It’s been a hugely action packed first week of the Super 12s stage, following on from the exciting drama of the group stage nicely. With the mighty West Indies failing to qualify to the Super 12s with a humiliating loss to Ireland, and last year’s thrill with Namibia leading to huge disappointment this year, the Super 12s has provided equally entertaining drama.
Group 1
Wednesday saw the clash between England and Ireland. England were, and rightly so, expected to win fairly comfortably, and many probably thought this would be a game for England to boost their net run rate. However this was not the case.
Ireland batted first and produced some magic at the top with a quick cameo from Stirling, and an excellent partnership between Balbirnie and Tucker. However, when these two departed, England cleaned up the rest of the order, leaving Ireland with a respectable 157/10.
In contrast, England had the worst possible start, with Buttler and Hales back in the hutch quickly by Joshua Little, the top 5 did not get going at all. With another struggling innings from Malan, and brilliant consistency from the Irish bowlers, the win was looking a fair distance away. Enter Moeen Ali.
Ali hit some big shots, keeping England alive. With England requiring a further 53 from 5.3 overs, rain hit the stadium. With no further play possible, Ireland ended up snatching victory by 5 runs from the DLS method. One must admit, a very unlucky outcome for the Englishman, who were looking strong until close of play.
That now has heated up group 1, with four teams on 2 points, New Zealand on 3, and Afghanistan at the bottom with 1 point. At the moment, group 1 seems very open, and it is clear that net run rate will come into play at the end, hence New Zealand very happy at the top with a NRR of +4.450. Ireland will also look to put out some strong performances to push towards a semi final spot, starting with Afghanistan on Friday. Friday will also see the historic clash between England and Australia. A big week ahead for group 1, with the semi final spots wide open for all the teams.
Group 2
If you thought group 1 was looking interesting, how about group 2 then? The first thing that probably sparks your mind is Zimbabwe in 3rd! On Thursday, Pakistan locked horns with Zimbabwe. Similar to the England—Ireland game, it was predicted that Pakistan would earn a comfortable win. This was however not the case.
Zimbabwe batted first, and actually played the lethal Pakistan pace attack quite well at the start. It was only in the middle with some brilliance from Shadab and Wasim that led Pakistan back, with a huge batting collapse from Zimbabwe. In the end, they stumbled to 130/8. Pakistan probably were thinking about boosting their net run rate at the halfway stage. However, what actually happened would surprise you.
Once again the Pakistan openers Babar and Rizwan struggled to get going and were dismissed early on. Another solid performance from Masood steadied the ship, however he was not ably supported by the middle order. In the end, with some excellent controlled bowling from the Zimbabwean tall pace bowlers and spinners, Pakistan fell short by 1 run.
All in all, a very disappointing performance from Pakistan, who are yet to get off the mark in the Super 12s. Well what does this mean for the group? Amazingly, Zimbabwe actually have a brilliant opportunity of qualifying to the semi finals. How?
Zimbabwe have three remaining fixtures, Bangladesh, Netherlands, and India. If they beat Bangladesh and Netherlands, and lose to India, that leaves them with 7 points. That would mean Bangladesh, Netherlands and Pakistan would be out, since they cannot pass 6 points now.
This leaves South Africa, India and Zimbabwe. Now India seem like they will qualify, as they are putting out some very strong performances. South Africa have left the Netherlands, India and Pakistan to play. Let’s say they beat the Netherlands, and beat one of India and Pakistan. That means they also finish on 7 points. It would then go down to net run rate. However, if both India and Pakistan beat them, then they finish on 5 points, meaning Zimbabwe qualify! Now this would be absolutely incredible if it was pulled off! Now all we can do is watch closely and see.
As we can see, heaps of action in both groups, with barely anything between teams. Plenty of outcomes are possible, so keep an eye out.
In the meantime, head over to our podcast, to get some expert analysis on all cricket going on: https://anchor.fm/completelycricket-podcast. We have recently released a special episode, so make sure to tune in and have a listen.
Enjoy cricket!
By Zaid Ahmed
Completely Cricket 
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