T20 World Cup Discussion

[Unbreakable]

The T20 World Cup is fasting approaching, games begin next month.

Here is the schedule for Australia's games -

Australia v.s. South Africa - 23rd of October at 8:00pm AEST
Australia v.s. TBA - 29th of October at 12:00am AEST
Australia v.s. England - 31st of October at 8:00pm AEST
Australia v.s. TBA - 4th of November at 8:00pm AEST
Australia v.s. West Indies - 6th of November at 8:00pm AEST

As I do every world cup, here are the squads, and what I predict the XI's to be for each of the 'Big 7' sides.

Australia:

Aaron Finch (c), Pat Cummins, Ashton Agar, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

Reserves: Daniel Christian, Nathan Ellis, Daniel Sams.

Predicted XI:

1. Aaron Finch (c)
2. David Warner
3. Steve Smith
4. Glenn Maxwell
5. Mitchell Marsh
6. Josh Inglis (wk)
7. Ashton Agar
8. Pat Cummins
9. Mitchell Starc
10. Josh Hazlewood
11. Adam Zampa

England:

Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Butler, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Tymal Mills, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

Reserves: Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, James Vince.

Predicted XI:

1. Jason Roy
2. Jos Buttler (wk)
3. Dawid Malan
4. Liam Livingstone
5. Eoin Morgan (c)
6. Jonny Bairstow
7. David Willey
8. Sam Curran
9. Chris Jordan
10. Adil Rashid
11. Mark Wood

India:

Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Ravi Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishan Kishan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Mahammed Shami, Suryakumar Yadav.

Reserves: Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur.

Predicted XI:

1. Rohit Sharma
2. KL Rahul
3. Virat Kohli (c)
4. Suryakumar Yadav
5. Rishabh Pant (wk)
6. Hardik Pandya
7. Ravindra Jadeja
8. Ravi Ashwin
9. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
10. Rahul Chahar
11. Jasprit Bumrah

New Zealand:

Kane Williamson (c), Tim Southee, Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi.

Reserves: Adam Milne.

Predicted XI:

1. Martin Guptill
2. Tim Seifert (wk)
3. Kane Williamson (c)
4. Devon Conway
5. Glenn Phillips
6. James Neesham
7. Mitchell Santner
8. Ish Sodhi
9. Trent Boult
10. Tim Southee
11. Lockie Ferguson

Pakistan:

Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Asif Ali, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Azam Khan, Shoaib Maqsood, Mohammad Nawaz, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Rizwan, Khushdil Shah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Wasim Jr.

Reserves: Usman Qadir, Shahnawaz Dahani, Fakhar Zaman.

Predicted XI:

1. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
2. Babar Azam (c)
3. Sohaib Maqsood
4. Mohammad Hafeez
5. Azam Khan
6. Imad Wasim
7. Shadab Khan
8. Shaheen Afridi
9. Mohammad Wasim
10. Mohammad Hasnain
11. Haris Rauf

South Africa:

Temba Bavuma (c), Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Kheshav Maharaj, Aiden Markham, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Dwaine Pretorius, Kasigo Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen.

Reserves: George Linde, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lizaad Williams.

Predicted XI:

1. Quinton de Kock (wk)
2. Aiden Markram
3. Temba Babuma (c)
4. David Miller
5. Rassie van der Dussen
6. Keshav Maharaj
7. Bjorn Fortuin
8. Kagiso Rabada
9. Anrich Nortje
10. Lungi Ngidi
11. Tabraiz Shamsi

West Indies:

Kieron Pollard (c), Nicholas Pooran, Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Roston Chase, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Lendi Simmons, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr.

Reserves: Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Sheldon Cottrell, Darren Bravo.

Predicted XI:

1. Lendl Simmons
2 Evin Lewis
3. Chris Gayle
4. Nicholas Pooran (wk)
5. Andre Russell
6. Shimron Hetmyer
7. Kieron Pollard (c)
8. Fabian Allen
9. Dwayne Bravo
10. Hayden Walsh Jr
11. Oshane Thomas

 

[Sproj]

I'd say Aussies will be looing at:

1. Warner
2. Finch
3. Marsh
4. Smith
5. Maxwell
6. Stoinis
7. Wade
8. Cummins
9. Starc
10. Hazlewood
11. Zampa

Such a bits and pieces squad, I wouldn't be surprised to see Agar come in there for Hazlewood or Stoinis either.

 

[Sproj]

Wow, I never realised Josh Inglis is a Brit and has a fairly noticeable British accent.

Also, Chahar, the Indian bowler, does my head in, he kind of does a duck waddle in from wide-ish right side and bowls right hand around the wicket. There is nothing about his action that seems right and yet he's pretty effective.

Also, Kohli is bowling, mind blown.

 

[lachyy]

Spud is in fantastic nick, that stroke down the ground just then was perfection

 

[Sproj]

Spud is in fantastic nick, that stroke down the ground just then was perfection

Unfortunately, Warner can't buy a run these days.

 

[lachyy]

Unfortunately, Warner can't buy a run these days.

and we're completely devoid of openers atm, feel bad for pucovski, dont think his career has much hope at this point

 

[Sproj]

and we're completely devoid of openers atm, feel bad for pucovski, dont think his career has much hope at this point

Yep it is a massive concern. Even if he wasn't a walking injury concern, Warner is pretty near the end, so Australia is going to struggle to find two test openers. Pucovski can't string games together and no one else is even close to being good enough.

 

[Sproj]

Decent effort to get 150+ after being 3 for almost nothing.

 

[lachyy]

Yep it is a massive concern. Even if he wasn't a walking injury concern, Warner is pretty near the end, so Australia is going to struggle to find two test openers. Pucovski can't string games together and no one else is even close to being good enough.

khawaja has to play surely, hasnt been opening for QLD but such a level above shield. Tim Ward looks decent for Tassy as does Bryce Street, theres some young guys there but neither are ready

 

[Sproj]

khawaja has to play surely, hasnt been opening for QLD but such a level above shield. Tim Ward looks decent for Tassy as does Bryce Street, theres some young guys there but neither are ready

But even then (and I agree with you), Khawaja is a short term fix at best. He also isn't young anymore.

 

[lachyy]

But even then (and I agree with you), Khawaja is a short term fix at best. He also isn't young anymore.

yeah definitely, in an ideal world Puc figures out his injury stuff (eliminate his hook and/or pull shot from his game) and we tag along a stop gap until the next young guy. But again Puc is a complete mystery and the old guard are very much old. Its pretty worrying

 

[Sproj]

yeah definitely, in an ideal world Puc figures out his injury stuff (eliminate his hook and/or pull shot from his game) and we tag along a stop gap until the next young guy. But again Puc is a complete mystery and the old guard are very much old. Its pretty worrying

The disappointment for me is Harris. He looks a million bucks at shield level but is absolutely out of his depth at tests, he just looks clueless when the pressure is on.

 

[lachyy]

The disappointment for me is Harris. He looks a million bucks at shield level but is absolutely out of his depth at tests, he just looks clueless when the pressure is on.

yeah at least with bancroft you can understand his technique is just shit and gets easily exposed by elite talent, harris i dont understand, has flashes, looks solid but crumbles more often than not

 

[BroncosFever]

David Warner has scored 3 runs in his past 4 T20 games (IPL included).

I get why they will stay loyal and keep picking him but really he has been struggling ever since coming back from the suspension. Also our T20 side just looks completely broken, way too many all-rounders in there, any team with a decent spinning attack will have no issue putting us under pressure.

India beat us comprehensively last night, worrying signs.

 

[holdzy]

David Warner has scored 3 runs in his past 4 T20 games (IPL included).

I get why they will stay loyal and keep picking him but really he has been struggling ever since coming back from the suspension. Also our T20 side just looks completely broken, way too many all-rounders in there, any team with a decent spinning attack will have no issue putting us under pressure.

India beat us comprehensively last night, worrying signs.

Sad display from the top order last night. WTF is Marsh coming in at three for? Hopefully just an experiment now put to rest.

This team is just constantly bereft of confidence, particularly in batting. Troubling.

 

[Sproj]

Sad display from the top order last night. WTF is Marsh coming in at three for? Hopefully just an experiment now put to rest.

This team is just constantly bereft of confidence, particularly in batting. Troubling.

Marsh failed last night but in the last 12 months he has been the only batsman to consistently get runs and he has been coming in at 3, he has earned his spot there.

Australia should have built a team with guys used to batting in certain positions, guys like SIlk/Turner who are used to coming in lower down and blasting from the get go or accumulating through the middle overs. I also don't know how Wade keeps getting games, I really don't. Too many of these guys are also underdone and / or injured. Finch can't even run after knee surgery.

I would have gone:

1. Stoinis
2. Phillippe/Inglis
3. Marsh
4. Smith
5. Maxwell
6. Silk
7. Turner
8. Starc
9. Zampa
10. Green
11. Hazlewood

I know it isn't much better but at least it bats deep and has 4 different options for the fifth bowler.

 

[holdzy]

Marsh failed last night but in the last 12 months he has been the only batsman to consistently get runs and he has been coming in at 3, he has earned his spot there.

Australia should have built a team with guys used to batting in certain positions, guys like SIlk/Turner who are used to coming in lower down and blasting from the get go or accumulating through the middle overs. I also don't know how Wade keeps getting games, I really don't. Too many of these guys are also underdone and / or injured. Finch can't even run after knee surgery.

I would have gone:

1. Stoinis
2. Phillippe/Inglis
3. Marsh
4. Smith
5. Maxwell
6. Silk
7. Turner
8. Starc
9. Zampa
10. Green
11. Hazlewood

I know it isn't much better but at least it bats deep and has 4 different options for the fifth bowler.

Prefer Stoinis a bit lower - his knock was effortless last night. With Marsh, I don't know. Haven't seen too much of him lately but he always seems to **** up the big chances he gets. I'd prefer him lower down if he has to be there but maybe it was a one off.

No Cummins?

 

[Sproj]

Prefer Stoinis a bit lower - his knock was effortless last night. With Marsh, I don't know. Haven't seen too much of him lately but he always seems to **** up the big chances he gets. I'd prefer him lower down if he has to be there but maybe it was a one off.

No Cummins?

Cummins is a gun but another guy who is really underdone and that is the whole problem with this squad, 70% is underdone or injured.