First Post

Got to start somewhere, I suppose. Anyway, welcome to my blog, which will mainly focus on cricket, with an emphasis on England and Yorkshire. Now we have reached the Super 8 stage of the World Cup, the point at which the tournament was really meant to begin; by now the minnows should have been eliminated, leaving the Test nations to fight it out. Yet it has not quite gone to plan, and the presence of Ireland and Bangladesh is, although good for them, not ideal for the tounrmant as a whole. For one, they are unlikely to spring any more suprises (although Bangladesh might fancy their chances) and this makes it very difficult for the sides who have not carried through points from the groups - namely England and South Africa - to qualify for the semi-finals. Furthermore, the presence of a genuine minnow, in Ireland, is likely to create a whole raft of one-sided matches, which, unpalatable in the group stages, becomes tiresome at the point where the matches should be really keenly contested. But at the end of the day they have (sort of) earned their place, and India in particular must have no quibble - they had two chances to save themselves and twice bottled it.

So here are my views on the eight contenders:

Australia: Their batting, as evidenced by the display agianst South Africa, is still a fearsome unit, which should score heavily against most sides. However, they have had the luxury on playing themselves in at St.Ktts - a small ground and a very flat pitch - and they should be wary of being caught cold on a greentop. The bowling, as it has been since the outset, will be the main worry: although Brad Hogg has not had the nightmare many predicted, the pace bowling is a bit underwhelming. McGrath lacks his old pace and nip, and batsmen are finding it increasingly easy to line him up; Bracken is useful in a containing role, but is in reality very ordinary, whilst Tait may become an excellent bolwer but is currently something of a liability. Nevertheless, if Symonds can get back to full fitness, he will balance the side nicely, and their road to the semi-finals s relatively clear. Once there, they will be hard to beat, if not quite as of old.

West Indies: Easy victories agianst minnows and an underpowered Pakistan do not tell us much, and the host team remain an unknown quantity. However the batting is strong and experienced, and the pace bolwing, whilst a shadow of what came before, is decent enough. They have matchwinners in Lara and Gayle, and are balanced with the presence of all-rounders Smith and Bravo. However, they are probably a little too inconsistent to be a good bet for the title, although if they reach the semis (and they will carry htorugh the points) you never know.

South Africa: Whilst their batting looks good, especially with Smith in form, it will be the one-dimensional nature of their bowling attack which will cause worry. They have nobody who bowls lef-handed and no-one (bar Smith with his rubbish off-spin) who can take pace of the ball. In easy batting conditions this can be a recipe for conceding huge totals, as Australia showed. However, one off-day does not make Pollock and Ntini bad bowlers, and they have the batting depth and quality to chase nearly anything. On the back foot, but too early to write them off.

New Zealand: They play well together as a team, and are a very efficient one-day team. The battign is a mixture between the solidity of Fleming and Styris and the impetuousness of McMillan, Taylor and Oram. However, there is the propensity to collapse, and they will have to battle hard against the good attacks. Past Bond and Vettori the bowling is a bit thin, but then popgun seamers such as Styris and Oram have prospered so far. Nothing hugely special, but underestimate them at your peril.

Sri Lanka: They have really started with a bang, and go into the Super 8 joint favourites. The batting boasts power in the form of explosive openers Jayasuriya and Tharanga, flair from Jayawerdene and Sangakarra, pragmatism from bedrock Atapattu and depth, with Russell Arnold and Chamara Silva kicking around down the order, along with Chaminda Vaas' ability to oscillate effectively between slogging and blocking, as the situation dictates. Vaas leads the bowling with the nous and experience gained from well over 200 ODIs, whilst his partner Malinga adds a maverick element, with his low arm and high speed. Murali will prdouce wickets as he always does, alongside Jayasuriya, whose left arm spin is as restrictive as his batting is destructive. The third seamer postion could be occupied either by the improving Farveez Maharoof or the rapid Fernando. Overall, the most balanced side for whom the wickets are tailor-made; the only question remains as to their ability to perform under pressure - but they have the experience to cope, and will be very hard to beat on their day.

England: Plus ca change; as much as we have chopped and changed our one-day line up for the last four years, England still play a brand of cricket that has been outdated since 1992. The top 3 are all talented batsmen, but lack the power and confidence to take advantage of the now crucial power-plays. Joyce is a nice touch player, whose innings ebb and flow too much for him to ever dominate, whilst one despairs of Vaughan ever prvoing himself as a one-day batsman. Bell also has the propensity to get bogged down, and his attempts to hit over the top are undermined by a clear lack of faith in his own ability to do so (as evidenced by his feeble dismissal against Kenya). The engine room is obviously England's strong point, but it is too much to ask for them to save every game and do all the work themselves. That said, if the top three can somehow fashion a platform, Pietersen and Flintoff are the ideal men to capitalise. There are many good points to the bowling attack; they possess a good opening bolwer in Anderson, backed up by a genuine paceman in Flintoff and a top-drawer spinner. Throw into the mix the canny medium pace of Collingwood and Bopara's skiddy cutters and you have a very good unit. However, Anderson is not wholly reliable; even less so his opening partner, with neither Plunkett nor Mahmood inspiring confidence. Furthemore, although they are arguably England's best two bolwers in one-day cricket, Flintoff and Panesar do sometimes struggle to take wickets. It would be a suprise if England could claw back the points lost against NZ and qualify for the semi-finals. However, they are probably only two players away from being a really potent team, and you never know.

Bangladesh: As encouraging as their victory was, they went some way to dismantling their shaky reputation with a dimsal showing against Sri Lanka, and they remain a side agianst which the top teams expect to win. The tyro opening pair Imam and Rahim make up in talent what they lack in experience, and they are backed up by an experienced middle order, with Habibul Bashar and Mohammed Ashraful the stand-outs. The bowling, led well by the niggardly Mortaza, is heavily reliant on left arm spin which could be a weakness as well as a strength. For them, one or two wins on top of the one they should achieve against Ireland would constitute an excellent campaign.

Ireland: They should not really be here (sorry, but it's true) and they would be surpassing themselves just to win another game. Heavily reliant on expats, they are led well by Australian Trent Johnson, whose compatirot Jeremy Bray provides the mainstay of the batting. Past them, only the O'Brien brothers, Eoin Morgan and Boyd Rankin are noteworthy. Three of those are county players, but bar Morgan (possibly) they have little or no chance of recognition with England, and are at best solid county pros. Even so, it is good for assosciate cricket that they should have a representative in the latter stages, although they could suffer some serious beating further down the line. First up for them is England, a match they will eye as a possible opportunity, and for which they will be as keen as England are wary.