ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 has started in New Zealand and Austarlia. Australia, co-hosts and the current number one team in the ICC ODI Rankings, are the favourites just ahead of South Africa. Co-hosts New Zealand are going into the tournament as most pundits' and bookmakers' 'dark horses'. The Kiwis, despite boasting neither the financial prowess nor the resources that some other countries have at their disposal, have been semi finalists in six out of the 10 ODI World Cups and have won the ICC Champions trophy. I am tipping the Kiwis to go all the way to the final and winning the World Cup for the first time in their history. The biggest upset will most likely involve West Indies and I feel they will get knocked out in the group stage after losing against Zimbabwe or Ireland (or both!) with one of those two nations advancing to the knockout stage. The usual suspects should advance from the other group even though I think Bangladesh are capable of causing an upset against a very inexperienced England side. Bangladesh had a torrid 2014 with an abysmal T20 World Cup and Asia Cup on their own backyard, where they lost against Hong Kong and Afghanistan, but they have recovered later.

Aranya Syed 
London, United Kingdom