World Cup 2019

[Joseph41]

Big yikes. Hope Carey is okay. Good instinct to protect his stumps from the helmet.

[thenuttyprofessor]

Good work from these two. Keep the score ticking over until Stoinis/Maxwell come in around the 40th. Not sure about Maxi's form though.

[Joseph41]

Really impressive partnership.

[turinturambar]

And there it is - Australia has been eliminated, with England making the victory look pretty easy.  They've done well to overcome mid-tournament stumbles and qualify for the final, and now I hope that they justify the "tournament favourite" tag I gave them before the World Cup began.  And then that we thrash them in the Ashes

[Joseph41]

Well, that didn't go quite as hoped.

[Sine]

Tbf it was a decent tournament for Australia given we have had a very bad last couple of years and only got in a few good results in the last two ODI series - also just matching up player to player the team's England's is stronger.

Disappointing to see bad sportsmanship by Roy by arguing for a minute after being given out, it's understandable that he is frustrated but DRS is there for a reason and really should be saved for those type of calls - not trying to overturn 50/50 decisions.

[fun_jirachi]

Would've posted 3 hours ago right after the game but I was so cooked from staying up and from all the tension because bloody hell that was a World Cup Final (unlike say 1999 or 2015). Nutty result, no winner even after the Super Over, and decided on boundaries scored (which is pretty damned stupid imo)

Coming out from this World Cup there are a few big questions:
- Where do SA go from here?
- Are Australia actually going to keep improving to the England/India level?
- How does NZ get the consistency in batting to support their world-class bowling attack
- Will Afghanistan finally consistently beating Test sides, or will it stick to beating Associate Nations for fun (it's currently on a mezzanine sorta level)
- Have SL passed their peak with Sangakkara, Jayawardena et al.
- What will Bangladesh do once their Big Five move on
- How do England/India get bigger and better
- Lastly how will the young guns of WI (Hope, Thomas, Hetmyer and Pooran) fare in the near future

More importantly, the what ifs from the final, which could've turned the result:
- What if Santner ran on the last ball of the NZ innings
- What if Boult caught the ball in the 49th over
- What if the ball didn't bounce off Stokes' bat

What are your thoughts on the final?

[Joseph41]

My thoughts?

Wow.

EDIT: To elaborate, I'm disappointed for New Zealand and wanted them to win.

[Sine]

surely one of the best ODIs ever

Gotta feel sorry for NZ - I think many could make the argument that they "deserved" to win more. Lost fewer wickets on the way to 241 and 4 overthrows in the final over after the ball hits Stokes' bat.

The boundary rule is so arbitrary - other than maybe the entertainment of the crowd there is no extra value to boundaries.
I would've much prefer the rules to award joint winners after the super over or just have another super over.
I think the ICC is lucky that NZ was on the receiving end - I don't see many countries taking it as well as they did.

[Joseph41]

Agree on all points above. I honestly had absolutely no idea about the boundary rule. Don't like it.

[turinturambar]

I'm going to make the almost entirely non-bold prediction that the World Cup will be won by a team whose name starts with a vowel.
I'd like it to be Australia, but still think England are slight favourites, and the last two World Cups have been won by a home team...

Well, I had a few nervous moments, but I guess I'm pleased that my non-bold prediction came off.
Seriously, though, in spite of me joking that it might be amusing if they didn't qualify for the semis, they were my second choice team after Australia.  They have been the best team since WC2015 and deserved to win a home world cup.

The boundary rule is so arbitrary - other than maybe the entertainment of the crowd there is no extra value to boundaries.
I would've much prefer the rules to award joint winners after the super over or just have another super over.

That rule is a bit weird. I thought it was the team that was higher on the points table (or was that for the semis?). Which rule would also have given it to England.
I agree with you that joint winner would be the fairest outcome. As Djokovic said at much the same time, there are some matches where according to the rules someone's got to win, but no-one deserves to lose.