Ireland is officially into the super eights of the 2007 World cup. With Pakistan beating Zimbabwe, it has officially confirmed Ireland's place in the super eight. I guess in some ways it calls for celebration that a minnow has made it to the next stage of this World cup. At the same time, I just hope that their one off performance does not reduce the quality of the tournament going forward. I mean, lets face it, Ireland were helped by the unexpected tie against Zimbabwe when Zimbabwe were cruising towards the target and some pretty shoddy batting by Pakistan. If Zimbabwe had won that game, it would have resulted in a 3-way tie and Pakistan might have actually sneaked through still. Realistically, does Ireland even stand a chance of making a match against the remaining teams in the tournament? My answer is a definite NO unless England makes it through :). So overall, it weakens the quality of the tournament. Granted Pakistan had an off day, but still you want to see the top teams battle against each other in the main stage of the tournament. It does not take long for one to realize how Pakistan themselves were almost knocked out of the tournament in 1992, but still came back to win the cup.
Anyway, rules are rules and Ireland is through to help create more World records. Who will be the other teams joining these five already in the super 8? I think Sri Lanka already has a foot in there, even if they lose to India. The drubbing of Bangladesh has improved their NRR drastically and it is unlikely that India is going to go above them in the points table even if they beat Sri Lanka. So, that would still leave the battle between Bangladesh and India for the second spot with Sri Lanka qualifying. My heart wants India to qualify and I think they will with a close win against Sri Lanka. If India fails to qualify, it would be a disaster commercially too.
Finally, I am not convinced England has an easy passage to the next round. Given their sorry state of affairs with respect to drinking and discipline issues, and their erratic bowling in the previous rounds, I think the match between Kenya and England is going to be a close one. And I am going to pick Kenya to come out winners, unless Mr Kevin Pieterson has one of those days where he murders the bowlers. If Kenya can restrict KP to a small score, I think they stand a very good chance of pulling off a surprise. And surely the semi-finalists of the previous world cup making it to the elite eight of this version won't be that big a surprise would it? :).
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