I think it's gonna be Yuvraj instead of Raina. Both look out of sorts atm with the bat and Yuv is a decent bowling option under these conditions. Nice to have good batting options though as it's a long tournament and someone is bound to get injured at some point.

It's amazing how Yuvraj's career has progressed since the IPL started, while every Indian batsman has improved from the experience, he's gone backwards by playing in a format that was tailor made for him. Preity Zinta really messed with his head.

Thing is though that Dhoni is bff with both Yuvraj and Raina and I don't really see how Kohli comes in ahead off them since I presume Dhoni has a lot of influence on who comes in.

Yeah, I would be surprised to see either not in the side.

david hussey at 6 for australia. Would love to have haddin at 7 but no real openers stand out other then paine, but two keepers is a bit silly.

Watto, haddin, ponting, clarke, white, dussey, smith, johnson, lee, krejza, tait

I wanted bollinger over lee but i doubt that happens. 1 145kph bowler going at 8 an over is enough...

You guys have an amazing bowling lineup.

Just watched the finish of the 1999 semi between SA and Oz on youtube....Jesus, what a match that was. Just one match like that can make an average World Cup a classic.

yea so much drama. Had to feel for Klusener.

Also makes you wonder had SA won that WC, would they have been the dominant force in cricket this last decade?. Tough to say but one match can make a huge difference..

I think I heard somewhere that the team never actually discussed that final ball (either than or since) - even Klusener and Donald. That suggests that the memories are too uncomfortable to recount. Who knows, I think in rugby most people accept that NZ have choked in world cups (and stats on how they have played - ie playing scared - show that) after years of huge expectation and failure. I do suspect that a few SA players over the years have had a doubts at the back of their mind or worry of how another flop may be seen that, almost subconciously, increases the chance of failure.

I guess we'll never know though and the Aussies have won every game for two world cups running, so we have to give them respect for being the best team by a clear margin in the actual event.

that said, the saffers have run real bad in world cups.

92: dodgy rain rule vs england
96: crush and top the group. Run into brian lara on a massive heater and lose
99: that semi plus steve waughs 120 off 110 in the sixes stage
03: boucher doesnt understand what a tie is, misses an easy single chance to win vs sri lanka
07: ran into a real hot oz side

Yeah that's true, but they were world #1 ranked before the last WC yet Oz were way better when it mattered. And in the game between them, their bowlers got smashed and they completely miss-timed the run chase to give themselves no chance. That was mainly Kallis to be fair though.

Anyway, it's a slow-burning format by the looks of it this year but I'm looking forward to it. The wife is away for a week from Sat, ideal timing.

is that fantasy WC thing happening?

I wanted to do it but seems like there isn't enough interest. Only 3 of us expressed interest. Didn't really want to put in effort trying to run a 3 person league.

If anyone else has any other draft ideas that we could setup quickly and run before the wc im all ears..

I dunno how these things work tbh, but if it's easy (eg to transfer monies etc) then I'm up for entering.

meh no internet for last few days. iv set up a team but there doesn't seem like there is much interest so w/e it doesn't seem like there is much point setting up a $20 league for 4 or 5 people. 5 sa's, 3 indians, 2 aus and 1 irish in my team kinda shows where i think the world cup is gona go

no morgan for england means basically no chance. lol we nearly got beatean by probably the weakest of the associate memebers in canada

england really now have basically ~2% chance of winning this world cup. The fact that two out of three(Trescothick, Morgan, Pietersen) of our genuine class one day players won't be playing this world cup is something we can't come back from.

With pietersen opening with strauss, we're basically putting all our eggs in one basket because if we are 10-2 with strauss and pietersen out against a good team there is no way we're even getting a par score because the rest of the batsmen are distinctly average one day players who are too techinically correct and also don't have the power to be big boundary hitters. I mean there isn't much you can do about it because there is no one in county cricket who are good enough at this stage to make it on the international stage. Losing morgan was such a blow because the guys unorthodox, powerfull and has shown he has the nerve to score odi centuries in tough situations. I can't see anyone with the exception of pietersen(who is so erratic these days anyway) being able to make a match winning century.

I do think opening with Pietersen is the right move though. The ball shouldn't move around much early on in the subcontinent. Too often recently he has been out in the middle overs trying to up the pace and being caught on the boundary and spin here is likely to play an even bigger part in the series so by letting him open you give him the opportunity to score quickly against the new ball and settle before the spinners come into the attack. Pietersen and Strauss should also compliment each other well, Pietersen being right handed, tall , strong driver and strauss left handed and strong square of the wicket.

on the positive the bowling is inventive, economical and may surprise some of the bigger teams with their improvement and their versatility. I might not play Jimi Anderson in my team because i don't think there is going to be much on offer early on for the seamers and the guy is expensive later on and bresnan or shazhad are better for variation. His bowling average in asia from 27 games is 39.7 although he hasn;t played there since 2008 and he has improved a lot since but imo he may get the chop if everybody else is fit. This would also allow england to bat very deep as shown below and could mean they are more aggresive, take powerplays earlier and even promote one of the tail into the middle order with a license to be very aggresive.

Strauss
Pietersen
Trott
Bell
Collingwood
Prior
Bopara
Yardy
Bresnan
Broad
Swann

but hey starting to really look forward to the cricket even if england will be no hopers.

personally i think that india and south africa are quite a long way ahead of the rest of the teams at present. They've both made vital improvements in recent months that put them above australia and sri lanka.

Tahir for South africa should offer them a genuine matchwinning spinning option and vital variation on their talented bowling attack. The emergence of Tsotsobe(a left handed bowler) to complement steyn and morkel is another bonus, and there bowling that once looked so one-dimensional now looks varied and incisive.

India have found that Yusuf Pathan is good enough for international cricket and can face short fast bowling as shown by his progress against south africa in the recent one dayers in south africa where he made match changing perfomances in two of the games. The guy really is a beast and a match winner and also unlike some of the indians seems a humble, settled guy. There one problem as some of you have stated is if they continue to play Yuvraj, the guys past it, isn;t motivated and has lost his brilliance in the field. Also there one weakness is there fielding, they have a number of older guys who have been nursing injuries and don't field great in general. They'll just have to hope that there brilliant batting can counter than weakness and that they strangle the opposition with their multitude of spinning options

england also have the tougher of the groups. Bangladesh are very competent at home and the non asian teams will struggle against them. Ireland are really improving all the time and have a very talented batting line up. The two openers Porterfield and Stirling could give teams a real shock with their quick starts and more and more of their players are winning county contracts in england and performing well.

Lets hope for england sake that west indies fail miserably as they are so apt at although they seem to be a more united team under otis gibson and darren sammy. West indies should give kieron pollard every chance to succeed at this world cup, he's performed well in international competitiions at county/state level and like pathan should be given time to succeed at this highest level because on his day he is a game changer. I really can't believe that they haven't been selecting him in their recent teams. He offers so much with all 3 aspects of the game. I have to think that either he's become bigheaded or aloof with the recent success and money or there is a lot of jealousy in the wi camp over the money he has earnt.

But i think bangla are more likely to go through than West indies but england may be the team that misses out if they don't start well. Expect Ireland to always be competitive but not have quite the bowling to beat some of the better teams but may beat west indies or england.

SA and india should be a long way ahead of the teams in this group and qualify comfortably.

Netherlands will probably be the wipping boys of the group but aren;t terrible. Kervezee is a free scoring batsmen who has done well in county cricket in england and should get netherlands off to a good start, ten doeschate is probably the big name in the team but i can see him struglling with the pressure of having todo everything, his bowling is somewhat erratic and his batting may struggle on the slow low wickets.

My prediction for the group is

India
SA
England
Bangladesh
-----------
West Indies
Ireland
Netherlands

but i can see england and west indies potentially swapping, maybe with bangladesh qualifying 3rd and wi 4th. I think bangla will qualify from the group. The other group is so much easier and basically a lock that AUS, NZ, PAK, and SRI get through. Canada and Kenya are the two poorest teams in the tourney imo and although zimbabwe are certainly improving and have vast amout of spin bowling options and make run NZ close they're short on quality fast bowlers and mid order batsmen. Zims best chance is if the wickets are real slow and low and the games are low scoring.

Sri Lank
Aus
Pak
NZ
Zim
Kenya
Canada

I think I read somewhere that Morgan doesn't need an opp and could be fit within 3 weeks or so. Not sure how the fixtures work out but, if so, I hope Strauss has the good sense to give Bopara or someone a whack so Morgan can come in as an injury replacement.

I dunno, I'd still give England ~10% chance. They do lack firepower and would need the better teams (India especially) to have a bad day to win against them. It happens though.

This format is so ****ed up, the group stages really don't mean much when 4 teams go through to the next stage. Then it's knockout all of a sudden..

I do agree with Andy that Bangladesh have a pretty decent chance of going through at the expense of either WI or England..

So do we start a seperate WC thread or no?

both excellent points, england have a much better chanceof winning this world cup with this structure than previous ones because hey you should get through the group stages and then you only have to win three knockout games to win the thing. in the past you'd have to beat a number of good teams in the super 6 before you even made the semis.

the wickets may also have the potential to detioriate over the duration tournament making the later stages dependent on winning the toss and batting first making a solid score and then just waiting for the wicket to detioriate.

yes anyone of tredwell, bopara, wright would be good for a forearm smash once morgans ready to return

im down with that

as you can see im bursting with excitement already and probably will keep the thread going on my own simply talking to myself. although the first week is likely to be an anticlimax looking at the schedule as its all minnows vs big teams.

Oh I can't wait..

I'm thinking about going to see the final but I'll have to see if any tickets are still left. After the organizers, sponsors, bollywood celebs and politicians are done with it there might be no seats left. Then there's always the chance that I score the tickets somehow and India chokes royally in the Quarters.

As long as we don't get a 5 time champion I think I'll be relatively happy though..

where do you live in india? you going to any other games? whats the almosphere like at present building up to the wc?

I live in Lucknow, which is in north India. the easiest ground for me to goto would be Delhi but they screwed the pooch pretty bad so now we have no matches in the capital.

Every sport channel in the country is only showing WC related stuff right now, the media hype is pretty intense.

The problem with the current format is that the matches are divided between 3 countries and the good contests are really spaced out, so you can't really plan a short trip and see a couple of good matches. No idea where we'll qualify so can't really plan on the quarters yet either.