This post looks at happenings in today’s two matches at the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup. England came into the day with an opportunity to go third in the group if they recorded a big win over South Africa. As you will see things panned out somewhat differently from that scenario.
HORS D’OEUVRE – NETHERLANDS V SRI LANKA
At 6AM UK time the minor match of today’s double header got under way. The Netherlands won the toss, and mindful of how they had managed to beat South Africa in their previous match correctly chose to bat first. They managed to make 262, after being 91-6 at one point. There were moments when it looked possible that they were going to win a second in a row, but in the end Sri Lanka got home at the end of the 48th over.
THE MAIN COURSE – ENGLAND V SOUTH AFRICA
Some sports fans had dubbed today ‘super Saffaday’ because it is Saturday and it featured two big matches between teams representing England and South Africa, in the cricket world cup and in a semi-final of the rugby world cup. The former was reckoned to offer the better chance of a good result for England.
Chris Woakes and Sam Curran, who have proven valueless in this tournament, were quite rightly dropped, Gus Atkinson and David Willey taking their places. More debatably Ben Stokes replaced Liam Livingstone, which with the Durham man not able to bowl meant that England’s sixth bowler and second spinner would be Joe Root. For South Africa Temba Bavuma was ruled out by illness, and Reeza Hendricks was named as his replacement as player, while Aiden Markram took over the captaincy.
Jos Buttler won the toss and promptly had a brainstorm. Here are the salient points:
- The side that bowled first would have to cope with the blistering afternoon heat of Mumbai.
- England ideally needed to get the full ten overs out of all five of their front line bowlers.
- South Africa had recorded two big victories batting first and lost the only game in which they had batted second.
- England had lost their last game, to Afghanistan, after choosing to bowl first.
- A fistful of teams had already opted to chase and had that decision blow up in their faces.
In the face of this compelling evidence that batting first and getting a score on the board was imperative Joseph Charles Buttler, in a decision that could serve as an example of Einstein’s famous definition of insanity, “doing the same thing and expecting a different result”, with one extra dimension of South Africa being unquestionably a stronger side than Afghanistan, opted to bowl in the broiling heat.
There was further bad news for England when Adil Rashid did not initially take the field. It turned that he had an upset stomach, though he did take his place on the field and bowl his full allocation. Quinton de Kock fell to the second ball of the match, having hit the first for four. Reeza Hendricks and Rassie van der Dussen then settled into a good partnership. Reece Topley suffered an injury to his bowling hand after bowling 3.5 overs and had to leave the field for repairs. Joe Root bowled the remaining ball of the incomplete over. All of England’s bowlers struggled badly, and a huge total looked on the cards. England hauled things back a little between overs 30 and 40, with South Africa being 256-5 at the latter point. The last ten overs were pure carnage, with Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen both going on the rampage. Even with the 50th over only going for five runs South Africa had posted a total of 399, the largest England have ever conceded in an ODI, meaning that the last 10 overs had been plunder for no fewer than 143 runs.
England batted very nearly as dreadfully as they had bowled and Buttler had captained, being 24-3, then 68-6, then 100-8. Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson then handed South Africa back a little of the rough treatment that England’s bowlers had endured, putting on 70 together, which with Topley unable to bat was just enough to save England for the moment from being bottom of the group – England are one of a group of teams with two points, and their net run rate is -1.248, a mere 0.002 better than that of Afghanistan. It says everything worth saying about the efforts of England’s genuine batters that Wood with 43* and Atkinson with 35 were the only two members of the side to top 20, and that while they scored a combined 78 at 78.00 the other eight who batted plus extras scoring 92 at 11.50. The scorecard can be viewed here.
Where do England go from here? Well, they keep Buttler and Mott in post until England’s elimination is mathematically confirmed just to ensure that neither captain nor coach can find a way to wriggle out of blame for this debacle of a world cup tournament, the worst by an England team in the 21st century (both 1999 on home soil and 1996 in the subcontinent bear comparison with this showing). When the elimination confirmed Buttler should be sacked as skipper and a caretaker skipper appointed for the remaining group games. Once hands have been shaken after England’s last group game is complete Mott should be handed his P45 (if he offers his resignation it should be refused IMO – he should not be allowed to say he left of his own volition) as the first step in what needs to be a complete overhaul of England’s 50 over setup.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Inclement weather has limited opportunities for hobby photography, though I have some good pics. I am therefore including a few more model locomotive pics to start my gallery…
aspiblog 