2011 ICC World Cup Thread

[sahyder1]

We're just about a month away from the World Cup. ICC has changed it to 14 teams instead of the 16 that participated in 2007. The start times are going to be awful here in the US with the games starting at 11 PM and 3:30 AM for the most part but I still planning on catch as much of it as possible. I'm not entirely happy with the Pakistan squad. I am not a fan of Kamran Akmal being included. I would let Afridi open. Let Razzaq and Umar Akmal be the heavy hitters at the bottom. I think Umar Akmal has shown enough as a keeper that he should be the keeper on the ODI/Twenty20 teams. I've had enough of Kamran Akmal already.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Mohammad Amir be cleared by the ICC in time for the World Cup. I am expecting Butt and Asif to be facing suspensions though.

Groups

Group A

Australia

New Zealand

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Zimbabwe

Canada

Kenya

Group B

Bangladesh

England

India

South Africa

West Indies

Ireland

Netherlands

Squads:

Australia

Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wk), Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, David Hussey, Cameron White, Tim Paine (wk), Steven Smith, John Hastings, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Doug Bollinger

Bangladesh

Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Shahriar Nafees, Raqibul Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim, Naeem Islam, Mahmudullah, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Suhrawadi Shuvo

Canada

Ashish Bagai (capt & wk), Rizwan Cheema (vice-capt), Harvir Baidwan, Nitish Kumar, Hiral Patel, Tyson Gordon, Henry Osinde, John Davison, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Parth Desai, Karl Whatham, Khurram Chohan, Jimmy Hansra, Zubin Surkari, Balaji Rao.

England

Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy

India

MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin

Ireland

William Porterfield (capt), Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Niall O'Brien (wk), Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, John Mooney, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Albert van der Merwe, Gary Wilson (wk), Andrew White, Ed Joyce.]

Kenya

Jimmy Kamande (capt), Seren Waters, Alex Obanda, David Obuya, Collins Obuya, Steve Tikolo, Tamnay Mishra, Rakep Patel, Maurice Ouma, Thomas Odoyo, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Elijah Otieno, Peter Ongondo, Shem Ngoche, James Ngoche.

Netherlands

Peter Borren (capt), Wesley Baressi (wk), Mudassar Bukhari, Atse Buurman Tom Cooper, Tom de Grooth, Alexei Kervezee, Bradley Kruger, Bernard Loots, Adeel Raja, Pieter Seelaar, Eric Swarczynski, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Berend Westdijk, Bas Zuiderent.

New Zealand

Daniel Vettori, Hamish Bennett, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Jamie How, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Luke Woodcock

Pakistan

Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal (wk), Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Ahmed Shehzad

South Africa

Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers (wk), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne van Wyk (wk)

Sri Lanka

Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath.

West Indies

Darren Sammy (capt), Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith, Sulieman Benn, Nikita Miller, Carlton Baugh (wk), Andre Rusell, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Adrian Barath.

Zimbabwe

Elton Chigumbura (capt), Regis Chakabva, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Sean Ervine, Gregory Lamb, Shingirai Masakadza, Christopher Mpofu, Raymond Price, Edward Rainsford, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya, Sean Williams

Schedule

Edited January 20, 2011 by sahyder1

[gunnar hendershow]

It was getting near time to make this thread. I'm at a loss for who to pick, I can't envision Australia winning again though. So much seems to be pointing towards India winning, at home no less, but maybe also South Africa will get over that hurdle at long last. England and Sri Lanka belong in contender's discussion too.

ESPN3 is going to be streaming the matches, correct?

[sahyder1]

ESPN3 is going to be streaming the matches, correct?

Are they? I will have to check. I was planning on watching it through my usual means but Willow launched a cricket channel that will supposedly be carrying the matches. I need to call up DirecTV to find out how much they will be charging for it.

[Baddar]

Can't wait.

Here's hoping the fixture times aren't too sucky for me. Off work late Feb/early March for a week, so that will help. Ideally I'd watch as much as possible, but I'll no doubt end up catching just the England games (or what I can of them).

[Starvinho]

Ah cool, was a bit undecided whether to start the thread myself yesterday when I posted the England squad, but you have done a much better job than I would have. England have a huge chance to win the World Cup this time round, our cricket in every format has been top notch for about two years now.

If we can get Pietersen firing more centuries and also if we can get Collingwood chipping in a bit more with the bat then that would boost our chances. Bell and Trott are both in amazing form with the bat, Strauss always chips in too, but I'm gonna predict a big tournament Eoin Morgan. I like how this lad bats and I think he's gonna be a big player for us, not only for the World Cup, but for years to come in all formats.

Bowler-wise I don't have too many worries, when you see Swann, Anderson and Broad in the line-up it fills you with confidence! I think Ajmal Shahzad will be the suprise bowler for England, he should pitch in with a good few wickets.

[Sir Alan LCSugar]

I can't see past India at the moment, not sure SA have what it takes again. I would like to see an England vs India final and I think it could happen. England are one decent all-rounder away from being a world class outfit, can't see Luke Wright going too far. Never count out Australia though, they always do well in the World Cup environment.

[DFF]

Is it top 4 from each group go to Quarter-Finals, or top two have Semi-Finals?

[Baddar]

Four from each group, I think.

[sahyder1]

Is it top 4 from each group go to Quarter-Finals, or top two have Semi-Finals?

Four from each group, I think.

It is top 4 from each group.

[Starvinho]

Canada squad because I saw it wasn't up there;

Ashish Bagai (captain), Rizwan Cheema (vice-captain), Harvir Baidwan, Khurram Chohan, John Davison, Parth Desai, Tyson Gordon, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Amarbir Hansra, Nitish Kumar, Henry Osinde, Hiral Patel, Balaji Rao, Zubin Surkari, Karl Whatham.

[EddieG]

Wait, what the hell does Holland keep doing at these World Cups?

[Mongrel]

How do you mean? They are one of if not the best associate nation going around, have the best associate player by a mile (RtD) and guys like Cooper and Kervezee are handy Shield/County level batsmen. Group B is the hardest group by a mile, but they aren't too bad.

[sahyder1]

Shahid Afridi will captain Pakistan. I don't know what the hell took so long but I fully endorse this move.

I saw that Muralitharan will be retiring will be retiring after the World Cup. The end of an era as I am expecting Tendulkar and Jayasuria (who's not in the WC squad) to announce their retirements soon too.

[gunnar hendershow]

I read that ESPN3 will not show the World Cup. There's plenty of other means of watching it from the States though, so I'm not too perturbed.

[Hornswoggle4PM]

Can't believe Jayasuriya's still going as it is, but Tendulkar might keep playing for another few years. Fairly happy with the Aussie squad, but what more could Brad Hodge have done to get in? At least Hauritz is there as main spinner though I can easily see Smith playing most matches instead. Mike Hussey and Hauritz have both been injured recently, as have a lot of England's top players.

Looking at some of the other squads, Ed Joyce is representing Ireland, not England. Kenya still have Otieno, Odoyo and Tikolo after at least a decade now, India however seem to constantly change their fast bowlers. Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan are all out. Sri Lanka actually have a pretty good chance this time, especially if Sangakkarra and Malinga hit some good form at the right time.

[Starvinho]

Eoin Morgan out of England squad for the World Cup with broken middle finger.

Ravi Bopara to replace him.

Edited February 8, 2011 by Starvinho

[Plubby]

I'd heard that the ICC had enforced heavy bans on those who had cheated, but I find out that Prior's still going to the World Cup...strange.

[Baddar]

Does anyone know if England will be wearing a new shirt for the World Cup?

I ask because I was considering buying this;

...but I'd rather just buy the World Cup one if they're going to change. I would've thought any new shirt they might've worn would be unveiled by now, so I'm not sure.

EDIT: Another point - looking at previous WC shirts, it seems like the teams just go with a generic top with the logo and team name across the chest, instead of having a sponsor. That could be the case again. :/

[sahyder1]

No Hotspot for the World Cup.

This is just getting ridiculous at this point. I am a big supporter of UDRS. Not having Hot Spot for the World Cup will hurt the system.

I can't seem to find a place that has all the World Cup kits but this is supposedly the Pakistan one. Not sold on it at all.

Not sold on the official Reebok gear either.

Edited February 12, 2011 by sahyder1

[sahyder1]

Does anyone know if England will be wearing a new shirt for the World Cup?

It's not the greatest of pictures but here is what England is wearing for the World Cup.

Edited February 16, 2011 by sahyder1