If we are giving marks and we are, here are my grades for the teams over the opening round of games
Black Caps – A+ no troubles with the bat, everyone contributed, fielded very well, and tight bowling to back up the batting performance
Australia – A+ faced a fiery spell at first but Finch held on and put on a very mature innings (should have gotten 200 that was an unnecessary run out, George Bailey should have sacrificed himself), good bowling and fielding to back it up. They never panicked when the chips were down
Ireland – A+ bowled well to keep West Indies to a par total and backed it up with a well timed run chase – as you said they lost a few wickets towards the end but they were never going to lose.
South Africa A – Really good batting performance under pressure Bowling line up looks quite reliant on Imran Tahir to slow things up and get middle order wickets. In the smaller grounds If Steyn and CO are slightly off they can be hit far. But did well to not lose their cool and win quite comfortably in the end.
Zimbabwe B+ – Bowled well until the final 10 overs Ditto batting. Lacked the killer spirit but they made up for it with character and grit.
India B+ – Should have scored way more runs with the bat – Bowled well to keep Pakistan back hopefully for the sake of the fans the batting picks up their game.
Sri Lanka – B – Should have used spin earlier and for longer. They could have kept NZ down to a more chase-able total. The chase was going to be hard but they gave it their best, faced probably the best bowling performance in the cup with Dan the Man.
Pakistan C+ – Bowled well in the middle and death overs and to be honest one of the most impressive bowling performances in the tournament to bring the score down to that low. Batting looks thin.
West Indies – C- Good batting comeback to get a par score. Bowled, Fielded very very poorly.
NineSixFourTwo 