World Cup Favourites

[Richard]

Oh and nice of Motson to get all his rubbish out of the way now before he mysteriously and tragically disappears for a few months when it turns out he's comprehensively wrong again.

Well it ain't ever happened before, so...

 

[Richard]

As well as England played in the last few games of the CB series, you've never been shy of over-rating them. Any glimmer and they're suddenly one of the best ODI teams in the world.

You'd be on that ignore-list of his in a flash with a stupid comment like that if you weren't Staff...

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Who's the only team to beat Australia in a CT or World Cup in the last 5 years? England.

Completely ignoring the West Indies, of course.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Average teams don't beat a high strength Australia when it matters.

Happens in baseball all the time. Happens in football a fair bit too, tbh. Arguably happened in the 2004 CT.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Comparing India and NZ's choking to England's is a complete and utter joke. NZ and India have choked over and over again. England have choked very occasionally and those occasions are far outnumbered by those times when they've not choked and finished the likes of Australia off.

And Australia has never choked before? cough cough

Contrary to many peoples beliefs, Australia arent invincible. Heck, they just lost 3 consecutive games to England! What does that tell you?

Come the World Cup anything is possible. Trust me, this aint gonna be a one horse race! Id say 6 teams have a realistic chance of winning. Australia to lose in the semis

 

[pup11]

The best thing to happen to aussie odi cricket in recent times is the back to back finals loss to england. I am huge aussie supporter, and IMO there defeats will do a lot of good to them , they would do some soul-searching and work on the areas where they need to improve. And we all know when the aussie are hurt which currently they are they become even more lethal and deadly.

 

[IndianByHeart]

His injury is largely due to the burden of bowling he has faced in South Africa. Hence him playing in South Africa is a key reason as to why he's injured. Think about it...

Think about what? you keep taking about the reason as to why Asif is injured, which is obvious to all of us and is pretty irrelevant.What i'm saying is that his injury is NOT THAT serious to keep him out of cup.

 

[HowsThat]

We don't know whether anything will come of it for England in the World Cup, I've never said they're a certainty to win the World Cup. All I've said is they're a far better shot than half of the other top 8 sides, around equal with SA and WI and significantly behind Australia.

Comparing India and NZ's choking to England's is a complete and utter joke. NZ and India have choked over and over again. England have choked very occasionally and those occasions are far outnumbered by those times when they've not choked and finished the likes of Australia off.

When you lose 90 percent of the matches that are played, you are termed a poor team and hence question of choking doesn't arise.

England has barely any chance of winning the world cup, hence comparing Eng with heavy weights India and NZ are indeed an utter joke.

 

[HowsThat]

Interestingly only one person here has voted for England to win the cup, doesn't require a genious to figure out who the person really is.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Just as well really because you're obviously a bit dim calling India and NZ heavy-weights. I haven't voted.

Under Vaughan you'll find England have won around 60% of ODIs, they're one game under 50% if you discount minnows.

 

[pup11]

I am a die-hard aussie fan so for me to say anything good about the poms takes some doing, but TBH i think if england can maintain the same intensity they had in the latter part of the CB series then they might do well at the world cup. They certainly do have players like fred, KP,Plunkett,Collingwood,Monty,and anderson, who if stick to their tasks can certainly make england click as a team.

 

[pup11]

I am really suprised to see that 5 guys have voted in favour of south africa as potential world cup winners.
I mean out of all the top sides south africans are the last team i expect to win the world cup simply because of the sub-continental conditions in the Caribbean[in which South africans always struggle]. There attack is also very one dimensional[all pace attack] for caribbean conditions.

 

[Richard]

Just as well really because you're obviously a bit dim

Ignore-list material, that, surely...

 

[Richard]

I mean out of all the top sides south africans are the last team i expect to win the world cup simply because of the sub-continental conditions in the Caribbean[in which South africans always struggle].

South Africa have performed well in subcontinental conditions many times.

 

[pup11]

Richard what are talking about? Have you been following south african tours to the sub-continent? If you check you will notice that, for many years south africa has not won a single odi series in the sub-continent[barring one series win in pakistan].

 

[steds]

Can't believe Bermuda aren't on the poll.

 

[wpdavid]

Can't believe Bermuda aren't on the poll.

I gather they do better in triangular tournaments.

 

[Richard]

Can't believe Bermuda aren't on the poll.

I can.

 

[Richard]

Richard what are talking about? Have you been following south african tours to the sub-continent? If you check you will notice that, for many years south africa has not won a single odi series in the sub-continent[barring one series win in pakistan].

But they have won them in West Indies, and even now West Indies is not quite the same as India and Sri Lanka.

In any case, let's have a proper look at SA's recent record in the subcontinent, in reverse order...
ICC CT in 2006\07... not that there were a great deal of games in this tourney that bore resemblence to "typical" subcontinental conditions, but SA won 2 games and lost 2 - hardly the worst performance in The World.
Bilateral series in India in 2004\05... once again, this hardly bore any resemblence to "typical" subcontinental conditions. All the pitches offered plenty to the seamers early on, and it was win-toss-win-match. 2 tosses each, 2 games each.
Bilateral series in Sri Lanka in 2004... lost 5-0, but it's worth remembering that for some reason their ODI form around then was awful. They'd lost their last 5 before that, too, in New Zealand, in conditions bearing no resemblence. They lost their next 2, too, in England and at home. Kinda suggests the subcontinent didn't really have much to do with it.
TVS Cup in Bangladesh in 2003... won 1, lost 1 to India, and would probably have won another but for rain. Pretty decent performance where I'm standing.
ICC CT in Sri Lanka in 2002\03... won 1, lost 1, and would've won the one they lost but for one of the worst pieces of stalling you'll ever see.
Singer Tri-Series in Sri Lanka in 2000... won 2, lost 3. Hardly catastrophic, especially given that it was just after Cronjegate.
Coca-Cola Cup in Sharjah in 1999\2000... won 3, lost 2. A winning margin.
Bilateral series in India in 1999\2000... won 2, lost 3. Lost, but not badly.
And their last 7 games before that, in Bangladesh in ICC KO 1998\99 and the quadrangular in 1997\98, were all victories.

So I don't really see that SA's subcontinental form is so abysmal as to write-off their chances in this World Cup.

 

[zahid_taj2002]

Favourites have to obviusly the Aussies, However I have a funny feeling one of the sides from the Sub-Continent are going to take the WC this time round.

1 - Australia
2 - Sri Lanka
3 - Pakistan / SA
4 - India
5 - West Indies
6 - NZ
7 - England

Sri Lanka might not appear to be that good on paper but in reality imo they have an excellent chance, Sanath Jayasuriya is going to have a good time on the slow wickets in the WI and they also have a quality spinner in their side in the form of Muttiah Murralitharan.

India IMO have a chance but they seam attack is not good enough, Harbajhan and Kumble are going to have to perform if India are to have a chance. The positive from they side though is that they have a magnificent batting line-up that will get the runs......not sure they will b able to defend them though.

Pakistan on paper are the best side in the world along with the Aussies, however they fielding leaves alot to be desired, the batting looks good, if they can sort out thier opners they must b in with a good shout......Powerful Middle order with Younis, Yousuf and Inzi, then they have quality all rounders that can destroy any bowling attack in the world in Razzaq, Malik and Afridi. The big question is though, can they put out Asif, Akhtar and Gul on the pitch at the same time in the big games? if YES then they for sure are going to take some stopping.