This year’s cricket World Cup will be held in England and Wales. Ten teams will each play nine matches before the semi-finalists are decided.

The last ICC World Cup was held jointly in New Zealand and Australia. The home teams played the final and Australia took the cup. The last World Cup was a memorable one for Bangladesh cricket too. It was the World Cup where the Bangladesh cricket team knocked the English lions out of the tournament to reach the quarter finals. The celebration at the end is remembered not only by people in Bangladesh but by cricket fans worldwide.

Australia post ball-tampering scandal

The team to have won the highest number of World Cups are a favorite this year too. The 2018 ball-tampering scandal featuring David Warner, Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith shook the foundations of Cricket Australia. They were made to rethink their strategies. Criticisms flew towards its ‘win by hook or crook’ mentality. Cricket Australia has come a long way since the mishap. Initially the team’s performance suffered due to the absence of Warner and Smith but they rebuilt. With captain Aaron Finch in good form and Warner and Smith back in the team, Australia has regained its strength. Steve Smith has averaged more than 60 since his return to international cricket.

Reports suggest that Josh Hazlewood was left out of the World Cup squad because of the team needs him to be fully fit before Ashes. Former World Cup winning captain Ricky Ponting and former wicket keeper batsman Brad Haddin will be accompanying the team as coaches. If not for anything, the history and World Cup heritage surrounding the Australian cricket team are enough to make sure that they are never out of the title race.

“Australians will not receive a warm welcome in England. I am sure the Barmy Army has eight to ten songs lined up for Warner and Smith” — Former England captain Ian Botham made it clear the crowd will not be very supportive towards Australia.

It’s coming home

Since the group stage exit in last world, English cricket has gotten itself a makeover. They are in excellent form. They are the ones with the highest number of 350+ innings in international matches since last the World Cup. Support of the home crowd and known conditions too have put on the small list of favorites to win the World Cup. Joss Butler, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root and Jason Roy make up a very strong batting side. The inclusion of to be bowling star Jofra Archer in the squad will add an interesting twist to the bowling attack. Hashtag It’s coming home.

“They have been playing a good brand of cricket in the limited overs for the last twelve months. They have worked very hard and now is the time to get the rewards. They have good openers, a fantastic middle-order, the top all-rounders have been delivering and they are also really blessed with good spinners and medium pacers. England were favorites at least three times after the introduction of the World Cup. But this time they are real favorites. We played three finals before and just could not manage to cross the last hurdle. I’ll be really surprised if England fail to win the cup this time.” — said former English great Geoff Boycott

The Asian contenders minus Bangladesh

Before the ODI series with England, Pakistan were thought to be one of the top contenders of the World Cup having the won the Champions Trophy 2017 in England. But a 4–0 loss to England just before the big tournament has raised many questions. The uncertainties regarding their bowling attack made the squad selection a messy affair. Mohammed Amir and Shadab Khan were taken ill and missed out on matches. Both were later included in the squad. Pakistan has always been an unpredictable side and have managed to clinch titles when no one expected them to. The 1992 World Cup win in England will surely inspire the current team to achieve something alike.

Cricket board politics and corruption are rampant in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is going into the World Cup having lost 9 of their last 10 matches. Captain Dimuth Karunaratne has played only one ODI since 2015.

“With Karunaratne coming in now as a fresh face and fresh captain, it could actually help the team. He doesn’t come in with the baggage of being part of a set-up that for the last two-and-a-half years have had a lot of issues.” — remarked former skipper Kumar Sangakara.

Next to England, two-time world champions India has the most balanced side. With most of the players doing so well, Indian selectors had a tough choice to make for squad selection. They focused on choosing three dimensional players for the World Cup. The inclusion of Dinesh Kartik instead of Rishab Pant was not taken well by many.

Virat Kohli’s goal of driving the men in blue to their third World Cup will be shaped by players like Jaspreet Bhumra, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and the experienced M S Dhoni.

“Jaspreet Bhumrah is bowling very well. His action is amazing. He is giving his best game now, but the best one is yet to come from him. “– said Sachin Tendulkar after the IPL final.

Virat Kohli is himself arguably the best batsman currently. During an ICC event when the captains were asked to pick one player from another team whom they would like to play for them, Bangladesh’s captain went for Virat Kohli and for good reason.

The Fourth Semi-finalists

The 2015 runners-up will be stepping into the World Cup with confidence. Wining the warm match against India after having bowled them out for 179 will boost morale too. Batsman Ken Williamson, Martin Guptill and Colin Munro will be looking forward to the high scoring matches.

“They play some great cricket; they always play as a team and they are well led by Kane Williamson. Ross Taylor is also a fine batsman, and in Tim Southee and Trent Boult they have match-winning bowlers.” — Former England skipper Mike Gatting predicts an England-New Zealand final.

South Africa has a strong team but their past record will make anyone putting them on the probable World Cup winner list think twice. Will South Africa be able to come out of their history of chocking? This is a question that has ended up without an affirmative answer every time.

Hashim Amla has showed signs of retuning to form in the warm up match against Sri Lanka scoring 65 runs from 61 balls. He along with Quinton De Kock will make a formidable opening pair. South Africa will rely on Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir and Dale Steyn to lead the bowling attack.

Teams for the upsets

It would be wrong to judge the capabilities of the West Indian cricket team based on the performance in the Tri-Nation series against Bangladesh and Ireland. Some of their players could not play in that series due to IPL. Universe boss Chris Gayle is set to retire after the World Cup. He’s sure to blast some great innings to fire West Indies to the semifinal. The batting firepower puts the T20 specialists in a good position.

Afghanistan qualified to the World Cup leaving behind former World Cup participants like Zimbabwe, Ireland and Scotland by winning the World Cup qualifiers. Some of the upsets of the World Cup will surely be attributed to Afghanistan. They have defeated Pakistan in a practice match. The controversy regarding the captaincy change from Asghar Afghan to Gulbadin Naib right before the World Cup may have create some differences in the team. Players like Rashid Khan and Mohammed Nabi expressed their disapproval of Naib on Twitter. Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman will be key to pulling down the run flow in a time when 300 runs is not a good score.

Not even a week left for the greatest cricketing event, ICC World Cup kicks off. Although A.B. de Villiers thinks Indian Premier League (IPL) is better than the World Cup, for most of us it isn’t. Here’s to hoping we get to see plenty of thrilling matches in the next few weeks.