Ranking The Teams 2019 Cricket World Cup

 

Ranking The Teams After Week One Of The 2019 Cricket World Cup

The 2019 Cricket World Cup is a week old, and every team has now had at least one game on which we can judge them. Yes, even you, India—better late than never, right? It’s been a superb start, with full stadiums, great action and, believe it or not, just one rain delay at a tournament played in England. We’ve seen upsets from Bangladesh and Pakistan, shows of strength from Australia and India and, thanks to Ben Stokes, one of the greatest catches ever, period.

Now that all ten sides have played, we can run the rule over them all—so here is the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup Power Rankings, round one. 




1 - India

  It’s hard to judge them after just one game—we can have the discussion about why their first games was South Africa’s third another time - but judge we will. They bowled well against the Saffers top order, only to take a minor flogging off the tail. It was as if South Africa feared the Indian attack more than they needed to, batted too conservatively and limited their own total: only two players with a strike rate above 80 meant that, despite batting for all 50 overs, the score posted was never going to be enough.

India’s response was conditioned by the challenge in front of them, and while they hardly set the heather alight, they didn’t need to. India are the best chasing side in the world, and this was never going to challenge them. They are 1-0 and England are 1-1, so for the meantime, India are in the driving seat.

PROMOTED

2 - England


Yes, they thumped South Africa. Yes, they lost to Pakistan. But despite being one and one, England will not be too disheartened: their victory on the opening day showed that they have a bowling attack that can come to the party alongside their much-vaunted strength with the bat, and their defeat on Monday might well be the cliched “good one to lose”. This World Cup format provides wiggle room for a defeat or two, and losing here might do England good in the long-term.
While nobody likes losing, losing to a Pakistan team on top form is always a possibility in the 50 over game. Secondly, England’s fielding was dreadful, and dreadful fielding usually owes as much to complacency as anything. That will have been knocked out of them now. Thirdly, their defeat still saw them make 334—which is more, lest we forget, than the biggest chase in World Cup history—and have two players make centuries. Buttler and Root are now at the party and are unlikely to leave anytime soon.
Three of the next four up are Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, with the West Indies in the middle. England may be 1-1 now, but nobody would back against them being 5-1 by the time they face Australia at Lords on June 25.  




3 - Australia



One of the problems of judging this tournament after a week is the uneven scheduling, which sees some teams having played three times and some just once. Australia are the most difficult to judge, as they have featured once, and that was against Afghanistan, theoretically the worst team in the competition.
On the positives: David Warner looked imperious, picking up the man of the match with ease. Their bowling was effective, spreading wickets around and getting Afghanistan out of there with ten overs to spare. Stoinis was the pick, making the innings-breaking intervention to dismiss two set batsmen in Gulbadin and Najibullah.
The negative, obviously, is that it was just Afghanistan. Bigger tests will come. Until then, they stay as third favorites. 




4 - West Indies
 
 What did we learn about the West Indies from their victory over Pakistan? In truth, probably not very much, given that Pakistan fell flat on their faces in front of them. However, we might glean more from watching the other games in the tournament and then transposing those findings onto the Windies.
We have seen short bowling have a huge impact, and the West Indies are very, very good at that. We have seen short boundaries, which the likes of Chris Gayle are wont to clear with ease. Those might be two positives for Jason Holder’s men, but the negative might be that we have seen teams with poor fielding punished—and while some in the side are excellent fielders, the aforementioned Gayle is so immobile that he can barely run between the wickets, and thus has to field at slip. That might end up as a major shortcoming come the crunch games. That said, absolutely nobody will want to face the West Indies at this stage.

5 - New Zealand


 Two and two for the Black Caps, and everything is rosy. Right? Well... They’ve faced Sri Lanka, who stunk the place out, and Bangladesh, who probably aren’t going to trouble the end of the tournament. They thumped Sri Lanka—bringing to mind the episode of the Simpsons where Homer enters a competition for kids and wins easily—but that was the minimum that could be expected. They made harder work of Bangladesh than might have been wanted but got there in the end.
Perhaps they are flat-track bullies, but in a tournament with a league structure in which teams will take points off each other, that works. Next up is Afghanistan, too, so they’ll be hoping for another comfortable win there. Martin Guptill has looked devastating at the top of the order - perfect for battering the life out of poorer opposition - and the bowling unit has several ways of going about business, which allows them to adapt to the changeable English conditions. Oh, and New Zealand conditions are often very like English conditions, giving them an advantage second only to the hosts. 


6 - Pakistan

 Pakistan could be first in this list or last. Repeat until done. That sentence could also have been written at basically any point between 1992 and now and it wouldn’t be far off. Humbled by the West Indies and a national disgrace on Friday, then turn over the tournament favorites on Monday. Pakistan doing Pakistan things.
So where does one rank them? On their day - Monday - they boasted three of the best bowlers around. Shadab Khan, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir went for a few (as will everyone who bowls at England) but got crucial wickets and won them the game. On Friday, they were made to look amateurish by the Windies.
Against England, the top order all made at least 30 and smashed close to 350 in total. Against the West Indies, the top scorers got 22 each and the rest looked aggrieved at the very concept of short bowling. Next up comes one of the worst teams, Sri Lanka, and one of the best, Australia. I thoroughly expect to be writing about a 2-2 Pakistan team in a week’s time but have absolutely no idea who they will beat. 


7 - Bangladesh

 Already everyone’s favorite second team, Bangladesh have taken that to new heights so far in 2019. Their fans have turned The Oval into Brick Lane and endear the team to everyone. Their style of play generates excitement—it seems at times like there is no Bengali word for “die wondering” - and their lovable underdog status also makes them easy to support.
This year, however, that loveable underdog status may be under threat: not just because Afghanistan are in the tournament, but because they aren’t really underdogs anymore. They deserved their win over South Africa and, on another day, could have done for New Zealand. Next up is England, who will probably have too much for them, but then Sri Lanka, who they could easily turn over, and then a crunch tie with the West Indies in Taunton, aka Ciderabad, a noted burner that could see the fearsome Tigers spin attack come to the fore. With fourth spot likely to go to one of the Windies, Kiwis, Pakistan or Bangladesh, expect that to be a classic.



8 - South Africa

 South Africa are often labelled the chokers of international cricket, but at this rate, they will struggle to get to the point where they can choke. Their 0-3 record should by rights have them lower in this list, but as their opposition thus far has included the two favorites, we can cut them some slack. Losing to Bangladesh is a far bigger worry.
Regardless of opposition, it is clear that this is a South Africa side that is in transition. Amla looks shot and JP Duminy is stealing a living in international cricket. Dale Steyn is out of the tournament and Ngidi may follow, as his hamstring injury sustained against Bangladesh will sideline him for at least a week. England or India might be able to ride such injuries, but South Africa can’t. Next up come the West Indies, where they will again enter as second favorites, leaving the potentiality of the Proteas being the first team to exit the World Cup, with five dead rubbers ahead of them. That said, there is enough talent in the side to be the riderless horse at the Grand National, careering across and knocking others out of their lane later in the tournament.


9 - Sri Lanka
 
One can look at Sri Lanka in two different ways. On one hand, they are a poor side that was flogged by the only half decent team that they have faced and should have lost to the worst team in the tournament. On the other, they were bullied by a better New Zealand side and showed grit and poise to defeat a dangerous Afghanistan. It’s possible that all four of these opinions are true.
They are probably the most unusual team in the tournament. Their history is filled with great spinners, but this side has just two part-time tweakers and they have sent down just two overs of the stuff across their two matches. Their best batsman, Karunaratne, hasn’t played an ODI in close to four years and, while everyone else is batting like it’s the IPL, he’s channeling the spirit of Geoffrey Boycott. Their best fast bowler isn’t really fast anymore. They should be last in this list, but seen as they just beat Afghanistan, it would be churlish to place them lower. 


10 - Afghanistan

Despite being last, Afghanistan are one of the success stories of the tournament. They were valiant in defeat to Australia, a game in which they never stood much of a chance. What will annoy them will be their defeat to Sri Lanka: they vacillated from dreadful to brilliant, had a rain break and then went back to dreadful again, then brilliant again, then dreadful again. At their top end, Rashid Khan, Najibullah and Gulbadin have proven themselves true global stars who would challenge to get into any team. Beyond that, they can be wildly inconsistent.
The Sri Lankans, in Malinga, Karunaratne and the two Pereras, had just enough nous to get over the line. Both games that Afghanistan have played have been hugely entertaining. Should the Afghans win a game, it will be one of the most popular results of the tournament, and they can look up to Bangladesh and see what is possible in World Cups to come. They make the best case possible for smaller nations taking part in the big dance. Pity the ICC didn’t deign to include more of them.