Sunday, March 13, 2011

Bangladesh look for another win for a quarter-final spot

After their inspiring victory against England on Friday Bangladesh next face the Netherlands at Chittagong, scene of their win against the English.

The Dutch have lost four in four matches at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, but that will not stop them from going for the win against Bangladesh. The Bangla Tigers are one of the few teams that the Dutch would have realistically had a chance of beating coming into the tournament, although they will have an uphill task against the Bangladeshis who can just about sniff a chance of reaching the quarters.

A number of Dutch players have had a good run at the World Cup, but the only problem has been that they have been individual moments of brilliance; the side as a whole has not shone together in any one match. Ryan ten Doeschate had a fantastic match against England, but has failed to do much since. Pieter Seelaar has impressed with his spin bowling and Tom Cooper has contributed a few useful runs as well. If they can work together, then things might go their way in Chittagong against a fickle Bangladeshi side.

Bangladesh were staring down the barrel of defeat when they were 169/8 against the English, but it was the fantastic efforts of Shafiul Islam and Mahmudullah who got them home in the end. The bowlers also did their bit to bowl out England for just 225 and the team will hope to achieve the same result, albeit perhaps a little more comfortably, against the Dutch.

Tamim Iqbal will definitely want to have a go at the Dutch bowlers and the spin of Shakib Al Hasan and Abdur Razzak may well pose a few problems for the Netherlands. Dew could also be a factor that comes into play. It came down heavily in the previous match, where the England bowlers had a torrid time trying to hold the wet ball.

Although this match might be billed as the battle of the minnows, Bangladesh are far and away the stronger team according to the Castrol Predictor and have a 77% chance of victory.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Kangaroos likely to completely overpower Kenyans

The Kangaroos travel to the garden city of Bangalore to play the Kenyans in their 4^th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Although not considered the favourites this time around the Aussies are quietly gaining momentum and are getting in to their rhythm. Their pace battery is in great form and can be lethal against any team. With the return of Michael Hussey the shaky middle order will get a much needed boost.

Australia have fast bowlers capable of bowling at 150 kmph which can cause fear in most opening batsmen. Kenya did not have a great outing facing Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga and this is going to be test for their batsmen. The Aussies must be disappointed with the rained off result at Colombo where they had to share a point with Sri   Lanka. They will look to earn two easy points against the Kenyans and move up the points table.  The problem areas for the Aussies have been their batsmen playing spin bowling and with every match they are ironing out their issues, which will hold them in good stead in the later stages of the tournament. The Kangaroos are expected to overpower the Kenyans if not demolish them. Hence, the Castrol Predictor forecasts 98-2 odds heavily in favour of the Aussies, the most one-sided encounter of the tournament so far.