World Cup prediction thread

[footyfan1978]

So the final 4 as most expected are Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India.

I am expecting the semi finals to be cracker games. Hopefully with same intensity as last night between Pakistan and Australia. Great spell by Wahab Riaz but not enough for them to go further.
All or nothing for all four sides now.
Australia has had some curly moments in Tasmania with the weather and then a brilliant spell by Wahab that some days would get you 4 or 5 wickets in a hurry but Aussies got through cyclone Wahab and rain nearly washing out the game in Tassie to make it through to semi-finals and they would be feeling quite happy to be meeting India even though India in their best form. Should make for a good final but suspect India will once again find a few of their batsmen will come undone against a quality pace attack and smart captaincy.
Australia v New Zealand could well be the final but Kiwi's winning easy today may not do them the world of good. A more shrewd and tactical South Africa will be a lot tougher to get over than the West Indies crazy approach. AB de Villiers is their biggest hurdle. If they can contain him I believe they can get through but Steyn and Morkel will also not go down without a fight.

 

[Gibbke]

It's just a nagging gut feeling for me in regards to the Windies and Kiwis. We're at a stage where the WC is now only just starting. The entire tournament so far (and indeed, the entire season of ODI cricket going back a year) has been a complete waste of time as far as qualifying for the finals goes, with realistically only one match of any consequence going against the expected pattern and causing disruption to the final eight - England v Bangladesh. The Irish win over the Windies was negated by other expected results anyway, so here they all are, eight test teams equally lined up now with absolutely no advantages over each other except the home grounds for us and NZ. Straight knockout, with all of the easy previous hitouts now counting for nought. Ask NZ how important it is to go undefeated through a WC tournament at home...! Ask England, India, us in 2007, NZ and Pakistan in 1992 (I remember a glorious day in 1992 where Launceston opened the David Boon stand and Tasmania celebrated by belting the f### out of Pakistan six weeks before they held up the WC) how important "form" is before going into the business end of the tournament...

Radar way off. Good - I tipped India to beat us...!

 

[HeaveHo_WeBlow]

NZ v Windies - gut feeling there will be a lot of depressed Kiwis next week...improved Windies bowling, a standard which the Kiwis have not been subjected to with one notable exception v Australia, and then there's Chris Gayle...
Aus v Pak - If this game was in the subcontinent, I'd be very, very worried. Pakistan playing well, but we should take them...
SL v SA - SA always have this air of imminent failure about them, but it won't happen in this game against SL's weak bowling attack, no matter how many tons in a row Sangakkara can make...
Ban v Ind - Nothing to hang your hat on here. Well done this tournament, Bangers, but have a nice flight home...

Semis:
Australia v India - I tipped this game for the final before it all started, but we won't get that because of the draw. Forget all you saw last January in the whatever it was called practice series with England, and the tests before it - the only thing on the minds of the BCCI is winning the WC, and they'll take a penultimate step towards doing it here against us on a wicket in Sydney that will suit their slow bowlers. India, unless it rains in Sydney the day before and our bowlers are gifted a seaming track...
Windies v SA - Can AB repeat his recent lubeless *******ing of the Windies bowling attack in a game that actually counts? Will Gayle come to the party and do what he's usually done for the Windies on the rare occasions where they are playing off for a big prize - be a star? Could be the match of the tournament. SA, but don't be too surprised...

Final:
Good teams lose games and learn lessons to take with them the next time they face that opposition again. SA learned plenty a few weeks ago when outmatched by India with the bat, and you know they aren't that bad on any given day. They love the MCG. Time to break the choker's curse...!

Alternative SF Outcomes:
The Windies are a real dark horse, and Australia will probably be TAB favourites over India. Could be an unexpected WI v Aus final, which would be really cool, but I couldn't imagine the Windies repeating their T20 heroics from a few years ago. If Australia play SA, I'd give it to us again, and if the Indians got the Windies, they'd probably take it out...difficult to see the Windies knocking off three big guns in a row...

Wife told me about five months ago that we would be going to Melbourne (from near Cairns) on the 28th of March for her cousin's wedding. So of course I said ok, called an emergency sweet talk meeting with my boss the next day to give me the Monday to fly back, and then bought a ticket for the final...

Good news, the current prediction for the week is cool wet conditions with the largest downfall of 5-10mm falling over sydney on the day prior to the semi (Wednesday).

Even better news is it looks to completely dry up the day after with a mostly sunny day expected.
Been also keeping an eye on the wicket through; http://www.sydneycricketground.com.au/venues/webcams/scg-cam/

So far it looks to be a mix of a dry wicket with some green patches though I expect that to change with a green top to suit our quicks.
Beside that, I think Starcs Yorker is going to trouble 3-4 of the Indian batsmen.

Key to this game though is going to be batting first, setting a decent target of 330+ and tight bowling on a track suited.

The hardest part for me with this game is going to be the fact I'm on the trip to Melbourne for the final during the start of the second innings.
Apparently there is no inflight entertainment so this is going to drive me crazy.

Edit: Actually just a quick check of the forecast, seems they've moved it back and it's looking to be dry the day prior to the semi, though on the Tuesday there should still be a nice downfall.

 

[Angus Young]

I'm sticking with Australia

 

[Daniel Flynn]

Australia South Africa or New Zealand will win the cup

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Australia South Africa or New Zealand will win the cup

Way to go out on a limb.

 

[Angus Young]

I think we beat NZ at the MCG but SA could pose more problems

First we have to play well to beat India...Finch is due to do something

 

[Moonwatcher]

South Africa to beat India in the final.

 

[Moonwatcher]

I think we beat NZ at the MCG but SA could pose more problems

First we have to play well to beat India...Finch is due to do something

Anything from Finch and I'd be stoked.

 

[RohitSharma]

Australian bowlers don't threaten me as much as Southee, Boult and Milne, they bowl in a pack, Aussie is over reliant on Starc. Australia will have a hard time defending any total against Team India.

If India bats first 345/3
Australia all out for 290

If Australia bats first 255/8
India chase it down 260/3 (40 overs)

Final Ind vs Kiwis = Kiwis will give a tougher fight than Aussies but India will be too hard to stop. #wewontgiveitback #bleedblue

 

[footyfan1978]

Australian bowlers don't threaten me as much as Southee, Boult and Milne, they bowl in a pack, Aussie is over reliant on Starc. Australia will have a hard time defending any total against Team India.

If India bats first 345/3
Australia all out for 290

If Australia bats first 255/8
India chase it down 260/3 (40 overs)

Final Ind vs Kiwis = Kiwis will give a tougher fight than Aussies but India will be too hard to stop. #wewontgiveitback #bleedblue

Certainly took wrong dosage of your medication this time Rohit.

 

[eth-dog]

Australia will destroy the Indian attack.

 

[Atom Ant]

Got to admit Rohit as a troll is bloody funny.

 

[Slax]

India v NZ final.

India bowled out their opponents in every single match of this WC. Australia's batting at times has looked decidedly dodgy and against a quality attack we could have problems, the only decent attack we have faced so far skittled us for 151. India can put on runs at will it seems like and if they bat first Australia will be set a target of 350+, the only bowler they will be concerned about is Starc. India comfortably.

New Zealand's bowlers will be too good. Let's face it no-one in the world currently has the same quality of swinger bowlers that NZ do, Boult has wreaked havoc in NZ all WC, add in Southee and the evergreen Vettori, who for mine has been the pick of the spinners in the tournament to this point, suddenly you have an attack that will hurt anyone. South Africa are reliant on AB and Alma to score runs and lose one of them and they're in massive trouble. NZ in a tight one.

Final
India v NZ - toss will matter here, if the team that bats first can get over 300 they'll be very hard to beat. No doubt the winner of the toss will bat first (assuming weather is fine).

 

[GROTTO]

Its been clear that everything India has done all summer since they arrived back in November last year has been basically to get themselves into a position to defend their title of the World Cup holders.

I was always confident that we were going to get an encore of us playing them again during the WC and its come up in the SEMI. It would have been nicer to play India at the MCG in the final personally. India have gone away and improved dramatically in their group and are a lot better and stronger team today than what they were back when they got knocked out in the tri series.

With that said, we will beat them on Thursday and SA will beat NZ tomorrow. AUS-SA final and we will win it from there.

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

Australia v South Africa Final

Aussies will beat India comfortably, we will bat first, make 326, and bowl India out for 270.

South Africa will bowl first against NZ, knock them over for 280 and chase it down with 4 overs to spare.

In the final, australia to win after winning the toss and batting first, making 302, and bowling the South Africans out for 285.

Australia, the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup Champions!!!

 

[Moonwatcher]

Any match up of these four teams would be worthy of a final. Going to be an exciting 3 games.

 

[footyfan1978]

Australia v South Africa Final

Aussies will beat India comfortably, we will bat first, make 326, and bowl India out for 270.

South Africa will bowl first against NZ, knock them over for 280 and chase it down with 4 overs to spare.

In the final, australia to win after winning the toss and batting first, making 302, and bowling the South Africans out for 285.

Australia, the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup Champions!!!

Not a bad call.
Would not be surprised if you not too far off the mark.
Actually I think India would do well to see Australia score 326.

I think the game in New Zealand will see the bowlers make it a good contest.
Cannot wait to watch these games.

 

[footyfan1978]

Well that's it. The final I predicted is happening. Two best teams play off.

 

[MWPP]

Australia v South Africa Final

Aussies will beat India comfortably, we will bat first, make 326, and bowl India out for 270.

South Africa will bowl first against NZ, knock them over for 280 and chase it down with 4 overs to spare.

In the final, australia to win after winning the toss and batting first, making 302, and bowling the South Africans out for 285.

Australia, the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup Champions!!!

Well done on getting close to the Aussie total!
Happy that you were off the mark re: the SA/NZ game though
Trans-Tasman final- how romantic .

 

[footyfan1978]

Got to admit Rohit as a troll is bloody funny.

He has been. He's just having a bit of fun.

 

[Sylvia Saint]

Australia v South Africa Final

Aussies will beat India comfortably, we will bat first, make 326, and bowl India out for 270.

South Africa will bowl first against NZ, knock them over for 280 and chase it down with 4 overs to spare.

In the final, australia to win after winning the toss and batting first, making 302, and bowling the South Africans out for 285.

Australia, the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup Champions!!!

FMD, you are the Steve Smith of this thread.

 

[Gibbke]

NZ v Windies - gut feeling there will be a lot of depressed Kiwis next week...improved Windies bowling, a standard which the Kiwis have not been subjected to with one notable exception v Australia, and then there's Chris Gayle...

Semis:
Australia v India - I tipped this game for the final before it all started, but we won't get that because of the draw. Forget all you saw last January in the whatever it was called practice series with England, and the tests before it - the only thing on the minds of the BCCI is winning the WC, and they'll take a penultimate step towards doing it here against us on a wicket in Sydney that will suit their slow bowlers. India, unless it rains in Sydney the day before and our bowlers are gifted a seaming track...

Windies v SA - Can AB repeat his recent lubeless *******ing of the Windies bowling attack in a game that actually counts? Will Gayle come to the party and do what he's usually done for the Windies on the rare occasions where they are playing off for a big prize - be a star? Could be the match of the tournament. SA, but don't be too surprised...

Final:
Good teams lose games and learn lessons to take with them the next time they face that opposition again. SA learned plenty a few weeks ago when outmatched by India with the bat, and you know they aren't that bad on any given day. They love the MCG. Time to break the choker's curse...!

Gloriously, gloriously wrong...on that note, I tip an emphatic win to the Kiwis on Sunday...

 

[Sweet Jesus]

Well that's it. The final I predicted is happening. Two best teams play off.

But no Cameron Boyce or Chris Lynn?

 

[Moonwatcher]

South Africa to beat India in the final.

Anything from Finch and I'd be stoked.

This is why I don't gamble.