Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

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Call them the Champs now, but they won’t be the champs of world cup 2007 in the West Indies and I will provide the names of two teams that have a better chance of winning the cup, than the fearless Aussies. Pakistan for one could be regarded as the favorites to win it all. Led by Inzimam, Mohammad Yousaf and Younis Khan, the back-bone of the Pakistani middle order as one may call it. With the return of players like Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and Shabbir Ahmed Pakistan’s pace attack has only grown stronger.

On the other hand, during their absences of these pacers, their fellow team-mates Umar Gul, Rana Naveed and Shahid Nazir had a great season. The opening combination will be the key factor for Pakistan in winning games. Recently, they tried the combination of Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Farhat, which is showing improvement and probably will be the same in the world cup unless any of them go down due to injury before the Tournament.
One thing that Pakistan isn’t better than some of the other teams is the ability to field which is crucial in today’s part of cricket, giving up 20-30 runs due to misfielding will need to be worked on before the world cup. Pakistan for one will give some competition to Australia, which other teams haven’t done so recently.

South Africa on the other hand will be Led by Greame Smith, Jacques Kallis and Herschelle Gibbs with their star-studded batting line-up but they will be depending heavily on their bowling line-up which is led by none other than the great Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini, which might be the 2nd best pace attack after Pakistan. In addition, to complement these two, they have Andre Nel and Jacques Kallis. The only worry South Africa should have is that their lack of inconsistent run-scorers. Other than Kallis, Smith and perhaps Gibbs there isn’t any other batsman that has consistently scored runs in the past few matches. If South Africa meets with Australia which is also a big possibility they would definitely win it with their bowling.

Top 8 teams who have the best chance of winning the world cup:

  1. Pakistan
  2. South Africa
  3. Australia
  4. West Indies
  5. Sri Lanka
  6. England
  7. India
  8. New Zealand

courtesy pakcric

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

Theoretically, everything in this article is correct. But practically, I dont see it happening.

  • Half of the desired line-up will miss the Wolrd Cup due to injuries
  • WADA will try their best to remove Asif and Shoaib from the WC team
  • Afridi will be banned by Malcolm Speed
  • In any one ODI, only 2 of the 3 forming the backbone (younis, Inzamam and yousuf) ever really fire, usually only one fires, sometimes, none do
  • Openers are inexperienced, get out early, mount on pressure early in the game, no other team has that problem.
  • Shabbir, Gul, Azhar, Shoaib, Asif, and (Imran) Nazir have been out of the game for a while, might not fire at full.
  • Rana will go at +10 rpo.
  • Internal competition between Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood will bog each players game down.
  • Inzamam is in an ODI slump currently.
  • Should Pakistan loses the MTN ODI series, they will definately not be able to win against SA in the WC, and SA is surely to be one of the Semi-Finalists
  • Pakistani Players cant hook, (= reason for their defeats in the Champions Trophy) = Big WEAKNESS
  • Pakistani Team is inconsisstent in performace, in the WC, a team is required to win alot of matches back to back, :( -Hair is set to sue the PCB

Far too many things holding us back

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

Any of the 8 "can" win, with combination of luck, few brilliant performances or lack of it from other teams.

But Pakistan is far from being favourites. We have no clue as to solve the opening problem, Inzmam has had a poor 2006 year as a batsman and we have only one world class bowler.

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

Samad, many things in this article are assumptions or false. Pakistan and India are the two teams that have many problems right before the WC. Our prepration is quiet pathetic to say the least.

For India, bowling has been a long time issue, but their strong batting lineup has always been a cover for it. With Mediocre bowling attack they still managed to play last WC final, just because of their rock solid batting. However this time around, the case is different. India has suffered a lot in last 18 months. Too many experimentation and combinations has disturbed the batsmen's mind set as well. The big guns are often failed then firing. They still don't know who will be their main strike bowlers. However, if their big guns fire once again and coach lay down a good game plan against biggies, and their fasties give them break throughs on slow WI wickets, backed by Harbie, Kumble, Tendi, Sehwag and Yuvraj type bowlers, they do have a chance. But that would require 110% from all department.

Pakistan has many problems, most importantly opening pair. If we don't have openners with solid technique and temprament, yet ability to exploit a slightest oppertunity to make a use of power play, then all will be dependent on the middle order, which is very pressured by these early collapses. Secondly, the fitness is a big concern. Akhtar, Inzi, Gull, Kamran, Razzaq and Malik are injured or still recovering. Asif is overloaded and is on the brink of a break down, God forbid. Rana's form is mashallah, Sami well, you know. Kamran's downfall is another big issue that is haunting us. Inzi's captaincy is also a big concern for a tournament of WC calibre. Both Woolmar and Inzi are conservative by nature and it would be easier for Flatcher, Buchanan and Chappel to bang with surprises. I am sure they are doing homework and watch Pak-SA series with microscope. However, if our openners deliver 70% and middle order delivers its 100% as it does in the case of solid foundation, Akhtari Mai and Gul behn return and stay fit in whole tourny, we have a very good chance of wining the cup.

Right now the teams have chances in the following order, having said that from No. 3 to No.8 all teams are close to each other.

Aus
WI
NZ
SA
Pak
SL
Ind
Eng

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

WI at second????
u must be kidding....

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

WI will have the advantage of home conditions, hence they should be considered one of the favourites, but second spot? i dunno

My list will go like this

Aus
SA
WI
Pak
NZ
India
SL
England

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

Australia will be in Semi-final or Final. To beat them, it is a must to have great fielding and opening stand. Otherwise, bulk of the responsibility will on middle order batsmen and strike bowlers. Teams that can beat Australia in Semi-final or Final:

  1. South Africa
  2. England
  3. Pakistan
  4. Sri lanka

England has better openers than Pakistan; moreover they are better in the fields. Pakistan's advantage is their middle order and strike bowlers. Even if Shoaib and Gul are not present, our all-rounder has more bite than theirs. South Africa has the best chance to win this World Cup because they have assembled yet another great team, otherwise witness another amazing failure.

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

1.Australia(yea still)
2.South Africa
3.Pakistan
4.Sri Lanka
5.West Indies
6.India
7.England
8.New zealand

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

Pakistan doesn't stand a chance as favorites, let alone winning it.

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

Aus
SA
Eng

Rest is bull****.

In my opinion, final will be between: Either one of these three teams above

Oh yeah, sorry samad but the article is full of wishful thinking.

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

I would add SLA to that list too. They have been in decent one-day nick for the best part of a year.

I have to very reluctantly agree with you on this one. Any team that’s inconsistent enough to score 350 one day and be routed for 107 on another day (admittedly on a different pitch) cannot be regarded as favourites for anything. This is not the first time that we have batted like a bunch of jokers. No international side should get bowled out for 107 even from a bad position of 87-4 as we were in the last game. That’s simply indisciplined and unprofessional batting. It happened in the ICC Trophy against SA http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/iccct2006/engine/match/249754.html, then back in the Nat West Final in England in 2001 http://uk.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/2001/OD_TOURNEYS/NWS/SCORECARDS/AUS_PAK_NWS_ODI-FINAL_23JUN2001.html and in the 1999 WC Final (routed for 133). With Pakistan there’s always the worry at the back of your mind that we can get bowled out for less than 150 if it’s not our day.

I don’t mind if Pakistan lose after scoring say 200-220 (one accepts that our batting might not click on certain days, fair enough, it happens with every team) but scores of under 150 are just unacceptable for an international side IMO.

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

pakistan are clueless right now, our bowling attack cant defend a target under 300 (and batsmen cant chase one over 300)

aside from Aus the teams with the best shots are Sri Lanka, India and South Africa (in that order). India only because their batting is looking really good and their spinners will make up for their lousy pace attack.

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

Have to agree with you.

Aaj kya pakaaya/khaaya
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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

NZ can beat Austrailia any day. Thats the way it is between them. In ODI, NZ has its unique instinct to beat Austrailia. They act as demolation worker with buldozer standing in front of a huge tower. They plan well on all the strong pillars of the tower and try to destroy them to bring down the whole tower.

Tower falls on them quiet often :smiley: thats something else. Ofcourse its Austrailia, they over come on most difficult situations, most of the time.

So NZ always play Austrailia with mental stregnth and solid plans. With their limited talents, they try the most and attack the most on Aus than anyone else in the world. IMO. After Ind-Pak games, in ODI only I enjoy Aus/NZ matches the most. Its always attacking cricket, a pure entertainment.

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

New Zeland is good but they lack the 'juice' to complete the victory. They fight a good fight but are always unable to finish it off.

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

Pakistan are far from favorites, simply too much incosistency to pose any sort of threat. Like others have mentioned before, to even get to the semi finals stage, a side has to put together a series of wins, not just once in a blue moon performance. Plus the side is not even settled, all the injuries are having a negative impact even on the fit players. No one knows their role in the team and apart from a few, all the places are up for grabs. Also most importantly, Inzi/Woolmer combo are hardly aces at planning or strategy.

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

I am not sure which team will win But I definitly know which one wont and these teams are...

  1. South Africa : They choke at crucial time as well as they dont have balanced team for the kinda of wickets we will see in WI. By playing too many spinners, team like India, Pak ,SL and WI will make their life hell in Super league.

  2. NZL: They are good team and will provide close context in all games but will lose many of them.

  3. Sri Lanka: They cannot win anything of significant outside subcontinent.

This leaves us with 5 teams and they are favourite in following order:

Aus, WI, Eng,Pak, Ind

Now End of discussion. Just chill...

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

You think England can pull it on WI pitches :) i know they won the series there, but I don't think they will make it to Semi-finals. SL can be a surprise semi-finalist.

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

agreed..On Englanf I on fence. But with Monty in team and Kevin and Vaughan were fit then can get into Semis.

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Re: Why Australia will not win the world cup this time around

I know many people wrongly believe that. That’s just an over-exaggerated statement and is absolutely untrue. Australia have an overwhelming 75-27 advantage over NZ in ODIs which is better than their record against any of the other major test playing nations :slight_smile: It’s just media hype and nothing-else that makes us wrongly believe that NZ have a better chance against Aussies than any of the other nations

http://www.cricinfo.com/db/STATS/ODIS/RESULTS/ODI_SERIES_RESULTS.html