Updated world cup predictions

[SriLankanCat]

Champion: Sri Lanka
Finalist: Australia
Semi-Finalist: South Africa and New Zealand

Player of the tournament: Ricky Ponting

Emerging player: Chamara Silva

 

[cold toaster]

Australia will wallop Sri Lanka.

Mental chokehold on them.

 

[Kapow!!!]

Australia will wallop Sri Lanka.

Mental chokehold on them.

What happened the last time Australia played Sri Lanka in world cup final?

 

[cold toaster]

What happened the last time Australia played Sri Lanka in world cup final?

Do you often use games from 11 years ago as a formline?

 

[Betfair Punter]

I agree Australia has a mental edge over Sri Lanka.

Where Sri Lanka can often mentally go down is chasing targets i feel. if you get jayasruiya out, then your half way from winning the game.

 

[cold toaster]

Brad Hogg could be the key here. Sri Lanka don't play spin well, oddly enough.

 

[RoosterLad]

Sri Lanka have no hope.

 

[Syd Kennets]

What happened the last time Australia played Sri Lanka in world cup final?

Oh Dear...

 

[boXa44]

Tonights game should be a great indicator where the number 1 and 2 ranked teams are. Bringing symonds back in i feel to soon. Could cost them 2nite with hodge not in and watson batting so low.
South Africa vs Sri Lanka final with new zealand and australia to fill the other two semi final spots.
Does anyone think the bangas or the irish can make to the semis or knock off a few teams in the super 8?
And are the west indies going under the radar of a few people?

 

[apollo_creed]

some of you people make me laugh.

it's obvious you haven't watched Sri Lanka play for a while.

They showed alot in their one day series in New Zealand and have been the most impressive team in this tournament so far.

Their talent is without question and they are most certainly one of Australia's main rivals in this tournament.

but I laugh at you people laughing at Sri Lanka's chances when you probably haven't seen them play for about 10 years.

 

[Ghostwriter]

What happened the last time Australia played Sri Lanka in world cup final?

Stuart Law dropped a sitter and cost us the final.

 

[SriLankanCat]

Tonights game should be a great indicator where the number 1 and 2 ranked teams are. Bringing symonds back in i feel to soon. Could cost them 2nite with hodge not in and watson batting so low.
South Africa vs Sri Lanka final with new zealand and australia to fill the other two semi final spots.
Does anyone think the bangas or the irish can make to the semis or knock off a few teams in the super 8?
And are the west indies going under the radar of a few people?

I think bangaldesh will definitely cause a few hiccups for teams.

Ok lets assess the teams going through.

South A - Fight it out with Windies for Semi spot, perhaps lack the bowlers
Australia - defin a semi at least, the best for a long time
SL - def semi again, good batsman, well balanced bowling
NZ - could struggle with depth but good chance of semi
WI - class batsmen and home groudn ad
Ire - will fight it out, but lack the top class expereince
Bang - improved a lot and can cause some trouble
England/Kenya - England probably are too inconsistent, Kenya not enough talent

 

[Team Extreme]

Without Brett Lee that mental advantage Australia had is barely there. It may come down to the battle of the slingers and Tait gives width to Jayasuriya it would be carnage.

Symonds also saved the aussie's bacon last cup so anything could happen, Thats providing that they both make it to the semi's.

The super 8's will give us the best look at teams playing quality sides.

 

[mbuck]

Champion: Sri Lanka
Finalist: Australia
Semi-Finalist: South Africa and New Zealand

Player of the tournament: Ricky Ponting

Emerging player: Chamara Silva

say waht?

 

[Power21]

What happened the last time Australia played Sri Lanka in world cup final?

More relevant is the 2003 semi which we obviously won.

How many players from those 1996 teams are still around?

 

[apollo_creed]

More relevant is the 2003 semi which we obviously won.

How many players from those 1996 teams are still around?

the only similarity is the pitches are more similar and suited to Sri Lanka's team/batting.

without Lee,

Sri Lanka boast a comparitive quality pace attack imo their best 3 are at present better than Australia's.

Better spin attack, Murali and Jayasuriya + basically anyone else is as good as you'll get anywhere in the world.

So solely on the strength of their bowling they're a contender.

My question as to the legitimacy of them winning the tournament (which at the moment looks a distinct possibility) is how strong their batting is and will be under pressure.

Jayasuriya like Sehwag and Gilchrist is hit and miss.

apart from Kumar who is not only clearly the best keeper batsman and keeper in the world but he's also one of the most technically correct/best batsman as well but apart from Kumar their batting is unproven, can be inconsistent and unpredictable away from home.

many general unknown's to alot of fans but a few mainstays who have been happily doing their job at 6 and 7 for a number of years. but is there batting of sufficent quality and in the event of Sanath and Kumar both failing (which happened last night) does the team have the quality to post a competitive score?

Looked good last night but it's still a relevant question.

But Sri Lanka are one of the few teams I'd back as a good chance to beat Australia. (not saying they necessarily would)

but there's a few ways to trouble this Australian team and one that's performing well there's generally only one way.

toss and everything going well,

early wickets,

tight bowling,

attacking middle overs bowling

Vaas isn't penetrative but incredibly accurate and over a long period of time would almost be the best one day bowler in the world. Fantastic cricketer.

But Murali and Malinga are attacking, wicket-taking bowlers needed to win a tournament such as this. They'll be the key, as much as the restrictive bowlers can be handy.

Jayasuriya is also the best restrictive middle overs part-time bowler in the world. Just ahead of Gayle. He bowls very similar to Lehmann.

another thing, I'd be playing Fernando his height and pace were effective last night and if gets it right he'll trouble any batting line-up.

 

[Corrosion]

Like I said in the first predictions thread:

Winners: Australia
Runner-up: Sri Lanka
Semi Finalists: WI and SA

 

[Betfair Punter]

Winners: Australia

Runners Up: South Africa

Semi Finalists: NZ and Sri Lanka

5th place: Bangladesh

6th place West Indies

7th Place Ireland

8th place Kenya

 

[TorresIsGod]

More relevant is the 2003 semi which we obviously won.

How many players from those 1996 teams are still around?

1996 WC Final

Australia (batting order)

Taylor
Waugh
Ponting
Waugh
Warne
Law
Bevan
Healy
Reiffel
Fleming
McGrath


Sri Lanka

Jayasuriya
Kaluwitharana
Gurushina
de Silva
Ranatunga
H. Tillakaratne
Mahanama
Dharmasena
Vaas
Muralitharan
Wickramasinghe

2003 WC S-Final

Australia (batting order)

Gilchrist
Hayden
Ponting
Lehmann
Symonds
Bevan
Hogg
Harvey
Bichel
Lee
McGrath

Sri Lanka

Atapattu
Jayasuriya
H. Tillakaratne
Gunawardene
de Silva
Sangakkara
Jayawardene
Arnold
Vaas
Muralitharan
Gunaratne

 

[Ron]

I dunno, i still think the Windies have a great chance here.
Probably their best chance for a while as well.
They'll at least make the semis i reckon and from there they have a chance.

 

[apollo_creed]

I dunno, i still think the Windies have a great chance here.
Probably their best chance for a while as well.
They'll at least make the semis i reckon and from there they have a chance.

The Windies are a great chance.

But we've been far from impressive so far.

Batting wise, we've improved as the tournaments progressed but can perform much better. The bowling performances aside from the Pakistan game have also been below potentially maximum standards, well below in actuality. Taylor needs to lift.

I guess that's where timing comes into it, will we lift our game and be playing our best cricket by the time we play Australia in a couple of days time?

We shall see.

 

[Betfair Punter]

Still the good old saying 'never write off a champion team'. It becomes a habit and once you've experienced it before you can do it again. Id say both SL and Australia are contenders, and could very well be a final between these 2.

 

[apollo_creed]

Still the good old saying 'never write off a champion team'. It becomes a habit and once you've experienced it before you can do it again. Id say both SL and Australia are contenders, and could very well be a final between these 2.

I'd agree with that.

obviously circumstances could have it that they meet in the semi's but at this stage they'd be my two favourites.

we'll know more about South Africa after tonight/this morning (and Australia for that matter) and the West Indies have been solid, if not spectacular.

at the moment you'd say (based on form)

Sri Lanka
Australia
South Africa
New Zealand

but the West Indies can't be discounted and as England proved in the one day series against Australia recently they are unpredictable.

 

[spell_check]

I reckon New Zealand have a great side; and could easily find themselves in the final.