To be fair to the ICC, no one really “decided” to co-host a World Cup in Sri Lanka in October. Given the political situation between India and Pakistan, they needed somewhere in the vicinity of India, and there weren’t too many other options. (The UAE was one I guess, but the heat was almost too much for 20-over cricket during the T20 World Cup last year, so it would not have been a good one for 50-over games.)
Nonetheless, if you were going to pick a month not to host these matches in Colombo, this would have been it: Colombo gets an average of 19 rainy days during a typical October – more than any other month of the year. For comparison, Manchester typically gets 17 rainy days in October – we’d literally have had less chance of rain if we’d scheduled these games at Old Trafford!
After England’s match against Pakistan was rained off, we’ve now had 3 “No Results” from 7 games so far in Colombo in this World Cup. The “winners” on this occasion were England, who you’d imagine would almost certainly have gone on to lose a 50-over game, having been reduced to 79-7 – totally unable to cope with Pakistan’s military-medium-paced seamers keeping the stumps in play.
With England’s openers dismissed cheaply again (Tammy Beaumont didn’t play a shot, while Amy Jones might as well not have done, to balls that nipped back in) social media was alive with calls for one or both of them to be dropped / dropped down the order. But given what subsequently transpired, with all 7 of England’s top order batters dismissed bowled or LBW, I’m not sure shooting Jones and / or Beaumont really solves the problem.
From a Pakistan perspective, they were robbed blind. Their tactics were simple but effective – keep the seam and the stumps in play, and let the ball do the rest – and the high-fives the coaches were giving each other in the dugout as each wicket fell, were well deserved. I predicted… admittedly slightly mischievously… that Pakistan could actually be the “4th” side in the semi-finals at this World Cup – partly due to not having the punishing travel schedule everyone else has; but also because they can be an effective side in the right circumstances – they are well-drilled in the basics, and sometimes that’s all you need. They didn’t deserve to come out of today with just a single point.
As it stands now, England remain unbeaten and atop the table. The “Magic Number” for qualification is now 9 points (India and New Zealand are yet to play each other, so they can’t both get 9) meaning England need to win just one of their 3 remaining matches to guarantee a semi-final spot. They barely deserve it, but baby… that’s show-business cricket for you.
CRICKETher 
The great escape! The rain dances must have worked. England were very lucky to get a point from a game they certainly would have lost. It’s not so much that England’s batting was so poor (Australia have also been 70-odd for 7 in this comp) but just the sense that it’s more the norm and we really struggle to recover from these positions.
No surprise that England look to be sorely missing the solidity of an ADR or Bouchier out there. Capsey is not looking that great a bet in the lower middle order. When was the last time she batted for more than half an hour or so?
The playing XI was also a bit strange here. It’s clear England came into this match expecting an easy game but Pakistan didn’t give them one! My conclusion is just that England aren’t champion material and I have zero hope that England will actually win.
We’re not good enough and might as well usher in the next gen. Nothing to lose! Make no mistake we have a few great players, NSB, Knight and Eccles at least. The problem is mostly mental fragility in the rest of the players, coupled with some deep set technical problems.
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