Post by waughandpeace on Sept 8, 2021 22:11:16 GMT
Righto, a month or so now until the first cricket world cup where neither of the hosts (UAE & Oman) are Test nations.
Round 1:
Group A: Ireland, Namibia, Netherlands & Sri Lanka
Expecting Sri Lanka and Ireland to qualify in that order; despite SL's abysmal set of games against England they should have enough (especially in UAE conditions) to win that group. Ireland shading 2nd for me. They've played solely List A & t20 there this season, and nabbed a recent win against South Africa too. As far as I can see, Netherlands lost their last t20 by 142 runs... against Nepal! But underestimate them and you'll end up being bowled out for 88 (here's a throwback England team: www.espncricinfo.com/series/world-t20-2013-14-628368/england-vs-netherlands-29th-match-group-1-682953/full-scorecard)
Group B: Bangladesh, Oman, Papua New Guinea & Scotland
Bangladesh walk this on paper, having beaten weakened Australia 4-1 and New Zealand 3-1 in the last month. Oman get home advantage, but probably the weakest side. Papua New Guinea smashed the qualifier in Dubai 2019, finishing runners up and losing only one group stage game, to... Scotland. Scotland not bad in Dubai, beating UAE & Oman there. PNG have just lost to Nepal and USA so I'm opting for Scotland here.
That would leave the following Super 12 groups:
Group 1: Australia, England, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Scotland
Group 2: Afghanistan, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Ireland, Bangladesh
Think England will be confident going into it with that group, and are probably in the easier group.
Round 1:
Group A: Ireland, Namibia, Netherlands & Sri Lanka
Expecting Sri Lanka and Ireland to qualify in that order; despite SL's abysmal set of games against England they should have enough (especially in UAE conditions) to win that group. Ireland shading 2nd for me. They've played solely List A & t20 there this season, and nabbed a recent win against South Africa too. As far as I can see, Netherlands lost their last t20 by 142 runs... against Nepal! But underestimate them and you'll end up being bowled out for 88 (here's a throwback England team: www.espncricinfo.com/series/world-t20-2013-14-628368/england-vs-netherlands-29th-match-group-1-682953/full-scorecard)
Group B: Bangladesh, Oman, Papua New Guinea & Scotland
Bangladesh walk this on paper, having beaten weakened Australia 4-1 and New Zealand 3-1 in the last month. Oman get home advantage, but probably the weakest side. Papua New Guinea smashed the qualifier in Dubai 2019, finishing runners up and losing only one group stage game, to... Scotland. Scotland not bad in Dubai, beating UAE & Oman there. PNG have just lost to Nepal and USA so I'm opting for Scotland here.
That would leave the following Super 12 groups:
Group 1: Australia, England, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Scotland
Group 2: Afghanistan, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Ireland, Bangladesh
Think England will be confident going into it with that group, and are probably in the easier group.