will be the record WC chase. Will surely be broken again this tournament.
 
Pakistan are perfectly capable.
I'd put Pakistan as the second favourite after India under these conditions. South Africa to join the Kiwis in the semis.

There is no chance the Aussies are recovering after that defeat to India. They are due to play Pakistan soon and will face the same issues.
No way they’ll do it.

:nervous:
 
Yeah I reckon all the 'big' teams in this tournament would have likely chased that v this Sri Lanka line up on that pitch. I don't know how they'll win a game outside of a massive turning wicket.

That's not a dig at Pakistan, losing Babar early to an unlucky one down the leg side left them looking in big trouble - it was two superb controlled innings.
 
Terrific chase & some effort to win considering where SL were after 25 overs.
 
fantastic win for Pak. Will be great for the WC for them to be in form.
 
Toss makes these types of games very predictable. Afg 220, Ind to chase in 35 overs.
 
Time to reduce the WC to 6 teams? These minnows are utter shite. Even the established ones like SL, Ban and WI have nothing to contribute at this level.
 
We've had one game that wasn't decided after 25 overs of the second innings so far :lol:
 
Time to reduce the WC to 6 teams? These minnows are utter shite. Even the established ones like SL, Ban and WI have nothing to contribute at this level.
Change the name of the tournament. How it is called world cup when there are hardly 4-5 teams that can win it.
 
Is it me or is there a crazy number of players hitting centuries already in this world cup compared to previous? Can any stats nerds do some diggings?
 
Time to reduce the WC to 6 teams? These minnows are utter shite. Even the established ones like SL, Ban and WI have nothing to contribute at this level.
I'll always disagree with this type of sentiment - there's been some great performances by minnows in WC through the years.

Kenya beat WI in 1996.
Zimbabwe beat SA and Indian in 1999.
Bangladesh beat Pakistan in 1999 (although everyone said it was a fix at the time).
Kenya beat SL in 2003.
Bangladesh beat India in 2007.
Ireland beat Pakistan in 2007 and England in 2011.

There's a few more but they deserve to be there.
 
I'll always disagree with this type of sentiment - there's been some great performances by minnows in WC through the years.

Kenya beat WI in 1996.
Zimbabwe beat SA and Indian in 1999.
Bangladesh beat Pakistan in 1999 (although everyone said it was a fix at the time).
Kenya beat SL in 2003.
Bangladesh beat India in 2007.
Ireland beat Pakistan in 2007 and England in 2011.

There's a few more but they deserve to be there.

It's the standard Samid WUM disguised in a half decent discussion point. Does it all the time.
 
Is it me or is there a crazy number of players hitting centuries already in this world cup compared to previous? Can any stats nerds do some diggings?

There does seem to be alot. But then again you'd expect records to get continuously broken at ODI world cups as they only happen every 4 years and white ball skills have advanced hugely.
 
Is it me or is there a crazy number of players hitting centuries already in this world cup compared to previous? Can any stats nerds do some diggings?

Well yeah considering SA/SL had 3 centurions, 4 centurions in Pak/SL. That's a lot in just 2 games

Edit: 11 centuries so far this WC. 31 in the last one.
 
There does seem to be alot. But then again you'd expect records to get continuously broken at ODI world cups as they only happen every 4 years and white ball skills have advanced hugely.

Exactly. Not sure why anyone would be surprised. We had a team nearly score 500 recently!
 
India being made to sound like a bunch of nobodies by their own support begins.

A redCafe tradition.
 
I'll always disagree with this type of sentiment - there's been some great performances by minnows in WC through the years.

Kenya beat WI in 1996.
Zimbabwe beat SA and Indian in 1999.
Bangladesh beat Pakistan in 1999 (although everyone said it was a fix at the time).
Kenya beat SL in 2003.
Bangladesh beat India in 2007.
Ireland beat Pakistan in 2007 and England in 2011.

There's a few more but they deserve to be there.

All before the T20 dominance. No one plays List A anymore.

Afg's star player (Rashid) has been around for 8 years and only played 97 List A matches. 95 (!) of those are ODIs. He has played 410 T20s. These minnows are way undercooked in this format so when they turn up at the World Cup they don't stand much of a chance against the big teams.

All through Europe (probably elsewhere too) ECC/ICC are pushing for T20 to become the main format in domestic cricket. Previously it had always been 40-50 overs. Time constraints and everyday life means T20 is the future for players/fans at all levels.

I didn't like it when the WC was reduced to 10 teams in 2019 but the reality is this format isn't relevant anymore for more than a handfull countries.

Reduce the WC to 6-8 teams. Increase the T20 WC to 20-30 teams.
 
India being made to sound like a bunch of nobodies by their own support begins.

A redCafe tradition.


A year ago we were a bit shit. We are clearly now heavy favourites.

Anything less than finals will be a disappointment and I wouldn't be surprised some shock result like NZ/SA happens. Both sides seem very good.

Just need to rig the pitches and take them out of the game here, and send some of the people on here into meltdown
 
Time to reduce the WC to 6 teams? These minnows are utter shite. Even the established ones like SL, Ban and WI have nothing to contribute at this level.

I'm strongly against this and I was against the reduction in this tournament. We should be opening it up as it's the only way teams like WI, Zimbabwe and Ireland will improve. Shutting them out completely favours no one and aims to keep the status quo. Sure there may be one sided results but it's the only way those teams get this kind of exposure against the top sides. Look at Football, you are getting more and more lower ranked sides getting close to qualification for tournaments now.