{"id":339421,"date":"2023-10-18T03:52:58","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T03:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=339421"},"modified":"2023-10-18T04:00:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T04:00:57","slug":"australias-world-cup-chances-flipped-by-wild-upsets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=339421","title":{"rendered":"Australia's World Cup chances flipped by wild upsets"},"content":{"rendered":"

A\ufefffter two World Cup<\/a> upsets in a row, Australia<\/a> should be on their hands and knees praising Afghanistan and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

It's an interesting visual, \ufeffbut it's what both countries deserve after they gave the Aussies significant breathing space.<\/p>\n

Following two terrible losses to start their campaign, Australia were in freefall, and a win against Sri Lanka<\/a> wasn't overly impressive. So what's the state of play?<\/p>\n

LIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> Ginnivan 'reading the room', says Geelong great<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> South Africa stunned by minnows in boilover<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Calls for Maguire to be axed amid NSW talk<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Australia will need to reach the top four to play in the semi-finals. No ifs, no buts, that's the way it is.<\/p>\n

With 10 teams in the tournament, it's difficult to move out of the group stage but for a country of Australia's stature, it's the expectation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\ufeffAustralia currently sits eighth on the World Cup ladder, but to look at it from a glass half full angle, that's also equal fifth (net run rate is against them after two thumping losses).<\/p>\n

England had the chance to go ahead into the top four, but a loss to Afghanistan has hurt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There's South Africa as well, who had the chance to go equal first with New Zealand and India on six points.<\/p>\n

The Proteas then suffered a shock loss to the Netherlands, \ufeffputting them back with the pack in third<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All sides have played three games now.<\/p>\n

Watch every Australian Cricket World Cup match and other headline games live and free on Channel Nine and<\/strong><\/em> <\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/ESPNcricinfo\/status\/1714337981035856010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffAhead for Australia is Pakistan, Netherlands, New Zealand, England, Afghanistan, Bangladesh. All winnable games, and the absence of Kane Williamson<\/a> makes the Black Caps a potential kill.<\/p>\n

England, South Africa, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand arguably have the toughest draws ahead, facing only three of the bottom six sides \ufeffin their final six games.<\/p>\n

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia face four \ufeffof the bottom six sides.<\/p>\n

\"Afghanistan<\/p>\n

The Netherlands face five of the bottom six, however their path to the top four is hard to imagine.<\/p>\n

If Australia can score wins in their remaining six games, they'll finish on 14 points and should be well and truly in the contest. \ufeff<\/p>\n

And that's why the pressure is well and truly on – with the Pakistan game of extreme importance.<\/p>\n

Australia's bowlers have toiled but haven't been backed up by some appalling fielding<\/a>. However, the tide turned against Sri Lanka<\/a> with David Warner claiming two superb catches.<\/p>\n

\"Starc<\/p>\n

Scores of 177 and 199 in the opening matches means their batting needs to improve, on notoriously tough Indian pitches. 5\/215 in their win was good progress, but it'll have to be done against sides with quality attacks.<\/p>\n

Having struggled against left-arm spin, upcoming contests against New Zealand's Mitchell Santner – who sits equal first for leading wicket takers – and Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan presents a real danger for Australia.<\/p>\n

Steve Smith, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell are all yet to score half-centuries in this series.<\/p>\n

They're all world class players on their day.<\/p>\n

So if Australia are to make any impact in this tournament, their time is now. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A\ufefffter two World Cup upsets in a row, Australia should be on their hands and knees praising Afghanistan and the Netherlands. It's an interesting visual, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":339423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339421"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=339421"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":339427,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339421\/revisions\/339427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/339423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=339421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=339421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=339421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}