Each Team's Weaknesses

[hendrix]

For NZ:
- Opening combination. Guptill struggles to rotate the strike against good bowling, and McCullum is anything but consistent.
- Lack of left handers in the top order. This is not a weakness per se, but allowing accurate bowlers to settle into a line and length early means that you have to go after good balls. This is why it's quite important for McCullum to go hard.

For Australia:
- Lack of a quality spinner/middle overs stifler. I'm not actually sure whether this is a major weakness if Johnson and Starc come back and take wickets in their second spells. But if Watson can re-capture his LO bowling economy that would be a major string to their bow.

For South Africa:
- Lower middle order. I do rate Duminy very highly but after him there's not clarity in the roles of 6 and 7. Are they sloggers with a licence? Or do South Africa need someone who can hold his wicket there?

Someone finish the rest.

 

[cnerd123]

For India:
- We're ****

For Bangladesh:
- We're ****

 

[Cabinet96]

For England
- I guess a lack of real star quality? Probably only Buttler and Anderson would make the likes of Australia and New Zealand's teams at the moment. I guess the most specific weakness at the moment is Bopara's form and the fact his role isn't very useful anymore but other than that it's mostly good players across the board who you'd reliably expect to beat poor teams but are probably less likely than others to pull off a shock and beat Australia or New Zealand in their own backyard.

 

[Athlai]

Openers

Ind 4935 @ 43.28 (SR 86)
SA 4166 @ 40.84 (SR 86)
Aus 3249 @ 36.50 (SR 86)
SL 4166 @ 35.79 (SR 81)
Eng 3290 @ 33.57 (SR 80)
Ban 1612 @ 32.24 (SR 71)
Pak 3169 @ 30.47 (SR 71)
WI 2390 @ 28.79 (SR 83)
Zim 1618 @ 27.89 (SR 71)
NZ 2179 @ 26.90 (SR 83)

(minnows)
Afg 1527 @ 36.35 (SR 83)
UAE 491 @ 35.07 (SR 78)
Ire 763 @ 25.43 (SR 68)
Scot 823 @ 23.51 (SR 76)

The opening strength of the big teams is a fairly important one in this world cup. Early wickets are more important than ever with the two new balls, seeing out the first 15 overs for 0/1 wickets usually means a team can launch in the last 20 overs to get a massive score. I'd say right now a few of those figures and averages are a little misleading. NZ has rotated quite a number of openers through before returning the pair of Guptill and McCullum who have had success in the past. Both of whom look in good form. McCullum is possibly the most destructive opener operating at the world cup but as Hendrix has mentioned could easily be hit and miss.

I'd currently say on my own personal feelings and form the opening ratings are something like this:

SA
Aus
Ind (3rd only due to the location of where these games will be played and Dhawan looking a little out of touch)
------
NZ/SL
Eng
------
Ban
Pak
WI
Zim

(minnows)

Ire
----
Scot
Afg
UAE

So from that I'd say only Bangladesh, Pakistan, West Indies and Zimbabwe have a 'weakness' at the top. SA, Aus and India have a strength and NZ, SL and England are solid but not exceptional.

 

[Prince EWS]

Ireland's interesting on the opener front; Stirling is genuinely pretty good and Porterfield compliments him really well in several ways. When you consider the wretched form of Gayle for an extended period, the fact that Tamim is nowhere near as good in one day cricket as he is Test cricket, and the all-round poor openers Pakistan and Zimbabwe will put out, I think Ireland probably have the seventh best openers at the Cup. So here's my opener ranking:

1 South Africa
2 Australia
3 India
4 Sri Lanka
5 New Zealand
6 England
7 Ireland
8 West Indies
9 Pakistan
10 Bangladesh
11 Scotland
12 Zimbabwe
13 Afghanistan
14 UAE

I'm almost tempted to put England ahead of New Zealand too based on recent performance but I really don't think they'll actually do better than NZ's openers in the tournament.

 

[smash84]

For India:
- We're ****

For Bangladesh:
- We're ****

Pakistan, we're ****ed

 

[smash84]

Ireland's interesting on the opener front; Stirling is genuinely pretty good and Porterfield compliments him really well in several ways. When you consider the retched form of Gayle for an extended period, the fact that Tamim is nowhere near as good in one day cricket as he is Test cricket, and the all-round poor openers Pakistan and Zimbabwe will put out, I think Ireland probably have the seventh best openers at the Cup. So here's my opener ranking:

.

good use of the word in place of wretched

 

[Athlai]

Cake (middle)

NZ 5589 @ 40.20 (SR 90)
Ind 6798 @ 39.75 (SR 88)
SA 6793 @ 39.49 (SR 91)
Aus 6023 @ 39.11 (SR 89)
SL 8064 @ 38.40 (SR 82)
Pak 6098 @ 33.50 (SR 78)
WI 4769 @ 31.58 (SR 78)
Eng 5481 @ 31.50 (SR 82)
Ban 2768 @ 30.41 (SR 81)
Zim 2819 @ 26.10 (SR 72)


(minnows)

UAE 860 @ 37.39 (SR 80)
Ire 1710 @ 34.20 (SR 76)
Scot 2077 @ 33.50 (SR 72)
Afg 2048 @ 28.84 (SR 71)


This is a really interesting area, a lot of teams have a remarkably strong middle order, all of NZ, Ind, Sa, Aus and SL can really put on the pain in a big way if a few of their middle order players fire. The other teams are miles off in all honesty. England probably a bit better than the pack but it's definitely an area of concern for the other 5 major nations.

My gut feeling would be

SA
NZ
Aus
Ind (once again the conditions, but all these top 4 teams are very close in terms of absolute quality)
SL
---
Eng
---
Pak
Ban
Zim
WI

(minnows)

Ire
Scot
UAE
-----
Afg

On this one I'd say England down all have a massive issue in the middle, not necessarily because they're bad, but because the 5 top teams have all got a big strength in the middle over contingent.

 

[Prince EWS]

good use of the word in place of wretched

Haha indeed.

 

[Cabinet96]

Reckon England are far more likely to do better in the middle in Aus/NZ than everywhere else. It's the spin that kills us usually.

 

[Athlai]

Icing (tail)

The long and short of it is that Australia and New Zealand are much much better than the rest, England are okay, WI have a few good smashers and the rest of the teams have a big weakness with their lower order batting. Not too interesting to look into in depth.

But lets instead look at "Icing" as the late game striking power of the middle AND the tail.

Icing (5-11)

Aus 4656 @ 30.03 (SR 93)
NZ 3912 @ 27.35 (SR 100)
Ind 4377 @ 35.59 (SR 88)
SA 4313 @ 25.37 (SR 86)
WI 3939 @ 23.44 (SR 85)
Eng 4443 @ 23.38 (SR 89)
Pak 5177 @ 23.00 (SR 87)
Ban 2379 @ 22.44 (SR 87)
SL 5218 @ 21.12 (SR 83)
Zim 2572 @ 18.91 (SR 68)

Yeah so Aus and NZ are comfortably the best of the lot, India/Dhoni 3rd with a solid showing from SA at 4th. England once again scrapes through with an acceptable and WI are all icing.

Gut feeling is

AU/NZ
Ind
----
SA
Eng
WI
Pak
Ban
----
SL
Zim

Here I'd say that beyond those top 3 you could push this as a weakness for the rest of the teams. SA and Eng may get pass marks with an okay amount of icing but AU/NZ and India are ahead, India's proper tail batting is a bit of an issue still.

Oh and minnows!

Uhhh hard to say. They're all kind of ****.

 

[halba]

conditions in au and nz suit au and nz massively

au weaknesses - cant see any weakness if faulkner plays at no.7/8. if clarke replaces bailey there is no weakness. x factors in the batting lineup
nz weakness - just inconsistent top order. bowling attack possesses everything - seam, swing, pace, spin in vettori. no real weakness in bowling. batting is super deep- possibly deeper than australia with big hitting vettori at no.8. massive x factors in the batting and filled with match winners.
sa weakness- huge weakness in the batting esp late middle order. entire batting lineup very suspect v quality swing/seam/spin(vettori yesterday). pace bowlers dont have same impact in these away conditions. if philander doesn't swing it, he's suspect. struggled in warm ups v first quality opposition in sri lanka and new zealand.
india weakness- brittle batting versus quality pace. brittle lower order - no real impact player there. dhoni out of form. pace bowlers very hittable, spinners not suited to these conditions.
pak weakness- same as india in the batting. super brittle, esp at the top v quality pacers. bowling has a match winner though, in irfan. spinners are reasonable. bowling is reasonable, but super brittle batting is the main issue always for pak.
eng weakness- batting has no real match winner like kevin pieterson, collingwood or other prior greats. morgan out of form, lots of 0's in past innings. bowling is reasonable, no good spinner, but bowling no huge weaknesses.
sl weakness- the bowling is a huge weakness. batting looks reasonable, with many good players in form. bowling was so poor vs zimbabwe in the warm up. the bowling is super brittle. no one comparable with prior quality like murali or vaas.
wi weaknesses- their inconsistency. against good teams, windies have been lacking in all departments, and is in the worst form easily out of the above teams. batting looked in good touch v minnows scotland today though, but bowling is inept and the worst of all big 7 teams.

outside big 7 teams to watch: zimbabwe and scotland. good form in the warm ups.

 

[Julian87]

For South Africa:
- Lower middle order. I do rate Duminy very highly but after him there's not clarity in the roles of 6 and 7. Are they sloggers with a licence? Or do South Africa need someone who can hold his wicket there?
.

RSA have more than one weakness. In fact bowling outside of the main 3 is very ordinary and they've botched their squad meaning no matter who they pick they'll have poor balance.

 

[Xuhaib]

For Pakistan it is Younis Khan the big elephant in the room. His continued selection means we can only play 2 out of Haris/Sohaib/Umer when in a best possble XI all three should. So Younis should open or GGFC.

 

[anil1405]

RSA have more than one weakness. In fact bowling outside of the main 3 is very ordinary and they've botched their squad meaning no matter who they pick they'll have poor balance.

Julian87 has put it in an apt way....no matter what the combination is for RSA starting 11, the team is bound to be imbalanced in one area. Now thats a big setback when compared to the other top teams.

 

[IKWT]

Icing (tail)

The long and short of it is that Australia and New Zealand are much much better than the rest, England are okay, WI have a few good smashers and the rest of the teams have a big weakness with their lower order batting. Not too interesting to look into in depth.

But lets instead look at "Icing" as the late game striking power of the middle AND the tail.

Icing (5-11)

Aus 4656 @ 30.03 (SR 93)
NZ 3912 @ 27.35 (SR 100)
Ind 4377 @ 35.59 (SR 88)
SA 4313 @ 25.37 (SR 86)
WI 3939 @ 23.44 (SR 85)
Eng 4443 @ 23.38 (SR 89)
Pak 5177 @ 23.00 (SR 87)
Ban 2379 @ 22.44 (SR 87)
SL 5218 @ 21.12 (SR 83)
Zim 2572 @ 18.91 (SR 68)

Yeah so Aus and NZ are comfortably the best of the lot, India/Dhoni 3rd with a solid showing from SA at 4th. England once again scrapes through with an acceptable and WI are all icing.

Gut feeling is

AU/NZ
Ind
----
SA
Eng
WI
Pak
Ban
----
SL
Zim

Here I'd say that beyond those top 3 you could push this as a weakness for the rest of the teams. SA and Eng may get pass marks with an okay amount of icing but AU/NZ and India are ahead, India's proper tail batting is a bit of an issue still.

Oh and minnows!

Uhhh hard to say. They're all kind of ****.

NZ > Oz in this department if Faulkner isn't fit.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

I'm a big fan of Younis, but he has lost a lot of respect from a lot of people by not retiring in ODI's

 

[Athlai]

NZ > Oz in this department if Faulkner isn't fit.

Possibly but it's still pretty close.

 

[Scaly piscine]

England - The selectors and thus Bopara

 

[GIMH]

Saw Scaly had posted last. Predicted to myself he would say 'Bopara'. Disappointed to see the selectors get their share and spoil my tip.