Let The Tournament Begin

The World Cup proper finally gets under way today with the start of the Super Eights or Second Round.  With the first phase of the tournament being dominated by the tragic events in Jamaica last week, it will be nice if over the coming three or four weeks cricket matters on the field were able to grab some headlines.

There have already been major shocks with both Ireland and Bangladesh managing to oust world powers such as India and Pakistan.  As we move forward, realistically now we have six teams vying for four semi-final spots; Australia, West Indies, New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka and South Africa.  With the rules as they are and teams taking forward any points earned against the other team going forward from that group, I think Australia and New Zealand have the biggest advantage going into the next series of games.  They have already beaten one of the big teams and with Ireland and Bangladesh to meet they are already more or less assured of six points. 

I am sure there may be another shock or two in store; let’s hope that it is not England that receives one of those shocks.

England had their own problems to cope with last week, more or less self inflicted, but managed to pull themselves round and put on a thoroughly professional performance to see off the challenge of Kenya.  It is imperative England win on Friday against Ireland and then if they can knock off either Australia or Sri Lanka in one of the next two games, I feel we will have a great chance of progressing to the semis.

We are now beginning the business end of the tournament and as we saw in the Commonwealth Bank Series a couple of months ago, it is not how we start these competitions but how we finish them that matters.  Let’s hope we have saved our best cricket for the most important games once more.