The Cricket showpiece is here, and The Gurgler is somewhat interested in it, somewhere below the Football World Cup and miles ahead of the r**** u**** world cup. But armed with Foxtel who are showing every match, no matter the minnow status or New Zealand ground, we’ll probably care than a lot of others
Unlike the Football World Cup, Australia gets a fair chance to host a World Cup tournament, not that the ICC are much better than FIFA. And unlike most of the other World Cups, Australia has good chance to win it.
The games are spread across both Australia and New Zealand, and looking for a winner it must be considered that the kiwis will play their games in New Zealand, similar to the 1992 World Cup where they were very competitive. From memory, Australia weren’t on that occasion. From the same memory I picture David Boon as wicket keeper for some reason. Ah, those were the days.
Australia’s lead up has been all about Michael Clarke and his hamstring. Hopefully he will be found fit and ready to play for the first few games so we can hear less about him and more about the actual team. The team itself has been impressive in warm up games, and that’s on the back of some good one day form in the summer. A real bonus of late is the modern day Andrew Symonds – Glenn Maxwell – showing the good, leaving the bad and ugly back in the pavilion, and looking the goods, for now.
With Michael Clarke going to be a day by day prospect, the selectors could do worse than keep Brad Hogg fit. On the back of another successful Big Bash, the Sultan of Wrongun took eight wickets in Perth grade cricket just to show that he would still be a useful addition in addition to fan’s favourite tag.
Enough about Australia though, as there are another 13 teams. Out of those are a bunch of minnows who won’t win and the usual West indies politics which will ensure they won’t either. That leaves the usual suspects – who we have borrowed the odds from Centrebet to highlight their chances.Visit our partners,shoes – leaders in fashionable footwear!
| AUSTRALIA | $ 2.85 |
| SOUTH AFRICA | $ 3.75 |
| NEW ZEALAND | $ 6.00 |
| INDIA | $ 10.00 |
| ENGLAND | $ 12.00 |
| SRI LANKA | $ 13.00 |
| PAKISTAN | $ 21.00 |
For the record, we think the final four will be Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sri Lanka, however the ultimate dark horse are the always unpredictable Pakistan highlighted by case in point Shahid Afridi,
From there South Africa will more than likely choke, as they always seem to do, it will be interesting to see the new and exciting way to disappoint this tournament. And whether New Zealand will be as effective on Australian soil remains to be seen. So, that leaves Sri Lanka and Australia to make the final, and why wouldn’t Australia channel the Socceroos and win the big prize at home.
Here’s a range of our best tips…
WIN – AUSTRALIA – $2.85
FINAL FOUR – SOUTH AFRICA – $1.42
MOST RUNS – BRENDON MCCALLUM – $15.00
MOST RUNS – KUMAR SANGAKARRA – $19.00
MOST WICKETS – MORNE MORKEL – $17.00
MOST WICKETS – LASITH MALINGA – $17.00
FIRST6 GAMES SUPER MULTI $23.00
AUSTRALIA to win, v England
NEW ZEALAND to win, v Sri Lanka
PAKISTAN to win, v India
SOUTH AFRICA to win, v Zimbabwe
WEST INDIES to win, v Ireland
AFGHANISTAN to win, v Bangladesh
Stay tuned for our sort-of daily catch up for our future super multis.
There’s also the chance of a David v Goliath upset like Ireland pulling England’s pants down in the last World Cup or Pakistan loss to the same side that cost the life of Bob Woolmer. And with Zimbabwe comfortably beating Sri Lanka in a lead up game, anything could be possible.
Here’s our thoughts on the potential giant killings.
AFGHANISTAN to beat Bangladesh
BANGLADESH to beat England
UAE to beat West indies
ZIMBABWE to beat South Africa
The games are split into two groups for the initial stages from 14th Feb to 15th March. The knockout stages begin with Quarter finals from 18th of March to the 21st. Semi arrive on 24th March and 26th of March, with the big blast off on the 29th March.
Here’s our list of highlights for you to keep an eye out for during the pool stages.
SAT 14th Feb
AUSTRALIA v ENGLAND
SUN 15th Feb
INDIA v PAKISTAN
WED 18th Feb
BANGLADESH v AFGHANISTAN
MON 23rd Feb
ENGLAND v SCOTLAND
WED 25th Feb
IRELAND v UAE
SAT 28th Feb
AUSTRALIA v NEW ZEALAND
FRI 6th March
INDIA v WEST INDIES
MON 8th March
AUSTRALIA v SRI LANKA
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Well that will do nicely for now, don’t want to get too bogged down in the details.
We will leave you with a players to watch for each team in a nice gallery below.
Stay tuned for our daily catch up.
Why not check out the official World Cup site from the ICC. That’s where the below pcitures are borrowed from.
[huge_it_gallery id=”11″]
