A wicket-keeper batsman becoming better and better from the match, England’s crucial under-the-radar bowler and trauma issues from the Australian camp make Jamie Pacheco’s list of things to look out for in the semis…
Glove guy could be the dangerman of Australia
It hasn’t been fantastic tournament for wicket-keeper batsmen in the perspective of conducts. Quinton de Kock did ok but his performances were a far cry from the prolific run-getter of the last few decades, Jos Buttler looks strangely out of shape and also low on confidence and also the great MS Dhoni has made headlines for his slow, conservative and unadventurous innings than the swashbuckling ones of old. Even his concern was voiced by the great Sachin Tendulkar.
Hence that the wicket-keeper batsmen community could at least be proud of the efforts of Alex Carey. His three inaugural from nine innings might not seem like something to write home about but they need to be put into context. He’s almost always been asked to come in at seven and that is either to perform a rescue act (New Zealand, West Indies), to get them over the line at a tough chase (South Africa) or to score quickly after a fantastic start. Whatever was needed him off he always did it.
With 329 runs he’s the team’s third greatest scorer after David Warner and Aaron Finch. With Usman Khawaja fighting with a hamstring injury and Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis (himself struggling with trauma ) short of conducts, it would not be any surprise to see Carey come in a couple of places higher than normal on Thursday. You’ll see much worse stakes than the 10/1 about him high scoring for Australia from England when the semis come about.
Jadeja-come-lately
In a effort so far jam-packed with off the-cuff selection decisions by the Indian direction, it’d be no surprise if the latest was that Ravindra Jadeja got a game in the semi-final.
He played for the very first time this tournament against Sri Lanka, in place of Yuzvendra Chahal, who’d been expensive against England. Jadeja bowled 10 overs for only 40 runs, claimed the big wicket of Kusal Mendis, took a catch to dismiss the well-set HDRL Thrimanne, but was not required to bat.
He could well keep his place in the group now with any one of Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav or Mohammad Shami missing out. There is another reason why the Indian direction may stick with him. Or two, rather. Perhaps only Virat Kohli is as good a fielder as him at the side and his presence in the team solves their problem in number eight.
Jadeja’s three-dimensional abilities may provide India with a sort of safety valve. A contender for? Zealand’s opening venture has been a tragedy. Colin Munro was so poor he was dropped two games back and his replacement Henry Nicholls has not fared far better. Martin Guptill’s career numbers are extremely impressive but not at this World Cup: just one fifty in eight innings tells its own story.
It is all in stark contrast to India’s where the two openers got tonnes from Sri Lanka on Saturday. Rohit Sharma has 647 runs, including five centuries. KL Rahul has 360 runs including a century and two fifties and this despite the fact he has only opened in India’s last few matches.
It goes a long way to explaining why India are so brief at 4/11 to win the game when they face New Zealand. And why it is just 8/13 which India have the highest opening partnership.
England’s quiet man could make a roar
Liam Plunkett is among the less fussy and less flashy players who’ll be playing at the semis but do not underestimate his significance.
Strangely dropped for four games despite not having done much wrong, he returned to the side when England were drinking in last-chance saloon, taking three wickets from India and one against New Zealand. And look at that economy rate: 5.5 at a high-scoring match against India and just 3.5 against the Kiwis.
In a team filled with big characters, outspoken characters and gamers full of’Hollywood’ skills, this quiet character who just gets on with it’s as important as these. He is 7/2 to be England bowler against Australia.
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