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England now prop up the table as Afghanistan wipe the floor with their Pakistan cousins and win by 8 wickets, outsiders for the semi think they play the Neterlands next and Sri Lanka after that both could be classed as winnable
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That's the performance which really confirms Afghanistan's arrival as a force to be reckoned with. The win against England, though well deserved, could easily have been written off as a minnow side scraping past a badly wounded giant, but there's no mistaking the quality of today's effort when their bowlers made the most of a Chennai bunsen, then the top four paced the chase to perfection, sussing out the Pakistan attack and tackling them masterfully. The intelligence and maturity had Jonathan Trott's fingerprints all over it (taking nothing away from the batsmen themselves; Gurbaz and Zadran look a quality opening partnership, and it's amazing to think they might have 15-20 cricketing years ahead of them yet).
The full run-in for Afghanistan is Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Australia, South Africa: two beatable teams, a third who aren't what they used to be and a fourth who look strong but have also slipped up once this tournament. If they're up to 8 points by next Friday night then we're in for a cracking final week.
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This Afghan team reminds me of when Sri Lanka came from absolutely nowhere, unfancied and quite new to the international scene, to actually win the World Cup in 1996.
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24-10-2023, 13:50
(This post was last modified: 24-10-2023, 13:52 by Ska'dForLife-WBA.)
Quinton de Kock now has the highest individual innings of the tournament so far, his 173* currently the 9th best of all time in the World Cup, and fifteen short of Gary Kirsten's South African record from 1996.
Jinxed him! Gone for 174, one short of Kapil Dev in 1983 and Virender Sehwag in 2011.
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Klaasen is a monster
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Maxwell century from 40 forty balls
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Demolished Kevin O'Brien's 2011 World Cup record, fourth-fastest in ODI history. Absolute beast.
Think we can write this match off as a contest now, though.
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25-10-2023, 16:55
(This post was last modified: 25-10-2023, 16:56 by themaclad.)
89 all out
Largest ever victory 309 runs
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Oh dear! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!