The World Cup's Top 5 Veteran/OG Batsmen
I lied, the title is false and it makes me extremely happy because the level of batsmanship at this World Cup is off the charts. As cricket fans, nearly every game will showcase a batsman or a few of them who aren't from planet Earth. They come from some far off distant planet where children are born with a bat in hand and have access to bowling machines, nets and all different training tricks which mould them in to batting freaks.
The first two, in fact the first four, come in pairs and will be key components of their respective team's chances. Sri Lanka demonstrate this to an extreme level with Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara instrumental to their team's success.
First of all, they are both beautiful to watch. It's like the cricketing gods have gifted us two of the best stroke makers, on the same team, at the same time. Jayawardene's ability to absolutely smoke the ball defies his smaller stature, whether it's a flick of the wrists or a full extension of a cover drive, the ball whistles off the bat. My favourite memory of watching Jayawardene bat and a shot that we'll see plenty of at this World Cup is the cut shot, which doesn't really do it justice because he's got about 20 varieties of the cut shot.
Sangakkara is equally elegant, but more powerful and they share this ability to manipulate the field by hitting shots where you thought there'd be a fielder. But there isn't and the ball goes to the boundary. Sangakkara's (like Jayawardene) ability to play all around the wicket is impeccable, over pitch outside off and collect the ball from the cover boundary. Drift too straight and tell your mid wicket to go for a hike.
While merely watching these lads bat will be a pleasure, we could witness their greatness rise to unseen levels. If they can lead Sri Lanka to success, they'll go down in history as putting their team on their back and carrying them through a deathrow of cricketing awesomeness. If not, we'll at least get to appreciate their stoke playing beauty.
The next two lads will have much more help from their team mates, but any success that South Africa enjoy will be because Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers had a good ol' time with the bat. Amla will open the innings and make life extremely difficult for the plethora of handy opening bowlers as he'll mix perfect defence and knowledge of his technique with attacking instincts.
Amla averages a staggering 56.41 in ODI cricket. Stop, try to fight that weakness creeping down to your knees, he averages 56.41! Insane, absolutely insane and Amla has the ability to score a whole heap of runs without you really noticing. He'll be on 50 and you'll have no idea where the last hour went because he does it with such ease and won't give the fielding side much in terms of chances.
ABdV is very similar, but his style is a wee bit more brutish. If he's getting runs, you'll be admiring a full variety of shots that appear to have been played recklessly or without much regard for his wicket, but because he's so damn good, it's the complete opposite.
It's pretty much the same for everyone on this list, but in ABdV, I think we'll see the best craft. He'll come in, quickly assess the situation and then go about his batting in the correct manner as you won't see him going for a whack when his side is in trouble and nor will you see him get bogged down when his side has momentum.
For me, South Africa have the two best batsmen of the World Cup. There's no real weakness there and while Sri Lanka will show one extreme of relying on their best batsmen, South Africa will also look to Amla and de Villiers for inspiration and runs. The difference is that South Africa have much more batting around their two top dogs, which I think will allow these two to play with a bit more freedom and flair.
The 5th spot is once again a wildcard spot but not in terms of a wildcard who might come from no where and do something cray cray, but I just can't put one of these lads over the other. They've all had their moments of greatness, some are still knee deep in a great run of form while some are here because they've been there and done it before but all these batsmen will offer the cricketing nerd plenty to get excited about.
Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor will hold the fort for the Black Caps. McCullum is only matched by David Warner as the best pinch hitter at the top of the order and his ability to hit pretty much any ball over the boundary is scary. Taylor is all class and should have a great old time coming to the crease after some hard work has been done by the openers, smoking the ball along the carpet to the boundary.
With so much drama surrounding Michael Clarke, it's easy to forget that he averages 44.86 in ODI's and probably has the best footwork in world cricket. For me the stage is set for Clarke to do his thing on the biggest stage and if he does, it'll be awesome to watch. Obviously can't forget about Warner, he deserves a mention as well.
MS Dhoni, no one bats like him and while many there's many a newcomer to the 'best finisher' discussion, Dhoni is the best. He appears to have the perfect mix of confidence and game knowledge which means he times his run perfectly because he knows what he can do. Don't be surprised to see Dhoni seem to have little regard for the runs required, knocking it around, assessing the situation and then unleashing an almighty onslaught of the weirdest cricket shots you've ever seen. An average of 52.29 with a strike rate of 88.84 and 56 half centuries should serve as a compelling case for the best finisher.
I mean I haven't mentioned Ian Bell, Younis Khan, Misbah ul Haq, Chris Gayle and their friends.
It's fair to say that there's plenty of talented batsmen at this World Cup and besides the bat size and all that, I think the pure talent on display will result in some crazy performance from the willow wielders.