The Super 12 round of the T20 World Cup 2022 is almost at its halfway stage. There have been some thrilling games and a few stunning upsets, but another talking point has been – rain.
So far, 4 Super 12 games have had no result because of rain; two of them happened on Thursday in Melbourne, including the big encounter between England and Australia.
4 teams in the Group 1 have completed 3 matches and two have completed two, while all 6 teams in Group 2 have two encounters each done and dusted.
These 4 whitewashes – 3 in Group 1 and one in Group 2 – now have opened both groups widely; no team has qualified for the semi-finals nor any team has been eliminated yet. This makes every upcoming match crucial and potentially decides the fate of the teams regarding the semis spot.
Can England qualify for Semi-finals?
England were pre-tournament favorites of many and experts even felt that Jos Buttler’s team – despite the absence of Jonny Bairstow and Jofra Archer – will reach the final.
Now, though, a shock loss to Ireland and a washout against England later, things have changed. And England’s path to the semi-finals has even gone out of their hand.
England has 3 points in 3 matches. They next face New Zealand and Sri Lanka in their remainder of Super 12 games.
Both SL and NZ have the capability to defeat England, which would all but eliminate them from the semis race. Why? Because Australia have weaker opponents to face – Ireland and Afghanistan.
New Zealand, who have 3 points in 2 matches, face England, Sri Lanka, and Ireland, and are expected to win at least 2 of these matches and finish at the top of Group 1, although weirder and unexpected stuff has happened so far. But we’d still back the Kiwis to just be the Kiwis in ICC tournaments.
Should England defeat both New Zealand and Sri Lanka, they will finish the group stage at 7 points. If Australia win over Ireland and Afghanistan, they will also finish at 7 points, which would mean an NRR shootout between the two teams for a semi-final spot, as New Zealand are expected to top the group – even if they lose on match, their NRR is far superior to anyone in the tournament.
England’s NRR at the moment is better than Australia, but since Australia might sweep aside Ireland and Afghanistan, the hosts will improve their NRR significantly.
So what is our prediction regarding Australia?
We are predicting England to NOT qualify for the semi-finals because they have two tougher opponents (Sri Lanka and New Zealand) compared to Australia (Ireland and Afghanistan). Further, England might not even be able to beat both Sri Lanka and New Zealand, which would mean Australia will just have to win both their games to finish above England.
