Hello and welcome to Silly Point – an ICC Cricket World Cup special series brought to you by The Stats Zone. Fitting for a mammoth summer of England-Australia clashes is that we have one more to define a World Cup finalist, at Edgbaston. The lowdown for Thursday’s match is brought to you by presenter Martyn Hindley and TSZ gaffer Rob Esteva who debate all the key points and numbers ahead of the crunch match.

Alex, Tim and Trystan preview the upcoming PlayStation 4 Global Series Playoffs in Berlin. Each of us pick a player we think will win the tournament and a player outside the top 16 of the Global Series Rankings leaderboard who we think will force their way in to the FIFA eWorld Cup finals through a strong performance at this event.

We also have an exclusive interview with FIFA eSports caster Brandon Smith, who gives us his thoughts on the upcoming playoffs and the FIFA 19 Global Series season as a whole. He also talks about life as a professional caster and how far he thinks FIFA has to grow as an eSport.

45 matches down, 3 to go and it’s almost semi-final time in the ICC Cricket World Cup! The Silly Point team crunch the numbers on historical meetings and trends from this World Cup with a specific analysis on wickets lost in the first ten overs of matches. Rob Esteva has blown his Bangladeshi trumpet for one final time and is now ready to settle down to the tournament’s business end as he joins presenter Martyn Hindley to analyse the clash between India and New Zealand at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

England have dug themselves out of a semi-final hole but in doing so, have they shoved New Zealand into one? Pakistan can still somehow pick their pockets on Friday; we look ahead to their match against Bangladesh in this special edition of Silly Point with presenter Martyn Hindley and TSZ MD Rob Esteva.

Alex is joined by Tim and Trystan to preview the Xbox One side of the upcoming FIFA 19 Global Series Playoffs. Each of us pick our overall tournament winner, along with a player we think will jump into the top 16 of the Global Series Rankings at the event and thus qualify for the FIFA eWorld Cup.

We also review the inaugural eChampions League finals which saw NYC_Chris win his first offline FIFA eSports title, and the controversy that surrounded the final stages of the tournament.

We finish with a snippet of an exclusive interview Alex conducted with FIFA Global Series Playoffs qualifier and 2018 FIFA eWorld Cup finalist Kurt0411. You can catch the full unfiltered interview with Kurt in the link below, a must listen for any fan of competitive FIFA!

https://soundcloud.com/user-818939565/kurt0411-global-series-playoffs-interview

An exclusive interview with Xbox Global Series Playoffs qualifier, Kurt.

The outspoken Maltese player candidly chats to us about qualifying for the playoffs despite being suspended for much of the FIFA eSports season. He discusses FIFA 19 in general and why it has been so frustrating to play as a pro from his perspective.

He also gives his thoughts over the FIFA coins scandal that has seen multiple players banned and his hopes for FIFA 20 from a gameplay point of view.

In this edition of The Silly Point, presenter Martyn Hindley asks TSZ chief Rob Esteva and cricket fanatic Sachin Mehrish some interesting questions about England ahead of their tasty match against Australia at Lord’s: The case of the unconvincing James at the top, will Jason be reborn after his injury, is Archer going to be fit to hit his mark? Are the Aussies moving into synchronised cricket with the duos of Finch and Warner, and Starc and Cummins? We also go through the chances of Pakistan pulling off yet another of their famous Phoenix acts ahead of their contest with New Zealand. Are Fakhar, Babar and Amir going to turn up or will Williamson and co be too much for them at Edgbaston?

The boys are reunited after some ill-planned holidays as they discuss the fallout from England's stunning collapse against Sri Lanka and what that means moving forward in the 2019 Cricket World Cup. India versus Afghanistan and West Indies against New Zealand are previewed along with Pakistan's crunch match with South Africa on Sunday. Rob's Stat of the Day explains why England will win the World Cup, and not to be outdone, Martyn chips in with a sensational stat of his own!

Arguably, the biggest fixture in the Cricket playing world is at Old Trafford on Sunday when India take on arch rivals Pakistan. While the World Cup history entirely favours India and the weather gods may have their own say on this match, presenter Martyn Hindley asks TSZ chief Rob Esteva and cricket fanatic Sachin Mehrish, could Pakistan turn the tide? We discuss the mysterious case of Shadab’s absence, whether Rishabh Pant will replace Shikhar Dhawan, who else should make it in to the first XI for both teams and a few other silly points!

Despite the rain affecting several games in the Cricket World Cup, the boys refuse to allow their Silly Points to be washed out as Martyn and Rob combine for the latest Cricket World Cup special podcast. The chaps look at the key stats around the clash between India and New Zealand at Trent Bridge on Thursday, and England's game against West Indies at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Friday.