No surprises as T20 heads into Super Eights

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The only surprise so far in the World Twenty20 championship in Sri Lanka is that there has been no surprise. Although the shortest form of the game has the potential for upsets, there were none in the opening pool stage. The top eight teams duly took their appointed places in the second stage of the tournament the Super Eights which starts Thursday. Pakistan completed the lineup when it defeated Bangladesh in the final pool match Tuesday. Bangladesh produced the best batting performance by any of the eliminated teams when it scored 175 in its 20 six ball overs, with Shakib al Hasan striking a brilliant 84. But this was nowhere near enough to contain Pakistan’s batsmen, who reached their winning target with eight wickets and eight balls to spare.

It completed a pool stage in which only Afghanistan, which worried India in its opening match, ever really threatened to upset the established order. “There are still a lot of areas we could improve on,” said Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore, who was concerned that some of his key bowlers were not at their best. “It is a work in progress all the time,” said Whatmore, an Australian.

The decision to slot the two four-team groups in the Super Eight stage according to their pretournament seedings, rather than their pool stage performances, has produced a somewhat lopsided draw.All four pool winners Australia, South Africa, India and Pakistan are in Group 2, which starts on Friday in Colombo. The four runners-up Sri Lanka, England, New Zealand and West Indies start on Thursday in Pallekele. Each team will play the others in its group, with the top two progressing to the semifinals Oct. 4 and 5. The final will be held in Colombo on Oct. 7.

Before the tournament, Australia captain George Bailey summed up how tough it was to make a predictions about the tournament by saying there were nine potential winners.The picture is no clearer now.

For one thing, early form is no predictor of how far a team will go in World Twenty20s. The opposite seems to apply. None of the previous winners  India in 2007, Pakistan in 2009 or England in 2010 impressed at the pool stage. Two years ago, England managed to progress without winning a match, first losing to West Indies and then suffering a rainout against Ireland

That is a precedent that will give hope to West Indies, which qualified in almost exactly the same way this year. First it lost to Australia in a rain-shortened match. Then its match against Ireland could not be finished, also because of rain, but it squeezed out the Irish on the relative run-rate tiebreaker used in the tournament.

Ireland, eliminated the same way for the second straight tournament, has every right to feel that the famed “luck of the Irish” is a cruel hoax

To be defeated by the weather, rather than an opponent, even once would be hard enough. Twice in a row, for a nation that always has to battle for its right to a place on cricket biggest stages, is unnatural cruelty.“It would have been nice to have had more chance to show what we can do,” said Ireland captain Willie Porterfield, whose disappointment was compounded by the personal misery of twice being dismissed by the first ball of his team’s innings. 

“We’d love to have had a bit more play under our belt,” Chris Gayle told the ESPN Cricinfo Web site. Gayle, the West Indies’ talented opening batsman, said his team was now “very confident. Our main worry was getting to the Super Eight. So I’m very confident of doing well. The guys will be more relaxed and can play the cricket we know that they’re all capable of.”Gayle can also expect to do some bowling Thursday when West Indies takes on England, which confirmed its reputation for weakness against spin bowling when it was dismissed for only 80 runs in its pool match against India.

In the other match Thursday, Sri Lanka will take on New Zealand.Among the Group two qualifiers, South Africa looked formidable in the pool stage, but then it nearly always does.Australia, thanks to its all-rounder Shane Watson, has performed considerably better than its pretournament world ranking of No. 9 suggested. Either has reason to hope, but both will take something of a back seat Sunday when India and Pakistan stage the biggest, and tensest, confrontation in the world game. 

After the relatively flat opening stage, the more meaningful action is still to come, provided that the weather allows it.“These guys are great at this,” said the former England captain Tony Greig as he watched the grounds crew in Colombo covering the playing area during a downpour. “They get a lot of practice.”

Super Eights Groups and Fixtures:
 
Group 1: England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, West Indies
Group 2: Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa

27th September: Sri Lanka v New Zealand, Pallekele

27th September: England v West Indies, Pallekele

28th September: Pakistan v South Africa, Colombo

28th September: Australia v India, Colombo

29th September: England v New Zealand, Pallekele

29th September: Sri Lanka v West Indies, Pallekele

30th September: Australia v South Africa, Colombo

30th September: India v Pakistan, Colombo

1st October: New Zealand v West Indies, Pallekele

1st October: Sri Lanka v England, Pallekele

2nd October: Australia v Pakistan, Colombo

2nd October: India v South Africa, Colombo

4th October: First semi-final, Colombo

5th October: 2nd semi-final, Colombo

7th October: Final, Colombo

Related Link:
ICC World T20 Schedule and Fixtures

 © 2012 Pakistan Cricket News - PCN

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