Cricket World Cup

Predictions?

India. Obviously.
Playing at home with fanatic support on slowish, turning pitches with a decent spin attack, they must be the favoured team. Sehwag, Tendulkar and Khan all fit and ready. Harbhajan is a nightmare to face on a spin friendly pitch.

Pakistan. The dark horse.
Struggling at the moment with all the scandals and they haven't been able to really replace some legendary players. Still, they have decent spin options that could bog any batting team down and with the likes of Shahid Afridi and Misbah Ul-Haq there anything is possible.

Australia. Haven't we seen this show before?
They have been struggling since the retirement of the dream team players, but I think the current squad has more than enough firepower to win, and win easily actually, if they can gel at the right time. Ponting probably needed the boot before the start, but I can see why they would want his experience of 3 WC championships there.

Bangladesh. Underdogs.
Seriously impressed with how hard these guys have been working on improving their game. They can bowl 40 overs of decent spin and just a little luck could see them even get to the semi-finals.

Not South Africa, then? They look a very strong and balanced squad, especially now that in Tahir they may have a good spinner.

Beyond that, sounds about right. Australia have some very explosive batsmen, but whether the subcontinent suits their bowlers I'm less sure. India will do well as long as they cope with the pressure. I can't see Pakistan going far right now, but will probably put in at least one great performance.

From the England point of view...I think this bunch of players is potentially a good side, but right now too many of the batsman are out of form and too many of the bowlers aren't 100% fit.

I am going to tip Sri Lanka. No particular reason for that.... You would think India should do well but often with the weight of expectation in their own country, it could prove to be the extra burden that topples them. How often has the host nation won the World Cup? Not often....

I can't see Australia winning.. they simply don't play as well on those low, slow, spin-friendly sub-continent wickets. Englands recent one-day form is poor and difficult to see them "turn it on" in time for this tournament. Pakistan are a rabble and you couldn't take them seriously - but they are a talented bunch so they could cause some teams a few headaches.

New Zealand aren't a threat nor is anyone else I haven't mentioned - except South Africa. South Africa is a well balanced, tough and talented team and have been up near the top of international cricket for a while - so they are definitely a strong candidate. However, they haven't performed in the pressure cooker situations on the big stage so that is their biggest question mark. No better time to turn it around?

But... who knows. It's always a great tournament and a feast of cricket!

Without looking at the draw...I'll go for an India v South Africa final, with Sri Lanka and Australia the semi-finalists. And India to out-choke SA in the final 🙂.

Originally posted by mtthw
Not South Africa, then? They look a very strong and balanced squad, especially now that in Tahir they may have a good spinner.

We just choke. We've had 4 chances now where we could easily have gone through to win it with the players we had, but we have a strange mental block when we play in a WC event.
Plus we are probably the worst batting side against decent spin - we are used to quick, bouncy pitches and we have no great spinners here to prepare us against good, or even just decent, spin bowling.

We have a very good squad at the moment, as we pretty much always do. We are light on all-rounders though, but that doesn't mean anything, as long as you are confident in your top 5 and have great strike bowlers.
On a hard, green pitch I don't think any team can beat us now, but I have very little confidence in our top order on the pitches we may have to play on. Who knows? We'll see when the games start.
Steyn, Tsotsobe and Morkel are a handful on any pitch with the new ball, but if a team can weather the first 20 overs against us, opposing sides with good spin options may not need big totals against us.

Originally posted by Crowley
Predictions?

The Netherlands will come last in their group, and deserve it.

India might win it. England will not.

Richard

Sehwag is back!

Sehwag is in my fantasy league team 😏

9 days to go 😀

IRELAND IRELAND IRELAND 😵

Aussies got good chance.
The fast bowlers looked good in Zimbawe match.
Its still on, but they're going to win.
I reckon the aussie spinners might get used to the pitches and start bowling some decent spin for the finals.

Hard to pick, though.

Whats wrong with New Zealand these days? I thought they had a strong one day team not long ago?

Originally posted by karoly aczel
Whats wrong with New Zealand these days? I thought they had a strong one day team not long ago?

They just seem to rely on McCullum to be their match winner. They have a decent side, but under pressure it seems to me that only Brendon can dig them out.
None of their bowlers scare me, much less most international batsmen...

Boy, I'm glad I'm not an England cricket supporter today...

Wonder if Holland can actually win? Probably not, but that fielding performance was seriously sub-par.

Originally posted by Crowley
Boy, I'm glad I'm not an England cricket supporter today...

Wonder if Holland can actually win? Probably not, but that fielding performance was seriously sub-par.

Holland doesn't get to field a team. Only the individual provinces of Great Britain are allowed to put up a team, and only one of those has managed to get in. All the rest of us have to form one team for the entire country.

And no, much though I would love to see the Netherlands team beat the English (again!), I wouldn't put money on it even if I were a betting man.

Edit: though 292 for 6 in 50 is not bad, for our team. Hell, it's not bad, full stop. But it's not very good, either, and 44 points in 7 overs is better.

Richard

Originally posted by Shallow Blue
Holland doesn't get to field a team. Only the individual provinces of Great Britain are allowed to put up a team, and only one of those has managed to get in. All the rest of us have to form one team for the entire country.

And no, much though I would love to see the Netherlands team beat the English (again!), I wouldn't put money on it even if I wer ...[text shortened]... stop. But it's not very good, either, and 44 points in 7 overs is better.

Richard

Holland for us South Africans is what we call the whole of Nederland sometimes.

De Oranje gaat goed hoor!

Ten Doeschate - Does that translate directly to 'showerholes'?

Originally posted by Crowley
Ten Doeschate - Does that translate directly to 'showerholes'?

He's a seriously good one-day player, isn't he?

I'm actually glad to see the Netherlands perform well against England...so long as they don't actually go and win. At the moment, it looks a good job that Australia nicked Nannes from them 🙂.