2007 Cricket World Cup

[Firestorm]

Anyone planning to watch this? the opening ceremony is on sunday, and the first match takes place 2 days later. Favourites and defending champions Australia have lost their last 5 games on the trot, and have a few key players sidelined with injuries. I think if Australia don't win it then it might be one of the sub-continent teams, Pakistan or Sri Lanka.


Participating teams:

Group A
Australia
South Africa
Scotland
Netherlands

Group B
Sri Lanka
India
Bangladesh
Bermuda

Group C
New Zealand
England
Kenya
Canada

Group D
Pakistan
West Indies
Zimbabwe
Ireland

[taha]

scotland to win it! lol, i think its australias again

[Suprah]

MEH @ Cricket

Yes I am Pakistani, and yes I do follow cricket, but since the debacle of the 2003 World Cup and the already well known overseas averageness of the Pakistan team, I have washed my hands of this game and am now a full football fan, no questions asked. I sometimes hate cricket to the extent I want football to be the top game here, useless game which is dubbed a "religion in India/Pakistan" yet both sides have only won the World Cup once...India back in 1983 and us in 1992

Football is THE religion and game, and I dont give a crap abt cricket because of its over-emphasis here.

Given the fact that Pakistan will now be missing two of its pace bowling spearheads: Shoaib Akhtar and Muhammed Asif due to injuries (read: PCB covering up the fears of being dope tested twice and hence get life bans during the tournament after an initial positive test and year bans which were over-turned on appeal citing ignorance, and no clear cut policy and awareness in the team).

I am pretty sure Pakistan wont win it (given our only world title back in 1992....what a great memory that was ) and I am assuming/feeling/hoping that no other South Asian side will win the damn trophy.

Australia have been battered in recent times, and their one-day side is a far cry from the one they had winners in 2003 and 1999, so I would say they probably wont win it. I feel that South Africa have a great chance to finally win the ICC Cricket World Cup for the first time as they are now the #1 ranked ODI side at the moment and are playing too good.

[RezaAli]

LOL all i have to say.....

[yashar_fasihnia]

wat happened to the UAE team?? im sure UAE has a cricket team..
i heard it a few years back and was shocked!!

[Milad-69]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA.. I HATE CRICKET>... THE MOST INACTIVE SPORT ON THE PLANET...I heard osme sht that in the middle of the game the players go eat lunch then come back and continue.. ITS SOOOOOO BORING..
WICKET BALLER AOQALUJ@OJF@#)#@

I DONT CARE... ITS A TERRIBLE SPORT...
no offence to Cricket Fans!

[Firestorm]

wat happened to the UAE team?? im sure UAE has a cricket team..
i heard it a few years back and was shocked!!

Yeah they do, they qualified to the 1996 world cup but then they've sucked ever since.
The reason being that their entire team back then was made up of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi players, so the cricket governing body changed the rules to force every team to have a minimum number of native born players, which means they can't only depend on their oil money to buy them good team they also have to find some good local (Emirati) talent and that at the moment is virtually non-existent.
So they haven't been able to qualify the last 2 world cups or this one, although they're still the best team in the Persian Gulf area.

As for the upcoming world cup, I usually rate South Africa very highly but I think they might struggle to adjust to the slow and flat pitches in the west Indies, which should favour the sub-continent teams. I think Australia will still perform the best out of the non-Asian sides.

Pakistan can do well if they play to their full potential, the problem is they can be very brittle under pressure. Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif aren't really that big a loss to the team, Shoaib hasn't had much cricket in the last couple of years and when he's played he's been inconsistent, plus everyone knows he doesn't get along too well with the coach and captain. Asif has been ok in test cricket but in one-dayers he's only managed 22 wickets in 22 games, that's just one wicket a game. Although it's funny that the guy they chose to replace him is called Yasir Arafat.

[Firestorm]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA.. I HATE CRICKET>... THE MOST INACTIVE SPORT ON THE PLANET...I heard osme sht that in the middle of the game the players go eat lunch then come back and continue.. ITS SOOOOOO BORING..
WICKET BALLER AOQALUJ@OJF@#)#@
I DONT CARE... ITS A TERRIBLE SPORT...
no offence to Cricket Fans!

It can't be more boring that fishing or GOLF.

I'd rather watch cricket anyday than watch American football.

[Suprah]

As for the upcoming world cup, I usually rate South Africa very highly but I think they might struggle to adjust to the slow and flat pitches in the west Indies, which should favour the sub-continent teams. I think Australia will still perform the best out of the non-Asian sides.
Pakistan can do well if they play to their full potential, the problem is they can be very brittle under pressure. Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif aren't really that big a loss to the team, Shoaib hasn't had much cricket in the last couple of years and when he's played he's been inconsistent, plus everyone knows he doesn't get along too well with the coach and captain. Asif has been ok in test cricket but in one-dayers he's only managed 22 wickets in 22 games, that's just one wicket a game. Although it's funny that the guy they chose to replace him is called Yasir Arafat.

Dude...we're talking abt the West Indies, not the Indian friggin subcontinent West Indies have been known to have some awesome fast, bouncy pitches and dubbed a "fast bowler's paradise".

Yeah I agree that South Africa are favourites, but I also fancy New Zealand making a big impact, possibly bigger than 1999 as the way they chased those massive totals against Australia recently shows they are here to challenge.

I am not confident that Australia can repeat a third consecutive world title, and I really dont fancy any Asian side winning it either again. But you can never be too sure in cricket.

I'd rather watch cricket anyday than watch American football.

I more or less hate cricket btw but still your statement is true to the friggin core

[Parham10]

Ok, the only REAL sport in the world is soccer, and maybe basketball!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sam van Dam]

man i remember watching this back in o3 all the indian kids in my appartments went crazy for this tourney, but ill probally watch it if its televised

[Milad-69]

Ok, the only REAL sport in the world is soccer, and maybe basketball!!!!!!!!!!!

loool The Only Real Sport Is American Football.. If u wanna talk intensity.. but the rest are after!

[Firestorm]

Dude...we're talking abt the West Indies, not the Indian friggin subcontinent West Indies have been known to have some awesome fast, bouncy pitches and dubbed a "fast bowler's paradise".

You're right in that West Indies wickets have traditionally produced a lot of pace and bounce for the bowlers, but this has changed over the last couple of years and most predictions are that they will be much flatter and slower at this world cup, resembling the kind of pitches you will find in the subcontinent.

http://in.sports.yahoo.com/070303/43/6cshk.html

Former West Indies captain Alvin Kallicharran believes that teams from the Indian subcontinent would play a big part in the ICC World Cup 2007 in the West Indies starting this month.
'This is going to be a very open World Cup, because the wickets are slow and teams from the subcontinent will play a big part,' he told BBC in an interview.

And if you look at the results of the warm up matches played over the week you will also notice that Asian sides seem to be faring better.

Bangladesh defeat New Zealand by 2 wickets
India defeat West Indies by 9 wickets
Australia defeat England by 5 wickets
Pakistan defeat South Africa by 7 wickets

[babak_australia]

Of course Australia will win
Our batters are easy the best there is however we just need our bowlers to pick it up a little.
I cant wait to see Gilly smash the shit out of the ball, Ponting to get 100's in every game and Symonds to show why he is the best in the one day game.

The first round game between Aust and S.Africa will show who is the best

[Firestorm]

The good thing about this tournament is that it will span over 45 days, so many of the out of form teams will have time to improve as the tourney progresses.

Australia has a strong batting line-up but the bowling attack is a worry, there are too many inexperienced bowlers there, and Glenn McGrath looks like he is well past his retirement date, the pressure will be on Bracken and Stuart Clark to compensate for the other bowlers.

I think Sri Lanka might be the biggest threat to Australia, I hope they don't come out of nowhere and snatch the cup like they did in '96.