Breaking them down into 5 sections

England
New Zealand
India

South Africa
Sri Lanka
Australia

Pakistan
West Indies

Ireland
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Zimbabwe

Scotland
UAE

In 1992 there were two 39 year olds in the final. 39 games in competition.

Venues

MCG
SCG
Adelaide
Brisbane
Perth
Camberra
Hobart

Auckland
Wellington
Hamilton
Napier
Christchurch
Dunedin
Nelson

NZ - Drew away vs SL, drew home vs Eng, won home vs Ind, won away vs WI, drew away vs Pak. Fastest improving Test side? Watch out Eng in May...
NZ 15 man squad gets named on 8th Jan

Younis’s last Test coming up. He will be shown the door after his inevitable struggles in the one day format. Almost a given he will play now.

Pak’s first 2 games vs former winners, then 2 against minnows, then 2 against teams they have a 100% defeat record against in the tournament.

Ideal World Tournament Final

Pak vs Eng

Pak vs Ind

Pak vs WI

Eng vs Ind

WI vs NZ

SL vs SA

SA vs Eng

Eng vs WI

Aus vs Ind

Pak vs Aus

Who I’ll be supporting at CWC

1)    England

2)    Pakistan

3)    Afghanistan

4)    New Zealand

5)    UAE

6)    West Indies

7)    South Africa

8)    Scotland

If England still had 3 world class players - Trott, KP and Swann – I think their chances would have been rated higher

But still they got to the final of CT13 without KP and Swann in not too dissimilar conditions to what they’ll be getting early next year

Eng beaten twice by SL in QFs, won’t have to face them this time in QFs

This day last year England went 1 down in Brisbane.

The debutants were outstanding for Pakistan in Kallis's ODI return http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-pakistan-2013-14/engine/current/match/685731.html

SA, SL, Ind got to the semis of both CT13 and WT20 2014
Pak and Aus didn't
WI and Eng did 1 each
SA lost both semis
Ind won both semis

India

Holders of the World Cup
Holders of the Champions Trophy
Finalists of the World T20
ACC Emerging Team Cup winners
Won their last tri series
Under 19 Asia Cup winners
Number 1 ranked ODI team
Owners of the IPL and CL

30 years ago today Wasim Akram made his international debut. The start of a 19 year long international career which bagged him 916 scalps.

This suggests to me spin isn't his strong point. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/649089.html http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/engine/match/781077.html http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/engine/match/742609.html All times bowled.

No Hafeez, Manzoor, Shehzad. Not a more technically well equipped top order against pace Pak have had for a long time. LBW candidates if anything. 

Tempting to introduce spin early. 2 left handers. Both limited against spin.

Imagine if they had Vettori and Jeetan Patel? Serious challenge. 

Margins of the 15 - 10 wickets, 196 runs, 7 wkts, 9 wkts, innings, 7 wkts, 10 wkts, 70 runs, 70 runs, 200 runs, 7 wkts, 5 wkts & last 3 wins

Pak – Zimbabwe

On the birthday of Afridi and Rehman

Interesting situation for Grant Flower

Misbah has a 9-2 captaincy record against them. 5-1 ODIs

They’ve had recent success against Pak – winning an ODI and Test 2013

Only deserving seniors and a young team should be sent to Aus/NZ. Start building for 2017 CT and 2019. Both in early season English conditions.

Why CT is increasingly important now

Held 2 years after last CWC, 2 years before next CWC – ideal time to assess – breaking down the four year cycle  

Held every 4 years as opposed to 2 – making it a bigger event

Held in the same country of the next CWC

Acknowledged as a liked concentrated competition which is the toughest to win
For teams like England and Pakistan it should be an added incentive because they've never won it

CWC is not everything

Other competitions as well

They are better designed competitions in many cases

By doing well in them you are automatically building for the next CWC

Shouldn't plan overly early. 4 years long time. Injuries, loss of form, disputes happen.

Warne = Australia vs South Africa final

Allan Border = Australia vs South Africa final

Tendulkar = Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India will reach semis

Martin Crowe = Australia, New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa semis

Aamir Sohail = Australia, South Africa and India are the front runners

Mark Butcher = Australia will win it

Nick Knight = Australia will win it

Ricky Ponting = It will be an Australia-India final

Pak might as well not turn up………..

Australia won their first Cricket World Cup in 1987 on this day. The beat Pakistan in the semi final and England in the final. Allan Border led the team and current ICC match referee David Boon was the player of the final.

On this day Pakistan last beat Sri Lanka in a Test series. 2011. There have been 3 series against them since.

https://www.facebook.com/king.MUH/posts/338331929545846

https://www.facebook.com/king.MUH/posts/346919828687056

https://twitter.com/KINGMisbah/statuses/156736148172046336

Captains photo for the 2015 version.

MS Dhoni
Alastair Cook
Brendon McCullum
Misbah ul Haq
Angelo Matthews
William Porterfield
Khurram Khan
Michael Clarke
Scotland TBD
AB de Villiers
Dwayne Bravo
Mashrafe Mortaza
Mohammad Nabi
Elton Chigumbura 

https://twitter.com/maza786/statuses/428829871264247808

https://twitter.com/maza786/statuses/428839550970888192

https://twitter.com/maza786/statuses/428840269409042432

https://twitter.com/maza786/statuses/429375350288556032

https://twitter.com/maza786/statuses/384362075566264320

UAE it was https://twitter.com/maza786/statuses/362165789324869632

They met in 1996

They met in 2008 Asia Cup

Pak “A” lost two matches against them in October during a 5 match series

https://www.facebook.com/king.MUH/posts/656003877778648

https://www.facebook.com/king.MUH/posts/654284707950565

100 days to go. Must be 200 till the final then in such a poorly constructed competition format.

Thoughts

Last time the Kiwis played a 3 match test series in these conditions they didn’t do too badly. India no1 at time.

That legside nudger Peter Fulton is no longer favoured in selection. Imagine him on these wickets.

Australia have never lost a CWC semi.

28^th February = Aus v NZ. In Auckland just like 1992 fixture. Fitting that NZ get home tie with Aus getting the final.

7 host cities from both countries.

21 pool games each.

18^th March = this is where the ecstasy and heartache starts.

India – only lost 1 game in their last 15 ICC ODI tournament games.

Dhoni has won 12 of his last 13 games in ICC Events.

On this day the tickets for CT13 went on sale. 2012.

Azhar Ali and Waqar Younis were common in the 3 consecutive Test victories over Australia.

This year we have had the quickest century in both formats – Tests and ODIs.

Azhar Ali vs Australia. Leeds got a 4^th innings maiden 50 in a shaky 3 wicket win. Dubai rebuilt after 7/2. Abu Dhabi twin tons.

I have seen him get the following since December 2012:

85* from 47 balls in T20

72* from 47 balls in T20

40 from 26 balls in ODI

119* from 82 balls in List A game

53 from 43 balls in ODI

So not surprised by quickest 50. Such a big lead, first innings runs behind him, getting a friendly full toss first up.

Next year key year for Kiwi sport. Defending the rugby. Hosting the cricket.

Misbah ul Haq averaged 49.6 in the 2011 event. Can he better this in 2015?

People have asked why 9^th in my bio. Bowling them out in a session, winning by 10 wkts inside 3 days. His first Test win. 

Reminds me of 2010/11 Ashes. Aussies woeful.

29 50+ in his last 57 innings for Pakistan as Captain.

On this day 3 Pakistan Cricketers and an agent were arrested for conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments at Southwark crown court. In 2011, on this day, cricket was in the news for all the wrong reasons. However, it was perhaps in the news for the right reasons too in the sense that they were cleaning up their act by handing out punishments of such scale. Salman Butt's wife was giving birth at the time of the verdict. Former cricketers such as Michael Atherton were in attendance to see the verdict unfold at first hand. 

https://www.facebook.com/king.MUH/posts/568992749813095

https://twitter.com/KINGMisbah/statuses/363694559705825280

https://www.facebook.com/king.MUH/posts/545982552114115

https://www.facebook.com/king.MUH/posts/519187204793650

https://www.facebook.com/king.MUH/posts/519839231395114

https://twitter.com/KINGMisbah/statuses/520303702318780416

https://twitter.com/KINGMisbah/statuses/522376459852472320

So Pak hold the record for the slowest and now joint fastest test century.

Rehman and Ajmal against England in 2012.
Yasir and Babar against England in 2015?
Spin twins.

50th Test Match for Captain

Win this and become Pakistan's joint winningest captain

Win this and break a 20 year drought vs Australia in a Test series

Win this and re-enter the top 3 in rankings

100s in both innings during the Test

Joint quickest century and quickest fifty 

A monumental thrashing on the cards

Easy game and a dream 50th Test Match 

Can't say I am surprised by the result

Pakistan beat England 3-0 in these conditions.

Drew twice vs South Africa in these conditions.

Won once and drew once vs Sri Lanka in these conditions.

Australia lost 2-0 in India in 2008

Australia lost 2-0 in India in 2010

Australia lost 4-0 in India in 2013

But without Saeed Ajmal

A vastly inexperienced bowling attack

Australia winning 7 of their last 8 Tests coming into the series

Australia's domination over Pakistan in Test Cricket historically

Having lost all 4 limited over matches prior to the Tests

There were still some doubts...

Special but not sure this ranks in the top 5 Test achievements during his captaincy

Beating England 3-0 in 2012

Drawing vs South Africa in 2010

Drawing vs South Africa in 2013

Winning overseas in New Zealand

Beating Sri lanka 1-0 in 2011 

Six series unbeaten in the UAE. Along with an overseas success in New Zealand. Is that enough to knock Imran off his perch as Pakistan's best Test captain? If he won a maiden Test series in the West Indies and won at least 1 Test match in somewhere like South Africa maybe. IK still ahead just but very close.

An overrated contest. Barking mad to deny India favourites. https://twitter.com/maza786/statuses/447047659543855104

On this day Team Misbah defended 209 successfully during the 2nd ODI at DSC.

25 Years

25 years 
Nehru Cup Final
Glory at a six team tournament in India
The modern day equivalent of a Champions Trophy 
IK's second biggest achievement in the shorter form 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/65932.html