World Cup 2019: Five close encounters of the tournament so far

The 2019 World Cup is past its half-way stage mark now as India and New Zealand are unbeaten in their campaign and appear firm favorites to clinch the title. Hosts England and Australia have one loss from their matches but are strong contenders for a spot in the last four.

Bangladesh's gritty show in this edition of the World Cup has seen them win two important games and gives teams such as West Indies, Australia a run for their money while Sri Lanka and West Indies have only one win to show.

Yet, the biggest surprise has been the form of South Africa, with the Faf du Plessis-led side winning just one out of the six games while Pakistan and Afghanistan have failed to turn up and are at the brink of elimination.

As we are now past the halfway stage of the tournament, here is a look at the five most thrilling matches of this tournament.

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#5 Bangladesh vs South Africa at the Oval, London

Bangladesh, the giant killers

Bangladesh played their first match of this World Cup against South Africa at the Oval. South Africa came into the contest at the back of their heavy defeat against England in the opening match of the tournament.

In the 20 ODIs played between these two teams before this match, Bangladesh had managed to win just three matches, including a World Cup win in 2007. For South Africa, both Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla were not playing this match due to injury which proved to be a major blow.

South Africa won the toss and elected to field. Though they got two early wickets, Lungi Ngidi had to leave the field with a hamstring issue after bowling his opening spell of 4 overs.

Bangladesh’s experienced batting pair of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim took advantage of South Africa’s bowling woes and added 142 runs for the third wicket. With some lusty hits in the end from Mahmudullah (46 off 33), Bangladesh reached their highest ever ODI score of 330.

In reply, South Africa were comfortably placed in the run chase at one stage with the score reading 147/2 from 26 overs. Howeer, Faf du Plessis was castled by Mehidy Hasan as the floodgates were now open.

Though the middle order line-up of David Miller (38), Rassie van der Dussen (41) and JP Duminy (45) contributed to the chase, none of them survived long enough to play an impact knock.

Against a mounting required run rate, the late order batting caved in leaving Bangladesh victorious by a narrow margin of 21 runs.

#4 Pakistan vs England at Nottingham

Amir was in fine touch against England

Hosts England met Pakistan at Nottingham in the sixth match of the tournament. While England thrashed South Africa in the first match, Pakistan went down to West Indies in their first encounter.

England's captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and put Pakistan in to bat first. After the openers put on 82 runs, Babar Azam and the experienced Mohammad Hafeez took the England attack apart, smashing them for 88 runs from the last 12 overs.

Hafeez was the top scorer with a 62-ball 84 and with Pakistan putting up 348/8 from their allotted 50 overs, one expected an exciting run chase on the cards. However, the target was certainly a steep one, with Pakistan boasting of a solid bowling unit.

The Pakistan captain wisely started the innings with spinner Shahab Khan who accounted for the in-form Jason Roy. Soon England were reduced to 118 for 4 and with 231 runs needed in 29 overs, Pakistan were on top. However, they had Joe Root and Jos Buttler to deal with.

While Root was the steady accumulator, Buttler took on the Pakistan bowlers. The pair added 130 runs in 18 overs to bring the target below 100. Root was the first to reach his hundred in the 38th over. Yet, he was guilty of throwing his wicket away immediately after reaching the landmark.

With Root back in the hut, the onus was on Buttler to score the remaining 91 runs in the last 10 overs. However, after Root’s exit, Buttler lost his rhythm and his wicket immediately after reaching his hundred. Just as Buttler got out for a quick fire 103 off 76 balls, England needed 60 off 33 balls.

Unfortunately for England, Moeen Ali could not put the bat on the ball and Chris Woakes cameo didn’t last long. Wahab Riaz removed both Ali and Woakes off successive deliveries to put an end to England’s run chase. In the end, Pakistan managed to squeeze through by 14 runs to cause the second upset of the tournament.

#3 Australia Vs West Indies at Nottingham

Nathan Coulter- Nile registered the highest score made by a No 8 batsman in a World Cup

Jason Holder put Australia in to bat on a cloudy morning at Nottingham and was expecting a similar performance from his bowlers that skittled Pakistan out for 105 from 21.4 overs.

The West Indies bowlers did enjoy the upper hand initially by putting Australia on the mat on 79/5 and then on 147/6. Steve Smith was the lone man standing amidst the flurry of wickets and was joined at the middle by Nathan Coulter-Nile. The burly all-rounder not only needed to support Smith at the other end, but also needed to contribute to the score.

Coulter-Nile mixed up his innings with patience and brute force as he notched up a 60-ball 92 and in the process also smashed the record for the highest score by a No.8 batsman in World Cup history.

Steven Smith's 103-ball 73 and Nathan Coulter-Nile's alliance worked wonders for Australia as the duo put up a 102-run stand that took Australia to 288-10 from 49 overs.

Mitchell Starc was unplayable at the death and Aaron Finch handled him excellently

The chase started on a disastrous note when West Indies lost both their openers for just 31 on the board. Shai Hope steadied the innings but he was slow in scoring 68 off 105 balls. Holder kept West Indies in the game with a half-century.

With Andre Russell and Jason Holder in the middle, West Indies were still in the game as Aaron Finch turned to his strike bowler Mitchell Starc to make an impact. Starc removed Andre Russell and struck again a few overs later to remove the dangerous Carlos Brathwaite and Holder in a single over.

At the point of Holder's dismissal, West Indies needed a further 47 runs to win from a little over four overs, a seemingly difficult task against a fiery Australian bowling unit. Despite a late surge from Ashley Nurse, West Indies fell short by 15 runs in the end.

#2. New Zealand Vs Bangladesh at the Oval, London

The moment of the match

New Zealand and Bangladesh met at the Oval in the ninth match of the tournament. New Zealand won the toss and put their opponents into bat first under overcast conditions.

For Bangladesh, it was yet again a special knock on display from Shakib Al Hasan that led the way for his team as the rest of the batsmen failed to convert their starts. While five batsmen went on to notch up scores in the 20s, only Shakib Al Hasan scored a kncok of substance, a 68-ball 64 that took Bangladesh total to a respectable 244 from 49.2 overs.

After a decent start by the New Zealand openers, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor joined forces with the score on 55/2 from 10 overs. Bangladesh came close to removing Williamson in the 11th over when he was on 8, only to miss out as Mushfiqur Rahim failed to effect a regulation run-out.

However, the loss of Williamson and Tom Latham in quick succession in the 32nd over and Ross Taylor in the 39th over set the cat amongst the pigeons in the New Zealand dressing room.

At Taylor's dismissal, New Zealand further needed 54 runs from 11.3 overs, hardly a matter of concern. However, Colin de Grandhomme and James Neesham went sent back in a space of four balls with the score on 218/7 and the Black Caps needing 27 runs more to win.

Yet another wicket could have given Bangladesh an upper hand but Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry held their end to put up a 20-run partnership before the latter was dismissed in the 47th over.

However, Santner ensured that he applied his technique well and in the end, took New Zealand across the line with two wickets and 17 balls to spare.

#1 New Zealand Vs South Africa at Birmingham

A Captain's innings from Kane Williamson took his team home

This was a do or die match for South Africa as one more slip up would take them to the rim of elimination. New Zealand, on the other hand, had three wins against the lesser fancied teams in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis lost an important toss and had to bat first on bowler-friendly conditions. After the early loss of Quinton de Kock, the South African innings simply failed to take off. Hashim Amla did notch up his first fifty of the competition but was a tad bit slow in constructing his 83-ball 55 run knock.

South Africa’s run-rate never crossed 4 RPO until the halfway mark. A late flourish from Aiden Markram (38), Rassie van der Dussen (67) and David Miller (36) helped South Africa to reach a competitive total of 241 in their allotted 49 overs.

New Zealand lost Colin Munro quite early but Martin Guptill was in cracking form. However, his innings ended in a bizarre fashion when he slipped and knocked over his stumps to get out hit wicket to Andile Phehlukwayo in the 15th over.

Chris Morris then removed Ross Taylor and Tom Latham in successive overs to make it 80/4 as South Africa found themselves well in the game and on course to register an important win.

However, Kane Williamson was unperturbed at one end while wickets kept tumbling at the other. He reached 50 off 72 balls and in the process kept Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi and Imran Tahir at bay. Yet, Morris struck again with the wicket of James Neesham.

Faf du Plessis was quick to bring on Imran Tahir to bowl to the new batsman Colin de Grandhomme who has a history of struggling to spinners at the start of his innings and the last over of Imran Tahir could be touted as the turning point of the match.

First, David Miller dropped a tough chance offered by Grandhomme and off the last ball of his spell, Tahir evoked a faint bottom edge off Williamson's bat but the South Africans did not appeal as an opportunity to tighten the screws went begging.

Williamson lived to fight another day and scored his 12th ODI century while Grandhomme, at the other end, was severe on Andile Phehlukwayo who leaked 72 runs in 8 overs. The pair of Williamson and Grandhomme added 91 runs for the sixth wicket as South Africa were left to lament the lack of a sixth bowler.

Grandhomme's dismissal took the game till the end as the Black Caps needed 12 runs off 7 balls. However, a dab from Williamson trickled away to the third man fence before he kneeled down to deposit Phehlukwayo over mid-wicket for six as New Zealand now needed just a run to win.

Williamson smacked the next delivery past point for a boundary as New Zealand celebrated yet another victory while South Africa were yet again left to lick their wounds post a tough loss.