The Men’s 2023 ODI World Cup is underway in India and runs from October 5 until November 19. Each morning we will round up the latest action and news from the event and bring you the insights from our reporters on the ground.
—
Top Story: Klaasen sends England’s title-defence hopes spiralling
South Africa 399 for 7 (Klaasen 109, Hendricks 85, Jansen 75*, van der Dussen 60) beat England 170 (Wood 43*, Coetzee 3-35, Ngidi 2-26, Jansen 2-35) by 229 runs
Heinrich Klaasen crumpled to his haunches in a dripping mess after every shot. In between whiles, he flayed England’s bowlers for a 61-ball century to set up an emphatic South Africa victory at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
The brutality of Klaasen’s 109 from just 67 balls all told matched the harshness of the heat and humidity which had also left England bowler David Willey cramping throughout South Africa’s innings, ending on 399 for 7 and requiring the second-highest successful run chase in ODI history. England capitulated instead, crashing to 170 all out in 22 overs and suffering their heaviest ODI defeat.
Match analysis: Classy Klaasen digs deep to make Wankhede his Colosseum
Heinrich Klaasen was so spent by the time he faced his 61st delivery, the one he pulled wide of fine leg to bring up his fourth ODI hundred, that almost immediately after he raised his bat in celebration and screamed, his knees gave way and he ended up in a squat. His face contorted between unbridled exhilaration expressed directly at Mark Wood, to ultimate exhaustion and eventually to the realisation of the unquestionable enormity of the moment: this was not just his first century at a World Cup, it was a century against the defending champions in a match South Africa earmarked as must-win after their chastening defeat to Netherlands earlier in the week.
As the emotions sunk in, Klaasen composed himself, and acknowledged his team-mates and the crowd, which included his wife and daughter, and the heavens. Then, he went straight to Wood to apologise, several times. Wood settled on a fist-bump or three and Klaasen could have his moment back but only until the next wave of weariness set in. Then it was back onto his haunches to try to conserve the energy to bat to the end, and summon the reserves to keep finding the boundary. It’s a small ground but today it felt like a cauldron and Klaasen had to both absorb and transfer the heat.
Must Watch: What’s gone wrong for England
Match report: Sri Lanka overcome Engelbrecht-led resistance to finally open their account
Sri Lanka 263 for 5 (Samarawickrama 91, Nissanka 54, Dutt 3-44) beat Netherlands 262 (Engelbrecht 70, van Beek 59, Madushanka 4-49, Rajitha 4-50) by five wickets
An unbeaten 91 from Sadeera Samarawickrama shepherded home a tricky chase as Sri Lanka overcame a resilient Dutch outfit and finally got points on the board. The result means Sri Lanka join Afghanistan, Netherlands, Bangladesh and England on two points after four games; they did however go past Afghanistan on net run rate – before England plummeted later in the evening – to move off the very bottom of the table.
Set a target of 263, the chase was built around key partnerships – the first a counter-attacking 30-ball 34 between Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka, to recover from the early loss of Kusal Perera, followed by more substantial stands of 52, 77 and 76 – with Samarawickrama a key cog throughout.
Match analysis: Sri Lanka find new lionhearts in sloppy-to-sublime performance
It’s the 47th over of Netherlands’ innings. Logan van Beek, running between the wickets, is nowhere near safety and has resigned to fate. Substitute fielder Dunith Wellalage flicks the throw from cover to Chamika Karunaratne, who botches a simple run out chance at the bowler’s end. Van Beek gets to his maiden ODI half-century.
Then in the penultimate over, van Beek heaves Kasun Rajitha’s slower ball to the deep midwicket. Charith Asalanka covers some ground first before throwing himself full stretch on the edge of the boundary. It was towards the shorter side and momentum could’ve taken it over, but for Asalanka’s athleticism and balance.
News headlines
Rahul Dravid has expressed disagreement with the two “average” pitch ratings that ICC match referees have dished out in the first 11 days of the 2023 ODI World Cup. In doing so he has called for greater diversity in the kinds of surfaces that will be considered “good” or “very good” – the ICC’s highest pitch ratings.
Match preview
India vs New Zealand, Dharamsala (2pm IST; 8.30am GMT; 7.30pm AEDT
Ask any ardent Indian fan which is their second-favourite cricket team, and New Zealand will remain a common answer. Ask the same set of fans which team spooks them the most when it comes to ICC events: New Zealand will once again be the unanimous reply. Why you ask.
Southampton 2021. Nagpur 2016 and Dubai 2021. Manchester 2019.
It’s probably the memories of the last one here that has most Indian fans flinch. And as much as India would like to deny it, New Zealand have been their bogey team over the years. There are numbers to back this up. In all ICC events since 1992 (considering only the final from the WTC 2019-21 and 2021-23 cycles), India have beaten New Zealand just once in nine attempts.
Team news
India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Suryakumar Yadav/Ishan Kishan, 8 Shardul Thakur/Mohammed Shami, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand (probable): 1 Devon Conway, 2 Will Young, 3 Rachin Ravindra, 4 Tom Latham (capt & wk), 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Mark Chapman, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Trent Boult
>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : ESPNCricInfo – https://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/1404700.html?ex_cid=OTC-RSS
