ICC Cricket World Cup - Where's Da Dark Horse?
We are a few weeks out of the Cricket World Cup and there's two teams that stand out to me as dark horses, teams capable of making the final but who are also capable of being terrible and doing absolutely nothing. This could change as we near the tournament, but right now I'm looking at England and Pakistan as teams to watch out for.
The English have had a reasonably average past few months in the coloured clothing mainly thanks to the seemingly endless distraction of their former captain Alistair Cook. Cook didn't really do anything overly bad, he wasn't caught up in a sex scandal nor was he outspoken about an issue that he shouldn't have been, he just didn't perform. He did a good job of not performing, both with bat in hand and as captain, he did such a good job that every ODI that England played was followed by the Cook Circus which he appeared sporadically in. It was a side show that had many layers and was thankfully ended when Cook was dropped as captain and the ODI side. Now England appear to be distraction free and have pretty talented crew of cricketers ready for action.
They will be skippered by Eoin Morgan who goes good with the bat as an attacking player who can hit the ball anywhere, literally anywhere. I like England because of the talent they have with the bat, which also means that they could fail miserably. Guys like Joe Root, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, James Taylor, Moeen Ali, Gary Ballance and Ian Bell are all super talented batsmen with each guy having something unique about their ability but for all the talent they've shown, they've also showed an inability to not unite their powers consistently. I mean we've seen Buttler and Hales smoke a cricket ball, we know what Morgan and Bell can do, Taylor has had a decent start to his ODI career while Roo-tay is all class but would you back them over some of the world's best bowlers over six or seven games?
It's not looking good for England, but all it would take would be a few good days from the batsmen and the usual performances from James Anderson and Stuart Broad. These two are the key because they are world class bowlers and they'll be bowling in conditions that they enjoy. Having two high quality bowlers and a few batsmen who could produce big runs consistently could push England deep in to the tournament. The flipside of that is demonstrated in the dilemma of their third seamer, which would come from Chris Jordan, Steven Finn or Chris Woakes. These three lads could be hugely inconsistent or they could have a breakout super duper tournament, much batsmen like Buttler and Hales. The opportunity is there for England to surprise many cricket fans and perhaps their own, but they'll have to perform exceptionally well ... which is possible.
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Pakistan on the other hand are much more likely to be awesome, but the thing holding them back is the place where the World Cup will be played - down under. The warm up games will be huge for Pakistan who have lived on a diet of cricket in Asia and the Middle East, so they'll need to figure out how to go about batting and bowling in our conditions, but they will have plenty of time to do so. They also have the players to go well in such conditions.
Pakistan are led by Misbah ul Haq who will be the skipper but also Younis Khan, two cricketing OG's who will provide copious amounts of leadership. Throw in to the mix Mohammad Hafeez and Shahid Afridi and you have four players of immense talent and experience. Also worth a note is the fact that Hafeez will open the innings and presuming he doesn't throw it, will bowl his quality offies, while Afridi is a pure all rounder.
Haris Sohail is a high quality young all rounder as well who offers some left arm spin and if Pakistan pick a certified spinner - Yasir Shah, then they could have four spinning options. However, with their pace attack and those batsmen who are handy spinners, it's hard to see them doing so. They've got enough quality in their pace attack to be competitive with Mohammad Irfan a huge human being who will love the bouncy wickets of Australia and Aotearoa with his left arm mediums coming from 2 metres in the air. Wahab Riaz will likely feature a fair bit with the new ball as well and with Riaz and Junaid Khan in the attack they'll have three left arm bowlers. Sohail Khan will offer the variety with his right arm mediums, lol.
The key thing about their pace attack is that there are many options to call on for each game, with each pace bowler being pretty good. They only have to be pretty good because for me, Pakistan have one of the most exciting batting line ups of the World Cup with immensely talented young guns a plenty. Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad, Sarfraz Ahmed and Sohaib Maqsood are all quality batsmen who can take the game away from their opponent within a few overs. Add in the veterans and you have a near complete batting line up.
It's possible that England could just simply suck, while Pakistan are more likely to struggle thanks to the conditions. That's why I'd pick Pakistan as my number-one-top-dawg dark horse as they have plenty of time for hundreds of net sessions, as well as in game practice where they'll face bowlers who have spent their lives bowling in these conditions. Even if the younger brigade of Pakistani batsmen struggle to make the adjustments for the extra swing,seam and bounce they will still have Khan, ul Haq, Hafeez and Afridi who have done it all before. They'll be able to provide some help for the younger lads, share their wisdom and in the worst case scenario they can hold an innings together.
Chuck a buck on Pakistan.