West Indies among favourites for the World T20, says Alec Stewart – Cricket News Update
Alec Stewart, the former England captain and wicketkeeper/batsman, believes that West Indies, despite not starting too well, are one of the favourites of the on-going ICC World T20 2012, which is being played in Sri Lanka.
The Caribbean men, under Darren Sammy’s captaincy, have a number of match-winners in their ranks like Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine.
However, they lost their tournament opener against Australia on the Duckworth/Lewis method, with the second match (against Ireland) being abandoned due to rain.
Stewart thinks that Sammy’s men possess the potential to go all the way in the event and also rates India and Pakistan among the competition’s most dangerous units.
"India look very strong, Pakistan have several match-winners, and although the West Indies' games were disrupted by rain, they showed enough to uphold my belief that they will play a huge part in this tournament," said the former captain.
The former Surrey cricketer is of the view that South Africa are an extremely strong team in the presence of players like AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn and Albie Morkel. On the other hand, the 49-year-old ex-sportsman thinks that individual brilliance may take the Black Caps forward.
He mentioned, "South Africa tick all the boxes, with pace, spin variety and batsmen with Indian Premier League experience, while New Zealand - in Brendon McCullum - have one of the most destructive batsmen in the game."
England, on the other hand, are the defending champions and entered the competition as one of the more well prepared sides; however, Stuart Broad and company faced a miserable defeat at the hands of India in their group match, which must have rung the alarm bells amongst the team management.
The former Test captain is still confident that the Poms will be a competitive unit in the Super 8 stage, which starts tomorrow at Pallekele.
"Regardless of the hammering they took, which I hope is just a one-off shocking day at the office, they are still in the competition," Stewart added while talking to BBC Sports.
England are scheduled to play West Indies tomorrow, with Broad’s men looking to make a strong statement.
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