Double Defeat for West Indies in the CWC

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	17 June 2019 at The County Ground, Taunton, Somerset
Result	Bangladesh beat West Indies by 7 wkts
Competition	Cricket World Cup 2019 Group Stage
Hopstats	Ground #12 on my cricket grounds list
Context
The proverbial must-win game for both sides. I readily admit that my pre-game research had failed to spot the increasingly respectable record of Bangladesh in the one-day game, and their decent recent record against today’s opponents.  Both teams find themselves with 1.5/2.5 records with one win, two defeats and one abandonment each.  West Indies demolished Pakistan with their pace attack before losing to Australia and England.  Bangladesh won their first match, against South Africa, and then lost to New Zealand and England. By coincidence, both have a “no result” v Sri Lanka.  See previous blogpost for coverage of one of them, from Bristol.
In one sentence
Bangladesh expertly managed a run chase which turned out to be the second highest in World Cup history, with over 600 runs scored in the day.
So what?
Neither team is out of the competition as yet but both will need other results to go their way in addition to their own wins.  I will be seeing West Indies again on Saturday at Old Trafford against New Zealand.
Match Report
With plenty of cloud cover and an improving weather forecast, Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl first.  The West Indies batsman showed plenty of respect to the opening bowlers and the first ten overs were notable for the 13-ball duck of Universe Boss Chris Gayle, caught behind off the bowling of Saifuddin. Lewis and Hope consolidated and through singles and only the occasional boundary, accumulated a century partnership before Lewis was caught on the boundary for 70, going for a six.  Hope went on to be seventh out for 96, holing out at deep square leg trying to bring up his ton with a boundary.  Hope was supported in a brutal acceleration by first Pooran and then Hetmyer, who scored an entertaining 50 including three sixes.  Russell fell for a duck second ball, but Holder and Bravo kept the scoreboard rolling with some aggressive hitting.  They finished on 321-8 from their 50 overs, with three wickets each for Saifuddin who bowled Bravo for 33 with the very last ball, and Mustafizur.  Shakib took the other two wickets.  Bangladesh had started to show some signs of wobbling, adding 16 to the total through wides and contributing a few comical misfields.  West Indies would have felt confident that a target of 322 would be too much. What came next was extraordinary.  The second highest run chase in World Cup history was completed with an astonishing 51 balls to spare.  Bangladesh tried to get bat on ball with every delivery, and the pace of the quick bowlers meant that the ball was flying around to all parts of the ground, mainly behind the wicket but also with some splendid drives and pulls.  They scored at a decent rate from the start, never behind the Duckworth-Lewis target score which is as good as any indication of how things are progressing. Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarker opened with a 52 partnership before the latter edged Russell to Gayle in the slips. Enter Shakib al Hasan who was to win the game with an unbeaten 124, supported by Tamim and then Liton Das.  Tamim was run out for 48 by the bowler Cottrell, athletically fielding and throwing as he followed through his delivery.  The West Indies were similarly generous in the extras department as the number of wides also grew alarmingly.  Bangladesh soon reached the stage where ticking the target off in singles would be possible.  The pace clones of Cottrell, Holder, Russell, Gabriel and Thomas were treated with equal disdain as they reached 166-3 at the halfway mark. Looking from side on, there did not appear to be a lot of variation in the bowling attack. Certainly, the batsmen rode their luck at times, with several occasions where the flicks and pulls might have given a catch.  After 30 overs they turned to the spin of Gayle, whose bad day at the universe continued as he conceded 22 in 2 overs.  Gabriel in particular took some stick as three consecutive sixes at the start of the 38th over removed any lingering hopes for the bowling side.  Liton Das accelerated after his careful start and finished on 94 not out.  The body language of the West Indies side had long since been negative and it will be interesting to see how and whether they can bounce back at New Zealand’s expense. In the end it has to be said that it turned into a one-sided contest – no last-over thriller here. There were plenty of Bangladesh supporters here to celebrate.  As a passing neutral, no complaints from me with over 600 runs in the day and another ground ticked off.
Pix
Gayle on his way to a duck ... ... as he lost his wicket to this calm-looking man on the boundary Shakib and Das wondering when the West Indies will turn up
What Next?
Old Trafford for the Windies’ next game against New Zealand.

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Saturday 22 June 2019 at Old Trafford, Manchester
Result	New Zealand beat West Indies by 5 runs.
Competition	Cricket World Cup 2019 Group Stage
Hopstats	Ground #13 on my cricket grounds list
Context
New Zealand are playing well and having a good tournament despite a close-run thing against South Africa in midweek. England’s defeat to Sri Lanka (I hesitate to call this a “surprise” – I am in my sixties and no England cricket defeat is a surprise any more) – has given the West Indies a glimmer of hope for progression to the semi-finals.
In one sentence
A superb contest settled at the end of the penultimate over of the day when Carlos Brathwaite was caught on the boundary trying to hit six to win the game.
So what?
New Zealand are pretty much guaranteed a semi-final place now, and West Indies would need every other result to go their way.
Match Report
This game will have been covered in detail elsewhere by now, but here are a few personal thoughts.  I tweeted after around 20 overs of their reply to New Zealand’s 291-8 that West Indies were going well on their way to a comfortable victory having won the toss. They were well ahead of the run-getting trajectory and getting on top of the New Zealand bowlers with the exception of Trent Boult. Then a flurry of dismissals put New Zealand in the driving seat as five wickets fell in ten overs leaving Carlos Brathwaite 13 not out as he watched Lewis head back to the pavilion as seventh man out at 164-7, still well ahead of the chase trajectory but now only three wickets and lesser batsmen to support.  Kemar Roach and Sheldon Cottrell supported really well for another 18 overs but the ninth wicket fell with five overs left, and 47 to get off 30 balls with Brathwaite up to 60 off 62 balls by that point. Brathwaite took 7 from three balls of dangerman Boult before Oshane Thomas stoically defended three deliveries. The 47th over was managed well, Brathwaite getting a six and a single to leave Thomas to defend one ball from Lockie Ferguson.  The 48th over was remarkable.  Brathwaite took a textbook 25 off Matt Henry with three consecutive sixes and a last-ball single to keep the strike. Astonishing work, leaving eight to get from 12 balls.  James Neesham to bowl, conceding two from the first five deliveries which meant an unbelievable century for Brathwaite. He then went for the match-winning hit, only to fall a few metres short as Boult took the catch right on the boundary rope. Brathwaite fell to his knees in the middle of the arena and credit to the New Zealand players who celebrated briefly and then went to console him. Earlier on we had witnessed a bizarre first over of the day, with Sheldon Cottrell taking two wickets for ten runs. Martin Guptill was out lbw first ball of the day, on review, and the other opener Munro was also out first ball.  Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor rebuilt, and they would go on to get 148 and 69 respectively.  Gayle broke their partnership and then Cottrell and Brathwaite shared the bowling honours as a late flurry got New Zealand to 291-8 from their 50 overs. Cottrell also ran out de Grandhomme and was the catcher for both Brathwaite’s wickets – boundary catches from the last two balls of the innings.  This meant that he was personally involved in seven of the eight dismissals and had figures of 10-0-56-4. With hindsight the performance of Williamson and Taylor was pivotal as West Indies were much improved in the field. Trent Boult also deserves huge credit. Hope, Pooran, Nurse and Lewis were dismissed in a performance of aggressive fast bowling for 10-1-30-4.  What else? Chris Gayle’s 87 runs off 84 balls (8 fours and 6 sixes) would have won many games, and Shimron Hetmyer supported well with another brutal half-century. Gayle even ran some sharp singles. He gave several airborne chances which New Zealand dropped comically as they came under pressure. At the end of the day, it was the fact that Hope, Pooran, Holder, Nurse and Lewis made two runs between them that made the difference. My experience at the World Cup has been getting better with each game, and the general Old Trafford experience was excellent. I parked in Knutsford and took the rail and metro to within 50m of the entrance. The stewarding for safe exit afterwards was good and I made it back to the car within an hour after the end of the match.
Pix
I got a bit obsessed with the shapes made by the structures holding up the stands. Hope the engineers got their breaking stress calculations correct, that is a LOT of scaffolding. I see that the croque-monsieur is rebranded for the northern market Deryck Murray and Andy Roberts interviewed Kane Williamson gets to 100 Last WI pair Thomas & Brathwaite plan the strategy Jimmy Neesham is first on scene to console Carlos Brathwaite. Class.
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter!  Off to Durham on Saturday for Sri Lanka v South Africa which is now a meaningful contest, and finally to Headingley for Pakistan v Afghanistan the next day, which will be irrelevant in the context of tournament progression but gives the Afghans a chance of a first World Cup win.