So the other night I was joking around about the Cricket World Cup, and how I didn’t think there should be an Open Thread because it’s:

1. On too damned early, and
2. Too obscure

Well, I’ve been shamed. So here we go.

The final match of the tournament is between England (the hosts) and New Zealand. It is being held at Lord’s, possibly the most famous cricket pitch in the world.

It was a ten-team tournament, and played in the ODI 50-over format. Each team played the other once, and only the top-4 teams qualified for the semi-finals. At the end of 45 days, it came down to England versus pre-tourney favourites Australia & New Zealand up against perennial powerhouse India.

How each team got here can be summed up in the accompanying YouTube videos.

England was able to silence Australia’s bats, as they took down the top-3 Aussie batters within seven overs, and having to bat defensively for the remaining overs kept the Australian score at 223 – whereas the average Australian score during the tournament was closer to 300 per match. It meant the English could focus on just making contact & hitting singles, since a 50-over format means 300 balls pitched (six balls per over X 50 overs). England was able to get the job done in 32.1 overs.

And just like that, the five-time, defending champions were eliminated.

The New Zealand – India match was a little more interesting. As Litre_Cola can attest, watching the IPL can give you the sense that India are akin to the 1989 Oakland A’s – they have a ton of guys who can just mash the ball. There was also the usual sub-continental political & religious intrigue: Pakistani fans accused India of purposely losing to England in the round-robin stage in order to help England leap over Pakistan in the standings. Also, former Indian captain & current team member MS Dhoni had started the tournament wearing gloves with his Indian military insignia on them, a division of which patrols the disputed region of Kashmir.

Add in the number of Pakistanis living in England, and you had a quite raucous crowd rooting on New Zealand.

New Zealand was able to get the outs they needed at key times and their score of 240 held up and allowed them to win the day.

In Pakistan, the media rejoiced, and one Pakistan cabinet minister declared that Dhoni (pictured above) “deserved the ‘disgraceful exit’.” Indian-occupied Kashmir erupted in celebration of New Zealand.

https://youtu.be/szEyXtNUEqY

So that’s not going to resolve itself anytime soon.

Anyway, on to the match at hand.

England is led by captain Eoin (pronounced Owen) Morgan. Irish-born but English through his mother, he has been rock-solid in his match-calling prowess during the tournament. The batting lineups he has put together have been impressive top-to-bottom, especially Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root. He has used his bowlers efficiently, never letting a team get too far out front before he has to change tack. Key to England’s chances are bowlers Chris Woakes & Joffra Archer. Woakes was “Man of the Match” against Australia, getting three wickets and wrecking Australia’s shit by keeping them to 2.5 runs per over. Archer is a hitting machine who also throws a 90 mph seamer, and can place the ball anywhere along the pitch he wants – which allowed him to finish third in overall wickets taken with 19. If these two are able to keep their run rates down, New Zealand is going to have a difficult time cracking 200, let alone getting to 250.

New Zealand is led by their captain & overall tournament batting leader Kane Williamson, who leads the table with an average of 91 runs per at-bat. James Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme are quality all-rounders (both excellent bowlers & batters) who have been consistently good for 50 runs & a couple of wickets per match. Where they might be weak is in relying on bowlers Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson to hold up their ends, as each were rocked in different matches this tournament, but were bailed out by superior coverage from their team mates.

Prediction:

• England: 285
• New Zealand: 248

England seem to have the bit in their teeth. They won their way into the Finals, and with a home crowd behind them in London I really don’t see how they can fail.

Here is the trophy, boringly named the “ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy” since 1999.

The next tournament, in 2023, will be held in India, and mostly played in the eight stadiums that comprise the Indian Premier League.

Anyway – the first bowl is at 5:30 AM ET / 2:30 PT, and each team’s innings will take about 3 hours to play. So if I’m drunk I might see you for the start; otherwise, I will see you for tea about 7:00 AM PT for the second half of the match.