ODI World Cup.

[K]

'"Most teams around the world seem to be including one at least and probably two spinners in their World Cup squad," Hohns said during the tour of India.

"We expect them to. We can't bury our heads in the sand and just say we're going with fast bowlers when spinners in world cricket, and in one-day cricket in particular, are being very, very successful."

India are fully expected to deploy Kuldeep Yadav and at least one other spinner throughout the tournament.

World Cup favourites England will unleash both Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali.

Short boundaries at small English venues will be a bother for all bowlers at the 50-over showpiece but Hohns made the point that "pitches may be a little bit worn in the latter part of the tournament, given they will have some traffic on them".'

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/a-good-combination-zampa-lyon-force-world-cup-consideration-20190318-p5150b.html

[K]

Ponting hopeful of Cup role for Marsh

https://www.cricket.com.au/news/ricky-ponting-mitch-marsh-australia-world-cup-squad-allrounder-x-factor/2019-03-19

[I think that title exaggerates Ponting's words a bit.]

[K]

Some early (8/18 ) WC predictions online:



(www.sportskeeda.com)

SA less likely than NZ?!

Wonder what the current bookies' odds are...

[K]

Typical bookies' odds:

England 3.25 [26%]
India 4.00 [21%]
Australia 5.50 [16%]
South Africa 9.00 [10%]
Pakistan 10.00 [9%]
New Zealand 10.00 [9%]
West Indies 15.00 [6%]
Sri Lanka 41.00 [2%]

[K]

Australia's last 32 ODIs (30 Jan 2017-13 Mar 2019):

22 losses, 3 no result or abandoned, 7 wins.
Winning % of completed games: 24.1%.


England's last 47 ODIs (22 Jan 2017-2 Mar 2019):

10 losses, 3 no result or abandoned, 34 wins.
Winning % of completed games: 77.3%.

India's last 62 ODIs (15 Jan 2017- 13 Mar 2019):

16 losses, 1 no result or abandoned, 2 ties, 43 wins.
Winning % of completed games: 72.1%.

South Africa's last 46 ODIs (28 Jan 2017- 16 Mar 2019):

16 losses, 0 no result or abandoned, 30 wins.
Winning % of completed games: 65.2%.


That's a lot of ODI's India have played and not many that Oz has.
The starting dates are not consistently chosen.

[Donny]

[K]

(P.S. The bookies' margin on that is about 17%.)

[K]

Brettig's WC XI:

Boon, Gilchrist, Ponting (c), M. Waugh, S. Waugh, Bevan, Symonds, Warne, Starc, McDermott, McGrath.

[Pies4shaw]

Of those guys, I think only Starc might play.

Meanwhile, Khawaja and Finch have put on a 200+ first-wicket stand to make light work of chasing down 285 against Pakistan. Finch made 153*, so with his back to back centuries, he's now a certain starter for the World Cup.

Meanwhile, Australia have now won 5 ODIs in a row. In every one of those 5 games, one or other of those 2 batsmen has made at least a 90.

[K]

It's like musical chairs among the coaches:

"Griffith will take leave from his role with the Tigers and the Hobart Hurricanes to work as bowling coach during the World Cup, before returning home to manage the remainder of the state side's pre-season programme. The experienced bowling coach Troy Cooley will take Griffith's place for the Ashes. Cooley has been part of the coaching staff for both England (2005) and Australia (2006-07, 2009) during past Ashes campaigns and is currently working with the ODI team in the UAE."

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/26354615/adam-griffith-troy-cooley-named-australia-bowling-coaches-world-cup-ashes

[K]

"Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc are on track to be fit for the World Cup, leaving selectors with more exceptionally tough calls to make regarding Australia's 15-man World Cup squad.
...

Starc is aiming to come off the long run during Australia's World Cup training camp in early May, which will include some practice games against New Zealand, while Hazlewood hopes to play warm-up games in England in late May.

The conundrum for selectors is complex given any sort of fresh setback could scupper Starc or Hazlewood's hopes of taking part in the Ashes series that follows the World Cup.
...

Selectors are able to freely withdraw players from the World Cup squad until May 23 but beyond that date they require the approval of the technical committee."

(AAP)

[Pies4shaw]

[K]

The value of these games as WC prep is limited by the weakness of the Pakistan teams. On the other side of the 2-year slump there were also 3 wins in a row against Pakistan (so it's now 6 in a row).

[Presti35]

Bit random, but apparently it was 4 years ago today that Australia defeated NZ in the last WC final.

[Jezza]

^ Yep, that's right.

Time flies.