The camaraderie, Bangladesh’s breaking of the chasing duck, the Rohit factor and other talking points at the halfway mark
Dustin Silgardo17-Jun-2019Hot – Good vibes
It looks like getting all the captains to sit together on a couch before the tournament, like they were in a sitcom, has had the desired effect. There hasn’t been one demerit point handed out for an incident between players so far. David Warner has signed autographs for net bowlers and opposition fans, Jimmy Neesham donated Kane Williamson’s gloves to a lucky fan, Chris Gayle threw his support to both India and Pakistan ahead of their big clash, and Virat Kohli has been in such a friendly mood that he not only asked fans not to boo Steve Smith but also smiled away through his contest with Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz. He also walked when he didn’t nick it.ESPNcricinfo LtdNot – Zing bails
They haven’t fallen off on five occasions when the stumps have been hit and once when a Mitchell Starc delivery clipped them direct. Hot – Choosing to review
There have been 14 successful reviews out of 39 taken so far. Eight of them were decided by the umpire’s call. That makes it 17 lost reviews, some of those have been taken rather late in the innings. We’ll leave you to decide whether the teams are getting better at using the DRS or the umpires have been making more errors.Not – Choosing to field
Teams that have won the toss and bowled first currently have a 7-9 record this World Cup. Captains have been influenced by overcast conditions, but early wickets have been hard to come by – the average opening partnership has been 51.97 runs, more than in any previous World Cup. Also, chasing big scores has proved much more difficult at the World Cup than it has been in England recently – there has been just one score of more than 250 chased successfully, courtesy Shakib Al Hasan’s epic.ESPNcricinfo LtdHot – Short, fast and high
Jofra Archer and Pat Cummins have both breached the 150kph mark this World Cup. Both have three wickets with bouncers. West Indies too have used chin music to good effect, taking 10 wickets with bouncers.Not – Short, friendly and hittable
Get the short ball wrong and they’ve been tonked. Overall, short ones from pacers have gone at more than eight an over. Hasan Ali has bowled 22 short balls for 46 runs, Nathan Coulter-Nile 36 for 70, and Mohammad Saifuddin 16 for 52.Hot – Old-fashioned batting
This was supposed to be the World Cup of power hitting. Instead, the best three batsmen have been guys who rely more on timing than strength. Rohit Sharma, Joe Root and Shakib Al Hasan each have two centuries, and they’ve managed to strike at close to 100, or higher in Shakib’s case, while playing mostly conventional cricket shots.Not – Old-fashioned fielding
Hey, Bangladesh and Pakistan, if you wait for the ball to come to you when you’re fielding on the ropes, modern batsmen will run two. Pakistan are leading the table for missed chances while Bangladesh have had 21 misfields in four games.ESPNcricinfo Ltd Hot – Part-time offspin
Glenn Maxwell has been more economical than Adam Zampa, Kedar Jadhav has got away with five overs at an economy-rate of just six, Chris Gayle went at just 4.40 against England when the innings run-rate was 6.42, and Joe Root has got as many wickets as Adil Rashid.Not – Part-time internationals
Gayle, who played just 15 ODIs between 2016 and 2019, has averaged 26.75 so far and got a 13-ball duck in a big game against Bangladesh. Andre Russell, who had played just two ODIs between the 2015 World Cup and his selection in the squad for this one, has a highest score of 21 and has been seriously injudicious in deciding when to attack.Against Australia, with Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Coulter-Nile to come, he tried to mow Mitchell Starc over midwicket. Against England, with 14 overs left and just five wickets in hand, he tried an aerial pull off the quick Mark Wood. And twice he’s had to leave the field before finishing his quota of overs due to his bad knees flaring up.Hot – Slow and steady top orders
Four times teams have gone at 5.30 an over or less in the first Powerplay and ended up with 320 plus.Not – Crumbling middle orders
Of all the runs scored in this tournament, Nos 1 to 3 have got 54.27%. They have averaged 44.67, while batsmen from four to seven have averaged 26.39. Time and again, middle orders have made a mess of the starts the top three have provided. Sri Lanka’s has given up positions of 144 for 1 and 153 for 1 to end up with 201 and 247.Pakistan had a 4 for 24 middle-order collapse against Australia and then topped it with a 4 for 12 collapse against India. South Africa’s middle order has had collapses too – 4 for 38 against England and then 3 for 12 versus India – while Bangladesh’s crumbled around Shakib Al Hasan against England.
