The upsets have started. But as Stephen Fleming put it, they were lucky this wasn’t a group stage match. Bangladesh, though, would be overjoyed with their performance and despite it being in a game that doesn’t count they would not think any less of it.
 
Mashrafe Mortaza and Abdur Razzaq stunned New Zealand and it was thanks to Jacob Oram’s 88 (still with all fingers intact), that they managed to post a somewhat respectable 226. But a good start and Mashrafe Mortaza’s fine 30 with the bat saw the Bangladeshis overhaul the New Zealand total and throw their preparation into turmoil. Coming on the back of a 3-0 win over Australia, New Zealand promised much and perhaps this is a timely wake-up call that nothing can be taken for granted.
 
Elsewhere, India was adequate as they beat the Netherlands by a substantial 182 runs, Australia was strong enough to defend 290 and win by 106 runs against Zimbabwe while Pakistan got their act together to win by 77 runs against Canada.
 
The Australians could not have been entirely happy with their preparation for a score of 300-plus was expected of them against Zimbabwe. To add to their woes, Bracken and McGrath (who had identical figures of 5-2-8-1) have proved beyond doubt that they are the containing bowlers and perhaps not the wicket-taking ones. And Shaun Tait continues to struggle for wickets.
 
India’s batting looked dodgy, to be honest, and it was a rejuvenated Dravid and the reliable (at World Cups!) Tendulkar who got them to safety. Irfan Pathan looked like he wants to perform badly, but he just didn’t look penetrating enough with the ball and against better batting line-ups, he will be taken to the cleaners. Pathan bowled around 122kmph (average) and barely swung the ball to trouble the batsmen. If this continues, his pace is ideal for the top batsmen in the world to take him apart. But there may still be some value in having him in the team instead of Dinesh Kaarthick because their batting abilities seem matched. Irfan could bowl an over or two if absolutely necessary!
 
Pakistan continues to struggle with its opening pair with bat and ball! Inzamam’s 59 would have allowed the team a sigh of relief for he is their most experienced and best batsman. Mohammed Hafeez, though, shone brightly as he picked up 3/10 after having topscored with 61. But letting a team like Canada get to almost 200 and within 77 runs of their target would have raised a few questions. There’s time, though, to sort it out before the opening match against hosts West Indies on March 13.
 
In all the matches so far, the pitches have not looked “Word Cup standard” and have offered a lot of assistance to the bowlers, especially the spin variety. In India’s match against the Netherlands, the pitch looked like it was broken and the amount of seam movement that S Sreesanth got was prodigious to say the least.
 
The initial matches are good signal to most teams for reconsidering their combinations and resetting targets when batting first. On the small evidence of the first two days of matches, the bowlers will perhaps enjoy this World Cup and the team whose batsmen bat more responsibly might be the one to go all the way.