ICC World Cup 2015

So, this deserved a thread of its own imo.
http://www.icc-cricket.com/cricket-world-cup
Australia and South Africa are the hot favourites due to their current form (especially the proteas) and home conditions for the Aussies. New Zeland are also in good form and if McCullum continues his purple patch, then they could bypass their semis hurdle this time. Now, for the current champs. Indian team may be struggling these days, but their players are all talented. If Kohli can control his temper, then he has the ability to Ohko manhandle any attack. Rohit is considered the most talented batsman currently. Wish he does justice to that talent.
Will add more once i get back to my comp. Go India...
#wontGiveItBack

Edit: just noticed that i was rebadged. Luck is on our side :)
 
India should make the semis (England or Sri Lanka in either Sydney or Melbourne should be a pretty easy game for them in the quarter finals), but unless something odd happens that means Australia or NZ at home, doubt they get any further than that given how badly they got beaten in their last away series against those two sides. The draw almost reads like it was designed to get India as far as possible.

New Zealand seem very likely to win to me, strong pace attack, good spinners, and good batting, plus home games up to the final (and the final at a very NZ friendly Australian venue).
 
Australia > New Zealand > South Africa for my top 3.
The draw almost reads like it was designed to get India as far as possible.
It was. In 2007 India didn't make the finals and the ICC lost a bunch of potential revenue. When 1 country makes 80% of your money you do what you can to make them win
 
Well all the matches had the expected results. NZ have improved a lot since 2011. Aussies tamed England as always. "Catches win matches" was proved here once again. Finch played beautifully.
Zimbabwe gave South Africa a mini scare. If only they had capitalized on the early wickets :/ It was satisfying to watch Steyn getting hammered by the minnows though. ;)
India vs Pak was as always a much anticipated game. Kohli once again showed why he is considered to be one of the batsman currently. Raina and Dhawan played good innings too. There was one concern though. The death over collapse has been a problem for quite some time and it still remains the same. Hope they can deal with it sooner. Bowlers impressed me a lot. Mohit was very econonic. Shami had both pace and the line and length. Ashwin did his job of binding middle overs quickly too. The pacers just have to take care of not deviate from their line too much. It showed in patches, especially yadav. All in all, a one sided match. But, a win over pak is always a celebration ( no bad feelings guys, just good competition :] ).
 
Well all the matches had the expected results. NZ have improved a lot since 2011. Aussies tamed England as always. "Catches win matches" was proved here once again. Finch played beautifully.
Zimbabwe gave South Africa a mini scare. If only they had capitalized on the early wickets :/ It was satisfying to watch Steyn getting hammered by the minnows though. ;)
India vs Pak was as always a much anticipated game. Kohli once again showed why he is considered to be one of the batsman currently. Raina and Dhawan played good innings too. There was one concern though. The death over collapse has been a problem for quite some time and it still remains the same. Hope they can deal with it sooner. Bowlers impressed me a lot. Mohit was very econonic. Shami had both pace and the line and length. Ashwin did his job of binding middle overs quickly too. The pacers just have to take care of not deviate from their line too much. It showed in patches, especially yadav. All in all, a one sided match. But, a win over pak is always a celebration ( no bad feelings guys, just good competition :] ).
Too biased towards India, eh?

Anyways, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are clearly the top 3. The "c"-word tag should no longer be by South Africa's side now as we've seen how Miller and Duminy handled the situation after 83/4 vs Zimbabwe. England has a lot to achieve, and Morgan is most likely to get a Cookesque kick out of the side because of a string of poor performances, so he definitely has to perform in England's first match. Sri Lanka are always the "out of nowhere" team and without extraordinary performance(s), they easily manage the knockout stages (as we saw, they were in the final of CWC 2011 without extraordinary performances) so they are not to be taken lightly whatsoever. India are on to do something big, but sadly they do not have the side they need to get to (which is still possible), or win the final. Dhoni will surely need to do his best this time to successfully defend the trophy.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Pakistan never fails to deliver a surprising campaign in World-level series. Whether it is an epic comeback, or no comeback at all. West Indies are significantly vulnerable now due to no Bravo and Pollard, and overall a side that isn't that experienced or "good enough", simply, for the giants. Ireland have to be really cautious and show their best. The loss to Scotland was really demoralizing, but they have to improve and perform to raise their standards to what they were before (in the previous World Cup). Their main drawback can be considered the lack of form in their players. Scotland on the other hand, aforementioned, got a serious boost in moral due to defeating Ireland by a huge margin. Their narrow lost against the West Indies (by 3 runs) was also inspiring as they certainly are in the mood to cause upsets this year.

Zimbabwe is what we should not take lightly this year. Seriously, they have stunned me, at least, with their amazing warm-up performances vs New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Restricting the World's best team of the previous year to 157 runs without any more batsman left is quite amazing, and then again the second-highest score by a batsman was Ross Taylor's 11. Then they pummelled on the Lankans and defeated them in a totally one-sided 7 wicket victory, and the only reason they had to chase a higher target than what New Zealand managed was because they rested their better bowlers. Masakadza shone with a belligerent hundred.

Afghanistan's first World Cup won't be that good (as in, their performance won't be that good), but the fact that they made it to the World Cup alone is quite astonishing and amazing. Still, they might be able to cause upsets with a somewhat experienced squad. The same can be said for the UAE, except for the "experienced" part. Should still put up a contest against Afghanistan, though, at least. Bangladesh on the other hand aren't quite performing as of lately. Neither of their seniors, or performers really, have put on a show in the recent past. If Shakib al Hasan gives an all-round gem, they are able to win against even Pakistan, so they surely shouldn't be overlooked.

NOTE: The opinions expressed only represent my thoughts, not of any other. However, if you agree, I don't mind. Also, if there's a lot of appreciation or something in any of the teams' description, it's not intended and I am not biased towards any team specifically whatsoever. Patriotism or team routing on the other hand is a possibility, but just so you know about that anyways, I'm a Pakistani and tend to support my team in most matches in which it is participating. If Pakistan isn't playing, then Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and (a new addition to the list:) Zimbabwe are my favourites to win the match.

EDIT: You should probably make the title "ICC Cricket World Cup 2015", and reserve a post in which you add all the match results (first & second innings team scores, 2 highest scores from both teams, two best figures from both teams and win margin), fixtures and anything else. Also, ESPN Cricinfo has every match's analysis, ball-by-ball with commentary, scores, stats and pre-, mid- and post-match reports.
 
Too biased towards India, eh?

Anyways, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are clearly the top 3. The "c"-word tag should no longer be by South Africa's side now as we've seen how Miller and Duminy handled the situation after 83/4 vs Zimbabwe. England has a lot to achieve, and Morgan is most likely to get a Cookesque kick out of the side because of a string of poor performances, so he definitely has to perform in England's first match. Sri Lanka are always the "out of nowhere" team and without extraordinary performance(s), they easily manage the knockout stages (as we saw, they were in the final of CWC 2011 without extraordinary performances) so they are not to be taken lightly whatsoever. India are on to do something big, but sadly they do not have the side they need to get to (which is still possible), or win the final. Dhoni will surely need to do his best this time to successfully defend the trophy.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Pakistan never fails to deliver a surprising campaign in World-level series. Whether it is an epic comeback, or no comeback at all. West Indies are significantly vulnerable now due to no Bravo and Pollard, and overall a side that isn't that experienced or "good enough", simply, for the giants. Ireland have to be really cautious and show their best. The loss to Scotland was really demoralizing, but they have to improve and perform to raise their standards to what they were before (in the previous World Cup). Their main drawback can be considered the lack of form in their players. Scotland on the other hand, aforementioned, got a serious boost in moral due to defeating Ireland by a huge margin. Their narrow lost against the West Indies (by 3 runs) was also inspiring as they certainly are in the mood to cause upsets this year.

Zimbabwe is what we should not take lightly this year. Seriously, they have stunned me, at least, with their amazing warm-up performances vs New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Restricting the World's best team of the previous year to 157 runs without any more batsman left is quite amazing, and then again the second-highest score by a batsman was Ross Taylor's 11. Then they pummelled on the Lankans and defeated them in a totally one-sided 7 wicket victory, and the only reason they had to chase a higher target than what New Zealand managed was because they rested their better bowlers. Masakadza shone with a belligerent hundred.

Afghanistan's first World Cup won't be that good (as in, their performance won't be that good), but the fact that they made it to the World Cup alone is quite astonishing and amazing. Still, they might be able to cause upsets with a somewhat experienced squad. The same can be said for the UAE, except for the "experienced" part. Should still put up a contest against Afghanistan, though, at least. Bangladesh on the other hand aren't quite performing as of lately. Neither of their seniors, or performers really, have put on a show in the recent past. If Shakib al Hasan gives an all-round gem, they are able to win against even Pakistan, so they surely shouldn't be overlooked.

NOTE: The opinions expressed only represent my thoughts, not of any other. However, if you agree, I don't mind. Also, if there's a lot of appreciation or something in any of the teams' description, it's not intended and I am not biased towards any team specifically whatsoever. Patriotism or team routing on the other hand is a possibility, but just so you know about that anyways, I'm a Pakistani and tend to support my team in most matches in which it is participating. If Pakistan isn't playing, then Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and (a new addition to the list:) Zimbabwe are my favourites to win the match.

EDIT: You should probably make the title "ICC Cricket World Cup 2015", and reserve a post in which you add all the match results (first & second innings team scores, 2 highest scores from both teams, two best figures from both teams and win margin), fixtures and anything else. Also, ESPN Cricinfo has every match's analysis, ball-by-ball with commentary, scores, stats and pre-, mid- and post-match reports.
Sorry for sounding biased, bro. I kinda got carried away. And, as i said "no hard feelings". Pakistan need Ajmal though, its bad that he is not playing despite not being guilty. And yeah, I am adding the things you mentioned.
 
Pakistan dug themselves a hole in the early going against India and couldn't dig their way out, surprised how passive Shehzad was especially against Shami and Yadav who we've seen go for a fair few runs against Australia and England recently. Yadav seems stuck between bowling quickly and trying to slow down for accuracy, but with his pace and a little movement he can take a lot of wickets if the team can accept that a few wayward deliveries go with that.

England just can't bowl at the death and their bowler selection is disjointed to say the least. Australia have 3 big hitters at the top of the order and another 3 at the bottom with Smith and Bailey (or Clarke) in the middle of that -- if any of the three at the top go well then 300+ is almost certain, it's a simple plan but it worked for 3 world cups not so long ago.

Vettori still has it for New Zealand and the three quicks are firing, the game against Australia in Auckland a couple of weeks from now should be an awesome game. Sri Lankan bowling looked a mess, especially with Malinga out of form and Kulasekara not finding any swing.

South Africa got a bit of a scare, but they recovered well, wouldn't be shocked if Zimbabwe ambush at least one of Pakistan or India with at least a close run thing, they got a win over Australia in the Zimbabwe Triangle Series a little while ago.
 
Holy crap New Zealand are gonna heat up this contest! Australia vs New Zealand and India vs South Africa will be the best matches from Pool A and Pool B respectively IMO.
 
England cricket seem to have a knack of making decisions either far too late or far too early both on and off the field. That said, NZ at the cake tin is a tough ask for any side.
 
Looks like India can easily go through to the quarters(if they beat SA, they can easily stay the the top of The pool too.)
They got their harder matches right up at the start(first PAK, then SA)the rest are easy matches(UAE, Zimbabwe, Ireland etc.)This gives India a lot of momentum and once they have gathered momentum, they can Atleast make the semis if not the finale and cup.

Hope they win it #WontGiveItBack
 
I'm not sure on how India will go against stronger sides like NZ, SA and Aus particularly on pacey wickets. Their bowling line-up is slightly above average at best. I can see them making quarters easy and semis only if they don't end up playing Aus or NZ. Semis is likely

Aus, SA, NZ and Ind are my final 4
 
How is it that the ICC, a global organisation with huge sums of money, doesn't have the common sense to relocate the Bangladesh vs Australia match in light of a cyclone being forecast to hit Brisbane.
 
How is it that the ICC, a global organisation with huge sums of money, doesn't have the common sense to relocate the Bangladesh vs Australia match in light of a cyclone being forecast to hit Brisbane.
Or have a back-up day for matches
 
This game will be interesting. A target of 308 isn't much for South Africa, but given India can bowl and that the ground is so big (aka huge outfield), it will be surely a thriller! Even if India don't get early wickets, their fielding is extremely impressive and they give away 20 less runs in the first 10 overs because of that usually. However, South Africa's line-up isn't to be underestimated and they have solid batsmen from top-top order to lower-middle order.
 
This game will be interesting. A target of 308 isn't much for South Africa, but given India can bowl and that the ground is so big (aka huge outfield), it will be surely a thriller! Even if India don't get early wickets, their fielding is extremely impressive and they give away 20 less runs in the first 10 overs because of that usually. However, South Africa's line-up isn't to be underestimated and they have solid batsmen from top-top order to lower-middle order.
The interesting thing with the MCG is that the size of the ground makes it possible to make a lot of runs through the gaps -- anything that gets near the fence and isn't straight to a fielder should be 3 runs. The other thing is the boundaries straight are not as long as the square boundaries.

With that said, apparently South Africa decided to strangle themselves..
 
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Man I want to get excited already having AUS at 140/9 but after our innings vs Scotland went I can't celebrate too early :/
Also jeez South Africa gave the Windies a hiding.. De Villiers 162 off 66 was amazing

EDIT: holy fuck what a game
 
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Amazing game that, didn't think Australia were even going to be close until Starc bowled Elliott first ball after the break.
 
Yeah it's kind of unfair having a scheduled break to show some ads in the middle of an innings, it really messes up momentum. It's happened to NZ 3 times now after bowling teams out quickly. I don't see why they don't move it forward and have it between innings in those situations. But yeah Starc bowled extremely well, had me really nervous at the end. I hope Aussie lose to someone else in playoffs so we don't have to play them again over the ditch, the result would probably be a lot different..

Also if Sri Lanka beat Australia then NZ can intentionally lose to Bangladesh so Aussie don't make it out of groups due to net run rate :]
 
Australia still have games against Afghanistan and Scotland to fix the net run rate. Plus given how badly Sri Lanka have been playing I don't think they're much chance, if not for a bit of inexperience I think they'd have lost to Afghanistan.

Elliott was fresh in regardless, so I'm not sure the scheduled break did much, they probably should look at moving it though. For all that Starc bowled well, Johnson was pretty mediocre, Aussies missed Faulkner.
 
No way are Sri Lanka playing badly... one match wrong doesn't mean everything's wrong. Look at South Africa for example, they first lost to India by 130 runs and then bounced back with a 257 runs win for themselves. Similarly, Sri Lanka have played brilliantly in their previous two games. Not to say their top order is in form and their middle order is always ready with Mathews and Perera (although does not always perform with that).

Meanwhile, on the other hand, Pakistan are enroute to a loss against Zimbabwe... if that happens, it's most likely good for the Irish, because if Pakistan lose to Zimbabwe they'll have to win their remaining matches by big margins to remain in the race to qualify. That is, however, very unlikely and anyways the worst case scenario for Ireland is that they lose to Pakistan and Zimbabwe by close margins and then to India and South Africa by big margins.

This means the two probables on the last spot for Pool B, considering West Indies don't hit a NRR low in the table, are Zimbabwe and Ireland if Pakistan loses to Zimbabwe. If Pakistan wins, it's Pakistan or Ireland for the last spot. Then again, the Irish still don't have a confirm spot because the worst case scenario can still happen. However, if West Indies fail to keep up with India and don't win against UAE with a big margin, Ireland certainly get a spot.

My predictions: New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh/England from Pool A and India, South Africa, West Indies and Ireland/Zimbabwe from Pool B.
 
Sri Lanka have a bunch of problems; a bowling attack with serious holes (they've absolutely leaked runs -- 3 of the 4 teams they've played have made their top score against them) and a top order brittle against pace bowling such that even Afghanistan had them in trouble until near the end of that match. They've done well in fairly competitive matches against England and Bangladesh, but neither are remotely strong sides.

Pakistan bowlers did well to pull off the win against Zimbabwe, Misbah deserves some respect for digging in so many times while the rest of the top order crashes around him. Pakistan need to put a couple of big thumpings on Ireland and the UAE, and probably hope India put a beating on the West Indies.
 
I found this thread about 5 seconds ago: time to post my thoughts:

India and New Zealand are going to top their groups. Everything that went wrong for India in the tri - series has been more or less corrected: Their bowling attack has teeth, the fielding unit has gotten back to its previous status, and every major batsman has clicked at least once. New Zealand on the other hand have hit a whole new level, firing on all cylinders: The batting line - up has players like Brendon McCullum, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson: players who can be stable or volatile as needed, and match - winners. Southee has the highest wicket haul in the tournament, mainly on the back of his 7 wickets against (England? I forget), while the rest of the attack is clicking behind him. Daniel Vettori is also playing at a high level. Overall, NZ have come a long way from 2011, and may even make a deeper run than back then.
 

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