Cricket World Cup 2015 Tables: Updated Outlook After India vs. Ireland Result
India (260/2) predictably beat Ireland (259) by eight wickets during Tuesday's 2015 Cricket World Cup Pool B action, stretching their unbeaten streak in World Cup matches to nine and setting up a fantastic showdown between quarter-final hopefuls on Sunday.
Pakistan, Ireland and West Indies are locked in a three-way duel for the final two tickets to the quarter-finals, and the first two will go head-to-head while the Windies play winless United Arab Emirates.
All qualifiers from Pool A have already been decided, as New Zealand have wrapped up top spot, leaving Australia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to determine the rest of the order in their final matches.
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The current Cricket World Cup group standings:
| New Zealand | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | +3.090 | 942/146.3 | 835/250.0 |
| Australia | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | +1.597 | 1286/200.0 | 837/173.1 |
| Bangladesh | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | +0.211 | 1104/198.1 | 1072/200.0 |
| Sri Lanka | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -0.151 | 1425/245.4 | 1488/250.0 |
| England | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1.001 | 1226/250.0 | 1238/209.4 |
| Afghanistan | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -1.881 | 933/249.3 | 1318/234.3 |
| Scotland | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1.423 | 854/200.0 | 982/172.3 |
| India | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | +2.157 | 1156/194.5 | 944/250.0 |
| South Africa | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | +1.462 | 1537/247.0 | 1176/247.0 |
| Pakistan | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -0.194 | 1189/247.0 | 1237/247.0 |
| Ireland | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -1.014 | 1386/245.1 | 1579/236.5 |
| West Indies | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -0.511 | 1309/248.0 | 1349/233.0 |
| Zimbabwe | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -0.595 | 1393/246.0 | 1552/248.0 |
| United Arab Emirates | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1.691 | 875/200.0 | 1008/166.1 |
Pool A
As touched upon earlier, the four qualifiers from Pool A have already been determined, via ICC's official Twitter account:
The Black Caps are already sure of top spot but, behind them, anything is still possible as far as seeding goes. Australia and Sri Lanka both still play Scotland, while Bangladesh face the daunting prospect of going head-to-head with New Zealand.
All three teams will want to avoid finishing in fourth and a meeting with defending champions and ODI giants India:
On paper, things look fairly straight-forward. Australia and Bangladesh are tied on points, but the Baggy Greens have the advantage in net run rate and should add to their tally against winless Scotland.
The same goes for Sri Lanka, who trail the duo by one point. They should be favoured to leap ahead of the Tigers, who face a difficult final group match. However, New Zealand have nothing to gain from their encounter, other than momentum, so it is possible they decide to rest key players.
The co-hosts know injuries can occur at any given time—they came very close to losing star batsman Brendon McCullum in the game against Australia after taking a short delivery to the arm, per cricket.com.au:
Assuming no matches get washed out, Australia shouldn't have any problems securing the second seed against Scotland. Expect New Zealand to push for an undefeated record in the group stages, with Sri Lanka leaping ahead of Bangladesh in the standings as a result.
Pool B
Here's where things get interesting.
Mathematically speaking, only India have secured passage to the next round, but South Africa would have to suffer a serious upset against United Arab Emirates in order to drop out of the top four.
That won't happen. But Ireland's loss against India still gives us a fantastic battle for the remaining two tickets. The Irish, Pakistan and West Indies can all still qualify and finish anywhere between spots two and four—though South Africa will likely come in second. ESPN Cricinfo's Freddie Wilde was kind enough to lay out the scenarios for each team:
Working under the assumption no matches are abandoned, Sunday's round of fixtures should be must-watch TV. West Indies need to beat winless UAE, and likely will, but they'll also need to push their net run rate up to past one of Pakistan or Ireland.
Those two teams will battle it out directly for a spot in the quarter-finals, and while Pakistan could still make it in if Windies can't muster enough runs to pass them on the table, Ireland will most likely be going home if they lose.
Captain William Porterfield told CricketNDTV his squad is up for the challenge:
Pakistan are finding their form at just the right time and put in a magnificent performance against South Africa, limiting one of the best batting lineups in the world to 202 in their last match.
AB de Villiers was the only man to score in excess of 30 against an aggressive bowling attack—Mohammad Irfan, Rahat Ali and Wahab Riaz all finished with three wickets each. Expect a similar approach against Ireland, giving the likes of Misbah-ul-Haq and Ahmed Shehzad the chance to do some real damage against an inexperienced group of bowlers.
Cricket journalist Mazher Arshad seems convinced Pakistan will qualify as the third team in Pool B:
Given Pakistan's form, you have to like West Indies' chances of sneaking past Ireland and into the quarter-finals, where they would meet New Zealand. Ireland have been a fantastic story during this tournament, but expect it to end before the next stage begins.
All statistics are courtesy of ESPN Cricinfo.
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