ICC T20 World Cup: Gulf News experts analyse flying start for England and Australia

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Transcript

00:00Hi guys and welcome to Gulf News coverage of the T20 World Cup here in the UAE.

00:16We're here with Mr Cricket UAE himself Anas Sajjad and we've got all our experts here

00:21again after what was a whirlwind day.

00:26England have really made a statement of intent. Australia have put their stamp on top of South

00:33Africa. First of all we'll go over to our guys and we'll say hello and then we'll just go around

00:39the table and we'll see what everyone's got to say. Anas, hi how are you? Hi Matt, thank you Matt.

00:45Hello Imran, hello Satish, hello Sahil. Well what a topsy-turvy start we had. I would first talk

00:52about the England versus West Indies, the two teams which had made it to the finals. I'm afraid

00:59West Indies were poor but you have to give it credit to England bowlers especially Rashid Khan.

01:04He was unplayable and West Indies players were playing against him as if they were playing

01:08against like amateur players. And when you talk about the first game, it was a close game if you

01:14see in the end but I'm afraid 118 or rather 119 batting first is too low a score to defend on a

01:20good batting wicket of Abu Dhabi even though Australia made heavy meat of it. Nonetheless,

01:25two crucial points for Australia and two crucial points for England and as Imran mentioned in our

01:30prior talk that payback for England. Yeah, it's probably more important that we get this win

01:39not in the league games but hopefully if we get as far as the semi-finals or the final that's when

01:43it'll be real payback. Yeah, no Carlos Brathwaite this time. Satish, what was your take on,

01:54is this a real statement of 10 from England? Of course, yeah. England, as we all know,

02:01Arn Morgan is a pretty good captain even though he is not among runs. He has done well. He has

02:06brought Calcutta Knight Riders to the final with maybe one or two performances and he was having a

02:11lean patch there too. So, I would say it's a pretty good captaincy and England, if you look

02:18at yesterday during the chat show also we discussed a lot of teams and England had that in them.

02:24Yeah, they have missed a few very important guys which would have made them into a sure-shot

02:31favorite but now nevertheless they are still a very formidable team. They have all the variety

02:37they need. Adil Rashid was pretty good. He is an experienced campaigner. You have Jordan. You have

02:43all these guys coming and playing in the T20 leagues across the world. So, they have the team

02:49and they have done well and that is one aspect of it and we have been seeing West Indies players

02:54doing badly even in the IPL. We never expected anything from them but we never expected such a

03:01surrender from their part but it also evoked memories of 92 when they surrendered to Kenya

03:09with such a top team but I hope this doesn't trigger such a collapse and then the West Indies

03:16went into turmoil and then the performances went very bad after that. My Kenya loss, I hope

03:25that doesn't happen but anyway, it's not a very good omen for West Indies cricket. I think they

03:31need to go back to the drawing board and look for the issues and as Pollard said somebody

03:38needs to stay there and rotate the strike which didn't happen today. Now, obviously, I'll turn

03:45to Sahil here who obviously is too young a boy to remember such things as 1992 in Kenya but

03:53I think it's 96 against Kenya, not 92, I'm sorry. It doesn't matter, he's silly. Sahil was born in 2002.

04:05Trust me, it's before his time. Now, if you look at where did the West Indies go from here?

04:14I mean, Sahil, the title holders, they wondered the world. They've had all the Chris Gayle,

04:19the universe boss, they've had everything that's happened so far. Are alarm bells ringing?

04:27I don't think, I think they'll be fine. Before this game, they lost their both warm-up

04:32games also pretty badly to be honest. Now, they came to this game, they lost even more badly.

04:37I mean, if you see their batting order, they have batting order till number nine. So, yes, they had

04:43a slip-up but this is not a slip-up, this is like a beating unfortunately, I have to say like England

04:48have just killed them. But you know, I mean, if you're asking me, are they going to be fine? Yes,

04:53they'll be fine. Come on, this is West Indies. They're a very unpredictable team. Next game,

04:57you might see them score 220 overs. Today, they scored 55 all-out. Next game, you'll see a 200. So,

05:04if you're asking me, they'll be fine. Nothing to worry about.

05:06We all wanted to see that. That's not how you win a tournament. You can't just randomly turn up.

05:15You've got to do it consistently, surely. And I don't think the West Indies have that to turn up.

05:22I don't think they've got five games in them to do it consistently.

05:26For sure, I agree with that. For sure.

05:28So, Hill, do you think it was bad batting or just really good bowling?

05:33Oh, I have to say, really good bowling by England. I mean, all of them. Each bowler,

05:37I think, got a wicket for themselves. But also, the Windies did not exactly bat according to the

05:42wicket. We know how they play, their attacking mindset. It just didn't work out. But I have to

05:48give credit to the English bowlers. It's good to see Tyrell Mills back, fit for England. He's a

05:53replacement for Geoff Rarcher. It's a big thing for him. And he was brilliant. Wokes, Adil Rashid,

05:59four wickets. Moeen Ali, starting the bowling. So, I mean, they're fine. England are just

06:04brilliant. That's all I can say.

06:06You know, I've got to say, we're coming into the tournament as the

06:10current top-form team in T20 cricket. We've got David Dawid-Mallon, who's the best batsman in T20

06:15at the moment, with a 50-over World Cup champion at the moment. So, I think at the moment,

06:20I think we really fancy our chances against, well, of going all the way, I think. I think

06:25from that performance, from what I've seen today, they're looking very confident, looking very

06:29strong. I mean, it was a surprise. Nobody thought that West Indies would collapse like they did. I

06:35certainly didn't. I thought it would be a very interesting game.

06:38Yeah, not double figures anyway.

06:41Yeah, I mean, it was a real surprise that they, you know, it was a 55 that they got out for. I

06:45mean, that made England's job even easier. But to be honest, for a little while, when they were,

06:51was it 50 for six, 50 for four? It was a little bit touch and go for a little while. But no,

06:57Morgan, I mean, he saw it through.

07:00Now, Anis, obviously, nobody's talked about Scotland again yet. I don't know why.

07:09I'll keep saying this until we're knocked out. But, you know, like, does this look like a

07:15formidable opponent now, England, for like the, let's say the other favourites in India and

07:22Pakistan? Do England now look like they're the full unit now and they're the ones to beat?

07:31Not only on the basis of this performance, Matt, they were always favourites coming into the

07:35tournament. They have the one who have changed the style of cricket from the 2015 World Cup,

07:40playing the fearless brand of cricket under Owen Morgan, where the likes of Jason Roy, Butler,

07:46Johnny Best, they just go all out and they have the right bowling attack.

07:50So mind you, this performance will definitely make them feel good. But they are a team to

07:55beat in this tournament. And it's just the form of Owen Morgan. And if he comes in his own,

08:00he'll be the player probably with not only his captainship, but also batting he can take forward.

08:05And that drop catch today, it was a difficult one by Walsh. I hope because, you know, sometimes when

08:12you go with a low score again into the next game, you have at the back of the mind, today he's gone

08:15with a knockout. Maybe he gets a decent run in the next match and he gets into form. And I've

08:20seen Owen Morgan playing many a beginnings. And I hope England will go well with because they have

08:27a perfect team. They have a mix of right batsmen, attacking batsmen, great bowlers, great fast

08:32bowlers. And my son mentioned about Tamil Mills, watch out for this bowler. He is the surprise

08:37package and the right replacement for Jofra Acha. Quickly, we're going to have to mention

08:45there was another game today. We're going to have to touch on that. South Africa were defeated by

08:50Australia. It came down to the final over, but Australia looked to be in command pretty much

08:56all the way. David Warner is the big question. I mean, obviously I'll open this up to everyone.

09:04Where do Australia go from here and where does South Africa go from here?

09:07Yeah, I probably I'll take that first. I think South Africa, maybe because it's a big team in

09:16the rebuilding process. A lot of newcomers are there, maybe because of the first World Cup,

09:22some nerves must have been there. But I'm sure they are a pretty good side. And

09:28the one thing which I'm still not quite convinced, yeah, Australia won it, but it was not a convincing

09:33Australia won it, but it was not a convincing performance, in my opinion,

09:37from Australia's point of view, because they had some of the best players in the world,

09:42the top five or six or seven. But the way they chased 119 and winning by two balls to spare with

09:49six wickets down or five wickets down, that's not the way you win a match like that.

09:54So you need to win. They clawed their way over the line. And again, South Africa has got probably

10:01one of the best bowling attacks as well alongside England. So let's not forget it,

10:06they have some very good fast bowlers, who can bowl very intelligently and vary their pace. And

10:12they have a very complete bowling lineup, left arm Chinaman bowler. So it's not an easy team.

10:20That's why I picked them as a dark house yesterday. And I'm sure there are another

10:25four more matches to go. They will come back stronger. That's my opinion. But Australia

10:29certainly need to pull up their socks and do a better performance.

10:34Okay. Let me pass over. Saheel, what's your thoughts there on Australia and

10:40South Africa's chances in that same group?

10:43I mean, I can agree with Mr. Satish. South Africa, what he said about South Africa's

10:48bowling lineup, they have an unbelievable bowling lineup. Nokia, Rabada, Shamsi,

10:53they're good bowlers in the team. And of course, the Aussies, they won today. I mean,

10:57today, they didn't play bad after Australia. The wicket was not easy at all. I mean,

11:02there is a reason why this was not a straightforward chase. And they needed a hero and Marcus Stoinis

11:06and Matthew Wade won it for them. So I mean, South Africa played hard, but it was not…

11:12Australia didn't play bad. Steve Smith scored a crucial 35. So the wicket was tough and the

11:17Aussies deserve to win it in the end. But in the end, South Africa gave a fantastic fight. And

11:22both have their chances, of course, to reach the semis.

11:25OK. And Anis and Imran, obviously, we look ahead to tomorrow. We get into Kingmaker mode.

11:38Let's say Group B has got a lot of… there's two big strong teams, maybe three big strong teams,

11:46but a lot of qualifier teams in there that could cause a little bit of trouble,

11:52as we discussed last night. Do we see any upsets on the cards going into the Group B matches?

12:01Imran, you can take it.

12:04I think just as a spectacle, it'll be great to see some upsets. You know,

12:08it tends to get a bit boring when you see the same teams going through all the time,

12:11which is why I think Scotland, you know, little mention there for Matt,

12:16getting through to the top 12, it just makes the whole tournament so much more interesting

12:20and exciting. So I'm personally hoping that we do get a few upsets along the way. It'll just make

12:24the tournament even more interesting. And Anis, what do you think?

12:32Well, tomorrow's first match is between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and it's going to be

12:36a rivalry like how India and Pakistan is. And mind you, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have had

12:41tough clashes in the past, and they are playing in Sharjah, slow and low wickets,

12:46and both have quality spinners. So we need to see which team comes to the party.

12:51I've always believed in Sharjah, if you bat second, and you are able to contain the opposition

12:57to around 131-135. Hope the wickets have got better with the World Cup. But I'm not sure,

13:02only time will say. But that match is also equally important as the second match between India and

13:07Pakistan.

13:08Okay, well, we shall find out soon enough. And it's going to be a very exciting day tomorrow.

13:13And as I say, everybody, you can always stay at gulfnews.com, and you can keep up to date with

13:19all the live scores, all the live updates, all the analyses, and all the previews for every

13:26single match. We shall see you again tomorrow. And we shall do it all again, once again,

13:30and we shall see what happens. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. And we'll see you

13:36tomorrow.

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