The real ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Preview – Part I
The wait is finally over. Everything is on the line. Four years of obsession with the World Cup will finally subside today. Everything that was written or spoken or heard will be put to test today and the players will finally get to eat some good street
food.
Well of course, the opening ceremony took place on 17th February in Dhaka, Bangladesh where http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bryan-c48753 Adams performed. There was also this really amazing laser “aerial” cricket. The captains of the fourteen participating countries came on rickshaws
and there was the usual dancing and some bad singing. On the whole however, Bangladesh did a great job to successfully officially open cricket’s biggest tournament.
It won’t be wrong to say that this is the most open World Cup of the millennium so far, since Herschelle http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gibbs-c60021 decided to drop the 1999 World Cup and then gave Australia the confidence to become scientifically unbeatable for the next editions of the World
Cup.
On the other hand, it might not be that open. Since everyone has already named India as the favourites, concluded that Dhoni is a leader but not essentially a great captain. And we never know when Australia might bounce back, and what if http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 sweeps
the Cup?
This World Cup will also be, sadly, the last chance for the associate teams to have a shot at the 50-over format of the game, since the big guns at the ICC thought they don’t get something in return when they invest so much in these countries. The early
weeks of the tournament would also reveal where the format is heading towards? Since the IPL is right after the World Cup, how would the 50-over game compete with the Twenty20? But despite of everything that the stupid people are saying about One Day format;
the competition is still highly prestigious.
So what will be the tenth edition of the cricket’s biggest extravaganza offering this time? Amongst surprises, upsets, and other things, all the fourteen teams will be slogging or try nurdling desperately on slow and spin-friendly decks of the Subcontinent
with the sole aim to lift the Cup.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746
After the woeful capitulation in the Ashes (it’s fun to remind the Aussies about the drubbing), the team was back to thrash England 6-1 in the One Day series. But they were bashed again by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 in a warm-up match. Their midget is back, Ricky Ponting and
they have a unique strategy to cash on four fast bowlers.
Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 is their man, unless the other 13 countries threaten him and he decides to run away from the tournament. If they manage to actually win the World Cup, many will call it a foul and decide to protest like the Egyptians. While those who can’t stand
90 percent of the team, like the scribe, will hope they get kicked out of the competition and then the contest would begin in true sense.
Bangladesh
Now we are talking. Let’s just hope that the Bengali Tigers perform at the World Cup otherwise the preliminary round will threaten to be the most futile group stage ever. They have http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 4-0 in 2010. They
also have a 23-year-old captain. Moreover, the majority of the team is still under their mid-twenties. Can they survive the group stage or will they stage an upset? Even if they manage to win, we will be treated to an even longer World Cup in 2015.
(Continued in Part II)
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