How do the teams shape currently?

This is a three part article looking at history, current rankings, and what lies ahead.

Part 2 – How do the teams shape currently?

So with this background in mind and looking to the 2015 World Cup, there are a number of elements to consider –

  1. What has been the preparation of the team for the tournament – not just in recent months but over the last couple of years?
  2. Does the squad of players provide the necessary depth for the tournament, and a tournament in Australia and New Zealand?
  3. Does the team have key experienced players who are peaking at the right time for this tournament?
  4. Will the tournament conditions be favourable to the team?

 

1. Preparation – From the table below, team performances of the fancied nations indicate

  • India – an outstanding record at home, but this does not convert when playing away
  • Pakistan – play all games away and win a little over 50% of time
  • Sri Lanka – played the most ODI cricket, but better suited at home. Have not played consistently in New Zealand and are different side without Angelo Matthews.
  • England – only been able to win about 50% of matches overall, and less when playing away
  • South Africa – perform better away from home
  • New Zealand – home record not as imposing as some suggest, although have played well against Sri Lanka
  • Australia – performs strongly at home, 2 in 3 chance of winning

 

Success Rate table for all teams qualified for 2015 WC –April 5th 2011 to Dec 31st 2014

Table 1 – Total Record : Success Rate of Groups A and B

Group A Mts /won %win Group B Mts /won Success %
Australia 78-44 56.41 South Africa 64-35 54.69
England 77-38 49.35 India 95-57 58.76
New Zealand 53-22 41.51 Pakistan 86-44 51.16
Sri Lanka 111-54 48.65 West Indies 72-31 43.06
Scotland 20-10 50.00 Zimbabwe 44-10 22.73
Bangladesh 50-18 36.00 Ireland 22-9 40.91
Afghanistan 25-13 52.00 UAE 7-4 57.14

 

Table 2 – Home Record: Success Rate of Groups A and B

Group A Mts /won %win Group B Mts /won Success %
Australia 31/21 67.74% South Africa 22/11 50.00%
England 42/22 52.38% India 35/25 71.43%
New Zealand 21/10 47.62% Pakistan n/a n/a
Sri Lanka 43/23 53.49% West Indies 39/21 53.85%
Scotland 10/6 60.00% Zimbabwe 33/10 30.30%
Bangladesh 36/14 38.89% Ireland 16/7 43.75%
Afghanistan n/a n/a UAE 4/3 75.00%

 

Table 3 – Away/Neutral Record: Success Rate of Groups A & B

Group A Mts /won %win Group B Mts /won Success %
Australia 47/23 48.94% South Africa 42/24 57.14%
England 35/16 45.71% India 60/32 53.33%
New Zealand 32/12 37.50% Pakistan 86/44 51.16%
Sri Lanka 68/31 45.59% West Indies 33/10 30.30%
Scotland 10/4 40.00% Zimbabwe 11/0 0.00%
Bangladesh 14/4 28.57% Ireland 6/2 33.33%
Afghanistan 25/13 52.00% UAE 3/1 33.33%

If we also look at current rankings which is also an indicator of team performance, then we see that the top 4 countries going into the World Cup–

  • Australia while having played the least number of games in the top 7 countries, apart from New Zealand, has played more consistently leading into the tournament
  • India’s ranking driven by its home performances
  • South Africa is similar to Australia and was not tested in the recent series against West Indies apart from last ODI
  • Sri Lanka have a very experienced outfit, although were well matched by the Blackcaps in New Zealand

ICC ODI Championship

21 January 2015
Team Matches Points Rating
Australia 50 5944 119
India 69 7956 115
South Africa 53 6022 114
Sri Lanka 80 8703 109
England 54 5649 105
New Zealand 41 4079 98
Pakistan 58 5611 97
West Indies 49 4582 94
Bangladesh 33 2466 75
Zimbabwe 36 1893 53
Afghanistan 15 622 41
Ireland 11 377 34

 

And individual rankings show that the top 4 teams have more players ranked highest in all categories. The only other team is Pakistan.

BATTING RAT. Name Nat.   BOWLING RAT. Name Nat.
1 899 A.B. de Villiers 751 Saeed Ajmal
2 852 V. Kohli 745 S.P. Narine
3 849 H.M. Amla 722 D.W. Steyn
4 801 K.C. Sangakkara 680 Shakib Al Hasan
5 770 T.M. Dilshan 673 M.G. Johnson
6 758 S Dhawan 663 J.M. Anderson
7 742 Q. de Kock 645 S.M.S.M Senanayake
8 738 G.J. Bailey 641 B. Kumar
9 731 M.S. Dhoni 638 M. Morkel
10 727 K.S. Williamson 635 R.A. Jadeja
11 703 R.L. Taylor 634 Mohammad Hafeez
12 689 A.J. Finch 633 M.A. Starc
13 684 R.G. Sharma 632 H.M.R.K.B. Herath
14 683 A.D. Mathews 626 J.C. Tredwell
15 670 J.E. Root 618 C.J. McKay
16 658 Misbah-ul-Haq 616 Mohammad Irfan
17 649 Ahmed Shehzad 611 Shahid Afridi
18 646 S.R. Watson 609 R. Ashwin
19 643 F. du Plessis 607 L.L. Tsotsobe
20 642 S.K. Raina 604 Imran Tahir

 

Top 10

1 407 A.D. Mathews
2 404 T.M. Dilshan
3 403 Shakib Al Hasan
4 397 Mohammad Hafeez
5 340 Shahid Afridi
6 333 R.A. Jadeja
7 318 J.P. Faulkner
8 290 Mohammad Nabi
9 284 S.R. Watson
10 260 K.J. O’Brien

All statistics and game analysis provided by senior analyst, Krishna Tunga – http://allthatcricket.com/

 

All rankings provided by ICC.

 

2.  Depth of Squad and key experienced players –

The top 4 ranked teams Australia, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka have a good mix of batting, allrounders, keeping and backups, pace/swing bowlers and spin.

Australia – will base their bowling attack around quicks backed up by medium pace allrounders, Maxwell a spinning allrounder and will include a specialist spinner, Doherty pending wicket and opposition. They will bat deep due to Haddin as a keeping allrounder and the likely inclusion of Maxwell. Fielding is a factor which Australia will hope to use to its advantage.

India – the bowling attack has not been as effective as hoped during the current tour of Australia, and may need to rely more on spin options. The fielding has also lacked skill and enthusiasm in recent months. India’s strength is its batting which can set or chase any totals.

South Africa – will play a similar game to Australia. It has all bases covered as it moves into the final countdown.

Sri Lanka – comes to the World Cup with a very experienced outfit which will see a number retire after this tournament I would expect. They rely heavily on a couple of batsmen for consistency, and will look to contain teams with spin, and taking pace off ball.

New Zealand – have opted for some older and experienced players to bolster their ranks. They boast some good young pace bowlers, and are now getting more consistency from their batting group. They will rely heavily on the old warhorse Daniel Vettori for containment.

England – are following the lead of Australia and South Africa with a reliance on pace to lead their bowling. The main concern for England is the inconsistency in their batting, and so rely on Bell, Morgan, Root.

Pakistan – have a number of experienced players in their ranks, and generally have all skills of the ODI game covered. Ajmal is a big loss for them. The longer they can progress in a tournament, the more dangerous they become.

West Indies – internal politics has taken two key players in Dwayne Bravo and Pollard out of the World Cup. They have new and inexperienced captain in Jason Holder, and have been disappointing for a long time now. Their recent performances in South Africa are indicative of where they are as a cricket nation.

Bangladesh – have some exciting players who will challenge any team, such as Shakib and Tamin. But collectively they find it hard to put wins together, especially away from home.

Zimbabwe – like Bangladesh, they do have some very talented players in their squad, but to expect them to challenge any of the major teams is unrealistic. What will be of more interest is to watch how they compete against Ireland and UAE.

Ireland, Scotland, UAE, Afghanistan – have all done credibly to qualify for this event. It will remain to be seen whether they can take games off the teams that are ranked higher than them.