Today saw two group matches at the 2023 ODI World Cup, Australia v Bangladesh and England v Pakistan. Most of this post is dedicated to the second of these fixtures. In the early game Bangladesh posted just over 300, and Australia chased them down very comfortably, Mitchell Marsh setting a new record for an Australian number three in ODIs by scoring 177 not out.
THE PRELIMINARIES
England were already eliminated, while Pakistan had a very outside chance of staying in the tournament. The least vanishingly unlikely scenario to allow this to happen would have seen Pakistan bat first, score a huge total and bowl England out cheaply. Going this way round would still have left Pakistan needing to win by 287 runs to go ahead of New Zealand on net RR. As it happened Buttler won the toss and decided to bat. This meant that the first landmark for England to reach was 169, at which point Pakistan would be in the position of needing at least one no-ball from England even if they hit everything for six if they were to overhaul New Zealand on net RR.
THE ENGLAND INNINGS
In the event England batted the best they had all tournament, and it was soon very obvious that any scenario involving Pakistan overhauling New Zealand was not so much vanishingly as Daniel Dennett’s usage of Vanishingly unlikely (in the book “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea”). Various players contributed for England, and all Pakistan’s bowlers took a fair amount of stick. In the end England posted 337 from their 50 overs.
THE PAKISTAN REPLY
Pakistan never looked at the races, and there were times when it looked like their net RR was going to take such a battering that they dipped below Afghanistan into sixth place. The magic number to avoid that was 187, and they reached that figure with eight wickets already gone, losing a ninth shortly afterwards. The last pair of Mohammad Wasim and Haris Rauf then managed to connect with some meaty blows, but long before they were even close to worrying England one such shot went higher than it did long and Stokes managed to get himself underneath it. Pakistan were all out for 244, beaten by 93 runs. Two England bowlers reached career landmarks along the way – David Willey whose retirement is already confirmed reached 100 ODI wickets with the second of his three scalps, and Adil Rashid claimed his 200th ODI wicket. Willey was given the Player of the Match award, making the decision not to award him a new central contract look even sillier than it already did (while the timing of the central contract details being made public, right in the middle of a tournament, verged on the criminally insane). England are in seventh place, and unless the miracle of the tournament happens tomorrow and the Netherlands somehow beat India by a really big margin in the last group match seventh is where they will finish. However, two of their three wins came after their eliminations was already confirmed, and those two late consolation victories should not be allowed to overshadow just how dire a tournament this was for the team who “didn’t come here to defend anything”.
TWO UPCOMING AUCTIONS
James and Sons’ November auctions (on Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd) are now ready to view online.
Tuesday’s auction features stamps and postal history, and contains 500 lots. Lot 105 (below) is one of them:
There are two ways to view a catalogue listing and/or sign up to bid online:
The second day’s sale features advertising and ephemera. The main feature image is the centrepiece of lot 702, a poster sized picture of the 1891 Boat Race crews in action:
Full catalogue listing online, starting from lot 501
As a lead in to the final section I have a few more ephemera images, including the rest of the gallery for lot 702…
PHOTOGRAPHS
It is getting to the time of year when really good things to photograph become harder to come by, but I do have my usual sign off…
aspiblog 