ICC Cricket World Cup

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1

Well as you know the World Cup is just 10 days away now… Im sooooo excited.

For all my fellow British, Aussie, Kiwi, South African and any other cricket loving fans on this board…

Here’s the lineup :

Group A (St Kitts & Nevis)

Australia
South Africa
Scotland
Holland

[u]Group B (Trinidad & Tobago)[/u]

Sri Lanka
India
Bangladesh
Bermuda

[u]Group C (St Lucia)[/u]

New Zealand
England
Kenya
Canada

[/b][/u]Group D (Jamaica)[/b][/u]

Pakistan
West Indies
Zimbabwe
Ireland

Sunday, March 11 [u]OPENING CEREMONY[/u] (Montego Bay)

Tue March 13 - WI v Pak

Wed March 14 - Aus v Sco , Ken v Can

Thu March 15 - SL v Ber , Zim v Ire

Fri March 16 - SA v Holl , Eng v NZ

Sat March 17 - Ind v B’desh , Pak v Ire

Sun March 18 - Aus v Holl , Eng v Can

Mon March 19 - Ind v Ber , WI v Zim

Tue March 20 - SA v Sco , NZ v Ken

Wed March 21 - SL v B’desh , Zim v Pak

Thu March 22 - Sco v Holl , NZ v Can

Fri March 23 - Ind v SL , WI v Ire

Sat March 24 - Aus v SA , Eng V Ken

Sun March 25 - Ber v B’desh

[u]SUPER EIGHT[/u]

Tue March 27 - D2 v A1
Wed March 28 - A2 v B1
Thu March 29 - D2 v C1
Fri March 30 - D1 v C2
Sat March 31 - A1 v B2
Sun April 01 - D2 v B1
Mon April 02 - B2 v C1
Tue April 03 - D1 v A2
Wed April 04 - C2 v B1

Sat April 07 - B2 v A2
Sun April 08 - A1 v C2
Mon April 09 - D1 v C1
Tue April 10 - D2 v A2
Wed April 11 - C2 v B2
Thu April 12 - B1 v C1
Fri April 13 - A1 v D1
Sat April 14 - A2 v C1
Sun April 15 - B2 v D1
Mon April 16 - A1 v B1
Tue April 17 - A2 v C2
Wed April 18 - D1 v B1
Thu April 19 - D2 v B2
Fri April 20 - A1 v C1
Sat April 21 - D2 v C2

[u]SEMI FINALS[/u]

Tue April 24 - Super Eight 2nd v 3rd
Wed April 25 - Super Eight 1st v 4th

[u]FINAL[/u]

Sat April 28 - Winner SF 1 V Winner SF 2

Ok, My Super Eight are obviously going to be

Australia, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, England, Pakistan, West Indies

Semi finalists… India and New Zealand for sure, This is the strongest Indian team I have seen so far, brimming with confidence after winning two home series vs WI and Sri Lanka and with Ganguly and a fit Yuvraj Singh in the side, not to mention Dhoni and Robin Utthapa.

New Zealand have always been a dark horse, but with their recent performance in Australia and with hard hitting players like Brendon McCullum, Craig McMillan and Jacob Oram in form, not to mention bowlers like Shane Bond, Vetorri and Daryll Tuffey(who is finally back in the side after a long break) they are a strong side.

However I am not sure about SA, Australia, Pakistan and West Indies…

Pakistan have lost two of their best bowlers (Akhtar and Asif)due to injury and even though their batting line up is formidable, their bowling looks very weak not to mention they have just lost a series against South Africa, but again you can never write them off.

Australia seem to be out of form lately, they’ve had a horrid Tri Series with England and NZ but Im sure they will bounce back for the World Cup, but will they be able to defeat and Inform SA side?. They have lost Lee, Warne and Symonds and with an aging Mcgrath they just dont look the mighty side that they used to.

West Indies are a good side and they have the home advantage… with hard hitters like Lara, Gayle and Chanderpaul along with a decent but inexperienced bowling line up they are pretty strong aswell.

SA well… you can never write them off can you, they have had a good home series v India and Pakistan, I still remember that magical victory v Aus when then chased 434… with hard hitters like Smith, Kallis, Gibbs, Boucher and an in form Prince not to mention a world class bowling line up including the likes of Pollock, Ntini and the fiery Nel it could be anybody’s game!.. any thoughts :slight_smile: ?

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There’s a world cup in cricket? Who knew? That means they’ve come up with an understandable set of rules, right?

3

Good post.
I’ve been living in a cricketless country for 7 years, with only headlines on the net to keep me sane. I’ll be doing my best to find internet coverage for the upcoming World Cup.
I agree with your picks. Can’t see any others making the cut.
As much as I’d like to see New Zealand win, I still see the Aussies taking the cup. Their form in the Hadley/Chappel series wasn’t up to scratch, for obvious reasons.
South Africa are also great (No 1 ranking at the moment?)and will be there at the end. England…well! They showed a bit of form in the Tri Series, but still need to get consistency back (a bit like NZ).
Looking forward to it.

  • To the previous poster (sorry new to this and can’t find the quote function).
    Yes, the Cricket World Cup (one dayers) has been around for a couple of decades now. As for the rules, easy to follow if you know the game. Same old story, if one isn’t bought up on a particular spor, it can be difficult to follow. I have the same problem with NHL and NFL.
4

[quote]Zen warrior wrote:
There’s a world cup in cricket? Who knew? That means they’ve come up with an understandable set of rules, right?[/quote]

Lol… yea, the first world cup was held in 1975 and then every 4 years since then.

There is also a knockout tournament, often called the mini world cup - ICC Championships Trophy, which is held every 2 years.

nzexpat pretty much said what I wanted to say :).

[quote]
Good post.
I’ve been living in a cricketless country for 7 years, with only headlines on the net to keep me sane. I’ll be doing my best to find internet coverage for the upcoming World Cup.
I agree with your picks. Can’t see any others making the cut.
As much as I’d like to see New Zealand win, I still see the Aussies taking the cup. Their form in the Hadley/Chappel series wasn’t up to scratch, for obvious reasons.
South Africa are also great (No 1 ranking at the moment?)and will be there at the end. England…well! They showed a bit of form in the Tri Series, but still need to get consistency back (a bit like NZ).
Looking forward to it. [/quote]

Lol… I feel your pain buddy, I dont think I could live in a cricket less country hehe

If you want to watch the world cup online this is a good site www.willow.tv, its pretty reasonably priced and the streaming quality is excellent.

Yea… The super eight teams are pretty much a forgone conclusion.

Regarding the Semi finals Australia and India are definitely going to be in
New Zealand, just looks a terrific side at the moment, yea they had a reaaallly bad home series against Sri Lanka… dunno what the hell happened there, but the kiwis have this knack of defeating Australia in crunch matches, I was really impressed by their 10 wicket victory over the Aussies in the recent series and I definitely feel they would make it to the semi’s

That then leaves SA, Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka and England to fight for the last spot. On paper and with the recent forms of each team, SA just looks the better side, dont you think?.. (yea they are number 1 at the moment.)

Pakistan - Like I said, lost two of their main bowlers and they have never looked very threatening in the recent world cups and again, they were defeated quite easily by SA in their recent tour.

Sri Lanka - They are a good side, murli, Vaas and Jayasuriya are world class players, but they just dont seem good enough to defeat an in form SA

West Indies - No one can doubt the ability and sheer class of their batsmen, with the likes of Lara and Chanderpaul in their line up and they do have a home advantage, but I still feel their bowling just isnt good enough and I dont feel they can defeat SA.

England - On paper their world cup squad looks pretty good actually -

Michael Vaughan (captain, age 32, Yorkshire),
Ed Joyce (28, Middlesex),
Ian Bell (24, Warwickshire),
Kevin Pietersen (26, Hampshire), Andrew Strauss (29, Middlesex),
Paul Collingwood (30, Durham),
Andrew Flintoff (29, Lancashire),
Ravi Bopara (21, Essex),
Paul Nixon (36, Leicestershire),
Jamie Dalrymple (26, Middlesex),
Liam Plunkett (21, Durham),
James Anderson (24, Lancashire),
Sajid Mahmood (25, Lancashire),
Jon Lewis (31, Gloucestershire),
Monty Panesar (24, Northants).

Paul Collingwood is a gem of a player, an excellent fielder and batsmen and he bowls as well, KP is just a brilliant explosive batsmen but he needs to be more consistent, Im not too sure about Vaughan, he is perpetually injured… Flintoff needs to be more consistent too, although he has matured a lot lately and his bowling has improved as well.

Monty, Mahmood, Plunkett… I just dont think they are experienced enough at the moment to really affect the top teams. (inspite of the recent Aussie tour)

I think England is really missing Simon Jones, The Ashes team truly was the best English side I have seen in my life.

But having said all this, do you think they can defeat an in form SA team?.. I just dont know, I would love to think so… but like you said, they are just so bloody inconsistent.

But to be honest mate, if you remember the recent Champions Trophy in India, none of the Asian teams even made it to the second round, so anything can happen really… last world cup Zimbabwe made it into the semis lol… it just depends on who performs better on the day.

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Let’s go Brian Lara!!!

I’m backing West Indies and the Aussie Posse.

Let’s Go!!!

-Kev

6

Cheers Nik 19.

I’ll follow the link through.
I can’t say to much at the moment for fear of bullshitting. Truth is my knowledge of the game, ie; players and stats, has fallen considerably in past years, for obvious reasons.
Nevertheless, now is the time to freshen up again.

My mate from England, who lives down south from me, will also appreciate the link. Another one suffering the non-existent coverage.

7

go go South Africa!!

Gonna have to watch this on the web for sure.

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Talk about upsets!.. South Africa, the number one cricket side in the world are reeling at 74/7 vs Ireland!!!

Ireland are playing unbelievable cricket…

England are 132/5 v Bermuda… they are in a spot of bother aswell

Sri Lanka though, are steady at 56/0 vs Scotland.

Could the minnows be the ones to watch this world cup??..

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My love for the game took a bit of a battering (like Steve Harmisons bowling) when I flew half way round the world to watch the most gutless performance by any English national team in history during the Ashes whitewash. However Im willing to forgive the lads somewhat if they put in a good performance in the world cup.

As for the tournament winners, a couple of months ago I would have put my house on the convicts to win but im not so sure now, I reckon its going to be one of the Asian teams or South Africa to take the trophy. As soon as the tournament kicks off though I’ll convince myself that Vaughny and the boys are going to do the business!

We are the Army
The Barmy Army
We are mental and we are mad
We are the loyalist cricket supporters that the world has ever had!

10

I gotta go with the hope that Tendulkar will manage to eke out one World cup victory in his career. But who knows with India, they’re far too unpredictable and temperamental in terms of performance as well as team selection. They looked fantastic about 6 months ago, but I’m a bit more circumspect right now…
My money’s on Sri Lanka or South Africa, just 'cos it pains me too much to think that Australia’s gonna win AGAIN.

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[quote]nzexpat wrote:
Cheers Nik 19.

I’ll follow the link through.
I can’t say to much at the moment for fear of bullshitting. Truth is my knowledge of the game, ie; players and stats, has fallen considerably in past years, for obvious reasons.
Nevertheless, now is the time to freshen up again.

My mate from England, who lives down south from me, will also appreciate the link. Another one suffering the non-existent coverage. [/quote]

No worries mate, Im glad I could be of some help… I understand that you’ve lost touch with the game but hopefully now with the link you will be able to watch all the matches, I’ll be discussing all the results on this thread anyway, so Im sure you will be able to freshen up again.

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I live in trinidad and Tobago, so I get to see the practice sessions and warm ups live (although tv is better, since you get replays that let you rag on the umpire/bowler/batsman).

West Indies are too unpredictable. As we here say,“they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

13

[quote]Ashes wrote:
My love for the game took a bit of a battering (like Steve Harmisons bowling) when I flew half way round the world to watch the most gutless performance by any English national team in history during the Ashes whitewash. However Im willing to forgive the lads somewhat if they put in a good performance in the world cup.

As for the tournament winners, a couple of months ago I would have put my house on the convicts to win but im not so sure now, I reckon its going to be one of the Asian teams or South Africa to take the trophy. As soon as the tournament kicks off though I’ll convince myself that Vaughny and the boys are going to do the business!

We are the Army
The Barmy Army
We are mental and we are mad
We are the loyalist cricket supporters that the world has ever had![/quote]

Tell me about it, watching it on TV was bad enough I can only imagine what it must have been like actually being there!

Thats one tour I would have no problems in forgetting. But anyway, thats behind us now and the boys played well today, they crushed Bermuda -

England batted first and scored 286/8, Joyce (7) and Vaughan (18) opened, didnt really do much… Bell (45), KP (43)… steadied the innings, Collingwood (7) got out cheaply for like the first time this season, Flintoff (24) played a really stupid shot, almost like he wanted to get out!
Dalrymple (76) played a gem of an innings and guided England to a respectable score (Still 20 - 25 runs short IMO)

They cleaned out Bermuda for 45 runs, all the bowlers getting wickets and started their world cup campaign with a good solid victory by 241 runs in their first warm up game.

My favs for the cup are India, SA or Aus (just cant rule them out man)

14

[quote]languid wrote:
I gotta go with the hope that Tendulkar will manage to eke out one World cup victory in his career. But who knows with India, they’re far too unpredictable and temperamental in terms of performance as well as team selection. They looked fantastic about 6 months ago, but I’m a bit more circumspect right now…
My money’s on Sri Lanka or South Africa, just 'cos it pains me too much to think that Australia’s gonna win AGAIN. [/quote]

Yea I hope so too man, the premier batsman was the player of the 2003 edition after scoring 673 runs to help India reach the final.

Tendulkar, holds the records for most one-day runs (14,783), hundreds (41) and appearances (381) has also played some memorable knocks in the World Cup.

Im sure he will do something special, in this, his fifth world cup, but India has got a well rounded team and they have done well without him firing.

6 months ago, as you rightly said… they were the best team out there, but then with the Chappel - Ganguly Spat and Yuvraj’s injury etc they just lost their way, but now with Yuvi and Ganguly back and in form, along with Dhoni, Khan and Kumble not to mention the exciting young prospect - Robin Uthappa, this is by far the strongest Indian side I have seen ever.

Sri Lanka are a good side, but India thrashed them last month but yea SA are definitely strong contenders… I hope someone else wins this time, If Australia win again… I will go mad.

It would be mind blowing to have a SA Aus final.

15

i live in Trinidad too and really hope West Indies can pull it together!
Datta did you see the news? what can you carry into these games in your cooler?

16

Water and maybe protein shakes? No glass bottles, didn’t see all of the news, so I am not sure. But going to any game means you’ll have to take the shuttle, since they won’t allow cars anywhere near the grounds. POS will be locked down.

17

Well day 1 of the Warm up games went pretty well I think apart from a near major upset…

England crushed Bermuda by 241 runs, Dalrymple top scoring with 76(79)and Lewis picking up 3 wickets.

Sri Lanka destroyed Scotland by 159 runs scoring 294/7 with Jayasuriya - 77(62) and Sangakkara - 81(85) showing good form. They bowled out Scotland for 135 with Vaas taking 2 wickets.

West Indies the home side, saved themselves from a big upset vs Kenya.
They batted first and scored 268/6 with Gayle - 75 and Samuels 100 consolidating after a couple of early wickets.
Kenya fought hard and scored 247/7 losing by just 21 runs with Shah 41 and Obuya 54* with Powell picking up 2 wickets.

SA were once reeling at 80/8 but fought back hard with a great partnership between Hall 67(98) and Peterson 29(66)and ended up with 192.
Ireland at one stage were looking like they were going to beat the number one team at 134/4 but then quickly collapsed and were bowled out for 157 with Hall getting 3 wickets along with Langeveldt getting 4.

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Power 102 had a guy saying $18 for a beer and $100 for a roti!!!one guy on TV could not take his sport bottle in so no protein shakes buddy! can you say price gouging? hope the games are exciting enough to overshadow the exorbitant prices and strict rules for patrons (no non sponsor clothing allowed?! WTF)

19

[quote]cosai1 wrote:
Power 102 had a guy saying $18 for a beer and $100 for a roti!!!one guy on TV could not take his sport bottle in so no protein shakes buddy! can you say price gouging? hope the games are exciting enough to overshadow the exorbitant prices and strict rules for patrons (no non sponsor clothing allowed?! WTF)[/quote]

This crap is real. It is on today’s Express, see if you get it. You cannot carry any bottles, spoons, forks, etc inside the compound. Including plastic bottles.
If any drinks are to be carried inside, they must be in a cup and examined!

All prices are in US, so a $1 doubles is now $6, $3 water is $18.

Better to stay home and watch tv.

20

Day 2 of the warm up games…

India demolished Holland by 182 runs scoring 300/9, with the maestro Tendulkar scoring a quick fire 61(59) and ‘The Wall’ Dravid playing a cool captains innings of 74(92).
They cleaned up Holland for 118 runs with Singh bieng the pick of the bowlers taking 4 wickets.

Pakistan downed Canada by 77 runs, scoring 273/8 with Captain Inzy scoring 59 and Akmal 59*.
Canada were cleaned up for 196 with Hafeez being the pick of the bowlers taking 3 wickets.

The Champions Australia crush Zimbabwe by 106 runs scoring 290/7 with Watson 81(88) and Clarke 82(100) showing good form.
Zimbabwe were restricted to 184/7 with Clark being the pick of the bowlers taking 2 wickets.
Its interesting the point out, that they convicts were NOT able to bowl Zimbabwe out and apart from the two batsmen mentioned above, none of their batsmen fired… interesting.

Now the biggest upset of the tournament so far is Bangladesh beating New Zealand by 2 wickets!!!
Set 227 for victory, Mashrafe Mortaza, the No.9, launched two huge sixes off James Franklin in the penultimate over to seal their first win ever one-day win over New Zealand.

Well… just goes to show you how unpredictable cricket can be!