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Mark my words, the 2019 World Cup will be the greatest World Cup in the last 20 years

Suleiman

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All the teams are actually more or less evened out. Australia is a bit depleted but still a threat, India has a tender middle order, England has a mediocre bowling attack, South Africa is also a bit weakened, West Indies are super competitive these days, New Zealand, Pakistan, SL and Bangladesh are probably bottom 4 but still have enough quality to unsettle the rest.

Every team is flawed, but has its trump cards be it guys like Kohli, Gayle, Rabada, Malik, Butler or others.

It will be very closely fought. Each team has something on the line and will be desperate to win it more than ever before.

WI will be banking on Gayle to deliver in his final WC, India and Pakistan need it for pride after recent events, England need it for reputation at home conditions after 2017, South Africa need it to prove a point that they’re not chokers and to send deVilliers and Kolpak guys a message.

Other than India and England rest of the teams don’t have much separating them quality wise.

This tournament will put the other ODI world cups of the 21st century to shame.
 
All the teams are actually more or less evened out. Australia is a bit depleted but still a threat, India has a tender middle order, England has a mediocre bowling attack, South Africa is also a bit weakened, West Indies are super competitive these days, New Zealand, Pakistan, SL and Bangladesh are probably bottom 4 but still have enough quality to unsettle the rest.

<B>Every team is flawed, but has its trump cards be it guys like Kohli, Gayle, Rabada, Malik, Butler or others.</B>

It will be very closely fought. Each team has something on the line and will be desperate to win it more than ever before.

WI will be banking on Gayle to deliver in his final WC, India and Pakistan need it for pride after recent events, England need it for reputation at home conditions after 2017, South Africa need it to prove a point that they’re not chokers and to send deVilliers and Kolpak guys a message.

Other than India and England rest of the teams don’t have much separating them quality wise.

This tournament will put the other ODI world cups of the 21st century to shame.

Putting Malik alongside others is ultra comedy from OP.
 
Yeah this one's going to be great. Also every team will play each other so the winner of this one will surely be a deserving winner.
 
Mark my words, it wont.

The quality and star power isn't there.
 
I agree with the above comment. Quality is diminished significantly. But, since the mediocrity is ruling, it will be pretty much even contest all around.
 
I agree with the above comment. Quality is diminished significantly. But, since the mediocrity is ruling, it will be pretty much even contest all around.
Tournament will be decided by the middle order batting power i.e. the hacks and bits and piece cricketers.

This WC will probably be the most one sided in terms of bat v ball which will make the tournament a bust, fans will eventually get tired of games of 380+ blowouts or 350 v 350.
 
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Hoping there will be many close matches instead of blowouts
 
In my cricket watching memory (96 WC onwards), 1999 was one of the best ones. Followed by 2011 and 1996. It would take something to beat the 1999 WC. In order to do that, you would need the following to happen
1. Good competition between bat and ball
2. A few upsets from underdogs (Bangladesh and Afghanistan)
3. Close matches

2 and 3 are a possibility in this WC, but not 1. This will be even worse than 2015.
 
In my cricket watching memory (96 WC onwards), 1999 was one of the best ones. Followed by 2011 and 1996. It would take something to beat the 1999 WC. In order to do that, you would need the following to happen
1. Good competition between bat and ball
2. A few upsets from underdogs (Bangladesh and Afghanistan)
3. Close matches

2 and 3 are a possibility in this WC, but not 1. This will be even worse than 2015.

Out of the 3, only #3 is a requirement. Close matches have a very high chance of happening in this tournament and that's what will generate a lot of hype.

2015 there were a lot of mismatches and boring games.

Less minnow bashing too.
 
I don't get why people are saying that their is less star power.
West indies has more star power this time than what they had in previous WC.
India is almost same but bumrah is a new star.
Pakistan is obviously in a better state than 2015.
Bangladesh almost same except for added strength fizz and mehidy .
Afghan is better than any minnow team which played in 2015.
Newzealand will miss bazz.
South africa and srilanka have suffered but then england's all time best team more than compenstaes for it.
 
I believe this could be the best WC ever and one of the reasons for that is the exclusion of minnows paving way for all the major sides to play each other. The quality of cricket and the level of competition will be at a very high standard.

From a Pakistan fan perspective I don't think we will finish top 5 let alone reach semis when I see the current WI side excelling of late with the firepower they possess with the bat. For me the Windies are the dark horses to reach the knockout stage and I just can't see Pakistan finishing any higher than them in the table, when we're most likely to see substandard batsmen like Shoaib Malik and Sarfraz feature in this side.
 
Tournaments in England are usually entertaining.

Thats when the pitches have something in them.

Pitches will be flat - idea being that on a flat pitch, and all other things being equal, England can out bat anyone else.

They say that the home board has no bearing on the pitches in an ICC tournament - but ever since 2013, where the pitches for the Champions Trophy were kept dry in preparation for the Ashes series which was to follow, I don't believe that at all.

However, one good thing about a tournament in England is that you can expect crowds to be mixed for most games, which adds to the atmosphere. I have been to WC 99, CT 04, WT20 09, CT 13 and CT 17 - all of them were great in that sense.
 
i'll say this. I watched a few games of worldcup 2015. and am shocked how improved the current side is from that team.
Let me remind you, this was our top 7 in 2015

1) Nasir Jamshed
2) Ahmed Shahzad
3) Misbah Ul Haq (C)
4)Haris Sohail
5) Sohaib Maqsood
6)Umar Akmal (Wk)
7) Shahid Afridi
 
Thank goodness for that! One sided minnow matches are embarrassing to watch in a WC

If we keep this mindset then how on earth can we promote the game of cricket? Isn't that what the world cup is for? We have seen in recent times how minnows really have managed to challenge test teams, Scotland recently beat England and Ireland we know can be very competitive as we know from 2011. Not to mention Zimbabwe who nearly beat us in 2015 and also beat recently beat SL 3-2. Heck even Canada out of all teams gave Pak a good fight in 2011 and if it weren't for Afridi's heroics with bat and ball we would've definately lost that game.
 
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I don't get why people are saying that their is less star power.
West indies has more star power this time than what they had in previous WC.
India is almost same but bumrah is a new star.
Pakistan is obviously in a better state than 2015.
Bangladesh almost same except for added strength fizz and mehidy .
Afghan is better than any minnow team which played in 2015.
Newzealand will miss bazz.
South africa and srilanka have suffered but then england's all time best team more than compenstaes for it.
Kohli is the only true superstar of world cricket atm.

Dhoni and Gayle are too but they're past their best so the box office appeal isn't the same as they're unlikely to perform well or at the same level.

And lol Bumrah :)))

He's not a superstar, no one is going to go out of their way to watch him.
 
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All the teams are actually more or less evened out. Australia is a bit depleted but still a threat, India has a tender middle order, England has a mediocre bowling attack, South Africa is also a bit weakened, West Indies are super competitive these days, New Zealand, Pakistan, SL and Bangladesh are probably bottom 4 but still have enough quality to unsettle the rest.

Every team is flawed, but has its trump cards be it guys like Kohli, Gayle, Rabada, Malik, Butler or others.

It will be very closely fought. Each team has something on the line and will be desperate to win it more than ever before.

WI will be banking on Gayle to deliver in his final WC, India and Pakistan need it for pride after recent events, England need it for reputation at home conditions after 2017, South Africa need it to prove a point that they’re not chokers and to send deVilliers and Kolpak guys a message.

Other than India and England rest of the teams don’t have much separating them quality wise.

This tournament will put the other ODI world cups of the 21st century to shame.

Agree every match will be a close one, probably with the exception of some matches involving Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
 
i'll say this. I watched a few games of worldcup 2015. and am shocked how improved the current side is from that team.
Let me remind you, this was our top 7 in 2015

1) Nasir Jamshed
2) Ahmed Shahzad
3) Misbah Ul Haq (C)
4)Haris Sohail
5) Sohaib Maqsood
6)Umar Akmal (Wk)
7) Shahid Afridi

There's a reason the team struggled it was misbalanced and disjointed top 4 were all similar type batsmen the lower order were basically having to overhit after slow starts or rescue collapses.
 
it always seems odd to me when people make a thread with "Mark my works..." - that type of confidence in a prediction, that too in such a subjective prediction no less is just very very odd
 
Mark my words Inzi won't be running full pelt on the treadmill after the World Cup that's one thing guaranteed although stranger things have happened can't be 100% sure.
 
De Villiers' décision really bummed me. He has gone for easy money and now losing his star power by playing in secondary T20 leagues with other retired players. He used to be my favourite batsman. How hard could it be to play in another tournament when you're doing the same thing in other places?
SA cricket should've tried to persuade him too. But they've been very careless with players relations for some time.
 
De Villiers' décision really bummed me. He has gone for easy money and now losing his star power by playing in secondary T20 leagues with other retired players. He used to be my favourite batsman. How hard could it be to play in another tournament when you're doing the same thing in other places?
SA cricket should've tried to persuade him too. But they've been very careless with players relations for some time.

Very true.
 
England is just a beautiful place to play cricket. Will be a great world cup for sure!
 
Thats when the pitches have something in them.

Pitches will be flat - idea being that on a flat pitch, and all other things being equal, England can out bat anyone else.

They say that the home board has no bearing on the pitches in an ICC tournament - but ever since 2013, where the pitches for the Champions Trophy were kept dry in preparation for the Ashes series which was to follow, I don't believe that at all.

However, one good thing about a tournament in England is that you can expect crowds to be mixed for most games, which adds to the atmosphere. I have been to WC 99, CT 04, WT20 09, CT 13 and CT 17 - all of them were great in that sense.

You don't think there's perhaps any link between June 2013 being the dryest June for nearly 20 years and producing some dry pitches?
 
As most posters that live in the UK know the weather is incredibly unpredictable. If it's anything like last year then we could be in for a cracker. Generally the weather is better down south, and wetter here in the Midlands and up North
 
In my cricket watching memory (96 WC onwards), 1999 was one of the best ones. Followed by 2011 and 1996. It would take something to beat the 1999 WC. In order to do that, you would need the following to happen
1. Good competition between bat and ball
2. A few upsets from underdogs (Bangladesh and Afghanistan)
3. Close matches

2 and 3 are a possibility in this WC, but not 1. This will be even worse than 2015.

In 1999 they used the white Dukes which made for a good contest between bat and ball. However this time they'll be using the awful Kookaburra so combined with flat pitches, this World Cup should be a runfest.
 
England have been very good at putting on tournaments recently, from the Olympics to the champions trophy.

My only major issue is the round Robin format which will seemingly go on forever.
 
I believe this could be the best WC ever and one of the reasons for that is the exclusion of minnows paving way for all the major sides to play each other. The quality of cricket and the level of competition will be at a very high standard.

From a Pakistan fan perspective I don't think we will finish top 5 let alone reach semis when I see the current WI side excelling of late with the firepower they possess with the bat. For me the Windies are the dark horses to reach the knockout stage and I just can't see Pakistan finishing any higher than them in the table, when we're most likely to see substandard batsmen like Shoaib Malik and Sarfraz feature in this side.

agreed, and honestly you can never count pakistan out.
 
Thank goodness for that! One sided minnow matches are embarrassing to watch in a WC

There are usually more one sided matches among the top 8 teams than there are with minnows. Scotland even managed to beat England.
 
Teams which have specialist players will progress , Bits and Pieces strategy will fail badly.
 
Has the potential to be 1 of the best World Cups ever. England and India should get through. The other 2 slots are open and at the semis , anything is possible.
 
If there is no balance between bat and ball, it will be a boring tournament just like the last one. 350 v 250 is never fun to watch.

I have higher hopes at it'll be early in the season, hope we see swinging conditions.
 
Disagree completely.

Its a garbage format for one.

English ODI pitches are absolutely trash as 2.

And, like today showed, such pitches will lead to lots of insanely one sided matches, something this farce of a format was apparently meant to resolve.

Oh, and the group stage alone lasts over a month.

Reality is the Top sides will very quickly pull clear from the lesser ones, meaning that four of the ten teams will effectively have absolutely nothing to play for. And with the incredibly high first innings scores and subsequent massive wins/losses the RR pressure will bring, some teams will be knocked out within 3 games due to NRR.

I sincerely hope this tournament flops. No sport that cuts the teams present to 10 can call itself worthy of a "world" cup.
 
i agree.
you all teams are competitive. even afghanistan is over the moon now days
 
windies/pakistan/india

one of these three will win the world cup

i am not sure what is your source of optimism for pakistan. west indies is packing some bowling power and india is all round strong.

i dont rate pakistan to fare too well in this tournament.

keep in mind this is the team that nearly surrendered to afghanistan before being hushed out of the door by bangladesh.
 
We have no or minimal hope of winning but I don't want India or worse Bangladesh to win it either.
 
Yeah this one's going to be great. Also every team will play each other so the winner of this one will surely be a deserving winner.

This! This WC is definitely going to have a proper champion. You have to play your best to lift the cup, unlike the previous versions.
 
We have no or minimal hope of winning but I don't want India or worse Bangladesh to win it either.

Have you seen Bangladesh's recent performance in NZ? Rest assure they won't even qualify for 2nd round, let alone lift the cup. However don't be jelly, we have a strong possibility along side england to lift the cup.
 
First time I'll ever be watching a round robin WC (or any major tournament for that matter)... Hope it's interesting. Although at first I was also disappointed that they capped the teams at 10, not really making it a World Cup but oh well, hope there is good competitive cricket and our team can save us some izzat.
 
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If we keep this mindset then how on earth can we promote the game of cricket? Isn't that what the world cup is for? We have seen in recent times how minnows really have managed to challenge test teams, Scotland recently beat England and Ireland we know can be very competitive as we know from 2011. Not to mention Zimbabwe who nearly beat us in 2015 and also beat recently beat SL 3-2. Heck even Canada out of all teams gave Pak a good fight in 2011 and if it weren't for Afridi's heroics with bat and ball we would've definately lost that game.

Personally, I don't think a tournament like the WC should be leveraged to expand cricket's reach. WC is the pinnacle for all playing nations and deserves high quality games throughout. Associate/minnow nations do spring up a good performance but they are far too rare and spread out to be considered value-adds to the WC. Tbh, most games vs the minnows are bore-fests with almost zero possibility of an upset; that to me is unacceptable in at a stage like the WC.
 
Personally, I don't think a tournament like the WC should be leveraged to expand cricket's reach. WC is the pinnacle for all playing nations and deserves high quality games throughout. Associate/minnow nations do spring up a good performance but they are far too rare and spread out to be considered value-adds to the WC. Tbh, most games vs the minnows are bore-fests with almost zero possibility of an upset; that to me is unacceptable in at a stage like the WC.

If you don't think a tournament like the WC should be leveraged to expand cricket's reach than what can? A lot of people who watch cricket don't watch series they just watch the world cup. And not to mention without the world cup how are minnows going to get exposure to a better brand of cricket? Hardly any test nations play with minnows and how can minnows prove themselves to the world? I understand that at times you can see these games as bore-fests but you have to remember at once Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and even Pakistan were like that so you have to give them a couple of chances you never know you might uncover the next test nation.
 
There's a reason the team struggled it was misbalanced and disjointed top 4 were all similar type batsmen the lower order were basically having to overhit after slow starts or rescue collapses.

Yep, even YK bustled his way into that squad and scored a mighty six runs in the India match after informing us all we couldn't do jack without him.
 
Except the 2011 world cup, almost all of the world cups have been very boring in the last 20 years. The bar is set pretty low. This world cup due to its format alone should easily surpass its previous editions.
 
Except the 2011 world cup, almost all of the world cups have been very boring in the last 20 years. The bar is set pretty low. This world cup due to its format alone should easily surpass its previous editions.

2003 world cup was really good in my opinion.
 
Personally, I don't think a tournament like the WC should be leveraged to expand cricket's reach. WC is the pinnacle for all playing nations and deserves high quality games throughout. Associate/minnow nations do spring up a good performance but they are far too rare and spread out to be considered value-adds to the WC. Tbh, most games vs the minnows are bore-fests with almost zero possibility of an upset; that to me is unacceptable in at a stage like the WC.

I wouldn't call them minnows anymore. Scotland has defeated England and Sri Lanka in the last 2 years. Ireland defeated Pakistan back in 2007, England in 2011, WI in 2015. Afghanistan have been very competitive recently. If we're going to count nations like Ireland and Scotland as minnows, we could count Sri Lanka and WI as minnows too, why not exclude them from the World Cup?

ICC are just being selfish, they want to limit the teams in the world cup so that they can just have one big group, and have every rivalry possible in the world cup so the can earn $$$.
 
Are people actually making a fuss about the fact that there's four less teams that had a snow balls chance in hell to even win a single game?

This format is the best format. The other good format was the 2007 format with the super eights, if Pakistan and India weren't knocked out it would have been an amazing world cup.

14 teams down to 10 is the best decision.

There's only 7 or 8 good teams. All the good teams deserve to play against each other.

The 2011 and 2015 formats were awful.
 
ICC are just being selfish, they want to limit the teams in the world cup so that they can just have one big group, and have every rivalry possible in the world cup so the can earn $$$.

That's the whole point, cricket is a niche sport.

Those minnows and associate nations have been around for ages and haven't progressed as much as they should have.

They have a future in T20s not ODIs.
 
Had Ind not won 2011 wrld cup odi cricket was going to be scrapped - old tired dead format.

At least in this world cup you've got all quality matches. Starting with eng v SA... Scotland v Papa new guinea wasn’t going to do anyone any good!!
 
Had Ind not won 2011 wrld cup odi cricket was going to be scrapped - old tired dead format.

At least in this world cup you've got all quality matches. Starting with eng v SA... Scotland v Papa new guinea wasn’t going to do anyone any good!!

2015

NZ vs WI
Eng vs NZ
Eng vs Aus
WI vs Pak
Ind vs Pak
Ind vs SA
SL vs Ban
SL vs Eng
SA vs SL
Final

All absolutely outstanding games of quality cricket that will be remembered for the ages for the entertainment value they provided ;)
 
2015

NZ vs WI
Eng vs NZ
Eng vs Aus
WI vs Pak
Ind vs Pak
Ind vs SA
SL vs Ban
SL vs Eng
SA vs SL
Final

All absolutely outstanding games of quality cricket that will be remembered for the ages for the entertainment value they provided ;)

But the world cup went as people predicted it.
The final was AUS vs NZ.
 
The format is great like the 92 WC. The weather will be great so good atmosphere in most games will be guaranteed. My only concern is small ground and the 2 new ball rule is fast bowlers nightmare.

England, India, Australia and West Indies will go through..... I hope I am wrong about Australia.
 
Pros:

1) England has amazing grounds. Beautiful
2) Only country where there is great support for neutral teams due to huge expatriate communities. In Bangladesh, India, Lanka and even in Aus, NZ stadiums were empty when hosts and India were not playing.
3) Not too hot
4) There are a lot of teams that can make it to the next round. SL and Afghanisan might not but other teams will feel they have a decent shot of making it the semis. On paper should be more competitive.
5) Since 10 teams play the tournament, quality will be high and every match counts. And counts BIG TIME.
6) For us Subcontinental fans, the timings are very much convenient.
7) Some explosive batting will be expected

Cons

1) Too few teams. Doesn't feel like a world cup, rather an extended CT. Doesn't globalize the game and also doesn't create scope for upset
2) Weather can and will play spoilsport. Reduced over encounters and washouts will suck
3) Quality not the same as before: If you compare with 2007 and 2011 there were arguably better quality cricketers. But i won't say quality of players available are rubbish whatsoever. Some quality players to look out. If there are 2 teams that declined a lot it would be SA and SL. SL lost 3/4 stars and SA have had Kolkap issues and ABDV retiring to earn cheap bucks
4) No balance between bat and ball: 350 RUN matches are NOT exciting. It is because people want to see a contest between bat and ball not, which batting team makes lesser mistake. IMHO most matches should be in the 250-325 category. A few matches can err from this range
 
Called it. Pak v Eng and Bangla v NZ, both epic games. And we’re just getting started :afridi
 
It is from march and quality wise
But heard ICC has banned the vuvuzela in the match.

So.its kind of boring as no sounds can be heard.

Especially for high octane match like Pakv Ind surley need the vuvuzela sounds
 
It is from march and quality wise
But heard ICC has banned the vuvuzela in the match.

So.its kind of boring as no sounds can be heard.

Especially for high octane match like Pakv Ind surley need the vuvuzela sounds

Thank God they banned it.

I hate that noise, reminds me of those super annoying games between Pak v SL in 2012-2014 full of those vuvuzelas.

Don’t need band baaja to create atmosphere.

All it does is create more anxiety.
 
Bangladesh and Pakistan brought world cup alive after slow start. Hope this competitiveness and unexpected results continue.

South Africa unfortunately are more or less out. Hopefully they can get atleast an upset in somewhere
 
It's not just about minnow matches. There are 8 strong contenders for the next round and only 4 spots.

When it was 2 groups of 7, you knew even if you lose 3 of the 6 matches you can make it to the next round. And don't forget the easy 2 wins against associates. Now every match has context. Even if the match involves SL and Afg.
 
It has been a pretty good World Cup so far, exciting matches. Only thing I am disappointed is Mashrafee captaining Bangladesh, opening the bowling at 115 kph. Makes Bangladesh look really bad. Ferguson bowling at 150 kph and Mashrafee 35 kph slower :facepalm: Atleast bowl at 130 kph
 
It’s been okay. The best matches are yet to come.
 
Been a cracking WC so far mainly due to varied pitches producing a proper contest between bat and ball.
 
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