Good evening cricket lovers and none cricket lovers alike, we’re a broad church here! Over night the final qualifying place in group D was decided. South Africa were already through with their 4 wins from 4 games. Bangladesh and Netherlands were still in the race with BNG holding the grip hand due to their points advantage.
The early game was between Bangladesh and Nepal. Bangladesh just had to win, if they did then in the words of Metallica……..Nothing else matters.
A Bangladeshi win would secure the Tigers an unassailable 6 points and secure qualification. Whereas if Bangladesh lose and the Dutch pull off a giant killing over Sri Lanka, then everyone’s favourite cricketing concept, Net Run Rate would taking control.
Bangladeshi dreams were in their own hands and all that was in their way is the 11 men from Nepal and their army of bonkers but brilliant fans.
In Kingstown, Jamaica the Gurkhas won the toss and fielded first. Strange choice for me that but perhaps the Nepalese management have been reading these blogs and seen my batting first theory fail time and time again for associate nations……..wise to ignore my advice perhaps!
It looked like Nepal may have had the right idea! BNG opening batter Tanzid Hasan Tamid was dismissed by the first ball of the game, that’s a 6th, 6th diamond duck of the tournament……….incredible scenes! All BNG batting struggled similarly with Tigers legend Shakib Al Hasan top scoring with 17. Bangladesh finished their innings all out for just 106. There will have been some nervous people in Dhaka!
Nepal, who were already out of the tournament before the match, came out as high on the love of cricket as ever and they will have believed! The Nepalese showed their usual grit in the middle order, with Kushal Malla and Dipendra Airee scorer 27 and 25. There was, however, 2 Nepalese players out for 1 and 5 ducks! When the willow had stopped swinging, the proud Gurkhas were all out 21 runs short of their target.
Bangladesh won the game, seemingly convincingly at a glance and have secured the final place in the super 8’s without having to rely on a favour from their subcontinental neighbours Sri Lanka.
It’s no secret here at All The Cricket that we like an underdog. We also like an associate nation taking it to the big boys. We have fallen in love with Nepalese cricket and since my Asian team is already taken up by Pakistan, I’m going to create a new category and declare the Gurkhas my Himalayan team! Nepal is famous for having the worlds tallest mountain and the worlds shortest man, we should add the worlds funnest cricket team to that. After all, what’s the point of T20 cricket if it’s not fun!
The second night shift game was between Netherlands and Sri Lanka and after a Bangladeshi win earlier, it turned out it was just to make up the numbers. Even if The Dutch played out of their skins and picked up a huge and famous victory over the illustrious Sri Lanka, it would all be for naught after a Bangladeshi victory.
As it was, the day belonged to Sri Lanka, scoring 201 in what is only the second 200 plus score in the entire competition. Equal top scores went to Mendes and De Silva with 46.
The Netherlands decided to go out fighting, plucky to the end. Unfortunately, when it’s not your night, it’s not your night. The Dutch were bundled out for 118 and with that, their World Cup is over.
The Netherlands had a poor World Cup by their standards. They didn’t manage to get in one of the giant killings they’re so famous for but more importantly, they didn’t qualify. That’s what a team like the Netherlands need to grow, later tournament experience. The Dutch shouldn’t be too downhearted on their flight back to Amsterdam though, there is so little money in Dutch cricket and so few of their players are professional, any World Cup appearance is a success. They will be back on the world stage again, I have to doubt and be hungry for more!
Sri Lanka, despite their good showing in the final game, also had a poor tournament. As former world and Asia cup champions, as well as being in the most open group in the competition, The Golden Lions should have been competitive……..but they weren’t. Sri Lanka, who are a much better resourced team than the likes of Netherlands, need to go away, reflect and rebuild. Before that can happen though, the management team will sack the players, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board will sack the management and the Sri Lankan government will sack the board…….that’s just how things are done in Columbo!
So we have our super 8 participants, India, USA, Australia, England, Afghanistan, West Indies, South Africa and of course, Bangladesh. 6 of those 8 don’t come as too much of a surprise. Afghanistan, by regular thinking would seem a shock, to me, they’re living up to their extraordinary potential. USA qualification, on the other hand, is a huge boon for the Bald Eagles. Progressing to the later rounds of the competition is no easy ask and USA have managed the first time of asking, fair play to them!
Theres still a couple of matches in the group stage to mop things up. New Zealand are down to take on Papau New Guinea this afternoon but it’s currently pouring down……..obviously.
The last match of the groups see’s West Indies take on Afghanistan to see who tops group C.
I’ll bring you all the action from those games tomorrow and a quick round up of the group stage of this World Cup.
Until then, all the best.
Nick
All The Cricket 
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