Can anyone stop Australia?
Australia started the 2015 World Cup as favourites and two weeks into the tournament it’s hard to change that opinion. Other sides have showed some flashes of brilliance, though, and with the nature of ODIs anything could still happen apart from England winning the World Cup.
Long break
The World Cup marathon may be approaching the two-week stage, but Australia haven’t set foot on a pitch since that win over England on the opening day of the tournament. Their scheduled demolition of Bangladesh was rained off last weekend and they don’t play again until Saturday when they take on New Zealand. Why teams need so much time between ODIs is beyond me and most of the fans are just waiting for this tournament to reach the knock-out stages.
But that one performance against England was enough to show just why they are favourites to win another World Cup. Aaron Finch was in sensational form as he hammered the English bowlers all over the pitch and he received able support from George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell and Brad Haddin. As in Test cricket, Australia doesn’t need all their batsmen firing to produce a good score. David Warner, Shane Watson and Steven Smith scored just 27 between them but they still managed 342. Their attack easily defended that total and the big question in this World Cup is whether any side can hit 300 against Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Starc.
Final outcome?
I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if their next game against New Zealand is a dress rehearsal for the World Cup final. The Kiwis, who for some reason played three times in the first week of the tournament, have excelled with both the ball and the bat so far. Brendon McCullum showed just what a sensational batsman he can be as he demolished the England attack and hit 65 against Sri Lanka.
New Zealand aren’t a one-man team though with Kane Williamson, Grant Elliott and Corey Anderson all making healthy contributions so far. As England fans will testify, if the ball is swinging then Tim Southee is a major threat and Daniel Vettori is still difficult to dominate and always pitches in with some useful wickets. They did struggle to hit a big score against Scotland though and it’ll be interesting to see how they fare against Australia.
Don’t write them off
India are the defending champions and have made a terrific start to their World Cup campaign with two impressive performances against Pakistan and South Africa. Their batsmen are firing, having hit over 300 in both of those games. If Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina can continue their great form then Australia may well have a battle on their hands to win this tournament.
It’s common in tournaments for teams to make a slow start and then hit form at the right moment. Perhaps that’s what South Africa are going to do in the 2015 World Cup They struggled against Zimbabwe before David Miller and JP Duminy put on a record unbeaten partnership of 256. Neither Hashim Amla or AB De Villiers have stamped their authority on the tournament in their opening two games, if and when they hit form then we’ll see just how big a threat they can be to Australia.
West Indies certainly didn’t look a threat when losing their opening game to Ireland, but wins over Pakistan and Zimbabwe have got them back on track. Chris Gayle’s amazing 215 against Zimbabwe was a welcome return to form but can he do that against stronger bowling attacks? Their middle order is capable of pushing on in the second half of an innings and on their day can beat anyone.
There’s a long way to go in this tournament and it’ll take a good team to deny Australia victory, but this is ODI cricket. One match-winning performance is all it takes so it’s all to play for in the 2015 World Cup.