Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup.

[MundaPakistani]

AUS have shown some vulnerability and with Symonds's injury there will be some concerns but they should be able to make it to the semis. ENG seemingly had no chance but in only 2 weeks they have turned it all around and are probably the dark horses. IND were in great form this time last year how ever since then they have taken the elevator down to the 1st floor, so will their big guns fire cause problems for the other contenders? NZ are a professional unit and always make a decent run in the world cups but will they be able to shake off Astle's retirement and Mills's injury? PAK continue to be inconsistent and extremely injury prone and no one knows which PAK will show up for the world cup. SA have been playing some excellent cricket but most of the games have been in home conditions so how they will do in the foreign conditions? SL have formed a fairly decent with some extremely dangerous players right at the top and right at the bottom but will the supporting cast hold up? WI made it to the CT final but then lost the 2 series in a row to the subcontinent teams, so how will they do? Will the home conditions help them or will the burden of expectations be too much for them? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My picks to make the semi finals AUS PAK IND WI

[Rajiv]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. SA NZ AUS ENG

[King]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. Aus NZ WI I'll take the safe option out, any one of the rest of the teams. All are capable and incapable of making it to the semis.

[DesiChap]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. IND SA AUS ENG

[MundaPakistani]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup.

Aus NZ WI I'll take the safe option out, any one of the rest of the teams. All are capable and incapable of making it to the semis.

So you are confident that NZ and WI will make it? If so then why?

[MundaPakistani]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. Question for people who are confident about SA's chances Don't you guys think that their attack is one dimensional? and do you guys think that Ntini and Nel will continue to do well even in the batting friendly conditions?

[King]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. WI at home will be a good team and have had some good times in the recent few months. They have beaten a full strength Aussie team quite consistently on neutral venue too so I would like to think they will make it to the semis. NZ have a decent batting, bowling line up. The fielding although was not the best in the last game they played Australia usually they are the top fielding side. They raked up fair amount of runs in the ODIs against Australia in Australia against quality bowlers so I would like to think they are just starting to peak as for batting is concerned. Bowling is not bad either, there is good mix of fast bowling, slow medium and spinners. It always helps to have an express bowler such as Bond in the ranks. There is fair bit of youth and experienced in the team. In McCullum they have a good wicket keeper batsman that is so much required these days for a team composition. Team is also loaded with all rounders in Oram, Styris, Frankyln and Vettori. I think there are several good reasons to think NZ will make it to the semis.

[MundaPakistani]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup.

WI at home will be a good team and have had some good times in the recent few months. They have beaten a full strength Aussie team quite consistently on neutral venue too so I would like to think they will make it to the semis. NZ have a decent batting, bowling line up. The fielding although was not the best in the last game they played Australia usually they are the top fielding side. They raked up fair amount of runs in the ODIs against Australia in Australia against quality bowlers so I would like to think they are just starting to peak as for batting is concerned. Bowling is not bad either, there is good mix of fast bowling, slow medium and spinners. It always helps to have an express bowler such as Bond in the ranks. There is fair bit of youth and experienced in the team. In McCullum they have a good wicket keeper batsman that is so much required these days for a team composition. Team is also loaded with all rounders in Oram, Styris, Frankyln and Vettori. I think there are several good reasons to think NZ will make it to the semis.

Not going to argue about WI's chances because i picked them too so let's look at NZ and why i think they won't make it 1- Fleming- Fair player but not very consistent. 2- L Vincient- don't really rate this guy and if i was in charge of the NZ i would have brought in M Sincilar. 3- P Fulton- Another limited player with limited expereience who is going to find it hard in Carribean. 4- R Taylor- Good young talent but very inexperienced. 5- Styris- Decent player and is easily thier best middle batsman...not saying much is it? 6- Oram- He can be dangerous in the final 5 or 6 overs but considering that he bats at #6 shows lack of depth in the batting. 7- McCullum- Excellent hitter...a real danger man. 8- Vettori- handy lower order batsman and can keep it tight in the middle overs but definately not a great wicket taker. 9- M Gillispe- Haven't seen much of this guy but his record isn't anything to write home about. 10- Franklin- He can swing the ball and get one or two early wickets but after that he is a bit of trundler and can be taken to the cleaners 11- Bond- Fantastic bowler....can cause problems to even World's best batsmen however almost all of his wickets have either come in NZ or AUS and in the matches that he has played in the WI he hasn't done well at all. Admittedly NZ is a thoroughly professional team and can bind together to beat perhaps the more talented teams but this time around they seem to be quite a bit behind the other contenders and i don?t think they will make it to the semis.

[cricajar]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. Aus -- definites Ind -- I'm confident of our abilities SA -- playing some great cricket and their bowlers are just fantastic WI -- they're at home and have some solid players Why not NZ -- very professional, but just lack the sheer talent PAK -- too many injuries, depleted bowling and batting line-ups ENG -- so frail...they do have an X-factor in the trio of colly, freddie and Peitersen but i'm still not convinced tehy have the mental fortitude. SL -- Very close to make it...solid batting and bowling options...vaas, murali experience, malinga sheer pace...jaya, tharanga, sangakarra, attapatu, jayward...pretty damn good batting...dilshan...the more i thikn about it the better SL loooks...maybe they'll beat out WI for the fourth spot... Coming to think of it this could be a really close world cup...i do think aus of course are still runaway favorites, but it could be pretty damn close...lets hope it is!

[King]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. MP, the team above you mentioned is good enough to beat anyone in my opinion. You are underestimating Oram's ability as a batsman and Bond's ability as a bowler. I think Oram should be batting up the order but unfortunately he won't get to. He is equally good with both bat and ball. I don't know why you reckon he is not good enough with the bat. He has been a real success with the bat in test matches and he will be in ODIs too if he get to bat at the top consistently. As I said NZ does not depend on its stars to perform, everyone chips in. Never has NZ had many stars in the team, that is not the virtue of NZ teams but more than often the start studded teams have fallen apart against thorough professional performances of NZ. That excatly is why I predict NZ to not win the WC but to make it to semis. If you start looking at 11 India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan players you can find more shortage than NZ. :hic:

[Holysmoke]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. AUS SA IND SL

[veer]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. India has benefit of playing 3 top contenders within last 2 months.. so know their team.. India knows SA attack and they havent met our inform batsmen yet with ganguly and all.. come super 8.. will beat those damn guys... IMO India can beat SA, NZ, ENG, PAK.. in super 8.... that should see us through semis.. after that.. I need to start praying.. and if our half billion starts praying.. we are into Finals.. after that its all upto bookies hands.. (okie now i am kidding on that one). :hic:

[Chandan]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. Terrific optimism here. But I think India will not be able to make it to semis. Why? Because of its terrible fielding! Because of lack of reseve in batting department, if ZEE news report is correct. Because of inconsistency and lack of match fitness to several of our players like Yuvraj, Pathan, Sehwag etc.

[zubinpepsi]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. AUS ( still the champions, inspite of their recent losses) SAF ( aggressive team currently.. though a bunch of chokers i expect them to be in lats 4) IND ( hope, prayer and faith of billions) NZ ( dark horse) but i have a feeling tht IND wont make it to the semifinals.. SL mebe the one who wud be replacing in my list..

[jf1gp_1]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. My bet would be on 1. Australia : they are the best and cant see them being stopped. 2. SA : Did alright when they visited India, currently on a high, bat deep, lack quality spinner but have enough fire power to make it to semi's 3. WI : Home team, known conditions, dont have a great bowling line up but explosive batsman make up for that. 4. One of SL and NZ : lots of all rounders bat deep, lots of bowling options. Both have players who can take advantage of WI conditions. As for others Pak lack of bowlers and inconsistent, 300 one day 107 other day this wont do add to that lousy fielding. Eng will find it difficult to adjust to WI conditions and as far as India goes, when you select as many as 5 players who are struggling with fitness or form or in uttapa's case zero experience you dont have a team to make it to semi's. That said two teams which can turn this tournament upside down in a matter of 2-3 games are India and Pak. Both have explosive batsman. Likes of Sehwag, afridi, dhoni, yuvraj, malik, razaq can tear apart any bowling line up. Both teams have nippy bowlers india has an advantage of having quality spinner which pak will lose once they dont pick kaneria but over all both teams have bowlers who on there day can win games for you without any support from batsman.

[Predator_05]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. AUS - Hard to bet against them. I have a inkling that they might be knocked out before the semifinals; perhaps by England again ? However, as of right now; i just can't overlook them. They do look more fallible than they did back in '03. SA - No explanation required. They are in prime form leading up to the world cup; have a gritty skipper at the helm. They have comprehensively beaten almost every good side out there and look better than ever. The only way they can't make the semis is if they peak too soon. WI - Home advantage, familiarity with the conditions, a lengthy batting lineup which can chase tall totals with ease make WI a cert for the semis. Their record at major tournaments is excellent and good enough to suggest that this would the ideal dark-horse to put your money on. However, they will need Sarwan back, ASAP. They can't challenge without their best ODI batsman. IND - I don't know why ? I think the team is rubbish at the moment, and not even 1/4th the outfit India's '03 team was. Still, they are their own worst enemies and with so many matchwinners in the team - they only need two or three players to hit a purple patch in the tournament. Doesn't matter who. Tendulkar's form will be absolutely vital...i can't see India going anywhere if the Little Master doesn't turn up. It's no coincidence that the team's best performances in this competition were in '96 and '03 - on both occasions, Tendulkar topped the runscoring charts with well over 500. He needs to lead the way once more. Play him as an opener, instruct the others to bat around him, and India will give themselves a good chance.

[MundaPakistani]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. Is Sarwan still out with that foot injury caused by U Gul's yorker?

[ali0786]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. SA Aus NZ Pak

[yoda]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. SA (should be the top seed) AUS (will make it to semis atleast) SL (Jaya is unstoppable) ENG (Yes, I have changed my mind now) Pak will definitely not make it. India has an outside chance in place of SL or in place of ENG if they go back to their regularly scheduled level. NZ - well, they are a team that couldn't make a tri series finals involving england and the team that lost to england. :lmao:

[Guest dada_rocks]

Re: Predict the semi-finalists for the World Cup. Aus Sa WI Eng