How This Works!
This post is set to go before each match. I briefly breakdown the batting and bowling attack of each squad and how they relate to each other before selecting who I think is going to win. Because cricket can be won by a number of wickets (if you’re chasing) or runs (if you’re defending), I’m simply going to select who I think is going to win outright, not in the manner, or by how many runs, they’re going to win by. Makes sense? (Quickly moves on before acknowledging any questions) Great! Let’s get started!
Bowling:
Bangladesh Bowlers/All Rounders: Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Saifuddin, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Jayed, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah, Shakib al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan
New Zealand Bowlers/All Rounders: Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhome, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner
ICC Ranking Average: (Measured by taking the top 5 bowlers in ICC’s player ratings. Those 5 rankings are then averaged out. The lower the number, the better. If a player is marked out they are not included in the ranking, as they are not affecting the match.)
Bangladesh
- Mustafizur Rahman: 11
- Shakib al Hasan: 19
- Mehidy Hasan: 23
- Mashrafe Mortaza: 24
- Rubel Hossain: 63
- Avg: 28
New Zealand
- Trent Boult: 2
- Matt Henry: 10
- Lockie Ferguson: 13
- Mitchell Santner: 26
- Ish Sodi: 39
- Avg: 18
Breakdown: New Zealand with a clear advantage on paper here. Luckily for Bangladesh, paper doesn’t win matches! New Zealand put on bowling masterpiece against a struggling Sri Lankan side, where as Bangladesh were able to keep their cool in their first match and stave off an attacking South African squad.
Advantage: New Zealand
Batters:
Bangladesh Batters/All Rounders: Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah, Shakib al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan
New Zealand Batters/All Rounders: Kane Williamson (C), Tom Blundell (WK), Martin Guptill, Tom Latham (WK), Colin Munro, Henry Nicholls, Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhome, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner
ICC Ranking Average: (See rules for bowlers above and replace that with batters. You got it!)
Bangladesh
- Mushfiqur Rahim: 20th
- Tamim Iqbal: 23rd
- Soumya Sarkar: 32nd
- Shakib al Hasan: 34th
- Mahmudullah: 49th
- Avg: 31st
New Zealand
- Ross Taylor: 3rd
- Martin Guptill: 9th
- Kane Williamson: 13th
- Tom Latham: 30th
- Henry Nicholls: 45th
- Avg: 20th
Breakdown: Again, clear advantage for New Zealand on paper here. However, only two batsmen for the Blackcaps made an appearance in their opening match, could that hurt the rest of the team? We’ll see. Bangladesh, meanwhile, had an explosive opening match in which everyone got into the action.
Advantage: Bangladesh. Straying a bit from the rankings here. Bangladesh got more players involved against a strong South African bowling attack. New Zealand can’t sleep on that.
A final bold and likely dumb take:
There’s going to be at one duck per innings. I’m going to say Latham for NZ and Mosaddek Hossain. *Shrugs* Ya never know!
The American Slogger 