***Official*** Road to the 2015 Cricket World Cup

[Maximas]

Ian Chappell: Australia, India and South Africa are World Cup favourites | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo

Ian Chappell gives us a little prediction, I think he's pretty spot on with Australia and SA, both teams look quiet strong at this stage, not really sure about India though. For mine NZ will be a real threat at home and should be disappointed if they don't make the semis, as with Sri Lanka, who just need to get the fast bowlers up to scratch and we'll be able to launch a pretty strong campaign. England are rank outsiders, WI looked pretty horrible last tour and Pakistan are a little too inconsistent for mine to be serious contenders.

 

[hendrix]

Classic Ian Chappell.

 

[91Jmay]

Picking 3 of the major 8 nations. Chappell really going out on a limb.

 

[Marius]

South Africa's side looks relayively settled, but in the last couple of games, Dale Steyn has been batting at Number 8, which is probably a place too high.

The other question is whether we'll take two spinners to Australia. Tahir is the man in possession I think, but Phangiso has been pushing hard.

So, the squad will probably look something like this:

De Villiers
Amla
De Kock
Du Plessis
Duminy
Miller
McLaren
Steyn
Morkel
Parnell
Tahir
Phangiso
Rossouw
Abbott
Philander

 

[Red]

De **** and Phangiso. Fantastic!

 

[Red]

Philander Abbott.

 

[grecian]

I'd do an England Squad, but it's just too depressing to contemplate.

 

[hendrix]

NZ squad

likely playing XI:
Guptill
Ryder/Latham
Williamson
Taylor
McCullum
Anderson
Ronchi
Nathan McCullum
Southee
McCleneghan
Mills

reserves:
Boult
Henry
Watling
Neesham

It's pretty settled but still plenty of competition for spots, particularly amongst the fast bowlers. Perhaps a bit susceptible to a middle order collapse. Would prefer Watling over Ronchi and perhaps Boult or Henry over McCleneghan. One of Latham and Ryder will miss out. I'm not sure who the other opening candidates could be.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

Ian Chappell: Australia, India and South Africa are World Cup favourites | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo

Ian Chappell gives us a little prediction, I think he's pretty spot on with Australia and SA, both teams look quiet strong at this stage, not really sure about India though. For mine NZ will be a real threat at home and should be disappointed if they don't make the semis, as with Sri Lanka, who just need to get the fast bowlers up to scratch and we'll be able to launch a pretty strong campaign. England are rank outsiders, WI looked pretty horrible last tour and Pakistan are a little too inconsistent for mine to be serious contenders.

Ian Chappell really is a dip****. The same indian side that got destroyed in NZ, even with Kohli in incredible form.

 

[Flem274*]

NZ squad

likely playing XI:
Guptill
Ryder/Latham
Williamson
Taylor
McCullum
Anderson
Ronchi
Nathan McCullum
Southee
McCleneghan
Mills

reserves:
Boult
Henry
Watling
Neesham

It's pretty settled but still plenty of competition for spots, particularly amongst the fast bowlers. Perhaps a bit susceptible to a middle order collapse. Would prefer Watling over Ronchi and perhaps Boult or Henry over McCleneghan. One of Latham and Ryder will miss out. I'm not sure who the other opening candidates could be.

There's still time for WPWB to claim his rightful place in the side.

I think Latham is the favourite to open with Guptill unless we play musical chairs with McCullum again or one of the others comes good. Ryder surely must have exhausted all his chances now and there's no way he'll make it from now to the end of the World Cup without doing something stupid, getting injured or having some kind of freak incident. Besides, do management really want to risk a Ryder bender right before a knock out match?

 

[GGG]

Ian Chappell: Australia, India and South Africa are World Cup favourites | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo

Ian Chappell gives us a little prediction, I think he's pretty spot on with Australia and SA, both teams look quiet strong at this stage, not really sure about India though. For mine NZ will be a real threat at home and should be disappointed if they don't make the semis, as with Sri Lanka, who just need to get the fast bowlers up to scratch and we'll be able to launch a pretty strong campaign. England are rank outsiders, WI looked pretty horrible last tour and Pakistan are a little too inconsistent for mine to be serious contenders.

"If Australia's fearless stroke-makers David Warner, Aaron Finch, Shane Watson, Mitchell Marsh and Glenn Maxwell fire, then 300 will be standard fare. There's no other team in the competition with that amount of firepower (especially upfront)"

Hmm would be interesting to compare the stats of our top 6 with theirs, I wouldn't think there would be much in it. You could also say that about any team, if Gayle fires, if Morgan fires etc etc etc if if if

 

[GGG]

Warner 31.39 1562 82.39
Finch 37.85 1166 87.65
Clarke 45.06 9856 78.64
Marsh 39.69 2164 77.03
Watson 41.06 5827 90.20
Maxwell 32.00 578 127.33

Guptil 39.16 3518 81.26
Ryder 33.21 1429 95.31
Williamson 39.51 2149 79.06
Taylor 40.07 5253 82.39
McCullum 30.24 5696 90.80
Anderson 53.00 266 159.39

Looks pretty even, maybe slightly to Australia but of course we will be punching above our weight.

 

[Maximas]

Indeed, every team has match-winners that need to fire, imagine SL for instance if Kusal, Thisara and Malinga fired, would be very tough to beat with Dilshan/Sanga/Mahela/Herath in decent form too.

 

[smash84]

Glenn Maxwell firing is just another level though

 

[hendrix]

There's still time for WPWB to claim his rightful place in the side.

I think Latham is the favourite to open with Guptill unless we play musical chairs with McCullum again or one of the others comes good. Ryder surely must have exhausted all his chances now and there's no way he'll make it from now to the end of the World Cup without doing something stupid, getting injured or having some kind of freak incident. Besides, do management really want to risk a Ryder bender right before a knock out match?

Yeah I don't need to tell you that I'm a big Latham fan but he's not up there with Ryder in terms of firepower or experience doing it against good attacks. I'm crossing my fingers. I think it's pretty clear that the one who doesn't play won't make the squad - we don't have room for reserve openers in a 15 man squad and it's hard to justify picking one ahead of the bowlers who although very good are susceptible to losses in form and therefore need to be interchangeable. It would be tough on Latham to not make the squad but I just can't see a place for him with a fit Ryder, unless they drop Guptill.

 

[BeeGee]

IMO, Ryder will never play for NZ again.

 

[Howsie]

Classic Ian Chappell.

Isn't it. 'New Zealand's more friendly seam bowling conditions', 'India a likely winner', 'The West Indies are the darkhorse'

Good for a laugh I suppose.

 

[Howsie]

I've got South Africa, Australia and New Zealand as my trio. With Pakistan as a darkhorse (due in part to having not seen them play for what feels like years). You can already put a line through England. India and Sri Lanka don't have the fast bowling resources to be a threat and the West Indies will be filled with 20/20 merchants.

 

[smash84]

Perhaps he meant dark horse literally for WI

 

[hendrix]

Cricket is not tiddlywinks. It's also not chess.