So there's plenty to be excited about with this World Cup and if you've read the previous two things along this train of thought, you'll know how excited I am. But this list of lads is reason in itself to eagerly anticipate not only this World Cup, but the next few years as all these batsmen have the cricketing world wrapped around their pinky and the extent of their greatness is purely up to them. 

But that's all in the far off future, right now we can look forward to the prospect of these guys taking the torch from the veteran chief willow wielders (batsmen). It's with great joy I bring you the World Cup's Top 5 Young Batsmen and it's with even more joy that I kick it off with the Prince, Kane Williamson.

The Prince is simply amazing. Averaging 46.26 in ODI cricket, slightly more than his Test average, Williamson doesn't seem to have a weakness and any weakness that we thought he might have was blown out of the water as he has been extremely successful in ODI's over the past year. Many people thought it would be wise to restrict Williamson, to pigeon hole him, which was understandable as he showed perfect technique in defence as well as supreme mental toughness, leaving balls that needed to be left alone etc.

But Williamson's ability meant that he was perfectly suited to the 50 over and he's shown that he is able to bat in a rather gorgeous manner, no matter the situation. His ability to hit gaps means that he gets off strike easily, is always ticking the scoreboard over and never really looks troubled. However, his ability to hit boundaries is what has pushed him up the ODI ladder. He doesn't play shots that ooze power or brute force, he simply extends classic cricket shots and times the ball perfectly. 

The lofted drive is my favourite cricket shot, hence why our regular cricket blog is named after it and for me that shot sums up Williamson - perfect technique, perfect timing and some nifty footwork. Williamson will be the Black Cap's key man as he'll get the innings back on track after an early wicket as well as amp things up when need be. His strike rate of 82.78 comes easily and any big run chase will involve the Prince.

It's a similar case with Steve Smith in that I really don't know where you would bowl to him. With slightly less conventional instincts, Smith has the ability to hit a cricket ball where ever he pleases and you better get used to seeing Smith walk across his stumps and whip it to the leg side. 

I reckon Smith will find himself coming to the crease later in the innings a fair bit this World Cup which will be the perfect situation for him. He'll take a few balls to get in but much like Williamson, Smith has the ability to hit gaps with ease and once he feels he's in, he'll be smoking the ball this way and that. For me Smith will be one of the most entertaining batsmen at the World Cup as you simply won't know what shot he's going to serve up next. Somehow he has the ability to react to the delivery and dispatch it where no fielders are positioned and it'll be an absolute bitch to bowl to Smith at the death.

It's impossible to ignore Virat Kohli, 150 ODI's, an average over 50 and 21 centuries. What the fuck. There aren't too many batsmen in the world who can manipulate shots the same way Kohli does, to one full ball outside off, he'll play a perfect cover drive that rockets to the cover boundary. To the exact same delivery, he might bring out his swipe shot and open the wrists to hit it squarer or to go over the top.

Personally, I reckon Kohli might be coming in earlier than many Indian fans would want him as it's not unrealistic to say that the Indian openers may struggle. Kohli's definitely capable of being the stalwart of the Indian batting line up and I expect him to be able to juggle his defensive role of getting the innings on the right track with sublime attacking play. 

A large portion of Pakistan's hopes will rest on the shoulders of young Ahmed Shehzad at the top of their line up. While they have some solid veterans, they will be much better off coming in after a solid, attacking platform has been laid and for me, that will come thanks to Shehzad.

While his ODI average doesn't set the cricketing world on fire at 34.82, his Test average of 47.86 in eight Test's points to some rather obvious batting ability. Shehzad not only has the ability to be a key man for Pakistan at the top of the order, but he's also a main man to provide plenty of hope for Pakistani cricket in the future. I'd also like to mention Umar Akmal who will come in down the order, but both of these lads have the opportunity to announce their arrival as world class batsmen at this World Cup. If they do, Pakistan will be a team to watch.

Joe Root gets the last spot on this list as he's definitely a younger batsmen with plenty of talent, although we haven't seen as much of it as we would like in recent times. However, Roo-tay still averages 40 in ODI cricket and any England success will have to include this lad. 

England have a batting line up that could be awesome if they all perform, but at the very least, they have three extremely solid international batsmen in Root, Ian Bell and Eoin Morgan. For England to do anything at this World Cup, they'll need Root to play his part in that group of top shelf batsmen. Root's a versatile batsmen who will look his best with plenty of time to build an innings, we haven't seen the same levels of power from Root compared to a few of these other lads, but with a fair amount of runs likely to be hit at this World Cup, we'll hopefully see Root break out and showcase his ability.