South Africa win their second chase of the World Cup
Notes on Maharaj, Omarzai, Rashid, and tail-enders. A tribute to Bob 'Knocker' White.
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Well, South Africa managed a calm chase where no one was sweating and they never ever looked like they would stuff it up and headbutt a wall for a while. Obviously, none of that happened, and they turned a routine chase against Afghanistan into a snail of a razor’s edge way more than they needed to. They had Afghanistan in all sorts with the bat, but Omarzai and the tail stretched it out to enough that South Africa were like a jealous person watching their partner talk to their ex. I honestly don’t know how a South African fan could watch them chase a total at the World Cup.
It’s like watching a nature video where there is one fish about to eat another, and yet you spend your whole time waiting for the shark to come.
South Africa chasing (JK)
This is now South Africa’s record chasing since the 1999 semi-final. So they are officially a 50-50 team while chasing. Rassie helped today, but you wonder why they struggle in chases only. You’d think Rassie is the ideal player for a chase.
I was interested in looking how they fared in the games they chose to chase. 2019 is when they made a big deal out of wanting to chase more. It seems like they are more likely to chase when the opposition is not that strong. But their record is very similar when they decide to bat second versus when they are put in.
However, when they choose to chase they average around 3 runs more. So there is a difference. But if you are playing them in a World Cup semi-final, chances are we know what teams are going to do. They shouldn’t have really allowed Afghanistan as many times as they did.
Is Keshav Maharaj a top 3 spinner in CWC 23? (SAK)
You might remember Keshav Maharaj for his pumped-up celebrations after winning the close game against Pakistan. Coming into the World Cup, he was economical but not a proper wicket-taker. But he has also had a terrific campaign with the ball.
The left-arm orthodox spinner has been very hard to hit - his economy of 4.37 reflects the same. This time around, he has done both. He probably isn’t better than Zampa or Jadeja, but he might have a case for being in the same tier as the likes of Kuldeep and Santner.
It must be acknowledged that he has usually had pretty good support from his pace bowling attack, which has consistently taken early wickets. He has done pretty well on economy though, because the rest of the South African attack has gone for runs at times despite chipping away with wickets.
Is Azmatullah Omarzai one of the best seam all-rounders in CWC 23? (SAK)
Of all the seam all-rounders with at least 100 runs & 5 wickets, Omarzai and Jansen are the standouts. However, Omarzai is more of a batting all-rounder while Jansen fits into the bowling all-rounder category. Both have been extremely valuable, but let’s focus on Omarzai here.
This is his batting compared to the World Cup cycle. He has had a massive boost on both his average and strike rate. What you want from your all-rounders is to play with a lot more freedom with at least one skill.
You can see that his bowling has also improved. It is obviously going to be difficult for him to maintain that average for a longer period, but absolutely fantastic from him.
He has bowled an average of 4 overs per game in this tournament. So his usage has been almost similar. It’s a tough gig, and he’s stepped up when they needed him to in different situations.
How much has Afghanistan’s batting improved? (SAK)
Afghanistan’s issue ahead of the World Cup was if their batters would step up and score enough runs to give their bowlers something to play with. And they have actually done pretty well. There is a marked improvement in the way they have approached it - both while chasing and batting first. Even today, it was commendable that they were able to bat out the full 50 overs despite losing 6 wickets by the 38th over.
It has been a team effort, so they have no longer relied on just their top 3 to get them the runs. All of their top 5 batters have scored over 300 runs in this tournament bar Gurbaz (who has 280 @ 31/98 himself), as compared to only one with over 200 in 2019 and one with 200+ in 2015.
Rashid’s run (JK)
He has bowled the most balls in this tournament after the powerplay. He is among the rare bowlers who probably refuse to bowl with the new ball. Bowlers are a lot more flexible now, whether it’s spin or seam.
Because he started poorly, I think we haven’t given him enough credit for being good throughout the rest of the tournament. These economies are incredibly low.
Considering the first two games, he has still managed to be one of the best defensive bowlers in the World Cup. His numbers have actually held up pretty well against the best teams. I don’t think it was an accident that he took some time to get adjusted to ODIs. In some ways, he is an attacking-defensive bowler, a bit like Jasprit Bumrah. His natural ball can take wickets, but he is at his best when he doesn’t give you anything and teams try to attack off him.
Are tail-enders batting longer than usual? (SAK)
While watching Noor Ahmad bat, I felt like the tail-end batters have batted better than usual this WC. So I went to look this up, and no, that isn’t exactly true. They are just in for longer than normal as compared to the last World Cup. 2015 is an interesting one, maybe because it was a high-scoring tournament in general.
Naveen’s action (JK)
I’ve talked about this before with Bumrah. It is incredible how far in front of the crease he manages to deliver the ball. It seems like Naveen is leaning over even further. A massive hyperextension of the arm - they aren’t throwing, it actually means that their arm is going beyond straight. It’s why these sorts of bowlers are able to rush the batters even if they aren’t bowling as fast.
SLC suspended (JK)
Sri Lankan cricket have been suspended by the ICC. I saw some people say that the ICC needs to be consistent, looking at Afghanistan, Pakistan and even India. In Sri Lanka’s case, you have a situation where the sports minister signs off the squad, which shouldn't happen. The question is, why now? The board has been in shambles. My guess is that the Sri Lankan Cricket Board who might have contacted the ICC. There are a couple of reasons - they want to get the government off their arse, and if it’s all falling apart it kind of makes sense to shed that off and start afresh.
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