So NZ is out of the World T20. On the field they never looked like they were going to win it. However, three wins to two losses is not a bad record. And in the super 8s they finished very close behind Pakistan – a mere 0.414 behind on net run rate, which amounts to about 24 runs, or 8 runs a game in the super 8s.
The real mind fuck though is that Pakistan is going through to the semis with a worse overall record in the tournament. Their 1 win and 2 losses in the super 8s add to a poor 1 win, 1 loss in the first round. So Pakistan is going into the semis having lost more games than they have won.
So what was the advantage of NZ topping their group in the first round? You might expect that it would determine who they play in the super 8s. That isn’t the case however, as a team’s place in the super 8s is determined by their seeding. So topping a group in the first round actually means absolutely nothing. The first round is simply an opportunity for a decent team to be tripped up by a minnow. And it’s fine for the threat of a trip up to be a part of the tournament, but it is nuts for that to be the only purpose of a whole round of the tournament.
It should not have come to pass that a 2-3 record should advance ahead of a 3-2 record. That is a fault in the design of the tournament. And it is easy to remedy: teams should carry over points from the first round. And not necessary all their points, only points earned against teams who also advanced.
Under this scheme, this is how the points in the super 8 would look like this (with two super 8 games still to play):
Group E
England
6
New Zealand
4
Pakistan
2
South Africa
2
Group F
Australia
6
West Indies
4
Sri Lanka
2
India
2
Compared to the actual points table, this pushes New Zealand and the Windies up and Pakistan and Sri Lanka down.
So New Zealand have crashed out in pool play, with a whimper. Beaten by England with 5 balls to spare.
When it came down to a must win moment, we just couldn’t lift ourselves. We just couldn’t get moving. But that has been the way the whole of our tournament has felt. It felt like we were reaching for something, some sort of rhythm, a groove, some inspiration, some luck, a flash of genius. Something a bit extra. But we never found it, so all we were left with was our base, ground-floor performances.
And without that little bit of extra oomph, genius or luck, our base, non-embellished performances were a little short. My assessment of a par performance is 160 runs, either setting and defending or chasing down. However, the best total we could build at this tournament was 157 against South Africa.
If you are going to do well in a tournament like this, you are going to have to pull something out of the box, preferably when you must win.
Kevin Pietersen is off home just in time to miss tomorrow’s match against New Zealand. How much of a blow is it to England to lose Pietersen?
It’s a big blow. Pietersen is England’s most prolific T20 batsman by a long way. In this tournament alone he has scored 159 of England’s 630 runs– more than a quarter of their runs.
Lucky for them the result of this game is not so important. And we’re lucky in our way too, as this game is a maker or a breaker.
I kinda got the feeling the Black Caps batsmen were playing silly buggers a bit in the win against Zimbabwe, keeping just above the D/L target rather than polishing things off.
So the big expectation on Zimbabwe after their wins in the warm ups came to nothing. And all the talk of Ireland beating up England, washed away. Any hopes of a continuation of the tradition of upsets by minnows now rest on Bangladesh or Afghanistan, playing overnight. Go the minnows!
Beating Sri Lanka should have booked us a place in the Super 8s. Yay. And no small achievement. A quick look at the records shows that Sri Lanka have been a real banana peel for us. Saturday’s win is our first over Sri Lanka in a grand tournament (World Cup, Champions’ Trophy or World T20) since 1992.
What a crazy game. Jayawardene scores an excellent 81, but Sri Lanka only make 136. Then after cruising half way through their innings, the Black Caps start flicking the awesome–suck switch in the middle of every over. Lucky for us, Nathan McCullum had his awesome turned on.
