Are everyone writing off Australia too early for the WC?

[maniac]

I think the general consensus is India,Eng and Nzl are the favorites to reach semis.

 

Lot of us are wary of how predictably unpredictable Pakistan is and are the perennial dark horse in every tournament.

 

SA can spring a surprise and they have some good players and a gun bowling attack and  seem to be getting on a lot of semi final lists solely on reputation.

 

WI Srilanka,Bangladesh and even Afghanistan can stun any team on their day and we can’t call it an upset but in this new format they may not able to keep up sustained consistency. 

 

However Australia has gone down a little

on reputation and seems to be under the radar due to recent performances.

 

You cannot write them off completely.

 

Guys like Khwaja,Head,Maxwell,Marsh bros and Stoinis may individually not look like a lot but when they play around Warner and Smith,they will look much more intimidating.

 

Their only Achilles heel seems to be a proper spinner but Zampa is evolving well.

 

They have over-experimented too much recently and hoped that something sticks by throwing every crap available.

 

However their 15 man squad picks itself and it looks solid.

 

they tend to raise their bar in world tourneys and I think they might spring a surprise this World Cup. I won’t be surprised if they win the whole thing. 

Edited February 13, 2019 by maniac

[Stan AF]

Yes. Everyone is underestimating Australia. They always perform above par in WCs.

[Gollum]

All of us are simpletons dude. But there was a wise baba in our midst who had a vision....something along the lines of Australia heading the West Indies route. Now our knowledge and powers of prophecy pale before the great one, so we just assumed whatever he was saying was nothing but the truth. WI haven't won a WC since 1979  , so we did 2+2 and started writing off Australia's WC chances. 

 

Now suddenly WI beat England in a test series, and a thread like this is being made hyping up a 'bunch of hacks' as our esteemed baba said in his infinite wisdom....I don't understand cricket or life. Whether to give up on @Global.Baba or @maniac? Help....

Edited February 13, 2019 by Gollum

[Gollum]

Popular consensus here is that one of @Global.Baba/@maniac is Gangadhar, the other is Shaktimaan...help me decide who is Shaktimaan and I will follow his words. 

Edited February 13, 2019 by Gollum

[velu]

49 minutes ago, Gollum said:

All of us are simpletons dude. But there was a wise baba in our midst who had a vision....something along the lines of Australia heading the West Indies route. Now our knowledge and powers of prophecy pale before the great one, so we just assumed whatever he was saying was nothing but the truth. WI haven't won a WC since 1979  , so we did 2+2 and started writing off Australia's WC chances. 

 

Now suddenly WI beat England in a test series, and a thread like this is being made hyping up a 'bunch of hacks' as our esteemed baba said in his infinite wisdom....I don't understand cricket or life. Whether to give up on @Global.Baba or @maniac? Help....

 

@maniac is bruce wayne in the daytime..

@Global.Baba is batman in the nght time

 

[maniac]

@Gollum ....Baba was a seer,a visionary. He might have had a higher global. Vision (don’t forget the vision) and might have come from a point of view that how Aussies are following the same pattern as the WI in the 90s of having a good core but not having enough support players coming through to take the team forward at an individual level and the panicky structure seeping into the ACB.

 

That is why that man is what you call a “man of god”. Baba is the equivalent of Nostradamus. He is calling a dystopian and apocalyptic future while ignoring the beautiful spring day today while the birds are chirping outside ( a very miserable day weather wise here just an analogy   )

 

However as a common, regular man who seeks instant gratification and enjoys the little things in life and believes in living in the moment , in a moment of weakness as a mere mortal I may have opened this thread. As I feel Australia are a strong enough contender this WC.

 

Mind you ,Not 4 years from now, not 8 years from now. WI also reached the 96 semis and almost pulled off a finals berth as well during this downturn.

 

I think you fell for the temptation of most mere mortals that includes  securing an easy upvote from @Switchblade .

 

We probably don’t venture into the same realms as dot baba. We all like to take a left or right approach instead of having a sedate,centralist bigger picture view like the seers of the yore like global.baba.

 

That is absolutely fine. That is what is the beauty of humanity.

 

As a fellow human I would say let us discuss the possibilities of the immediate future and the next few months as it is the only thing our little unenlightened minds can handle.

 

As Baba would say leave the higher level stuff to me and answer to the fking point or GTFO and don’t forget the dot

 

[Khota]

No one is writing off Aussies but the team to beat is England and India.

[Gollum]

I won't write off Australia, they are the last team I want India to face in SF/F. Never underestimate them after what they did in 1987 and 1999 (7 match unbeaten streak..1 tie against RSA) WCs...they always rise to the occasion. Their reputation in big matches is unparalleled, our greatest ODI team in Motera QF had to huff and puff to snatch victory against a mediocre Oz XI, never forget that. Full strength bowling looks strong and with the return of double trouble those chinks in the batting will more or less be papered over. Fielding ki toh baat hi mat karo...Smith, Warner, Maxwell, Stoinis, Handscomb, Zampa, Finch, Marsh etc will be the most formidable fielding unit on display .

 

I am especially looking forward to see Smith, the greatest modern day batsman come back to the big stage...it will be like the Ali/Jordan comebacks after their hiatus. He will be eager to prove a point and put his so called rivals in their place. Even if he doesn't do that well in group stage (rust) expect Smith to play himself into form and transform into a monster in KO....I am already calling it now, if Australia make it to SF/F and face Eng/Ind/NZ, Smith will once again ruthlessly own the other members of the so called big 4 and establish himself as the undisputed best. And cricket will be richer for it. I say among the 10 teams they may be the 4th or 5th in line to qualify for SF but once there they will be favorites. Whilst on paper Eng/NZ/RSA present a formidable challenge to India, none of these teams have ever won a WC and that will play a part methinks....don't be surprised if we get an Ind-Aus final following Eng-Aus (1 vs 4) and Ind-NZ (2 vs 3) semis.

Edited February 13, 2019 by Gollum

[Straight Drive]

Not wise to rule out the Aussies from WC knockouts. 

[Vilander]

16 hours ago, maniac said:

I think the general consensus is India,Eng and Nzl are the favorites to reach semis.

no.

[Nikola]

Their key players have played very less odi cricket since 2015 worldcup. It's not easy even for top class batsman to miss out so many games in particular format and be back to best. Even virat struggled in t20 for sometime when he started to take rest form that format.

[Zero_Unit]

If you ask me, 3 for sure semi-finalst are probably india-england-australia. Last one is up for grabs. However, it is highly unlikely that miracle will hit twice for Pakistan. Don't see them getting in the semis with their current superstars. 

[zen]

Poll suggests otherwise: 

 

 

Current status: Eng (34), Ind (30),  Aus (20) and NZ (19) in the lead in that order 

Edited February 13, 2019 by zen

[Nikhil_cric]

I would never rule out Australia in world cups simply because , historically, they are the greatest tournamebt team ever. But this time their players just don't look as intimidating. The likes of khawaja just don't instil the same fear that the likes of Gilly, Hayden used to. Unless Warner and Smith come back and are in top form, it's difficult to take them as serious contenders. 

[Straight Drive]

Aussies even without Warner and Smith have so far managed to even 2-2 in 4 matches, that too against India in India. This has been a even series so far with the decider yet to be played. Whoever wrote them off has to check the actual perfromances of this series.

[putrevus]

Of all the teams India has most glaring weaknesses. No middle order and bowlers like Bhuvi and Chahal .


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[Nikola]

Won't be surprised if they win worldcup again. Out of all teams i think india will not want to play with Aus in knockout stages. Making Justin Langer coach is best thing to happen for Australian cricket in last few years.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Nikola

[SK_IH]

39 minutes ago, Nikola said:

Won't be surprised if they win worldcup again. Out of all teams i think india will not want to play with Aus in knockout stages. Making Justin Langer coach is best thing to happen for Australian cricket in last few years.

really like the inclusion of Handscomb in their side. Semis looks possible, if key players remain in form

[Nikola]

31 minutes ago, SK_IH said:

really like the inclusion of Handscomb in their side. Semis looks possible, if key players remain in form

Agree he is one of the best player of spin bowling in world right now & with more experience he will only get better. If he does wicket keeping in short format then he will be asset for aussies.

[Tibarn]

Yes, batting can win you an ODI game and they have a deep batting lineup. If they were/are able to get Warner and Smith back into the side, they would be as good a bet as any.