NZ stroll past Afghanistan

After 44 days of cricket, we are just 2 days away from the much-awaited final of the World Cup. Be it England or New Zealand who win it on July 14 at Lord’s, one thing is sure, the game will have a new world champion. In all these days, we saw some unanticipated hits and some unexpected misses while we also saw those, who outlived the expectations. Making a comeback to the international cricket after a year-long ban, Australia opener David Warner impressed with his style. He was aggressive, throughout, as if he was there to prove a point. Shakib Al Hasan was a surprise package all together. Kane Williamson, as calm as monk, guided New Zealand to their second World Cup final with his brilliant batting. Mitchell Starc unleashed mayhem with his yorkers, while Jofra Archer proved his worth in his maiden World Cup appearance for England. A lot of them have impressed, but only one will take home the Player of the Tournament award. Here is a look at all those player who are in contention.

Shakib Al Hasan

Bangladesh failed to make it to the last four of the World Cup but Shakib Al Hasan was in form of his life. Shakib ended a prolific World Cup 2019 with 606 runs, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s record of the most runs scored in the group stage. The left-hander hammered two centuries and 6 half-centuries. Not only did he show his grace with the bat, the all-rounder also impressed with his spin bowling. Shakib scalped11 wickets for his side at an economy of 5.39. So this complete player is very much in contention for the player of the tournament, unless the ICC jury is in a mood to not hand the award to a player belonging to the team that did not quite contend for cricket’s greatest prize.

Rohit Sharma

With a World Cup record five  centuries in the 2019 event, India opener Rohit Sharma has been ahead of all other batsmen in the race. The India opener is the leading run scorer in the tournament with 648 runs from nine matches at an average of 81. Alongisde his five tons, he also has one half-century. Rohit was only 27 runs short of surpassing the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who leads the list of batsmen with most runs in a single edition of the World Cup, but he managed just a single run as India’s campaign at the World Cup came to an end with a semifinal defeat against New Zealand. Rohit was seen shedding tears then, but he may have something to smile about soon.

Mitchell Starc

Australia suffered their first semifinal defeat in a World Cup as hosts England crushed the five-time champions by 8 wickets to reach their first World Cup final in 27 years.

Although Australia’s World Cup journey ended, Mitchell Starc remains the highest wicket-taker in the tournament. The southpaw has picked 27 wickets in 10 innings at an economy of 5.43. Starc, also the player of the tournament in World Cup 2015, broke Glenn McGrath’s record for most wickets in a single edition of the showpiece event. The pacer also has two five-wicket hauls and two four-wicket hauls in this edition of the tournament to put a strong claim for his second player of the World Cup award in succession.

Australia captain Aaron Finch and pace bowler Mitchell Starc stole the show as the World Cup holders eased to an 87-run win over Sri Lanka at the Oval yesterday.

Finch equalled his career-best one-day international score with a masterful 153 and Steve Smith chipped in with 73 as Australia scored an imposing 334-7.

Needing a World Cup record run-chase to claim a shock win, Sri Lanka got off to a flying start thanks to a first-wicket partnership of 115 between captain Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera.

But Perera departed for 52 and when Karunaratne fell on 97 the game swung back in Australia’s direction.

Starc was the catalyst, with a fiery spell of three wickets in six balls, Australia eventually dismissing Sri Lanka for 247 thanks in large part to his 4-55 from 10 overs.

Kane Richardson added three wickets of his own as Australia made it four wins from their five group matches after previously beating Afghanistan, the West Indies and Pakistan.

Their lone defeat in the 10-team tournament came against India and their latest victory puts them well on course for a semi-final berth.

“I thought we were a tad short with the new ball and it’s so hard to pull it back after that,” said man-of-the-match Finch.

“We were a bit slow to change our plans and lost a bit of momentum.”

“With each game we’re improving,” he added. “Through the middle overs today we were excellent with the way we pulled it back with our pace bowlers and Maxy (Glenn Maxell). Mitch was all over them, he is a world-class bowler.”

Sri Lanka, who lost their last seven wickets for 42 runs, have only one win from their five matches, a disappointing run that includes two washouts.

They face a struggle to reach the semifinals with only four matches left, a spell that features encounters with title contenders England and India.

Sri Lanka had briefly looked capable of surpassing the World Cup chase set by Ireland, who made 329-7 to beat England in 2011.

Karunaratne and his opening partner Perera blasted 24 from the first two overs and reached their fifty partnership in just the seventh over.

But Starc bowled Perera and Jason Behrendorff dismissed Lahiru Thirimanne for 16 as Australia hit back.

Karunaratne stumbled short of his maiden World Cup century when he carelessly flicked Richardson to Maxwell at backward point.

That left Sri Lanka on 186-3 and Pat Cummins then had Angelo Mathews caught behind by Alex Carey.

That set the stage for Starc to turn the screw by dismissing Milinda Siriwardana, Thisara Perera and Kusal Mendis in quick succession.

Mendis’s mistimed drive off Starc reduced Sri Lanka to 222-7 and shattered their resistance.

Earlier, Finch took the Sri Lanka attack apart with a dazzling display that included 15 fours and five sixes.

He was well-supported by Smith’s 73 from 59 balls and the pair put on 173 runs for the third wicket.

Sri Lanka had no answer to Finch’s brutal assault and by the time he departed, caught by Karunaratne off Isuru Udana, Australia were in a commanding position.

Maxwell’s quick-fire 46 from 25 balls rubbed salt into Sri Lanka’s wounds.

The gloomy weather yesterday in Cardiff, where it rained heavily until late afternoon, did no favours to Bangladesh ahead of today's World Cup match against World Cup favourites and hosts England.

Skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Sabbir Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun and Mosaddek Hossain were all restricted to indoor practice while the rest of the team opted to take a break from practice because they could not train outdoors. For a team that places great importance on momentum, it was not the ideal preparation for perhaps the toughest examination of their campaign, especially as they are coming off a loss against New Zealand in their last match.

The defeat threw light on the less-than-ideal form of some important players, and skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza included himself and star opener Tamim Iqbal in that category. Mashrafe has conceded 81 runs from 11 wicketless overs in the two matches so far, while Tamim has scored just 40 runs from 67 balls after getting starts against both South Africa and New Zealand -- uncharacteristic for a player who has been known for cashing in on good starts for the past four years.

"We are in the middle of the tournament now, so it is not as if we can change a lot through practice," Mashrafe told reporters yesterday. "But for some players, practice sessions are very important. If you talk about me, then obviously today practice was very important to top up certain things that are not happening for me on the field. Tamim is feeling the same. In that regard, I think we have been a little unlucky. For some of us the practice session was important, to get used to the wind, not being able to do which may not be a positive sign for us. But you can't do anything about the weather; we have to try to keep our confidence levels high."

Mushfiqur is one of those in form, but he has been a target of criticism for letting off Kane Williamson in the two-wicket loss against New Zealand, when he disturbed the bails with his elbow and negated a sure run-out at a crucial juncture.

"I think Mushfiqur is completely okay, and there is no reason not to be normal," said Mashrafe when asked about Mushfiqur's state after a social media barrage against the keeper. "And of course, there will be criticism surrounding those who are working. It is easy to do that. The team is supporting each other. It is normal, the people who are talking about it are the ones not able to take it normally."

Bangladesh's World Cup campaign is now precariously poised. After losing their second and third matches against England and New Zealand, they had pinned their hopes on the match against Sri Lanka in Bristol on Tuesday to get their World Cup campaign back on track. But incessant rain washed out that match and Bangladesh are now left needing to win at least four out of their last five games. While the next game is also against a lower-ranked opposition in West Indies in Taunton on June 17, the conditions may be against Bangladesh's favour.

As the team made their way to the sleepy southern English town yesterday, Australia were on their way to piling up a total in excess of 350, but the Pakistan pacers -- with Mohammad Amir picking up a five-for -- got them all out for 307.

None of those aspects -- Australia's big hitting and Pakistan's pace success -- would help Bangladesh against West Indies. The Cooper Associates County Ground is one of the smaller international venues. With the West Indies boasting the likes of Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis and Andre Russell to take advantage of the small boundaries, Bangladesh's bowlers would have to be at their best to contain them.

"One of their most explosive players is Andre Russell, and he's a formidable opponent. He's one of the best hitters in the game, by far, and on his day, he can be very, very difficult to bowl at," Bangladesh coach Steve Rhodes had said after the game was abandoned on Tuesday. "So he can take a game away from you, but they have others, like all these international teams.

"But we're very pleased with the way we play the white ball, and we know we've got some good players ourselves, so we won't be worrying too much about who we're playing against, and we'll be hopeful that they are going to worry about some of our players."

The coach was less worried about the other aspect with which the West Indies may choose to attack the Tigers. Bouncers have become a common ploy in this World Cup, especially when bowlers with genuine pace are operating.

"We've got certain ways of dealing with that. I'm very, very happy with the way we play the white ball, particularly when it's short. I think you've seen [that] against South Africa, that didn't worry us. We've played against the West Indies bowlers, recently, as well, out in Ireland. Certainly Oshane Thomas, as well, when we played against him in Bangladesh just before Christmas. So we are well aware of what they have got and we know what's coming and we've got some plans to try and deal with that."

With the match five days away and the weather set to clear, and also the two days of rest for Bangladesh's players, there will be ample time for the team to reset for the challenge.

“They are India and we are Bangladesh and that is the difference between the two sides. In the field, who will play well [will win]. Since it is a big tournament, if you go by the names then you will be going on the backfoot.”

Soumya Sarkar, Bangladesh player

When in Dhaka, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza is always casting his eyes towards Narail, his hometown. Having grown up in the village the right-arm pacer is more at home in quieter settings, away from the noise of city life and the singular focus placed on him as the face of the object of the country’s obsession.

While Birmingham, the second largest city in the UK, is nowhere near as frenzied and chaotic as Bangladesh’s one-stop metropolis, there was still much noise surrounding Bangladesh’s precarious position in the World Cup semifinal race. Perhaps that is why, with a gap of around five days between the team’s next practice session on June 30 ahead of their virtual knockout encounter against India in Edgbaston on July 2, Mashrafe and his family opted for a day and a half of quiet repose in the rural comforts of the Welsh region of Snowdonia.

Yesterday afternoon, Mashrafe reached the small town of Snowdon, a town in Gwynnedd county, built around Wales’s highest mountain bearing the same name. They had been fortunate with the weather as brilliant sunshine illuminated the road leading there, weaving through rock-capped green mountains and deep blue lakes. However, a bit of the good fortune ran out by the time they reached Snowdon. Mashrafe and his family -- as well as Mehedi Hasan Miraz and his newlywed -- were eager to take a quaint steam train ride up to the peak, but were disappointed when the ‘Mountain Railway’ staff informed him that they were booked solid for the day and that he would have to come back today.

However, such are the bounties of the region that another attraction was not too far away, and the families decided to go to the picturesque Swallow Waterfall around 15 miles back the way they came.

Ostensibly, Mashrafe may have been looking for some time away from cricket, but cricket never leaves his mind. As he was having some snacks at the Mountain

Railway station, he talked about the ongoing West Indies-India match, speculating on the kind of wicket they may get against India on July 2.

He may also have been seeking anonymity, but he soon enough a Bangladeshi sought him out for a selfie. There is no true getaway for a Bangladesh captain, it seems.