World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

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World Cricket League Division 3 Day 1 - Darwin

The Division 3 tournament of the World Cricket League is due to get underway this weekend. It's being played in Darwin, Australia. The US was originally scheduled to be in this tournament, but the ICC kicked them out due to the complete failure of USACA to agree on anything, and Argentina has taken their place.


The top two teams advance to WCL Division 2 this November in Namibia. So the two semifinal matches will be absolutely vital.

The 3rd and 4th place finishers also advance to Division 3 in 2009. But the bottom 4 teams have to play in Division 4 next year against the winners from Division 5.


Code: 
Group A 
                   P   W   T   NR   L  Pts
Argentina
Fiji
Italy
Papua New Guinea

Group B
                   P   W   T   NR   L  Pts
Cayman Islands
Hong Kong
Tanzania
Uganda
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 Day 1 - Darwin

Sunday 27 May
Papua New Guinea v Fiji
Italy v Argentina
Cayman Islands v Tanzania
Uganda v Hong Kong



Interesting match to start things off with the two East Asia Pacific powerhouses taking each other on. The four semifinalists may all be playing each other on the opening day, with Uganda also meeting Hong Kong. But the Group B teams had all better be well aware of Cayman Islands, especially after their victory over Canada last year.
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 Day 1 - Darwin

Argentina came so very close!!!!!!!
They almost got a win. Oh well, they weren't even supposed to be in this tournament anyway. Just playing 5 matches against this level of competition is a big boost for them.


CAYMAN ISLANDS!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, odds are they beat up on the cupcake in their group, but still, what a victory!!!!!!!
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 Day 1 - Darwin

Papua New Guinea v Fiji
Fiji 138
PNG 142-9 49.5 overs

Now that's what I call a close match. Looks like Papua New Guinea just barely made it home at the end there. That could be the difference between advancing to WCL Div 2 or not.


Italy v Argentina
Italy 175-9 50 overs
Argentina 174 50 overs

This was so close too! Argentina almost pulled it off. Looks like they lost on the final ball of the match. This was probably the match that both teams were targeting for a win.


Cayman Islands v Tanzania
Tanzania 206-6 50 overs
Cayman Islands 210-0 45.4 overs, S Gordon 104*, A Hall 100*

Wow, what a stunning victory for Cayman Islands! An unbeaten opening partnership of 210, with both openers scoring a century!! I don't think Cayman Islands could have possibly dreamed of a better start to this tournament. Hopefully they saved a little something for their next 2 matches.


Uganda v Hong Kong
Uganda 219-5 (50 overs, J Olwenya 60, M Benjamin 48, J Kwebiha 39)
Hong Hong 129 (36.5 overs, J Olwenya 3-15, C Waiswa 3-18)

And there's your tournament favorites right there. Uganda didn't disappoint. Uganda has every intention and expectation of playing in the Div 2 tournament later this year in Namibia. Looks like Hing Kong crumbled when they came up against people who could actually bowl the ball.
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 Day 1 - Darwin

The ICC has a brief article up at this link.

Of note:
Italy looked down and out when Argentina, chasing 176 for victory, reached 159 for five. But Italy grabbed five wickets for 15 runs, including last four wickets for three runs, as Argentina were bowled out for 174.
Click to expand...
Horrible luck for Argentina. They came even closer than I imagined.
 
World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

Day 2

Monday 28 May
Fiji v Italy
Hong Kong v Cayman Islands
Uganda v Tanzania
Papua New Guinea v Argentina



Cayman Islands face a much tougher test against Hong Kong today. They won't win this one by ten wickets. Fiji will be looking to bounce back and pick up a win against Italy, while the Italians will be searching for their second win of the tournament, with an eye on the semifinals. Uganda and PNG should both roll.
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

Not so many close matches from Day 2.

Fiji v Italy
Italy 186-9 (Din Alaud 39, N Northcote 35, I Cakacaka 3-30)
Fiji 149 (Din Alaud 3-13)

Italy is the only undefeated team in Group A. They might still need a win against PNG in their last game to advance though.


Hong Kong v Cayman Islands
Hong Kong 67 (F Hinds 4-22)
Cayman Islands 70-2

Yet another gigantic win for the Cayman Islands! All 5 of their bowlers picked up wickets, and their batsmen finished off the small target in less than 10 overs. Not much more you can ask for out of this. Best of all, they've advanced to the semifinals, meaning that they get to bypass the 2008 World Cricket League and have qualified to play in 2009!


Uganda v Tanzania
Tanzania 64 (C Waiswa 3-7, P Ochan 3-17)
Uganda 70-6 (B Mwita 4-23)

As expected, yet another win for Uganda. Though honestly, losing 6 wickets is a little surprising, especially considering that the 2 openers for the Cayman Islands put up unbeaten centuries against Tanzania. Still, Uganda has qualified for the semifinals, and can also look forward to playing in 2009.


Papua New Guinea v Argentina
Papua New Guinea 91 (E MacDermott 4-22)
Argentina 92-5 (D Forrester 44*)

Without a doubt, the upset of the day! Argentina was supposed to be playing in Division 5, not Division 3, and now they've come in and beaten one of the tournament favorites. Thanks to this result, all 4 teams in Group A are still alive heading into the final day's play, and it may very well come down to net run rate.
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

Here's a brief article about the day's play.
Best line:
MacDermott, the 24-year-old spinner, described the victory as the biggest in Argentina’s cricket history.

“All the effort that was put in is now paying off. By defeating PNG, we have shown that we can compete at this level,” he said.
Click to expand...

Scorecards for each match can be found at this link.
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

this is the cricket world cup all over again: one-sided cricket!


thanks for the scores cleazer, it's good to keep updated on these
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

Wednesday 30 May
Uganda v Cayman Islands
Hong Kong v Tanzania
Papua New Guinea v Italy
Fiji v Argentina

The big name match today is between Uganda and Cayman Islands. The winner should theoretically get an easier team from Group A to play in the all-important semifinal game. Though maybe not, considering the gigantic mess in Group A right now.

Meanwhile, the 2 Group A games both have everything to play for, with all 4 teams still alive. Looks like Argentina would be through with a win, as 4 points and their positive run rate would be enough to keep them in the top 2. Fiji could still advance with a win too, so long as they won by enough to overtake Argentina's run rate and Italy beat PNG. Argentina could actually lose and still advance, if it's a super close loss and PNG loses to Italy too. Theoretically, PNG could beat Italy and not advance, if their NRR is still behind Italy's and Argentina's.

Code: 
Group A 
                   P   W   T   NR   L  Pts    NRR
Italy              2   2   0    0   0    4   +0.38
Argentina          2   1   0    0   1    2   +0.26
Papua New Guinea   2   1   0    0   1    2   -0.20
Fiji               2   0   0    0   2    0   -0.41


Group B
                   P   W   T   NR   L  Pts    NRR
Cayman Islands     2   2   0    0   0    4   +2.27
Uganda             2   2   0    0   0    4   +1.75
Hong Kong          2   0   0    0   2    0   -1.36
Tanzania           2   0   0    0   2    0   -2.87
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

Uganda v Cayman Islands
Uganda 153
Cayman Islands 127 (46.2 overs)

So Uganda wins Group B. If both teams win their semifinals tomorrow, they'll meet again for the championship.


Hong Kong v Tanzania
Hong Kong 161 (Sharma 43, Goving 3-31)
Tanzania 165-5 (47 overs)

Bit of a surprising win for Tanzania here. Though Hong Kong always seems to come up short as of late.


Papua New Guinea v Italy
Italy 134-9 (50 overs, J Brazier 3-18)
Papua New Guinea 135-2 (33.1 overs, A Uda 58)

An easy win for PNG. This is more of what was expected for them in this tournament. And as usual, Italy puts in a disappointing performance in an international competition. They were looking good for a while there, but now they won't finish in the all-important top 4.


Fiji v Argentina
Fiji 44 (21.2 overs, E Nino 4-16, G Savage 3-5, D Lord 3-16)
Argentina 46-0 (5 overs)

What a stunning win for Argentina! They've certainly been the revelation of this tournament! And now they find themselves finishing in the top 4, and being guaranteed of a place in the 2009 WCL tournament.




They don't have the NRR calculated yet, but Argentina obviously wins Group A, and PNG won by enough of a margin to take over second place from Italy.

So the vital semi-final matches will be:
Argentina v Cayman Islands
Uganda v Papua New Guinea

The winners of those two semi-finals advance to Division 2 in November, while the losers will still get a shot in the 2009 Division 3 tournament.

The bottom 4 teams, Italy, Tanzania, Hong Kong, and Fiji, will all get another shot in the 2008 Division 4 tournament (and they'll also get to play off for spots 5-8 here in Darwin). They'll have a tough time though, because they'll be playing against the winners of what now looks to be a pretty tough Division 5, featuring the USA, Nepal, Afghanistan, and others.
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

Great news for Americas cricket, as both of their teams have made the final 4. And with them playing each other in the semifinal, that means one of them is guaranteed to advance to Division 2!

Now if only the US could get their act together and join in the fun.
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

Go Americas!!!

Any word on whether there are some sketchy pitches being used, or if it is just a case of bowling developing quicker than batting? Just noticing a lot of low (and VERY low) scores.
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

Wilbix;162595 said:
Go Americas!!!

Any word on whether there are some sketchy pitches being used, or if it is just a case of bowling developing quicker than batting? Just noticing a lot of low (and VERY low) scores.
Click to expand...



This is Darwin, the Siberia of Australia. Half the batters were probably
chased from the crease. As for the four
finalists: notice anything common about them? All are predominantly
made up of born-and-bred players. The ex-pat teams like the
Italians and Chinese got knocked out early.
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

I think Cayman Islands have a number of players from Jamaica.


But the Argentina team is definitely made up of predominantly folks from Buenos Aires. Some of them aren't super old either. So Argentina may be a good team for a number of years to come. Who knows, maybe they'll have a realistic shot at making the 2015 World Cup.
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

timmyj51;162604 said:
This is Darwin, the Siberia of Australia. Half the batters were probably
chased from the crease. As for the four
finalists: notice anything common about them? All are predominantly
made up of born-and-bred players. The ex-pat teams like the
Italians and Chinese got knocked out early.
Click to expand...

They've played Test matches in Darwin
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

Thursday 31 May
Semi-Final: Argentina v Cayman Islands
Semi-Final: Uganda v Papua New Guinea
Plate Semi-Final: Italy v Hong Kong
Plate Semi-final: Tanzania v Fiji

Obviously the semifinals are the two big matches. The winners there advance to Division 2. I'll predict Cayman Islands and Uganda. Cayman Islands have really had Argentina's number lately, and I think they'll pick up another win over them here today.


In the 5th-8th place games, I'll go with Fiji and Hong Kong, the two last place teams. Neither of them has won yet, and I figure both are due!
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

Dave;162689 said:
They've played Test matches in Darwin
Click to expand...



BS ones with Deshies. Hungry salties tried to make a meal of a few fielders on the boundaries.
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

Argentina!!!

Just 2 months ago they were in Division 5, and now they've been promoted to Division 2!!!! Let's hope this helps cricket grow down there. The multiple upcoming tournaments will certainly give the players something to aim for.

Congratulations to both Argentina and Uganda!


Semi-finals
Cayman Islands 102 lost to Argentina 103-6 by 4 wickets
Papua New Guinea 203-5 lost to Uganda 204-9 by 1 wicket
Plate Semi-finals
Hong Kong 195 beat Italy 146 by 49 runs
Fiji 173 lost to Tanzania 176-7 by 3 wickets
 
Re: World Cricket League Division 3 - Darwin

No real surprise. Born-and-breds generally do better, in the long
run, than banana boat teams. When an Elvita comes to bat he's
thinking, "I'm batting for Argentina, my life ambition." When a banana boater comes to
bat he's thinking, "I don't really wanna bat for this country. I really wanna bat
for India, Windies, etc."
 
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