CWC 19 Australia V Bangladesh

Bangladesh are missing one very good pace bowler and one very good batsmen for these conditions. They were close, but very far away.

The Aussies feel like a better version of the Windies. The 3rd pace bowler is ok, the batting has some good players, but is kind of fragile. On their day, dangerous but if you get after the spinners, the bowling depth dies.
 
Bangladesh are missing one very good pace bowler and one very good batsmen for these conditions. They were close, but very far away.

The Aussies feel like a better version of the Windies. The 3rd pace bowler is ok, the batting has some good players, but is kind of fragile. On their day, dangerous but if you get after the spinners, the bowling depth dies.
Australia have three of the highest scorers in the WC to date (Finch, Warner, Smith) and 2 of the highest wicket takers ( Starc and Cummins)
But bot an awful lot more to date.
 
So the absolute commercial disaster for the ICC was the 2007 World Cup.

That was when they decided to invite lots of the smaller teams, play four groups of four - and then have the eight leading nations advance to a round-robin and have all the minnows go home.

Then India contrived to lose to Bangladesh (before they were good), Pakistan managed to lose to Ireland and a TV audience of 1.5b went home before the competition proper even kicked off.

Since then, I guarantee they're coming up with a format that makes sure that India & Pakistan get at least half a dozen games each!
 
A word for Bangladesh - they have really come a long way in the last 10-15 years and are a properly decent side. Ok they haven't been able to cause an upset yet but given the relative funding and resources they have compared to the top nations I think they're doing alright. They hit a combined over 600 runs against us & the Aussies, so that's facing 4 bowlers of 90mph+, which in the early days might have blown them away but now they are capable of holding their own against. And they would've chased 400 the other day against the Windies! It's just a bowler or 2 they need to find and their fielding they need to improve to reach the next level. For context, they have beaten the West Indies in the last 3 ODI series they've played against them in the last 18 months. Also their fans have been great at this World Cup, turning out in numbers and bringing a sea of green to every game
 
Australia have three of the highest scorers in the WC to date (Finch, Warner, Smith) and 2 of the highest wicket takers ( Starc and Cummins)
But bot an awful lot more to date.
Absolutely. It highlights how reliant they are on 4 or 5 players to win games - they are a good side without question, but reliant on a minority to push the team over the line.

England and India are much more multi-faceted and less reliant on a minority.
 
Absolutely. It highlights how reliant they are on 4 or 5 players to win games - they are a good side without question, but reliant on a minority to push the team over the line.

England and India are much more multi-faceted and less reliant on a minority.
It also explains why the bans for Smith and Warner 'conveniently' ended just before the World Cup and The Ashes...
 
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