ISLAMABAD: Pakistan are all but out of the race for a spot in the top four teams of the ICC World Cup 2019 as England crushed New Zealand by 119 runs on Wednesday to reach the semifinals for the first time since 1992.
Pakistan are at the fifth spot on the points table with nine points and a net run-rate of -0.792. On Friday, they will play their last group game against Bangladesh at Lord’s and would need to win by at least 316 runs to qualify for the semifinals. Anything short of this margin will see New Zealand, with a much superior net run-rate, sail through to the semis.
A seven-wicket defeat against West Indies in Pakistan’s opening game of the tournament seriously dented their run-rate.
The green shirts initially won just one of their first five World Cup matches but bounced back strongly with victories against South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan to give themselves a shot at reaching the semifinals.
Last week, a win against Afghanistan, their third consecutive victory, lifted Pakistan into fourth place in the 10-team table, above hosts England.
Had England been defeated in both of their last two matches, against India and New Zealand, Pakistan would have almost certainly made the semifinals. England won both matches.
The top four teams currently are Australia, India, England, and New Zealand. England will now play their semifinal at Edgbaston next Thursday against either India or Australia.
Pakistan’s World Cup dream all but dead as hosts England reach semifinals
Pakistan’s World Cup dream all but dead as hosts England reach semifinals
- Pakistan at fifth spot on points table with nine points and net run-rate of -0.792
- New Zealand set to qualify for semis unless Pakistan beat Bangladesh by near-impossible margin
Russell, Antonelli lead Mercedes in one-two qualifying positions for F1’s Australian GP
- Russell topped all three sessions in F1’s knockout qualifying format, finally casting aside questions of where Mercedes team was in the new-era pecking order
MELBOURNE: Mercedes has revealed its dominant hand during qualifying for Sunday’s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
George Russell earned his ninth-career pole position Saturday ahead of his teammate Kimi Antonelli for the team’s 83rd front-row lockout and its first since the 2024 British Grand Prix.
Russell topped all three sessions in F1’s knockout qualifying format, finally casting aside questions of where Mercedes team was in the new-era pecking order. His pole time, at 1 minute, 18.518 seconds, was almost eight-tenths faster than the nearest non-Mercedes challenger, Red Bull rookie Isack Hadjar, who completed the top three.
“It was a great day, we knew there was a lot of potential in the car, but until we get to this first Saturday of the season, you never know,” Russell said. “But it really came alive this afternoon, especially when the track temperatures cooled, we know we tend to favor those conditions.”
Antonelli was relieved to have made it onto the front row alongside his teammate after a crash in final practice at the exit of turn two meant it was a race in the Mercedes garage to get him out for qualifying.
“It’s been a very stressful day. Unfortunately, I went into the wall (in FP3),” he said. “But the guys (in the garage) were the heroes today to put the car back on track.”
Hadjar was impressive by qualifying third on debut for Red Bull, his highest-ever grid position.
“The only thing I can do is take them at the start, but they’re just too fast at the moment,” Hadjar said of Mercedes. “I want to keep my position and a second podium would be cool.”
Ferrari showed it’s neck-and-neck with McLaren on pace, with just one and a half tenths seconds covering the four drivers just beyond the top-three — with Charles Leclerc qualifying fourth, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in fifth and sixth respectively, and Lewis Hamilton in seventh.
Racing Bulls showed they’ve taken a step forward over the winter, with New Zealander Liam Lawson eighth ahead of his highly-rated rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad.
The big surprise of the session came from four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen, who triggered red flags at Melbourne’s Albert Park after he lost control of his Red Bull car in braking for turn one in the first half of Q1 and ended in the barriers.
The Dutchman, who was unhurt from the crash, though upset that his brakes locked up, will now start from the back of the grid.
F1 heads into a new era this year, with unprecedented changes across the chassis (car) and power unit, which now feature an almost 50:50 output split between the turbo 1.6-liter V6 engine and electrical energy harvested from the brakes, one that requires a new, often counterintuitive driving style from the drivers.
