INTRODUCTION

As an avid cricket fan, I am going to be keeping a diary of the ICC 2015 cricket world cup and you’re more than welcome to come along for the ride!  The Cricket World Cup is played once every four years and is played in One Day International Limited Over Format of 50 Overs per side.  There have been 10 World Cup Tournaments in total and previous winners include West Indies (2), India (2), Australia (4), Pakistan and Sri Lanka.  Matches will be held across Australia & New Zealand.  This will be the first time Australia and New Zealand have hosted a World Cup since 1992 or 23 years ago. The 1992 World Cup was the first world cup in coloured clothing with a white ball and the Final at the MCG was won by Pakistan who defeated England. This time. there will 14 teams, 49 games but as always, there will only be 1 winner

1992 World Cup Captains post in front of the Sydney Opera House

Australian captains past & present pose with the trophy

Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Alan Border & Steve Waugh

TEAMS & POOLS

This year, there are two pools of seven teams with the top four teams in each pool progressing to the quarter finals.

TIPS & PREDICTIONS

It is very hard to look past Australia based on recent form and home ground advantage although it is still quite an open tournament.  New Zealand also have a very good chance of winning.  South Africa bat well on hard bouncy pitches and look to be one of the best teams on paper.  Sri Lanka and India are the other teams that have a good chance of winning it but will have to reverse recent fortunes in this part of the world as they are better suited to subcontinental pitches.

Winner – Australia

Runner Up – New Zealand

Semi Finalists – Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka

Player of the Tournament – Dave Warner / Mitchell Starc

PREVIOUS WINNERS

This table has been modified from Wikipedia and lists winners from each of the previous tournaments.  West Indies early dominance is apparent as well as Australia’s golden era in the nineties and noughties.