The second Saturday of the World Cup turned out to be a mixed day for cricket as the Brisbane match between Australia and Bangladesh was washed out and the other match saw only one team turning up to play a World cup match, for the other team seemed yet to mentally arrive in the tournament.

The points split between hosts Australia and Bangladesh means England with no win will have to be wary of getting pushed down, so too will be the Lankans. Pool A has seen New Zealand dominate their opposition in all three matches, while Australia are going to have to wait a few more days before they can reinforce their solid start against England.

Bangladesh however will be ecstatic with a shared point. I still think that it is not too late for England to turn their World Cup campaign around. Sri Lanka too should be more than a match for the likes of Scotland, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. So while their cricket has been sub-par of late, England should still be able to qualify in the top four of their pool, with Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

A day before the Pool B table toppers meet, the table bottom stakes were laid out and West Indies and Pakistan met at Christchurch to avoid the ignominy of avoiding the last place. West Indies turned in a fabulous performance winning by a huge margin, big enough to turn around their World cup prospects after the drubbing at the hands of Ireland in their first encounter.

The stand-out performance of the middle and lower batsmen piling on yet another score of 300-plus for the Windies was no surprise as the Pakistanis extended their pathetic catching and fielding standards. I liked the way Andre Russel pummeled the bowling in the death overs, after Lendl Simmons and Denesh Ramdin steadied the innings, for it always makes a huge difference between closing at 275 or 310.

Jerome Taylor has been consistently pegging away for the past few years and his good disciplined bowling has to be rewarded. Skipper Jason Holder too seemed to be in rhythm, but this day belonged to Russel, after that terrific knock at the end of the innings, he bowled a wonderful spell picking up three crucial wickets.

The Caribbean team has a whole string of dangerous batsmen, not just the big hitting Gayle, and despite their early loss, should still be able to be in the top four of Pool B, and there is a good chance that it will be Ireland who progress with them to the knockout stage.

Thus, Pool B is far more contestable in my opinion, than Pool A, as the win by Ireland over the West Indies, Pakistan’s dismal performances in their first two matches and Zimbabwe’s positive showing in their loss to South Africa, means that any one of 4 teams could be contesting for the two spots behind India and South Africa.

Quite early days in the tournament to predict the last eight yet, but I just don’t see how Pakistan can turn their performances around. They are usually considered ‘unpredictable’, a bit like the West Indies, but you need to be consistently unpredictable, in order to stay one step ahead of the opposition.

Courtesy: YAHOO CRICKET