Looks like bad news on the political front matches with good news on the cricketing front!! The UK polls were generally a disaster (but Theresa May is showing Margaret Thatcher like qualities by refusing to budge), but the Champions Trophy has picked up steam!
Bangladesh beat NewZeland (surprise, surprise) and England beat Australia (no surprise there); with the result that England and Bangladesh qualified from that group , for the semis. And in India's group - today's India versus SA and tomorrows Pak vs SL, both are important matches!
At the start of the tournament I was thinking that Eng vs Aus and India vs SA would be matches to decide the no. 1 and no.2 teams of each group - nothing else. And that Pak vs SL would be to decide who would finish last! But hey - thanks to the vagaries of the weather and cricket, all these matches have become important (weather played a role in the England-Aus-NZ-Bangladesh group; were it not for the rains, Auz, NZ and Bangladesh all would have been on 2 points each and the run-rate would have decided the second spot).
Today , India seem all set to win (and knock SA out of yet another tournament). Tomorrow, it will be interesting to see who among Pak and SL win. If Angelo Mathews plays, SL will be my favorite to win. In Pak's case it is impossible to predict which version of their team will show up!!
And BTW, SA (the team Pak beat to go on an upward trend) , is generally in a bad shape. Looks like ABD should hand over captaincy to Faf du Plessis (who has always been keen to be a captain and has proven his mettle as a Test captain) and go back to becoming the star player he is. Then, maybe , SA will bounce back!
Bangladesh beat NewZeland (surprise, surprise) and England beat Australia (no surprise there); with the result that England and Bangladesh qualified from that group , for the semis. And in India's group - today's India versus SA and tomorrows Pak vs SL, both are important matches!
At the start of the tournament I was thinking that Eng vs Aus and India vs SA would be matches to decide the no. 1 and no.2 teams of each group - nothing else. And that Pak vs SL would be to decide who would finish last! But hey - thanks to the vagaries of the weather and cricket, all these matches have become important (weather played a role in the England-Aus-NZ-Bangladesh group; were it not for the rains, Auz, NZ and Bangladesh all would have been on 2 points each and the run-rate would have decided the second spot).
Today , India seem all set to win (and knock SA out of yet another tournament). Tomorrow, it will be interesting to see who among Pak and SL win. If Angelo Mathews plays, SL will be my favorite to win. In Pak's case it is impossible to predict which version of their team will show up!!
And BTW, SA (the team Pak beat to go on an upward trend) , is generally in a bad shape. Looks like ABD should hand over captaincy to Faf du Plessis (who has always been keen to be a captain and has proven his mettle as a Test captain) and go back to becoming the star player he is. Then, maybe , SA will bounce back!
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