World Cup 2019 wrap: Standout player, biggest dud, best quote – Root, Finch, Shakib, Rohit, Morgan feature in week 3 wrap

The third week of the ICC World Cup 2019 saw the batsmen come into their own and more 300-plus scores were registered than the first two weeks. England continued their dominance in the tournament, India remained unbeaten and Shakib Al Hasan showed why he is ranked the top all-rounder in the world. Here’s the wrap from week 3.

Standout players – Root, Finch, Rohit, Shakib and Morgan

There were plenty of centurions in the week gone by and the run fest began with Joe Root, who hit a 94-ball century opening the innings for England, when they were chasing the West Indies’ 212. A comfortable 8-wicket win followed as England consolidated their position in the top four.

Australia captain Aaron Finch continued his good run of form at the World Cup by hitting his first century of this tournament, a magnificent 153 that helped Australia put on board a massive total of 334/7 against Sri Lanka, who fell 87 runs short.

Rohit Sharma continued his run of 50-plus scores in the tournament by hitting his second century of the 2019 World Cup, a magnificent 140 off just 113 balls against Pakistan. His hundred, and fifties from KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, helped India post 336 runs on the board. Pakistan stumbled and stuttered an 89-run (DLS method) defeat.

When the West Indies put up 321/8 in Taunton against Bangladesh, it looked like Bangladesh had conceded too many. But Shakib Al Hasan, who just like Rohit, had scored at least a fifty in each of his appearances, led the chase, hitting his second century of the tournament – 124* off just 99 balls – and together with Liton Das (94 in 69) paved the way to the target as Bangladesh reached 322 in just 41.3 overs.

The most explosive knock of the week came towards the end when England captain Eoin Morgan hammered his career-best 148 off just 71 balls against Afghanistan, a knock that included 17 sixes – the most by any batsman in an ODI innings. England posted 397/6, a total that proved out to be too much for the Afghans, who lost by 150 runs.

Biggest duds – Afghanistan bowlers

Afghanistan had never batted out their 50 overs in this World Cup before the game against England. They finally managed to do it in that game but only after their bowlers had given away nearly 400 runs.

Rashid Khan returned with the most expensive figures by a bowler in World Cup history: 9-0-110-0. The others were taken apart too, with Mohammad Nabi giving away 70 in his 9 overs and Dawlat Zadran going for 85 from 10. Afghanistan have lost all 5 of their matches thus far and after the Morgan assault they have to deal with another strong title contender – India.

Standout moment – Kane Williamson’s well-planned hundred v South Africa

Reminiscent of the 2015 World Cup semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa where Grant Elliot had helped New Zealand clinch a humdinger, the league stage game between the two teams at this World Cup featured an anchoring innings by one of New Zealand’s key players – their captain Kane Williamson.

At 80/4, chasing 242 in a rain-affected 49-overs-per-side contest, Williamson took the responsibility of stitching partnerships with the middle order to take New Zealand close to the target.

He added 57 with James Neesham and 91 with Colin de Grandhomme, who himself played well for 60 runs off just 47 balls. But when de Grandhomme fell in the penultimate over with the target still 14 runs away, Williamson took it upon himself to finish the job.

With 7 needed off the last 5 balls, the New Zealand captain swept Andile Phehlukwayo for a six over deep mid-wicket to bring up his first ton at the World Cup and seal the game for his side. He finished unbeaten on 106.

Room for improvement – South Africa bowling

Even after having received the boost of a fit-again Lungi Ngidi, South Africa gave away a position of strength and helped Williamson and his men build partnerships in the middle overs. The absence of Dale Steyn has hurt their chances but the Proteas haven’t quite made the best use of available resources.

Against New Zealand, Phehlukwayo went for 73 in 8.3 overs and bowled 3 of the 6 wides conceded and a no-ball at the death. The inexperience in the team of handling pressure situations was evident  by the way catches were dropped and half-chances were missed.

Standout quote – Faf du Plessis

“You can feel in the dressing room the guys are hurting. I’m feeling five years older. My body is really sore after that. So we left everything out there, and that’s all I can ask for as a captain, that the guys fought. They showed that.”
– Faf du Plessis defended his troops after the close shave against New Zealand.