Anticipation of the Road Ahead

At the start there will be a buzz in the opening week … then the excitement levels will drop… before remerging towards the end of the league stage and into the quarter finals.

Many people will be saying in the first 25 days or so – can we fast forward to the quarter finals and get it started “properly”?

Instead of people saying when is the next one (England 2019) they will be saying when will this marathon end?

What you need to win a World Cup

1)    Good leadership

2)    Good bowling attack

3)    Ability to play the pressure moments well

4)    Team togetherness

5)    Luck

What Type of Cricket Will We Get

I think we will get a range of high scoring games and low scoring games. I think we will get a range of one sided games and nail biters. I expect fast bowlers to dominate this World Cup. Spin will not have a huge say in comparison to Asia 2011 and West Indies 2007. I expect several batting collapses in the batting power play. I expect immense carnage in the last 10-15 overs of the innings with the recent change in field restrictions. There will be circumspect play at the top of the order in order to make the most of the last third of the innings with the batting power play and the increasing difficulty to bowl at the death with only 4 men allowed out, by keeping wickets in the tank for that period and making sure there is a set article at the crease once that time arrives. However, some teams will get off to a flyer. I expect India and Australia to be the two fastest scoring teams, but West Indies will have the cleanest six hitters.

Australia

At home

2009/10 = Beat Pakistan 3-0 in Tests. Beat Pakistan 5-0 in ODIs.

2010/11 = Beat England 6-1 in ODIs.

2011/12 = Beat India 4-0 in Tests and won triangular series.

2012/13 = Beat Sri Lanka 3-0 in Tests. Beat West Indies 5-0 in ODIs.

2013/14 = Beat England 5-0 in Tests. Beat England 4-1 in ODIs.

They have more often than not dominated at home in the last five seasons. They have the form guide behind them. They are favourites according to Ian Botham among others.

However, I don’t think they have enough variation and stability in the batting line up to deal against tougher bowlers or handle a potential collapse. All batters are aggressors more or less, except perhaps Michael Clarke to a lesser extent. Additionally, they lack a specialist spinner. Historically hosting nations don’t do brilliantly performance wise at the event.