Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

sussexpob wrote:Nothing wrong with a retro kit, but that one...is...well....

I've lost my sunglasses. thank goodness I probably won't be able to watch a home world cup

Return of sun block guerrilla face painting?

It's time.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Return of sun block guerrilla face painting?

It's time.

Are you suggesting this went out of style......oh dear why did no one say anything...

These are the players SL have been picking outside Asia.

Dickwella
Gunaratne
Kusal Mendis
Chandimal
Dhananjaya de Silva
Tharanga
Thisara
Pathirana
Lakmal
Malinga
Sandakan

Curiously Mathews has played a lot, but not in these countries. Same with Akila Dananjaya I presume Mathews will play if fit.

No one fancies SL to win the WC.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:This thread is for any CWC thoughts.

First England.

Bairstow
Roy
Root
Morgan
Stokes
Buttler
Moeen
Willey
Plunkett
Rashid
Wood

I have a sneaky feeling the starting XI will be:

Bairstow
Roy
Root
Morgan
Stokes
Buttler
Moeen
Woakes
Plunkett
Rashid
Archer

Wasn't Archer left out the WI squad? Going to be a late run.

I think they'll go Curran or Willey in that spot. Maybe even stick with Wood. There'll be injuries so probably most of the pace bowlers will get a game.

Moving onto the West Indies. Based on appearances in games outside Asia in the last two years.

Lewis
Gayle
S.Hope
Hetmyer
Mohammed
Powell
Holder
Bishoo
Nurse
Joseph
Gabriel

Possibly Samuels and the returning Darren Bravo. WI have fielded 35 ODI players in the last two years.

ianp1970 wrote:

Arthur Crabtree wrote:This thread is for any CWC thoughts.

First England.

Bairstow
Roy
Root
Morgan
Stokes
Buttler
Moeen
Willey
Plunkett
Rashid
Wood

I have a sneaky feeling the starting XI will be:

Bairstow
Roy
Root
Morgan
Stokes
Buttler
Moeen
Woakes
Plunkett
Rashid
Archer

imo England are favourites. no. 1 ODI team will be playing at home.

This new look batting lineup have made to look scores of 300 very easy unlike the past England team. None of Cook, Bell,KP, Morgan have a better top score than Alex and Jason. Jonny too will someday outscore the previous ODI batsmen. The top 3 can make the most of power play. Joe and Morgan can play the role of consolidating of the top order crumbles. Else they too can play run a ball innings or better. Batting is deep too, so even if wickets fall the team can post big scores. 7 bowling options in that 11. Not the best bowling attack, but there is more than enough batting to cover up the extra runs that the bowlers might leak. The batsman are not averaging very high but the strength lies in wonderful combo of batting average and strike rate for all batsman from 1 to 10.

Winning against England is extremely tough in ODI. Play two spinners who can beat both edges of the bat. Only that type of bowling could choke the runs. Do not allow them to middle the ball. The typical bowling is likely to be smashed.

Jonny,Jason and Jos will easily make any playing 11 of other teams.Ben is the best pace all-rounder at the moment.

This is Englands best chance to finally win the world cup. Not only are they the number 1 team but there are no associate members to cause them problems

I'm sure England will find a way even without the associates.

The lack of the other sides will really diminish this WC for me.

As will the laboured format of the qualifying round.

yuppie wrote:This is Englands best chance to finally win the world cup. Not only are they the number 1 team but there are no associate members to cause them problems

When Alex and Jason scored150+ it was a shock. Only Robin Smith from previous century has 175. None of Cook, KP,Bell Trott,Morgan seemed capable of scoring 150 neither did they score any 150+. Now suddenly with newbie look team, we have seen couple of big 150+ in just 2 to 3 years.

Associates have made them move out of major tournaments couple of times as you pointed. Afghanistan and other lower ranked teams will find it incredibly tough to beat this new look England team.

Onto Pakistan. It feels like their team is bewilderingly changeable, but they've used seven fewer players than India in the last two years. This is the team based on selection outside Asia in the last two years.

Azhar Ali
Fakhar Zaman
Babar Azam
Shoaib Malik
Mohammad Hafeez
Sarfraz Ahmed
Imad Wasim
Shadab Khan
Mohammad Amir
Hasan Ali
Junaid Khan

Faheem Ashraf has played a similar amount of games then there is a falling off to the other options. Imam ul Haq might open in reality. Not sure how much in favour Hafeez is at the moment. Or Azhar. Haris Sohail might figure.

SL is one team which is totally struggling with injuries, out of form players, la k of quality in playing 11 and even with the team combination.

WI ODI players are busy with T20 franchisee tournaments. Will Gayle, Russ and Narine make the WC squad. Guess there is still a dispute between them and selectors.

Narine hasn't played for the WI since 2016. Russell has played one game since 2015.