Source: www.aussiedigest.com
Well, it is less than one week until
the start of the cricket world cup in Australia and New Zealand. The tournament
officially starts on Valentine’s Day at the MCG and finishes at the same venue
on March 29. To be honest, I am really looking forward to the next six weeks of
cricket and expect that many hours will be devoted to watching the great game.
The format is fairly simple this
time around, with two pools of seven teams playing six matches in a round robin
format. After playing the six matches, the top four teams in each pool progress
to quarter finals where it takes a knockout format until the final. The
pleasing aspect of this format is that the minnow nations such as Afghanistan,
Scotland, and the United Arab Emirates all play six games against quality
opposition. This is important for the development of the game and should provide
valuable experience for those nations.
The obvious question is which
teams are the most likely to win the tournament. Well it is difficult to go
past Australia, South Africa and India at this stage. However New Zealand come
through as a dark horse given that they play all their group matches in New
Zealand, including the one against Australia.
Australia will be aiming for
their fifth World Cup trophy and have won the World Cup on every cricket
playing continent except their own. The pressure is enormous to win this one
given that it is on home soil. The squad is full of match winners such as
Warner, Maxwell, Johnson and Smith just to name a few. They are currently the
best team on the planet and are in form, as proven by their recent win in the
one day series against India and England. Anything less than an appearance in
the final will be considered a failure by many pundits. Barring injury and
self-implosion, I believe the team will make the final and they should win it.
However keeping a lid on expectation within the team will be the key.
South Africa are the perennial
chokers in major cricket tournaments and amazingly still have not won a World Cup.
Quite simply they are the masters of self-destruction and I expect that both
Allan Donald and Lance Klusener still have nightmares about their exit from the
1999 World Cup. In terms of talent, South Africa oozes as much talent as
Australia with de Villiers, Amla, Steyn, Vilander and du Plessis. For South
Africa everything is in place, it simply comes down to execution and mindset. Basically,
this team needs success like I need coffee. They should make the March 29 final
at the MCG, but will they win….well that is anyone’s guess.
India, they
would only make the quarter finals based on current form. However tournaments such as these
also rely on timing and if India finds form at the pointy end of the tournament
then they are in with a real shot. The Indian’s have the ability to score runs
quickly with players such as Dhoni and Kohli. Their bowling is still a little
raw and if they bowl first their batsmen could find themselves chasing some
large totals. The advantage India has over most other teams is that they have
been in Australia for a couple of months now and hence should be used to
Australian conditions. For me I think India can make the semi-finals if they
find their form.
My dark horse is New Zealand, who
has two things going its way. First, New Zealand get to play all its group matches
at home and possibly even a quarter final. This is a huge advantage for New
Zealand who really knows how to play to their conditions. Plus their grounds
tend to be smaller than the Australian grounds which will bring players such as
Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor into play. Second is their squad, while it
does not boast the depth of Australia’s or South Africa’s squads there is
enough depth to trouble most sides. Their bowling attack of Trent Boult, Tim Southee
and Daniel Vettori is very capable of bowling out most sides. This is
complemented by the aggressive style of batting from McCullum and Taylor, the
accumulation capabilities of Williamson and the all-round abilities of Corey
Anderson. The Kiwis have an opportunity to make the semi-finals and if things
go their way then who knows it could lead to their first finals play-off.
Like many others, I suspect that
the World Cup Final will be played between Australia and South Africa. However
both India and New Zealand will have a fair amount to say in the matter and
either country is quite capable of causing an upset in the semi-finals and progress
to the final.
