Cricket World Cup:Who is the form team heading in to the knockout stages?
So the group stage of the competition is finished and well, the teams who would have been expected to go through, have. There have been some unexpected results but there are no surprise qualifiers. Anybody hoping to see a cricket minnow through to the knock-out stages will be disappointed. Pakistan topped group A with 10 points and are joined by Australia, Sir Lanka and New Zealand in the quarters. Group B also offered up no surprises as South Africa, India, England and the West Indies scraped through in a much more closely contested group.
If we go purely by points, then that makes South Africa the favourites but their woeful batting display against England, to go with past World Cup failings, makes it impossible to back them all the way. However, the batting potential in their side is up there with India. Openers’ Smith and Amla have made several solid partnerships already this tournament and with the like of Kallis coming in at three they have the ability to score a lot of runs. Not forgetting arguably the best player in their batting order, AB De Villiers who’s currently regarded by many as the best player in the world.
India have shown that they can score heaps of runs but they too, have been prone to moments of madness and somehow managed to tie a sure win against England. India were missing the flamboyant Sehwag for their game against the Windies yesterday and they’ll be hoping that he’s fit in time for their quarter-final match up or their campaign may have taken a huge step in the wrong direction.
Australia would have been many peoples’ favourites had they not crashed to a defeat against Pakistan yesterday after a poor batting display saw them amass a meagre 177. Pakistan stuttered their way towards the total and Umar Akmal saw them home for the loss of 6 wickets. As the cricketing world has seen in the last few years or so, we never really can tell which Pakistan team will turn up, often going from moments of complete brilliance to other moments of utter madness. They should have enough might to see off the challenge of an average West Indies side but you never quite know which West Indies team will turn up on the day.
Not many pundits will be betting on New Zealand or the West Indies who lack the number of match winners that are present in many of the other sides. The Windies bit hitting opener, Chris Gayle has been in and out the team with injury and will find it hard coming back into the side with so much at stake. New Zealand always manage to play good tournament cricket but I can’t see them having enough fire power to overcome South Africa in their Quarter-final on Friday in Mirpur.
Ahmedabad plays host to what should be an enthralling show-down between Australia and co-hosts India on Thursday. Australia will be looking to bounce back from their defeat by Pakistan and India have shown they don’t always react well to the pressure of playing in front of an expectant home crowd. If Tendulkar and Sehwag don’t get them off to a good start then there’s no reason why Australia can’t go on and put the home side out of the competition. India will be hoping to capitalise on the poor form of Skipper, Ponting and advance one more step towards a final in their own back yard.
Sri Lanka have an extremely good chance of lifting the trophy with Spin King, Murali and fast bowling wonder, Lasith Malinga, who’s capable of bowling ninety-plus mph, leading their bowling attack. It would be unwise to completely count them out. Captain and keeper-batsman, Sangakkara and Dilshan lead a talented batting line up and they are joined by the experienced, Mahela Jayawardene and Opener, Tharanga who’s shown his ability with a classy hundred against Zimbabwe earlier in the tournament. Sangakkara will be hoping to make use of their home advantage in the early knockout stages and the makeup of their team suits the slow, low pitches of the subcontinent.
The dark horses for me are England. Having not yet produced a convincing, all round performance, potential opposition will be wondering what will happen if it all comes together in Colombo on Saturday. Sri Lanka will be backing themselves to beat a ‘struggling’ England side but England have shown that they know how to win close games. They’ve chased down 338 against India before agonisingly falling one run short and ending up with a tie. England’s bowling attack made short work of South Africa when the heat was on and different bowlers seem to step up each time something special is needed. It’s a mouth-watering prospect and we’ll find out on Saturday whether or not this England team can prove their critics wrong and knock out one of the host countries.
The toss could be crucial in these Day/Night fixtures. Some teams prefer chasing but this can be tricky once the dew starts to fall and the ball begins to zip off the surface a little. It can however, be looked at both ways. Fielding is certainly not the same under the lights and those big, game changing catches become a lot harder in the heat of the moment with bright lights shining in your face.
The tournament is there for the taking for the team that wants it most. We’ve seen that anybody can beat anybody this time round, and the tournament really does lack an outstanding team. Not that the neutral will be complaining! It makes for great entertainment of course!
Predictions
Pakistan will overcome the Caribbean men to set up a semi-final with Australia. The Aussies will narrowly edge a close encounter against India who struggle in the pressurised environment.
South Africa will make short work of the Kiwi’s barring something spectacular from Brendan McCullum. De Villiers to make a classy 100 and lead the proteas to victory. Joining South Africa in the semi’s will be England who will knock out Sri Lanka with Strauss nudging up another hundred and Swann destroying the Sri Lanka batters.
Eventual Winners: South Africa unless England can upset the odds with a good all round performance.
