ICC World Twenty20

[Leggie]

Not really, the only Dark Horses are England and New Zealand. Every other team has a hcance of winnings the Tournament.

 

[ZexyZahid]

Australia didn't selected Hodge and Nannes and are without the performing retired players Hayden, Gilchrist and Warne. So there is a pretty big chance they won't win the Twenty20 World Cup.

A good thing for Pakistan is that they will be well rested before the tournament.

 

[aussie1st]

We could put in a dam good team with the retired and missing.

Hayden
Gilly
Hodge
Symonds
Dussey
Warner
Watson
Warne
Lee
Johnson
Nannes

aussie1st added 4 Minutes and 52 Seconds later...

O dear, why dont you want to have HOPES in your playing 11? He is a good all rounder and can also do the hard hitting. Instead of Ferguson or Hussy, he should be there.

Hussey batting is way above Hopes, his bowling has been average of late and with Symonds and possibly Watson back we don't need his bowling.

 

[vickyrox]

nz are dark horses
superb batting lineup
mcculum
ryder
taylor
guptil
oram

 

[sifter132]

O dear, why dont you want to have HOPES in your playing 11? He is a good all rounder and can also do the hard hitting. Instead of Ferguson or Hussy, he should be there.

Hopes is very hittable when bowling in fast scoring situations like T20. He really suffered in the IPL of '08 with his economy and tends to only keep the scoring down when the batsmen can't/won't take risks eg. overs 15-35 or 40 of an ODI. I think he's hard to milk, but easy to hit. Not an ideal T20 bowler. But his batting style suits T20, however he doesn't have the class to beat out Watson or the Hussey bros for a batting spot.

Hussey batting is way above Hopes, his bowling has been average of late and with Symonds and possibly Watson back we don't need his bowling.

Yes, agree. If Watson can bowl there is no need for Hopes. If Watson can't bowl, we probably should play Hopes at #7 just as another bowling option, because I don't trust Symonds and D.Hussey to make up that 5th bowling slot. Those two would probably work most games, but you don't want to get stuck in a big game against a rampaging batsman knowing Symonds needs to bowl 3 more overs. Options are the key for a T20 captain. Look at last World Cup and the semi final against India. Symonds and Clarke went for 50 off their 4 combined overs and when you lose by only 15, you think geez what if we'd played a real bowler/all-rounder instead? And Hopes is more than respectable as a #7 T20 player. If you are relying on your #7 and lower to win a T20 match, you're in trouble.

Aussies are dark horse.

I agree. Aussies are being criminally underrated outside Australia. I was thinking about this today: If this were a 50 over World Cup, would Australia be favourites? Close to it I'd say, with India and South Africa other possible candidates. But because it's T20, it's trendy to write off Australia and nominate Pakistan or New Zealand or Sri Lanka even West Indies. Question is why? Most would say that Australia hasn't got T20 experience, but look at the squads and tell me that Pakistan or NZ or SL are more experienced. I can't see a big difference - if any and WI certainly aren't experienced. Australia did pretty well in the last T20 world tournament, and have played 10 T20s since that 2007 World Cup - more than any other team except NZ (who also have played 10).

A look at the players they are bringing should tell you they are to be respected. But no - all the focus is on how Hayden, Gilchrist, Hodge, Nannes, Warne and Tait aren't there. Sure most of those guys have done well this season, but I think Ricky Ponting will be quite happy that the Aussies are going to slip into this World Cup under the radar. He'll use that to motivate the side.


Final point is about the groups for the World Cup. Of interest I looked at:
Group B: India, Ireland, Bangladesh
Group C: Australia, Sri Lanka, West Indies

I guess these groups were made based on the last tournament where Bangladesh made it through to the final 8 ahead of West Indies. But it gives India an easy group, while Group C should be a lot harder fought.

 

[aussie1st]

Yes, agree. If Watson can bowl there is no need for Hopes. If Watson can't bowl, we probably should play Hopes at #7 just as another bowling option, because I don't trust Symonds and D.Hussey to make up that 5th bowling slot. Those two would probably work most games, but you don't want to get stuck in a big game against a rampaging batsman knowing Symonds needs to bowl 3 more overs. Options are the key for a T20 captain. Look at last World Cup and the semi final against India. Symonds and Clarke went for 50 off their 4 combined overs and when you lose by only 15, you think geez what if we'd played a real bowler/all-rounder instead? And Hopes is more than respectable as a #7 T20 player. If you are relying on your #7 and lower to win a T20 match, you're in trouble.

Agree, if Watson can't bowl our other two part timers are a bit dodgy. Problem is how do you get him in given our lineup will probably look something like

Haddin
Watson
Ponting
Clarke
Symonds
Dussey
Hussey

With Warner next in line. If Watson can bowl I'll probably have Warner in over Dussey. So really hard to see who we would leave out.

 

[sifter132]

Yeah your top 7 there is probably what the selectors will pick, with faith in Dussey, Symonds and Clarke to bowl 4 overs and hoping our 4 specialist bowlers hold up. I really hope they don't do this though. Please get fit Watson :upray

But assuming Clarke is undroppable, you have to think it's Mike Hussey possibly Watson next on the chopping block. I would play Warner and Hopes instead of those 2 in the event of Watson being unfit. Mike Hussey is really wasted at #7 anyway, in most T20s he may not get a sniff of the crease. But if won't stop our selectors from picking him there

But then I have some different ideas anyway. I'd like to see Ponting open to get him in right from the start. Ponting really looks like he's trying really hard to impose himself on bowlers these days, trying to get a massive forward stride in. I think he'd be better suited to the top before the bowlers find their rhythm. Ideally my top 7 would be:
Ponting
Warner (many don't like him, but we have enough batting depth to just let him loose at the top aka Gilly)
Watson
Symonds (get him in as soon after the first 5 overs as possible)
D.Hussey
M.Clarke (bats at 4 if there are 2 early wickets as the steadying batsman to shield Symonds)
Haddin

If Watson can't bowl I'd play Hopes at #7 and move Haddin to #3. Haddin is kinda wasted at #7, but he isn't better than any of the top 6. And Mike Hussey is the unlucky player. Ideally he'd be at #6 instead of Michael Clarke, but Clarke needs to be there from a leadership perspective as well as his excellent fielding and as an extra bowling option.

 

[Cricketman]

Ponting's playing, right?

I'll make an Australian team to procrastinate a bit before divulging into Bio Hwk -

David Warner - An absolute MUST for T20, brilliant fielder too
Shane Watson
Ricky Ponting
Andrew Symonds
David Hussey
Michael Hussey
Brad Haddin
Mitchel Johnson
Brett Lee (Deserves a go IMO)
Hilfy
Hauritz

And an Indian one-

Sehwag
Gambhir
Raina
Yuvraj
MSD
Rohit/Jadeja
Yusuf
Irfan
Bhaj
Prabeeeen
Arpy

What a team

 

[aditya123]

Ponting's playing, right?

I'll make an Australian team to procrastinate a bit before divulging into Bio Hwk -

David Warner - An absolute MUST for T20, brilliant fielder too
Shane Watson
Ricky Ponting
Andrew Symonds
David Hussey
Michael Hussey
Brad Haddin
Mitchel Johnson
Brett Lee (Deserves a go IMO)
Hilfy
Hauritz

And an Indian one-

Sehwag
Gambhir
Raina
Yuvraj
MSD
Rohit/Jadeja
Yusuf
Irfan
Bhaj
Prabeeeen
Arpy

What a team

I`ll go with Zaheer over Praveen and a regular bowler over Irfan.
Ishant or Praveen over Irfan. I just do not feel confident with Irfan anymore.

 

[SaiSrini]

Seeing the way our part timers have bowled in the IPL (Raina, Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma), we dont really need Jadeja in the lineup. This would be current revised lineup for India

V Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Suresh Raina
MS Dhoni
Yuvraj Singh
Rohit Sharma
Yusuf Pathan
Irfan Pathan/RP Singh
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan
Praveen Kumar

Toss up between Irfan and RP. If we need more batting, Irfan is the guy. If we need more spin, Jadeja can fill in for this spot. Zaheer and Praveen could make a good pair in T20. I go for Praveen just because he is a right hander (we need the variety). Plus he is better than Ishant/RP in batting. I pushed Dhoni up the order because he struggles to get the big hits going FROM THE START. If he comes in early at No.4 and gets set, he can smash big. He needs time to launch.

 

[shravi]

Virender Sehwag
Gautam Gambhir
Suresh Raina
Yuvraj Singh
Rohit Sharma
+MS Dhoni*
Yusuf Pathan
Irfan Pathan/Praveen Kumar/Ravindra Jadeja
Harbhajan Singh/Pragyan Ojha
Zaheer Khan
RP Singh/Ishant Sharma

 

[Leggie]

Those who are ruling Ishant out already for a place in the starting line up should think again. Ishant hasn't even bowled in English conditions.

 

[SciD]

Ishant is crap. Leave him for test matches only.

 

[Leggie]

What about ODI's? He was our best bowler in the CB Series in Australia.

However I think the bowlers should be:

8) Irfan Pathan
9) Harbhajan Singh
10) Zaheer Khan
11) RP Singh

RP and Zak opening. Then Yusuf and UV! KING OF SIXERS! KING OF HATTRICKS! KING OF T20! to contribute to make up the remaining four overs or ever more if the some of our frontline bowles are getting smashed.

 

[Skater]

There doesn't seem to be much order to the start times of the tournament.

The first game, between England and Holland at Lord's, kicks off 5.30pm.

The latest a game could finish is 9.00pm - so no floodlights are really needed.