Fifth world title beckons at home for Australia

In the off chance that Michael Clarke doesn't regain his fitness, it could put Australia under pressure without their experienced captain.

                                                                        

 The mid-90s marked the arrival of the Australian brand of cricket, and after not making it to the last four of the edition they hosted back in 1992, they began a streak of four consecutive finals out of which they won three successive titles, only to lose it to eventual winners India in 2011. The ICC World Cup returns to their home territory, and Australia would look to give their fans a winning spectacle, There are no aching limbs in the Team and under a new captain in either Michael Clarke or George Bailey, the players are raring to go in a bid to win an unprecedented fifth world title.

Group: PoolA

Captain: Michael Clarke/ George Bailey

Strengths

 Australia bat well and bat deep, and their past form is anything to go by, teams will find it difficult to dislodge the four-time champions in home conditions. Clarke, Shane Watson, Steve Smith and Brad Haddin remain among the batsmen from the 2011 World Cup, but their experience will be backed up by David Warner and Aaron Finch at the top. The presence of allrounders Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and James Faulkner gives them plenty of lower-order firepower to take them through in crunch situations.

Weaknesses

 Despite having very capable bowlers in their ranks, Australia's weak link remains their bowling as a unit. Home conditions will definitely be to their advantage, but the batting  powerplay can get the better of most bowling attacks. While Mitchell Johnson remains their most experienced frontline bowler, opposition teams could put pressure on the inexperienced others, and their lone spinner in Xavier Doherty could be a weak link. Australia have succeeded under both Clarke and stand-in captain Bailey, but in the off chance that Clarke doesn't regain his fitness, it could also put Australia under pressure without their experienced captain.

X-factor

 David Warner: Playing his first World Cup, the stocky left-hander is coming off a superb year in Test cricket and would like to leave an indelible mark on the 2015 edition, much like his predecessor Matthew Hayden did in 2007. Warner's typically aggressive starts can takr opposition teams by surprise and a strong Australian middle order can capitalise on that. His ability to score big also gives the team stability.

Dark horse

 A format known to be cruel for bowlers can be made game-changing by them as well. Josh Hazelwood had an excellent Test debut against in the preceding Onr-Day series against South Africa and emerged as one of the finds of the series in Australia. Hazelwood's five-wicket haul came in a losing cause, but he impressed with his pace and was almost a leaf out of Glenn McGrath's book of accuracy. He put behind a modest ODI debut in 2010, and looks a bowler for the future for Australia.

ODI from guide (last six months)

Australia-South Africa-Zimbabwe tri-series: Lost in final (Away)
V Pakistan: Won 3-0 (Away)
V South Africa: Won 4-1 (Home)

What they did in 2011 World Cup

 Under pressure to make it four championship in a row, Australia began their tournament brightly enough but were bogged down by the conditions in the subcontinent as well as poor form of some of their more influential players. They made it to the quater-finals with relative ease despite looking to Pakistan and a non-result aganist Sri Lanka in third place in Group A, but their tournament ended in their next game against India at Ahmedabad. Ricky Pointing, under the pump for his form, scored a backs-to-the-wall hundred, but the bowlers couldn't contain India's run-chase, thus ending their dream sequence of making five consecutive World Cup finals.

Squad

Michael Clarke (capt), George Bailey (v/c), Pat Cummins, Xavier Doherty, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Brad Haddin (wk), Josh Hazelwood, Mitchell Strac, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, David Warner, Shane Watson.

Fixtures 

February 14 v England, Melbourne
February 21 v Bangladesh, Brisbane
February 28 v New Zealand, Auckland
March 4 v Afghanistan, Perth
March 8 v Sri Lanka, Sydney
March 14 v Scotland, Hobrat

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Preview

Cricket's most prestigious event returns to Trans-Tasman territory for the first time since 1992.

 Cricket's biggest prize is here. Yes! It's time for the ICC Cricket World Cup-one of the most widely followed global sporting events. The 11th edition of the quadrennial tournament will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. This is the second time that the World Cup is staged in Trans-Tasman territory since 1992. New Zealand and Sri Lanka will kick-off the 44-day tournament in Christchurch on February 14. After 48 matches, two of the best teams of the muli-nation event will lock horns in Melbourne on March 29 for the covered title.

How was the ODI format born?

 Rain washed off the first three days of the Ashes Test match between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The officials then decided to abandon the match and instead agreed to play a 40 eight-ball-over per side match on last day of the Test match thus the One-Day International format was born on January 5,1971.
 Although the birth of Twenty20 cricket has diminished the image of One-Day-International (ODI) cricket of late, the World Cup is still one of the most-awaited tournaments for an avid cricket fan.

How did the idea of a Cricket World Cup evolve?

 Limited-overs cricket began to gain popularity in the early 1960s when a number of English countries showed interest to adopt the shortened version of the game, that ended in a day. Spectators welcomed the One-Day format and soon many organisations started to stage a number of tournaments. The Internationals Cricket Conference, cricket governing body then, took note of One-Day cricket's growing reputation and came up with Ideas of staging in a Cricket World Cup and announced that England would host the first-ever Cricket World Cup in 1975.
 Since its inception, the World Cup has produced many memorable moments and this time too it promises to be a humdinger.

World Cup Winners

1975- West Indies
1979- West Indies
1983- India
1987- Australia
1992- Pakistan
1996- Sri lanka
1999- Australia
2003- Australia
2007- Australia
2011- India

Why is the tournament being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand?

 In 2006, Australia and New Zealand placed their placed their bids to ICC's executive committee, after expressing their willingness to host the 2011 World Cup. However, Asia (India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) was awarded the tournament after winning by a margin of 7 votes to 4. The ICC then announced that the next edition (2015) would be awarded to Australia and New Zealand.

How different is the Tournament to the 2011 edition?

 You could see the World Cup being shared for the first time ever! Yes, you read that right Interestingly, the ICC has revealed that the trophy would be shared, if the final ends in a tie. During the 2011 edition, if a game ended in a tie during the knockout phase, there was a provision to use the One-Over Eliminator (Super Over) to decide the winner. However, this time around, the ICC has made it clear that it would not employ the Super Over rule for tied matches during the quatar-finals and the semi-final stages. Instead, the side finishing higher in the group stage will progress to the next round.

 TV viewers finishun will be able to hear the conversation between the on-field umpire and the third umpire whenever the Decision Review System (DRS) is employed. It is the latest addition to the DRS by the ICC to give more transparency into decision making and will help viewers know the different aspects taken into consideration while making a decision.

 Only 15 overs of field restrictions will apply, which is five overs lesser than the 2011 World Cup. However, this time, only four fielders wil be allowed outside the circle during non-powerplays overs, which is one lesser than the previous edition.

 Four years ago, there was a mandatory ball change after 34 overs of an innings. However. the ICC has Scraped the idea now and has announced that two new balls, one from each end, will be used during an innings.

 The ICC has increased the prize money by 20% from the previous edition. The winners prize money has been set as USD 3,975,000. If the team remains unbeaten in the group stage, the prize money would be added by USD 45,000, meaning that the total amount would be USD 4,245,000.

 While the number of participants (14) remains the same as previous World Cup, Afghanisthan, United Arab Emirates and Scotland will replace Canada, Kenya and Netherlands from the 2011 World Cup.

Format

 14 teams, spilt into pools of seven each, will play 42 games in the group stage, with each team playing each other once in their respective pools. The top four teams from eacg pool will make it to the quater-finals, from which four teams will be filtered to from the semi-finals line up. Two winners then qualify for the final.

Participants 

 The 10 full members of the ICC qualify automatically, while the top two teams of the 2011-13 World Cricket League (Ireland, Afghanistan) and the finalists of the 2014 World Cup Qualifier (Scotland, United Arab Emirates) from the 14-member contention.

Pool A                Pool B

England             South Africa

Australia            India

Sri Lanka           Pakistan

Bangladesh       West Indies

New Zealand     Zimbabwe

Afghanistan       Ireland

Scotland             United Arab Emirates

How the top 10 teams were pooled?

 It was according to the ICC ODI Championship rankings, as of 31 December 2012, that the top 10 full member nations were pooled into two groups. The team was ranked 1 (England) and 4 (Australia) went into Pool A, while teams 2 (South Africa) and 3 (India) went into Pool B. Teams 5 (Sri Lanka) and 8 (Bangladesh) were grouped in Pool A and teams 6 (pakistan) and 7 (West Indies) in Pool B. Teams 9 (New Zealand) and 10 (Zimbabwe) joined Pool A and Pool B respectively.

Did you know?

 After the 2011 World Cup, the ICC announced that the 2015 World Cup would be contested only among the 10 full member nations. This meant that the associate nations would be not to be eligible to participate and it drew heavy  criticism, especially from Ireland, who fared decently in 2007 and 2011. The ICC then reverted back to the 14-team format followed for the 2011 World Cup.

Venues

 Totally 14 grounds, 7 from Australia (Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobrat, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney) and New Zealand (Auckland, Christchruch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, Nelson and Wellington) will host the World Cup. The final will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Out of the 49 matches, 26 will be hosted by Australia.

Who are the favourites?

India- Despite the absence of their key players from the 2011 World Cup squad, the defending champions have managed to piece together a formidable unit. Virat Kholi has grown in stature since the last edition of the World Cup and is breaking many records. Captain MS Dhoni has been as cool as ever and his role in the middle-order has been key to India's success. Bhuvmeshwar Kumr has proved the world that fat-bowling is not all about muscles. Mohammad Shami's accuracy has earned him the highest wicket-taker tag in 0DIs in 2014 and he plays a big role for the side with the ball. So overall, if the batting line-up clicks as a unit and the bowlers hold their nerve at the death, India are a tough side to beat on their day.

South Africa- Surely, if you have the names, Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers and JP Duminy, then you have one of the strongest batting line-up, if not the strongest, in the entire tournament. Moving focus to the bowling department, Dale Steyn superheads the attacks, while Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander from an integral part Boy! This has to be team on the paper. Give them the Cup! Oh hang on! Time and time again, the Proteas bring a strong to World Cups, but...

Australia- Home conditions give Australia a big chance to lift their fifth title. Although George Bailey has showed that he's a good enough leader, a fully-fit Michael Clarke would be vital to Australia's success. While David Warner's presence at the top-order comes as a plus, Shane Watson's role as an all-rounder is pivotal to the side. Glenn Maxwell has earned himself a reputation of being a game-changer, irrespective of the match situation. Mitchell Johnson's thunderbolts would be a batsman's nightmare on those bouncy pitches. All this forces one to rate the co-hosts highly.

Australia thrash England in final

Australia beat England by 112 runs

                                                                           

 Hello everyone and a warm welcome for the final match between Australia and England from the WACA, Perth. It's the big one, the final and although India aren't featuring in this match, a clash between the old enemies just before the start of the World Cup should make for a mouth watering clash. Australia will definitely start as favourites after going unbeaten into the final. England look like the only team who could beat them and came very close in the last match but today is another game and in a big final, anything can happen.
 The coin had spun Morgan's way and he said England will bowl. The game against India has greatly influenced his decisions and he thinks that the pitch got better as the game went on. Expects a similar thing today as well. They've gone in unchanged. George Bailey looks unsure of what he would have done but he hopes that the pitch will liven up in the afternoon. He has his trump card back. Yes, Mitchell Johnson is back and raring to go and that will be a sight to be hold as he runs in on a fast, bouncy track. The Aussies will need runs on the board. David Warner is doing well he says and will rejoin Finch at the top of the order.
 Good news for England is the fact that they have been beaten Australia in five out of seven games at Perth and that should give them more confidence going into the match. The pitch like always, has some cracks on it and the bounce at the WACA is a given. That being said, it has been a bit two-paced in the last game so it would be interesting to see what it turns out to be today.

 Australia lost early wickets after Eoin Morgan won the toss and elected o bowl first. James Anderson removed danger pair Aaron Finch and David Warner before Stuart Board stuck with the wicket of captain George Bailey. Finch departed without scoring in the match's opening over, edging an outswinger from Anderson through to Joe Root at first slip. After being joined by Steve Smith, who quickly found is feet, Warner reached 12 from 17 balls before Anderson found extra bounce and Warner tamely sliced the ball to James Taylor at point. Bailey looked out of sorts during his two from 17 balls in the face of some quality English fast bowling on a helpful pitch, finally being undone by a shorter ball from Board which he fended straight to Taylor at bat pad. But while the visiting seamers made scoring difficult for the hosts, Smith's sublime from let him craft singles from all angles, crashing fours behind point and straight down the ground to make batting look easy. So Morgan turned to the spin of Moeen Ali to halt Smith's charge. Four balls into the first over, Ali had Smith advancing and missing, and not even a fumble from wicketkeeper Jos Buttler could save the set batsman. With Smith walking off the ground with 40 of the 60 runs scored, there was reason for Australian fans to panic, but the young duo of Maxwell and Marsh calmed fears with orthodox, mature stroke play. Maxwell in particular resisted the urge to employ his wide array of dashing shots until he was closing in on his half-century, bringing up the milestone off 64 balls with a fine lap past short fine leg. Th allrounder's first half century since October bettered his 93-run effort against Zimbabwe last August. Marsh greeted the batting power play with a gigantic six over backward square leg, before Maxwell unleashed his full bag of tricks, taking down Chris Woakes for four boundaries in the 40th over including a reverse pull over fine leg, to race the partnership to 95 from 97 balls. But the lure of a maiden hundred in a single blow was too much for the Victorian, falling five shot after top edging Board to Buttler to leave the batsman disappointed and the crowd applauding and wanting more. With Maxwell gone the power game was suitably left to Marsh. Two muscular boundaries either side of the wicket promised a score close to 300, but when Brad Haddin's call for a second found the allrounder short of his ground at the non-striker's end via a relay throw, the projected dropped significantly. But Faulkner would pick up the slack, pummelling Woakes for three sixes and 24 runs off the penultimate over before hitting the last ball of the innings for six to raise his fifty and leave the field with the momentum and a compectitive total to bowl to. The pair combined for 141 to resurrect he home side's innings from 4-60 after James Anderson (2-38) struck twice with the new ball. Stuart Board finished with 3-55 to be the pick of the tourists with the ball, before a fashionably late cameo from James Faulkner, who crashed 50 from only 24 balls. Glenn Maxwell's highest one-day International score of 95 has boosted Australia to 8-278.
 If England were worried about facing Johnson on the fast WACA wicket, they'd have to wait as Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood took the new balls, and the latter struck early to remove Ian Bell for eight to a wonderful catch by a diving Haddin. But they needn't wait too long, with Johnson entering the attack in the seventh over, and in the ninth normal service resumed when the left-arm quick removed James Taylor to a good catch by Maxwell at point, even if there was some doubt about the legality of the delivery due to Johnson's front foot getting dangerous close to going over the front line. Two overs later the vocal WACA crowd were on their feet when Johnson bowled a brute of ball to surprise Ali and take his edge to Finch at floating first slip, and the audience remained standing when Morgan left his first ball only to watch it clatter into his off-stump. Twenty-five runs later, Joe Root was trapped in front by Faulkner, before the allrounder left the field with side soreness. While the Australian medical staff attended to the injured Tasmanian, Maxwell's match went from good to great, removing Buttler (17) and Woakes in succesive deliveries to reduce England to 7-98 in the 25th over. Maxwell would claim two more wickets before Hazelwood castled Steve Finn to wrap up the match and series and firm Australia as a World Cup favourite.
  Australia thump their arch-rivals to win the tri-seies!  They will be very pleased with their performance today and will now go into World Cup high on Confidence. Glenn Maxwell was one of the player they wanted back in form and that exactly happened today. He not only made a match winning 95 but also proved his all-round worth by bagging a 4-wicket haul. This is also Australia's third biggest win against England in ODIs.

                                                                           

Player of the Match, Glenn Maxwell: It was nice to do that role, I screwed up a few times in the past. James Faulkner showed his class and finished it well for us. It's nice to enter the World Cup in form with both bat and ball.

                                                                           

Player of the Series, Mitchell Starc: Trying to improve with every game. It's exciting with the World Cup coming up. It's important to bowl as fast as you can and get a bit of swing to help you out. We got a great squad, we have a good bowling unit.

 Eoin Morgan: I think we could have kept them to a bit less. Batting let us down today. We need to keep grafting and growing. A lot of credits goes to the boys for putting individual efforts. We are playing Pakistan and West Indies in the warm-up in sydney and it should be a good practice before the World Cup.
 George Bailey: It's really promising to see Maxi and Mitchell Marsh rein their natural games and getting us back in the match. Always lovely to have him (Johnson) in the tank. We want to have as many as guys in form as possible.
 That;s all from this tri-series. World Cup is just round the corner and we are looking forward to your company then. Until next time, it's good bye and cheers!!!