World Cup squad and the CA contracted players for 2019-20 have been announced today.

World Cup squad of 15:
Captain - Aaron Finch
Batsmen - Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Steve Smith, David Warner
All-rounders - Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis
Wicketkeeper - Alex Carey
Seam bowlers - Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc
Spin bowlers - Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa

It's a reasonable squad, perhaps a touch conservative, but I don't think it's going to win us the World Cup.

The side lacks lower order hitting.  And in modern ODI cricket you need wrist spinners, not fingerers.  We can't get enough overs out of the top 6.  

Everything depends on Glenn Maxwell.  He has to make lots of very quick runs off very few balls down the order, and still bowl his 10.  And in modern ODI winning sides have (at least) 2 guys down the order who can get 70 off 30.  We've only got Maxwell for that roll.

Also, this side will have to have at least one of Smith and Warner in it, when there is the real possibility they might not cope with the transition back to international cricket *and* all the sledging the English crowds are going to give them.

For me: Handscombe for Stoinis (and play a *real* bowler in Carry's place)
Wade for Carey (backup keeper and/or 2nd lower order slogger)
Ahmed/Boyce/Swepson for Lyon

This way we play 7 batters (with Handscombe at 5 or Wade at 7) and 4 bowlers, hoping to get 350 and 10 overs out of Finch and Maxwell.  

or

Play 5 bowlers and try to knock over the opposition for under 250.

The only controversy I can see coming is if the English authorities fail to control the crowds and a player is assaulted. In that instance, I would hope that the Australian captain and team manager would stand firm and demand the crowd be evicted before continuing play (playing in front of empty stands is a routine sanction in English sport following inadequate crowd control) or the match result be forfeited by the home side.

That's hilarious.

The only assault that is likely to occur is when Davey throws a tanty and assaults a spectator when his precious little ego cracks under pressure from the relentless (and deserved) taunting/singing from the Barmy Army aimed in his direction.

I'm sure CA already has the press releases drafted calling for a 'fair go' for serial sledger Warner.

The only controversy I can see coming is if the English authorities fail to control the crowds and a player is assaulted. In that instance, I would hope that the Australian captain and team manager would stand firm and demand the crowd be evicted before continuing play (playing in front of empty stands is a routine sanction in English sport following inadequate crowd control) or the match result be forfeited by the home side.

We'd be just the nation to tell the Pom spectators how to behave; the yobs in Bay 13 at the MCG are role models for everyone.

Playing XI for the first World Cup match tonight, against Afghanistan on what looks to be a very good strip for bowlers at the Bristol County Ground.

Aaron Finch
David Warner
Usman Khawaja
Steve Smith
Glenn Maxwell
Marcus Stoinis
Alex Carey
Mitchell Starc
Pat Cummins
Adam Zampa
Nathan Coulter-Nile

On the bench are Shaun Marsh, Kane Richardson (late replacement for injured Jhye Richardson), Nathan Lyon and Jason Behrendorff.

Ten overs in, Afghanistan are 2/37. Carey only waited until the second over to prove the decision to select a wicketkeeper was correct, moving very swiftly to take an overhead catch which probably would have been four runs if Handscomb was deputising.

An easy win for the Aussie's but a solid performance from the Afghan Team as some good batting and bowling amongst it.  Not surprised with the booing of Smith and Warner.  Set to continue for the entire series.

A comfortable win, but Australia were right to have taken Afghanistan seriously as they have quite a few legit international quality players these days.

Carey finished with five dismissals, the second-best performance by a wicketkeeper of any nation in a World Cup match behind Gilchrist's record of six.

Victoria's disgraced ball tamperer Mick Lewis came very close to losing his world record for the most expensive ODI bowling figures last night.

His 10-0-113-0 from the 438 match against South Africa still stands though, as Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib left Rashid Khan on 9-0-110-0 and did not give him a 10th over.

Australia's big win over England (the no1 team on the last ICC team ranking table before the World Cup) last night makes them the first team to qualify for the semi-finals. New Zealand and India can be the next teams to confirm their qualification if they win tonight and tomorrow night respectively.

England's campaign, on the other hand, is on the ropes. If Pakistan continue their late charge by beating NZ tonight, England will be in the situation where they will need to win both of their remaining league stage matches (against as yet undefeated teams India and NZ) and rely on a couple of other results going their way.

An interesting thing I saw during last night's match was that Ben Stokes required treatment from the England team physiotherapist for cramps a number times during his batting innings. This happened on the field each time, with a considerable delay to the match as Stokes removed all of his protective equipment before being massaged and then putting it on again.

Cramps are a result of inadequate fitness rather than an injury, but should the umpires have put this aside and proceeded as if they were an injury (i.e. telling him to bat on or retire hurt for treatment in the rooms) in the interest of keeping the match moving? Does there need to be a time limit for on-field assessment/treatment of injuries not resulting from a player being hit by a cricket ball or colliding with an opposition player?

Excellent post above.

I understand that England to qualify for the semi finals would need to now beat India and also New Zealand two very strong teams.

A win plus washout or tie might do it. (You can have a tie in the round robin stage.)

The number of washed out matches is not unsurprising for holding a World Cup in England in June, but the disappointing part of the story is the lack of mechanisms to cater for that.

If a match can't be completed, there should be an attempt to play it the next day. Most times that would allow for the match to be completed. But for the times it doesn't, awarding one point to each team for a no result should be abolished and point scoring for the league table switched to count the percentage of completed matches won rather than the absolute number of points.

The number of washed out matches is not unsurprising for holding a World Cup in England in June, but the disappointing part of the story is the lack of mechanisms to cater for that.

If a match can't be completed, there should be an attempt to play it the next day. Most times that would allow for the match to be completed. But for the times it doesn't, awarding one point to each team for a no result should be abolished and point scoring for the league table switched to count the percentage of completed matches won rather than the absolute number of points.

Not unsurprising at all, but I think reserve days are a tad difficult to do. There are 8 matches a week, and at times teams have only a short break between matches.  All accommodation, transport, logistics have been arranged well in advance, the broadcasters will be moving to another ground. I do agree it could be seen as unfair, but that's cricket. Test matches are played over five days, and sometimes rain gets in the way of a certain win which might change the series outcome. That's just the way cricket is...

The first washout (or tie) is almost as good as a win (unless its against the bottom side). The second is as good as a loss. Sri Lanka has had two washouts.

Why couldn't they extend those matches where the D/L method is currently used?   Especially where they reduce by a match by less than ten overs in the second innings.   Surely an extra hour of time would be more even for both teams than the abstract that is the D/L handicap.  
The most ridiculous is using D/L for 20/20 matches - just play the match out, obviously the weather has cleared.   Spectators just want an equal footing for both teams.

The first washout (or tie) is almost as good as a win (unless its against the bottom side). The second is as good as a loss. Sri Lanka has had two washouts.

The second one is worse than a loss, as it turns the net effect of both matches into a loss.

This was a factor in working out how Australia was guaranteed qualification by winning last night. It's still possible for 3rd-4th-5th to be Australia, England and Sri Lanka all tied on 12 points. The first tie-breaker is the number of wins so Sri Lanka's two washouts are as good as a loss.

Effective win percentage (i.e. discarding No Result points) would be a better first tie-breaker, as that scenario would give Sri Lanka 3rd place on 71% (5 wins from 7 matches) compared to Australia and England on 67% (6 wins from 9 matches).

Why couldn't they extend those matches where the D/L method is currently used?   Especially where they reduce by a match by less than ten overs in the second innings.   Surely an extra hour of time would be more even for both teams than the abstract that is the D/L handicap.

They already do extend the finish time of the match. DLS (Duckworth-Lewis-Stern, after D&L handed the system over to Steven Stern who had assisted them with previous updates) only comes into play once the additional time is completely used up.

The standard additional time allowed for an ODI match is one hour, but allowing for even later finishes in the Event Playing Conditions is permissible.

Fair play to the CWC19 organisers, they have made some level of mitigation for British weather by allowing more extra time than the hour minimum. The finishing times of matches with reduced overs so far have been:

+89 minutes for Afghanistan v Sri Lanka (scheduled to use around +120 minutes, but both teams got bowled out)
+90 minutes was scheduled for South Africa v Afghanistan, but neither team used all their overs
+88 minutes for India v Pakistan
+119 minutes for New Zealand vs South Africa last week

If there is a substantial rain delay late in the first innings, there is also the option of reducing the time loss by taking the lunch/dinner break during the rain delay and having a 10 minute changeover at the end of the innings. This might have been considered at the Australia v Bangladesh match last week if the rain at the end of the 49th over had lasted longer.

The most ridiculous is using D/L for 20/20 matches - just play the match out, obviously the weather has cleared.  

T20 matches do have extra time allowed for, but less than 50 over matches.

The most common use of DLS in T20 matches is to determine the result when no further play is possible and the match result has to be called. You can't keep people waiting around forever!

In a longer tournament like the BBL where teams play at home and away, holding a double-header on the return fixture should be considered as an alternative to calling off the first fixture between the teams.

Spectators just want an equal footing for both teams.

I think the DLS batting resource curves are about right. India were well on top in their match against Pakistan and that was a fair result.

If there's a substantial delay quite early in the first innings which eats up all the extra time and loses a lot of time, then a better method than DLS might be to completely scrap the play up to that point and hold a fresh match of (for example) 25 overs each. Put the side which was fielding in to bat first (to fairly manage the workload on their bowlers) and allow the sides to submit a fresh team sheet.

In my opinion, Libby Trickett should become a Cricket Player for Australia.

I think her days as an elite athlete are probably behind her by now, but more importantly I'd suggest it's her opinion of whether she should play cricket for Australia which would matter more.

In my opinion you should become a crash test dummy for the Chinese automobile industry, but your opinion on that would probably matter a bit more to you than my opinion.

After India's win over the West Indies last night, this is how things look now.

Qualified - Australia, India

Contenders - New Zealand, England, Bangladesh Pakistan, Sri Lanka

Out - Afghanistan, South Africa, West Indies

South Africa is continuing its appalling record in the World Cup. The South Africans play Test cricket well but the One Day prize keeps eluding them. I'm still wondering why.

South Africa make it to the semi-finals at every second World Cup, so I wouldn't say that is too bad.

England are the real champions of World Cup under-performance, as they always come in to the tournament on the back of world-leading form in normal bilateral and tri-series play but haven't made the last four since 1992.

Shaun Marsh has been removed from the World Cup squad after sustaining a broken arm from a Pat Cummins ball in the nets. Hopefully he'll be out of action too long to play a part in the Ashes Tests

The selectors seem to have settled on their best XI now, but have brought in the best fielder from the Australia A touring squad (Peter Handscomb) to cover Marsh's gatorade-mixing duties.

South Africa make it to the semi-finals at every second World Cup, so I wouldn't say that is too bad.

I wouldn't say it's that good. For one of the long-established cricketing nations, a semi final every second Cup has to be considered a failure, particularly when you consider South Africa's numerous self-inflicted wounds - Donald failing to take the winning run in a semi and running out Kluesener; and then there's Herschelle Gibbs ("how does it feel to have just dropped the World Cup?)

In light of recent events, Australia should drop Stoinis and Maxwell, and replace them with Alyssa Healy and Elise Perry.

Maxwell being fully fit and scoring less than Khawaja hobbling around on a dodgy hamstring was very disappointing. Time for Healy's other half to have another go at him in the nets.

If Australia don't manage to win the World Cup, officially blaming Maxwell could well present the opportunity for Finch to become the first Australian captain in 40 years to lose the World Cup and retain the captaincy.

New Zealand have knocked out India and advanced to the final, winning the first semi-final by 18 runs after a washout on the scheduled day saw the last 4 overs of their innings and the whole India innings shifted to the reserve day.

They will play the winner of the Australia vs England semi-final, scheduled for tomorrow night with Friday as the reserve day. If the match cannot be completed, Australia will advance as the higher-placed team from the league stage.