This thread might be somewhat controversial to ask or say, but nonetheless I am curious about to know others opinion on this.
Right now I would say only India and England (although for England their hardest games are coming up with IND, AUS, NZ) are the only teams that have not looked the part but played the part as well as strong favorites or deserving team. Much of the others are either non contenders or not really a dark horse barring Bangladesh.
Even Australia a team known for it's dominance looked questionable at times (Sri Lanka, West Indies, Pakistan matches).
BUT the major difference between Australia and NZ I feel is that Australia stole the game away from those teams with timely wickets and timely runs.
With NZ I feel they have to be the luckiest team in the history of the world cup.
1. Easy schedule to start (complete opposite of IND and PAK) - facing AFG, SL, BAN, IND, RSA (only IND is a threat there) and that game got washed out.
2. In the BAN game, BAN blew numerous run out chances and the Mushfiq **** up was the worst one.
3. In the RSA game I can count about 7 chances they blew, and 5 of them late with 3 in the Tahir over alone.
Now I will give credit to individual players where it's due, Santner, Williamson, and Ferguson have been absolutely sublime this WC, but as a team I think the Black Caps have lucked out big time.
Right now I would say only India and England (although for England their hardest games are coming up with IND, AUS, NZ) are the only teams that have not looked the part but played the part as well as strong favorites or deserving team. Much of the others are either non contenders or not really a dark horse barring Bangladesh.
Even Australia a team known for it's dominance looked questionable at times (Sri Lanka, West Indies, Pakistan matches).
BUT the major difference between Australia and NZ I feel is that Australia stole the game away from those teams with timely wickets and timely runs.
With NZ I feel they have to be the luckiest team in the history of the world cup.
1. Easy schedule to start (complete opposite of IND and PAK) - facing AFG, SL, BAN, IND, RSA (only IND is a threat there) and that game got washed out.
2. In the BAN game, BAN blew numerous run out chances and the Mushfiq **** up was the worst one.
3. In the RSA game I can count about 7 chances they blew, and 5 of them late with 3 in the Tahir over alone.
Now I will give credit to individual players where it's due, Santner, Williamson, and Ferguson have been absolutely sublime this WC, but as a team I think the Black Caps have lucked out big time.