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ICC WORLD CUP- will England win?

I am a tad doubtful if favourites England will win the forthcoming World Cup. I base this on the fact that favourites often do not win World Cups and in a 50 over cricket match you are particularly vulnerable to losing a one-off game.

There are other factors too: the injuries are so frequent that on the Cricinfo website their correspondent compared the English dressing room to a triage station.

Mark Wood’s is the most serious.

He seems a perennial crock but yesterday in the warm-up against Australia Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes also needed treatment and skipper Eion Morgan is already out with a fractured finger.

Add too the quality of the opposition. As to supposed home advantage, an Indian crowd will be every bit as fervent and noisy.

Pargie’s tenner is on everyone’s favourite dark horses – the New Zealanders – who thrashed India yesterday.

In Kane Williamson and Trent Boult they have two of the very best.

India under Virat Kohli and a group of all rounders and the West Indies, with the explosive hitting of Andre Russell and Chris Gayle, demand consideration.

I would not write off Australia too quickly. Aaron Finch and Glen Maxwell are masters of this format and take notice that spinner Natham Agar was miserly with only 37 runs off his bowling, better than Dawson or Mooen Ali.

Steve Smith and Pat Cummins are no mugs.

If you fancy an outsider with the best spinner in the tourney -Rashid Khan – go for Afghanistan.

Then there is the mercurial Pakistan who can go from zero from hero in one match.

I certainly looking forward to the competition and have my tickets for Lords. This is the original limited overs format and, though some thought it might be squeezed out by Test matches and T20, the World Cup keeps it vibrant.

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About Douglas Heath

Douglas Heath began his lifelong love affair with cricket as an 8 year-old schoolboy playing OWZAT? Whilst listening to a 160s Ashes series on the radio. He later became half-decent at doing John Arlott impressions and is a member of Middlesex County Cricket Club. He holds no truck at all with the T20 version on the game. More Posts