You could be forgiven if you have no idea what is happening at the Women's World T20 out in Bangladesh at the moment, given that there is absolutely no radio or television coverage, and the 180 seconds of game highlights are hidden away and actually not worth finding once you get there.
So here is a quick recap of the state of play after 12 games have been played in the last 6 days.
Group A - Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa
New Zealand beat Australia in the first game of the tournament by 7 runs, and have gone on to demolish Ireland and Pakistan. They have South Africa to play on Monday, but are all but through to the semis.
Australia picked themselves up after their loss to NZ and brushed aside South Africa and then crushed Ireland (Meg Lanning scoring 126 in the process). They have Pakistan to play tomorrow (Sat) and a win will ensure their place in the semis if South Africa lose to Ireland.
South Africa have been doing pretty well. They beat Pakistan comfortably (Dane van Niekerk getting 90*) in their first match and then gave a decent account of themselves against the Aussies. They need to beat Ireland tomorrow (Sat) to keep their hopes of qualifying alive (preferably by a large margin), and then have the small task of beating New Zealand on Monday to end up on 6 points with New Zealand and, probably Australia. Net Run Rate would then determine the 2 finalists if this happened with Australia and NZ quite some way ahead at the moment.
Pakistan and Ireland have been a bit battered, but they have their "final" against each other on Monday.
It looks like New Zealand will win the Group and Australia will be the runners-up.
Group B - Bangladesh, England, India, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies
West Indies beat England by 9 runs in the first game thanks to 4 wickets from Deandra Dottin and have not really looked back since. They cruised past Bangladesh bowling them out for 79, and then pulverised Sri Lanka. They have India to play on Monday and look like winning 4 from 4 and topping the group.
England took the WI defeat on the chin and came back to beat India comfortably and then smash Bangladesh. They play Sri Lanka on Sunday and a victory will mean that they are in the semis with West Indies.
Sri Lanka looked OK when they beat India, but got bowled out by the West Indies for 84 today. If they lose to England on Sunday then they will have no chance of qualifying for the semis. Beat England and then go on to beat Bangladesh in their last game and they will be through.
India and Bangladesh are fighting it out for 4/5th in the group. Bangladesh can bowl but can't bat; India have already lost to Sri Lanka and England. Defeat to Bangladesh on Sunday might at least get the BCCI to acknowledge they exist.
It looks like West Indies (who have India to play) will finish top and England will finish second.
If so the semi-finals will be New Zealand v England and Australia v West Indies - pretty much the teams that you might have expected, but perhaps not in quite the order you would have expected.
Onwards and upwards.............
MD
28/III/14
expert & informed news, views and comment on women's cricket around the world - sponsored by B3 Cricket
Can't help but think some of the other teams are in different league to England when it comes to batting. Count the 6s and look at the totals and I can't help but feel we don't have enough T20-esque batting in our squad (which makes leaving the likes of Wyatt and Winfield back in England even more confusing). Still, hope springs eternal and maybe our bowling (which is looking good) might keep us in with a shout. Let's hope we can avoid another Sri Lanka disaster tomorrow - in what is in effect a quarter final
ReplyDeleteYes that's right. Dibble and Grundy, the new spinners, were 10 and 11 in the first game, which left us with a long tail. We're used to seeing Colvin, Marsh and Wyatt bowl spin for us, and all could bat higher up the team. Brindle's departure has also weakened the batting. We now have the rather odd sight of Elwiss playing as a batter - listed at 8 on the card, hasn't bowled yet and given her World Cup experiences in Asian conditions last year
ReplyDelete, her bowling wouldn't serve us well either. So lack of runs will let England down again at some stage in the tournament, as it did in the first game, and I can't see us winning the tournament.
Regarding the regular comments about the lack of coverage, yes it's disappointing. But perhaps the women's cricket departments of the ECB and the other national boards need to think about whether a standalone women's tournament is now the way to go. After all, when it's the standalone Women's World Cup, there is TV coverage of selected matches all the way through. The men's tournament is a big competition, with 2 matches every day, and once these have been taken care of, there are very few media resources left. When the first World T20 was played, the women's game probably got as good a deal as it could have hoped for (semi finals & final on TV). After all, at that time the group stages consisted of a series of very one sided matches, after which India, England, New Zealand and Australia completed their inevitable passage to the semis. Given the standard of some of the matches, it was perhaps best for the women's game if they were hidden away, but now West Indies have overtaken India, and Sri Lanka and South Africa can do it on their day. The previous big 4 has been replaced by a big 7, although admittedly Ireland, Pakistan and especially Bangladesh are still a way behind.
ReplyDelete