WC 2011 - Group B is hotting up - Who will make the cut (the upar cut !)

Just to remind you that the SYMA Cricket contest closes today.  If you require hard copy, do collect it from me.  If you require a soft copy, do mail me.  You can log on to our web www.syma.in and fill up the form online also.

The WC is in an interesting stage – of the 42 preliminary matches, 33 are over and still 9 to go.  The remaining matches are :

Mar 15 - Tue  South Africa v Ireland, 34th Match, Group B

Mar 16 –Wed Australia v Canada, 35th Match, Group A

Mar 17 - Thu  England v West Indies, 36th Match, Group B

Mar 18 - Fri    Ireland v Netherlands, 37th Match, Group B

Mar 18 - Fri    Sri Lanka v New Zealand, 38th Match, Group A

Mar 19 - Sat   Bangladesh v South Africa, 39th Match, Group B

Mar 19 - Sat   Australia v Pakistan, 40th Match, Group A

Mar 20 - Sun  Zimbabwe v Kenya, 41st Match, Group A

Mar 20 - Sun  India v West Indies, 42nd Match, Group B.

Group A looks more settled with Newzealand, Pakistan, Srilanka and Australia certain to make the grade leaving out Canada, Kenya and  Zimbabwe.  Group B is somewhat open.  Here is what it looks statistically :

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	RR	For	Against
India	5	3	1	1	0	7	0.77	1405/232.3	1317/249.4
West Indies	4	3	1	0	0	6	2.21	886/162.2	627/192.5
South Africa	4	3	1	0	0	6	1.35	1039/192.3	809/200.0
Bangladesh	5	3	2	0	0	6	-0.8	939/240.2	992/212.2
England	5	2	2	1	0	5	0.01	1357/248.4	1351/248.1
Ireland	4	1	3	0	0	2	-0.4	945/199.1	1017/196.0
Netherlands	5	0	5	0	0	0	-2.4	876/250.0	1334/226.3

Don’t get carried away by seeing India on top of the table after the fiasco in two matches against England & SA.  Now there are as many as five teams in contention for the next stage.

India has one match at hand – at WI and a win should naturally take us through.  We will still be home if England loses to WI and Bangla loses to SA. But if we lose, England wins against WI by a huge margin and Bangla defeats SA, we could be in soup.                    

The once mighty West Indies have to  beat England or India  for a clear berth.  If they lose both, then only their net run rate would up them against Bangla.  SA are far better placed with matches against Ireland and Bangla and one win will take them through.  They have bowled out all their opponents speaks volume of their bowling strength.  Bangladesh  will count their chances if England loses to WI otherwise they will have to beat SA for spot.  England are in quandary – they need to beat WI and hope Bangla loses to SA and India beats WI.

According to the playing conditions of this WC 2011, in the  event of teams finishing on equal points in its Group, the right to play in the quarter-finals will be decided in the following order of priority:

• The team with the most wins in the Group matches will be placed in the higher position.
• If there are teams with equal points and equal wins in the Group matches then in such case the team with the higher net run rate in the Group matches will be placed in the higher position
• If following the net run rate calculation above there are teams which are still equal, then the team with the higher number of wickets taken per balls bowled in the Group matches in which results were achieved will be placed in the higher posit ion.
• If still equal, the team which was the winner of the head to head match played between them will be placed in the higher posit ion.
• In the highly unlikely event that teams cannot be separated by the above this will be done by drawing lots.

In case you want some additional details, for your success in SYMA contest.  Here they are.

The following batsmen are on top having scored more than 200 runs:

Player	Mat	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50	4s	6s
V Sehwag (India)	5	327	175	65.4	125.28	1	1	38	7
SR Tendulkar (India)	5	324	120	64.8	100.3	2	0	32	8
AB de Villiers (SA)	4	318	134	106	111.18	2	1	27	7
AJ Strauss (Eng)	5	298	158	59.6	99.66	1	1	31	2
IJL Trott (Eng)	5	289	92	57.8	78.31	0	4	19	0
TM Dilshan (SL)	5	283	144	56.6	101.43	1	1	38	1
WU Tharanga (SL)	5	258	133	64.5	88.35	1	1	36	0
KC Sangakkara (SL)	5	252	92	126	89.67	0	2	20	2
CO Obuya (Kenya)	5	242	98*	60.5	70.96	0	2	21	7
HM Amla (SA)	4	230	113	57.5	85.82	1	1	17	0
BB McCullum (NZ)	5	225	101	75	95.33	1	1	25	5
LRPL Taylor (NZ)	5	212	131*	106	111.57	1	1	15	12
AS Hansra (Can)	5	212	70*	53	57.45	0	2	16	5
MJ Guptill (NZ)	5	209	86*	69.66	74.64	0	2	23	4
DS Smith (WI)	4	202	107	50.5	79.84	1	1	24	1
RN ten Doeschate (Neth)	5	201	119	50.25	85.16	1	1	13	4

And these bowlers have taken 10 or more wickets thus far :

Player	Mat	O	M	Runs	W	Ave	Eco	SR
Shahid Afridi (Pak)	5	46	3	161	16	10	3.5	17
SJ Benn (WI)	4	33.5	3	150	12	13	4.4	17
Z Khan (India)	5	45.4	1	197	12	16	4.3	23
HS Baidwan (Can)	5	45	2	266	12	22	5.9	23
Imran Tahir (SA)	3	25.3	2	98	11	8.9	3.8	14
KAJ Roach (WI)	4	30.3	0	122	11	11	4	17
TG Southee (NZ)	5	43.2	7	148	11	13	3.4	24
DW Steyn (SA)	4	32.1	2	137	10	14	4.3	19
Umar Gul (Pak)	5	37.5	3	160	10	16	4.2	23

SO what are you waiting for -  Predict the winner and win easy prizes.  Donate Blood – Save Lives.

Regards – S. Sampathkumar.