Latest update February 20th, 2025 12:39 PM
Feb 19, 2025 Sports
Kaieteur Sports- Wickets tumbled around the cricket fields of Colombo as Round 6 saw upsets, thrashings and a tense (ish) finish in the race for playoff positions.
The closest match of the day was New Zealand vs England. The GreyCaps were desperate for a win to have a chance of making the semis, but fell to 33/3 against some more irresistible bowling from Marcus Sharp (3/18). The Kiwis recovered through a patient 69-run partnership between Mason Robinson (32) and Robbie Frew. Frew made his highest O50I score (78) and many thought that NZ’s total of 172 was competitive.
It looked that way when Richard Petrie took two wickets in his first over and England were 46/3, but they also showed patience on an erratic pitch. Roy Smith (42) and Alex Richards (36) added 72 and then the run machine Giles Ecclestone (29*) and skipper David Snellgrove (17*) brought England home in the 44th over to concretise their semi-final spot.
Uae had the upset of the day, comprehensively tipping over Zimbabwe by 77 runs. Seen Ranjan clobbered 6 sixes on his way to 91 from 61 balls, and Rehan Khan blasted 66 from 34, as the UAE went from 60/4 in the 20th over to 269/8 at the end of their 45.
The shell-shocked Zimbabweans never recovered from 105/7, despite 71* from 62 balls by Jason Oates, and the UAE recorded a famous victory.
The USA dished out one of the severest of hidings ever seen in an IMC World Cup, obliterating Namibia by 9 wickets. Piers L’Estrange (28) was the only Namibian to pass 6 as the Americans rolled them for 49. Syed Shahanawaz grabbed 4/17.
The Americans were looking to boost their run rate ahead of the playoffs and did exactly that, reaching their target inside 5 overs. The entire match lasted less than 28 overs.
Before the tournament, the game between South Africa and Pakistan had been anticipated to be a real heavyweight clash. It ended up pretty much one-way traffic, with Pakistan strolling to a 5-wicket win. South Africa’s batting continued to struggle and they could only score 155/9 in their 45 overs.
Asif Hamuyan scored 57 – his second straight 50 – and Pakistan were never seriously troubled in their chase, reaching the target with 14 overs in hand.
Another game that was expected to be close was West Indies vs Wales. As it happened, Wales lost their talisman Iwan Rees to the first ball of the match and never recovered, limping to 106 all out (Alan Webster 46, Vejai Seonarine 3/11 from 9).
The tournament’s leading wicket-taker, Ali Bukhari, was going to be the key to any chance of Wales defending that score, and he did his best with 3/35, but the target was just too small and the Windies got there in the 27th over, despite losing 6 wickets.
The Australian machine rolled on with a clinical victory over Canada. Simon Waddington grabbed 5/28 and James Morris took 3/18 as the Canadians made 155.
Canada had some hope when 3 of the Aussie top order were out for just 39, but, as usual, a big partnership was just around the corner, this time between Steve Mace (75 not out) and Andrew Sharp (55 not out).
So, what does all this mean for the points table?
* In POOL A, England are through to the semi-finals.
* If Sri Lanka can beat New Zealand, they will join them. Even a tight loss would probably get them through because of their high net run rate.
* Another thumping win to the USA (against Zimbabwe) could see the Americans leapfrog Sri Lanka (as long as NZ beats Sri Lanka.
* In POOL B, Australia are through to the semi-finals.
* The only teams that can join them are Pakistan and India, who play yesterday in what will hopefully be a cracking game between the two great rivals. India will need to win quite convincingly to overtake Pakistan on NRR.
(OVER-50s WORLD CUP – ROUND 6 ROUND-UP)
Feb 20, 2025
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