The better looking teams. Your opinion?

Tweet

Right now it could be said that the sub-continent teams have a good chance of winning. But yet South Africa, India and Australia remain the favourites to win this years Cricket World Cup. That said, while India and South Africa have the strongest batting orders, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have extremely potent bowling attacks. Lets start with India then. India have by far the strongest batting line up. With Shevag and Tendulkar at the top they are almost sure to start any game with a strong opening partnership, laying a good foundaton. Then the upper-middle and middle order consists of some of the biggest hitters of the tournement. Kholi, Raina and Yousuf Pathan are all capable of playing match winning innings. Dhoni lower down the order fulfills the need of a player to turn over the strike with the potential to explode when ever he wants to. It is already clear that spinners are going to play a major part in this tournament, and with Harbajan Singh, Pujuara and Patel in their ranks India can be sure they can trouble any batting order. Pace bowlers in Zahir Khan, Shreeshanth and Praveen Kumar ensure that the fist and last 10 overs of any game wont cost them the game. South Africa also have a very potent batting line up. Smith, Amla, Kallis and de Villiers are in the prime of form and can rip apart any bowling attack. Boucher comming down the order plays a role very similar to Dhoni and Morkel provides the fire power for the death overs. Unfortunately though, they lack good spinners who can make use of the conditions here in the sub-continent. While they have the best pace attack in the tournament, it can be observed that it will require a lot out of them win matches. This time around Australia are an unpredictable side. Watson at the top is in great form, but he lacks a good opening partner if Hadddin Continues his rueful form. Ponting and Clarke seem to have found back their form and now hold the batting order firmly. The absence of Micheal Hussey is greatly felt in the middle order as Cameron White finds it hard to smash the ball around like he did during the Twenty20 World cup 2 years ago. Hussey's borther though, seems to be following in his foot steps and looks to be a player Australia can rely on. Lee, Jhonson, Tait make up the fastest bowling attack in the tounament, but they too, lack good spinners. Sri Lanka are also somewhat a mixed bag of tricks. Dilshan, Sanagakkara and Mahela are in great form and hold the batting lie up together, a little too much maybe. Tharanga is also capable of making that 40 to 50 runs every innings. Sri Lanka are fortunate this tiem around though, because both Samaraweera and Mathews are capable of playing match winning knocks if necessary. Sri Lanka's tail is somewhat weaker than other teams while Kulesekara and Herath are quite capable of smacking the ball around a bit. Sri Lanka also boast the best bowling attack in the tournament. With plenty of spinners in their armory and 2 of the best pace bowlers, Kulesekara and Malinga opening the bowling and Muralidharan, Herath and Mendis bieng world class spinners. Pakistan is probably the most unpredictable side of the tournament. Their batting line-up more so. Everyone of their batsmen have proved over time to be capable of playing big innings, at over a run-a-ball at that. But consistency is something they lack. As for bowling, they possess the same bowling side which led them to victory in the Twenty20 World cup they won. Gul bowls excellenty at the start and end of an innings. Afridi and Ajmal are two of the most feared spin bowlers in the world as well. England are slowly crawlling back into a shell of no self-confidence after their recent thrashing at the hands of the Australians and now after a very tense match whith Netherlands, which if not for Netherlands inexperience bowling attack, they would have lost. Kevein Peiterson is still not playing at his best, and the absence of Morgan is greatly felt. Bell, Bopara and Collingwood are solid player, but England lack the fire power to accelerate when ever they wish. Swann has developed to be one of the greatest spin bowlers of world today, but he is alone in the England side. Englan can also be worried that their reputed pace bowlers Broad and Anderson went at over 5.5 runs an over in the previous game. New Zealand are also not to be under-estimated. With Guptil, McCalluum and Ryder comming in at the top, they can be sure o a quick start in the first 15 overs. Taylor is also scrores fast and can hold his own if necessary. Vettori is only second to Shakib as the best all rounder in the world, and he provides a solidity for the lower order. New Zealand also have a reputed middle tail for sashing the bowl around with Mills and Frnaklin the thei ranks. With Vettori and and upcomming pace bowlers, they have a good chance to win this time around. Netherlands is also now better favoured than West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. West Indies have a good top order,and a big hitting middle-order, but lack the bowling attack to win matches. Bangladsh has a star in Shakib, and a good batsmen in Tamin Iqbal and a good bowler in Abdur Razzaq, but three players can not win take you to a wold cup final single-handedly. Zimbabwe showed that they have a disciplined line up, while also proving they have a not so proving batting line-up. It could be said that Netherlands also only have one good player in ten Doschate, but they did show the capability of their batting line up to amass nearly 300 uns against one of the top bowling sides. Like that it's realy difficult to split up the top teams. What you can be sure of is there will most deffinitly be high-tension games. Go Sri Lanka!