Dissecting the contenders

[PowerBug]

All the WC squads are out and available now, I'm going to go through the top 5/6/7 teams in my opinion that can take this World Cup.

Will do them in separate posts so give me a few minutes to post down a few times :)


Edit: I'm doing this because I'm getting really bored over this extended holiday period I have before Uni starts :P

[PowerBug]

AUSTRALIA
ODI Ranking: 4 (At point of qualification)

The Squad:

Bats:	AR:	Keep:	Seam:	Spin:
Michael Clarke (c)	Shane Watson	Brad Haddin	Mitchell Johnson	Xavier Doherty
George Bailey (vc)	James Faulkner		Mitchell Starc
Steven Smith	Mitchell Marsh		Josh Hazlewood
David Warner	Glenn Maxwell		Pat Cummins
Aaron Finch

Strengths: Pace attack. Mitchell Johnson alone has the ability to rip teams apart. Put fellow left armers Mitchell Starc, excellent with both the new and old ball, and James Faulkner, a superb finisher with the old ball, this pace attack will be  tough to contain on the bouncy wickets. Backed up by consistent overs from Shane Watson, Mitchell Marsh and Josh Hazlewood, very very strong pace attack. Expect the hosts to be granted many bouncy wickets to suit their attack

Weaknesses: Spin. Two spinners on the tour, an experienced left arm tweaker in Xavier Doherty, and then Glenn Maxwell who is tough to gauge, but his bowling is probably more consistent than his batting. No striker option here, they will need to start well with the new ball otherwise teams will look to attack these two from the outset, and things could get ugly from there. Aaron Finch and Steve Smith also options to bowl in this area, but if Australia are relying on them to bowl 10 overs together on a consistent basis, they can't expect it to all go their way.

Key Man: Glenn Maxwell. Judging by the words of Rod Marsh, they will want to play this bloke in most matches. His form with the bat is not very good at all, bit better with the ball. If he is to be allowed in the XI every match, they can't allow for brain fades and failures, he will need to keep his head. Batting down the order, between 6 and 8, he will need to be able to show some temperament and play normal shots, but also he'll need to back it up with the ball and be able to bowl 7-8 good tight overs in the middle period. Get Maxwell averaging 20 and going at 4.5 an over, it'll go a long way to winning the World Cup for the hosts

[PowerBug]

INDIA
ODI Ranking: 3

The Squad:

Bats:	AR:	Keep:	Seam:	Spin:
Shikhar Dhawan	Ravindra Jadeja	MS Dhoni (c)	Ishant Sharma	Ashwin
Virat Kohli	Stuart Binny		Mohammed Shami
Rohit Sharma	Akshar Patel		Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Ajinkya Rahane			Umesh Yadav
Suresh Raina
Ambati Rayudu

Strengths: Kolhi, Sharma, Dhoni, Raina. Boy oh boy that is some quality. Nothing is impossible to these guys, from 200 to 400, they would believe in themselves to chase it down. Sharma boasts TWO double centuries, including a ridiculous 264 not too long ago. Watch out if these boys get settled in.

Weaknesses: Bowling in general. How will it fare in the Australian conditions. Ashwin, Patel, Jadeja, Binny, Shami, Kumar, not much pace there, it suits well on slow decks, they will have to use their variety well to keep the runs down. I'd be bowling first if i was Dhoni. Ishant and Yadav are the only two out and out quicks, can't see both being used

The Key: The captain, MS Dhoni, Mr crocodile hands. There's more to captaincy than on field, and if they make sure the squad bonds well, and there is no favouritism as to who gets picked, then they can back up the 2011 win.

The bloke you don't know: Akshar Patel. A 21 year old All Rounder who bowls left arm tweakers, who has only played 9 ODIs, but has a pretty decent record so far with the ball, 14 wickets @ 20. Has also only played 11 first class matches as well, so a very surprising pick for the 15. Will be interesting to see if he can get selected ahead of Jadeja, who is the same type of player. Goes at 42 with the bat in First Class, and 27 with the ball. If the numbers are anything to look at, he has some class and will be featuring at some point.

[PowerBug]

ENGLAND
ODI Ranking: 1

The Squad:

Bats:	AR:	Keep:	Seam:	Spin:
Eoin Morgan (c)	Chris Woakes	Jos Buttler	James Anderson	James Tredwell
Moeen Ali	Ravi Bopara		Stuart Broad
Gary Ballance			Chris Jordan
Ian Bell			Steve Finn
Alex Hales
Joe Root
James Taylor

Strengths: Middle/Lower Order Batting. Morgan, Buttler, Woakes. Those three players who will bat in the middle order can play long sustained innings, and score very quickly at the same time. Buttler is an extremely clean striker of the ball, Morgan has a scoring range of 360 degrees, and Woakes, despite looking about 10 years old, can smack one a long way

Weaknesses: Spin. Tredwell is an accomplished spinner, however his numbers don't stack up very well. He will have a big role to play every match, being needed for all 10 overs almost every time. Joe Root and Moeen Ali are better part timers than you'll get from other nations, but they are still part timers, and shouldn't be required to bowl all 10 overs.

The Keys: Settling on a top 4. It's expected that Ali and Hales will open, but with Hales having performed well below par in the Big Bash, they need to ensure he's going to settle in before exploding. Bell, Root, Bopara will likely take 3,4,5 in the lineup, Bell and Root struggling to rotate the strike last season in Australia, they will need to do better otherwise there will be a reshuffle.

Another key for England is to keep Anderson and Broad wrapped in cotton wool for as long as possible. England should fancy their chances at this World Cup, and these two quicks are vital to them winning. Finn is too erratic to rely on, and Jordan despite being solid last season, is not at the standard of these two frontliners.

The bloke you don't know: Alright, maybe this guy you have heard of before, but only in a way that makes him sound like the greatest player on the planet. Gary Ballance is a 25 year old left hander who was born in Zimbabwe and made the Zimbabwean U19 side aged only 16. He was awarded a contract at Yorkshire blah blah blah this bit is boring. He is a middle order bat who made 1251 runs in the County Championship in 2013, this got him on the Ashes tour to Australia. Has played 8 tests (Avg: 60.75) and 12 ODIs (AVG: 26.10) for England. His selection for the World Cup comes at a surprise, and probably only due to the sacking of captain Alastair Cook.

[PowerBug]

SOUTH AFRICA
ODI Ranking: 2

The Squad

Bats:	AR:	Keep:	Seam:	Spin:
AB de Villiers (c)	JP Duminy	Quinton de Kock	Dale Steyn	Imran Tahir
Hashim Amla			Morne Morkel	Aaron Phangiso
Faf du Plessis			Vernon Philander
David Miller			Wayne Parnell
Farhaan Behardien			Kyle Abbott
Rilee Rossouw

Strengths: Steyn, Morkel, Philander. I'm not even going to talk about them anymore, everyone knows how good they are.

Weaknesses: I can't find anything, even Tahir is good in ODIs. Perhaps their best XI might lack another proper bowling option, but that is surely the least of their worries when you front up with Steyn, Morkel, Philander, Duminy, Tahir.

The Key: Eliminating the choker tag. This team is so good, balanced, got world class players throughout, they should go to the final, they have the team on paper to go to the final. It will come up as the semi finals get closer, and they need to find a way to get through it.

The bloke you don't know Aaron Phangiso is a left arm spinner who has waited until the prime age of 30 to make his break into the South African squad. Has got better short form numbers compared to first class, however the selection is surprising seeing as the main spinner (Tahir) spins the ball the same way as him. Looks to be a lower order bat, but not a mug. Might be useful if they get some slow decks when they play in NZ.

[PowerBug]

SRI LANKA
ODI Ranking: 5

The Squad:
Angelo Mathews (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Lahiru Thirimanne (vice-capt), Dinesh Chandimal, Dimuth Karunaratne, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga (subject to fitness), Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Kulasekara, Rangana Herath, Sachithra Senanayake

[PowerBug]

PAKISTAN
ODI Ranking: 6

The Squad:
Misbah-ul-Haq(captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfraz Ahmed, Younis Khan, Haris Sohail, Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Ehsan Adil, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz

[PowerBug]

NEW ZEALAND
ODI Ranking: 9

The Squad:

Bats:	AR:	Keep:	Seam:	Spin:
Ross Taylor	Nathan McCullum	Brendon McCullum (c)	Tim Southee	Daniel Vettori
Kane Williamson	Grant Elliott	Luke Ronchi	Kyle Mills
Martin Guptill	Corey Anderson		Mitchell McClenaghan
Tom Latham			Trent Boult
			Adam Milne

Strength: I look at this 15, and I see a nice, well rounded squad. But the seam attack strikes me most, and the range of options. Southee, Boult, McClenaghan, Milne, Elliott, Mills, Anderson. Very sound attack they own.

Weaknesses: Batting. McCullum and Taylor, no other proven scorers there. Tom Latham has some alright numbers, Guptill has a lot of numbers but averages 23 in his last 76 ODIs, including 3 ducks. Not good enough for an opener. They'll need contribution from the lower order to ensure they post decent totals, Vettori, Anderson, Elliott can all bat apparently.

The Key: the captain, and his ability to carry this team with the bat, and in the field. Chances are New Zealand will play with more than 5 bowling options each match, how he uses his bowlers will be key to how far they progress. They qualified behind Bangladesh for this tournament, but they are in some serious form heading into the Cup, and have a team to do it.

The bloke you don't know: Adam Milne. In the side because he is tall and bowls quick. Am not expecting to see him play much. According to Wikipedia "He can consistently bowl in excess of 150kph". That is probably why he is in the squad.

[JBs-Hawks]

Love ya work PB

[KoopKicka]

inb4 NZ win the lot. :p

[AFEV]

inb4 NZ win the lot. :p

New Zealand is actually pretty good, they'll make quarters and could be a smokey for the final 4 imo, if we don't win I'd hope they do.

[Hellopplz]

SOUTH AFRICA
ODI Ranking: 2

The Squad
Captain: AB de Villiers
Star Batsman: AB de Villiers
Keeper: AB de Villiers
Best Bowler: AB de Villiers
Star Fielder: AB de Villiers

Love it ;D.

[jobe#4]

England's batting will be extremely dangerous!

[PowerBug]

I will get back to this lol. I will put all the actual squads up, there are some players I haven't heard of before, will have to research them

[Nige]

Good read on the England front.

Can't wait to see Jos Buttler bat again, just so good!