2023 World Cup Qualifier discussion

[sam_ahm]

We started against Nepal in 2018 also and Sikandar Raza absolutely obliterated them.

Yup! But they are a much stronger team now mate. The likes of Lamichanne, Dipendra Airee, and their many all rounders can be a handful on these wickets.

Yes they are but in Harare we should have upper hand even more so if we win the toss.

Yup! Just realized Zimbabwe play all their games at Harare. I would have probably liked the one against Netherlands and USA on the more spin friendly Bulawayo.

[Kriterion_BD]

Anyone notice the ICC added a 7th place and 9th place playoffs for the 4 teams that get knocked out in the group stage?

Also no one mentioned here yet...there will be DRS from the Super 6 stage onwards.

[zimbos_05]

Interesting differing opinions of the situation.
Glass half full and the other half empty.

I get the feeling I come across as the defeatist, glass half empty guy on thie forum. I get it, I don't particularly agree with it.

I have many years in sport and also work as a coach. I have worked at the highest level in football and currently work at some pretty big clubs in Brisbane. Granted, football and cricket are different sports, but the mentality is the same. I have also coached cricket and have my initial cricket coaching certs. I was a player for many years too and have always aspired and held to a higher standard. This comes across in my views, and often probably is seen as people claim. I have no ill feeling towards members of this forum, and understand some don't like my views or posts, but I don't think I am always negative or too critically harsh.

Well we have a series win against Bangladesh, a series win against Ireland, a series win against Netherlands, and potentially a series win against Pakistan Shaheens.

Couldn't have done much more really. Sl/WI are a step up and that could be the problem, yes, but I don't think our 50-over form since Houghton arrived (a full 12 months now) can be doubted. We were half decent against India as well in this format. Not to mention the win away in Australia.

Yes, we beat Bangladesh. We did also lose games in those series against Ireland and Netherlands if not mistaken. Looking at the T20 world cup. We started off strongly and fell away horribly. Bangladesh is a game we should have won, as was the Netherlands game, but we were shocking in those games. We took all that good momentum we had built up and threw it away. Away win in Australia is good, I'll give that one. Not going to dispute it. I will say though, we made the chase harder than it needed to be.

Shaheens are B side playing our A side. We should be winning these games comfortably.

I'm being pragmatic and I see very clear signs that some of the players have not developed in the last 12 months. When we look at that 12 month peiod it is generally the same players whose names are coming up as being the difference or winners. There have been many moments of inconsisteny from some. Players can't have a good game every 10 games. There have also been periods where we have looked very poor at basic things. 1st match against Shaheens showed some serious deficiencies in the basics of our batting. Last night showed some poor fielding, which we also saw at the T20.

We play a cut throat sport at the highest level. There is no room for error. We were once a top 5 side and have steadily fallen and are now behind the likes of Afghanistan, Ireland, even possibly Netherlands. There is always talk of improvement and doing good things, but it rarely eventuates.

A lot of that early Houghton magic has fallen away. We are seeing some major deficiencies and issues. We have at least 3 players, possibly more, retiring in a few months. Are we really confident we have players who will step up and take these spots?

Like I said, I probably hold high standards. It's not an issue of doubting the form, but rather looking ahead and charting progress. That's what we should be doing. Has progress been upwards or plateued. I think particularly of late, the latter. Have we seen emergence of players who rightfully demand spots, not really. Are we seeing consistency in performance, again not really.

[TapsC2]

If I'm honest I'm leaning more on us not qualifying than qualifying after Ballance did what he did. We needed him desperately. Our top order is most probably going to fail when it matters. That's what I'm worried about. At least I got to see him bat in Zim colours in what turned out to be his final game.

The only thing that can save us is if all 4 of the front runners are inconsistent which is very possible. I wouldn't say there is a team which is significantly better than the rest on paper but mentality.... that's what's going to cost us. For example, when was the last time we beat the West Indies? I'm not confident we can get over that mental block next month. In fact there is a good chance the West Indies loses to both Sri Lanka and Ireland but beats us. That's what might make the tournament unpredictable

If I was a betting man I would actually put my money on Ireland qualifying IF they beat us. That game is 50/50 but somehow Ireland have found a formula of beating the West Indies. They also have played in Zim a lot. If we win that 50/50 I would actually say from a mental point of view that our best bet would be to beat Sri Lanka. We have done it a few times recently.

[tej_27]

If I'm honest I'm leaning more on us not qualifying than qualifying after Ballance did what he did. We needed him desperately. Our top order is most probably going to fail when it matters. That's what I'm worried about. At least I got to see him bat in Zim colours in what turned out to be his final game.

The only thing that can save us is if all 4 of the front runners are inconsistent which is very possible. I wouldn't say there is a team which is significantly better than the rest on paper but mentality.... that's what's going to cost us. For example, when was the last time we beat the West Indies? I'm not confident we can get over that mental block next month. In fact there is a good chance the West Indies loses to both Sri Lanka and Ireland but beats us. That's what might make the tournament unpredictable

If I was a betting man I would actually put my money on Ireland qualifying IF they beat us. That game is 50/50 but somehow Ireland have found a formula of beating the West Indies. They also have played in Zim a lot. If we win that 50/50 I would actually say from a mental point of view that our best bet would be to beat Sri Lanka. We have done it a few times recently.

Even I am leaning towards not qualifying..this team looks weaker than the 2018 team and that team didn't qualify. Don't see Williams getting through the entire tournament without getting injured either so it's going to be very difficult

[tej_27]

Netherlands have announced their squad as expected none of the county players except de leede are in . So they miss (in terms of their importance IMO)
Collin ackerman, Fred klassen, paul van meekeren,van der merwe, Brandon glover, tim van der gugten and Shane snater, Tim Pringle is also out due to injury . Even Tom Cooper is missing i don't know why
Their actual squad is
Max O'Dowd, Logan van Beek, Vikram Singh, Aryan Dutt, Viv Kingma, Bas de Leede, Noah Croes, Ryan Klein, Teja Nidamanuru, Wesley Barresi, Shariz Ahmad, Clayton Floyd, Michael Levitt, Saqib Zulfiqar.

[Googly]

Ackerman is an interesting one. He does incredibly well in County, but in bursts, he has horrible runs of form. At international level he's never really dominated. It can only be a mental hurdle because he's a good player.

A full strength Netherlands side is formidable, its hard to understand why they cant put it together for a world cup qualifiers, does it get more important?

[tej_27]

Ackerman is an interesting one. He does incredibly well in County, but in bursts, he has horrible runs of form. At international level he's never really dominated. It can only be a mental hurdle because he's a good player.

A full strength Netherlands side is formidable, its hard to understand why they cant put it together for a world cup qualifiers, does it get more important?

It directly clashes with their T20 tournament which is very premier . Don't think players had a chance in this one. Apparently bas de leede is there only till Netherlands have chance to qualify

[secretzimbo]

Ackerman is an interesting one. He does incredibly well in County, but in bursts, he has horrible runs of form. At international level he's never really dominated. It can only be a mental hurdle because he's a good player.

A full strength Netherlands side is formidable, its hard to understand why they cant put it together for a world cup qualifiers, does it get more important?

It directly clashes with their T20 tournament which is very premier . Don't think players had a chance in this one. Apparently bas de leede is there only till Netherlands have chance to qualify

And only because his county coach is the former Dutch coach so presumably has a lot more sympathy than any other county coach.

It is all pretty shit. English journos go crazy at the prospect of a random county player choosing the IPL over English cricket. But when the shoes on the other foot, who cares hey? Typical english

[sam_ahm]

Ackerman is an interesting one. He does incredibly well in County, but in bursts, he has horrible runs of form. At international level he's never really dominated. It can only be a mental hurdle because he's a good player.

A full strength Netherlands side is formidable, its hard to understand why they cant put it together for a world cup qualifiers, does it get more important?

Yeah I mean it really is quite baffling. Why would you not want to give your best shot at something as big as the WC. I mean this is why we play cricket for. The ultimate prize.

It is sad. Players apparently don't have an option. ICC can't do anything to help these teams develop, may be the ICC is actually happy that the chances of an upset are less. They just want cricket to revolve around those 9 nations.