A Beginners Guide To England At The ICC Cricket World Cup

There has been a downbeat attitude to England’s hopes in this tournament. Over the past year the England side has encountered much criticism regarding the sacking of Kevin Pieterson and the ongoing debate as to whether Alistair Cook should retain his place and captaincy. However, going into the World Cup, England look to have a settled side. Eoin Morgan has taken over the captaincy and looks to have thrived in his new role. England will be confident that they can reach the quarter finals and beyond.

The 50 over Cricket World Cup starts on Saturday with England taking on Australia in Melbourne.

Starting at 3:30am British time, England will face the toughest opponents in their group on day one of the tournament. With the top four from each group going through to the knockout stages, this game isn’t an essential win for England, but Peter Moore’s side will certainly want to get off to a good start to give themselves a chance to win their first ODI World Cup.

The form guide shows mixed results. In the recent tri-series against India and Australia, England beat India comprehensively on both occasions, however, every time they came up against the Aussies, the English failed to threaten. Australia though, are clear favourites for the tournament with many saying that it will be a domination.

New Zealand and South Africa have also been marked as potential winners. Meanwhile the Asian sides have been given little chance. India having been obliterated in the tri-series, Pakistan with their numerous injury troubles and Sri-lanka who have doubts over Malinga’s fitness, will do well to make the final or even the semis. The so called associate teams will, as usual, struggle to string wins together, especially against the test playing nations. Ireland might have a chance, but after losing heavily to Scotland in the warm up matches, their form is questionable. Zimbabwe and the UAE will struggle to get a win, with their only chance in the game with each other. The same can be said for Afghanistan and Scotland in group A.

My Greatest World Cup XI

The World Cup fever is now finally getting on. While we wait for the real thing to start on February the 14th, its time to reminisce about the World Cups gone by. And here is me indulging in some typical fanboy hobby of picking a Fantasy XI. Following is my selection of the Greatest XI from the ICC Cricket World Cups. 

The selections have been made on the following criterion.

• World Cup performances - multiple World Cups count more.

My IPL Diary# Niqueline

Which IPL team were you cheering for? 

My first team was Deccan Chargers (2011). My last team was the Mumbai Indians (and that year they won 2013 :) )

What were your expectations before coming for the IPL?

I heard a lot of stories about India and what to expect in India, some good some bad. But once I arrived I fell in love with India and its people.

Test Cricket Chronicles: MS Dhoni

"I don’t think anyone knew Mahendra Singh Dhoni. I don’t think anyone was meant to."

Harsha Bhogle was as right as rain in kicking around the Gordian knot.

Picture  Courtesy: blogs.tribune.com.pk

On December 30^th, when Indians all across were not ready to throw over their fleeces, a certain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had stopped the ticking clock.

“The Indian Captain calls it a day!” my phone lit up, and face fell down. In a jiffy, I was leafing through the link that followed. MS Dhoni won’t be seen anymore in India whites. The Skipper retires from Test Cricket with immediate effect. A gob in the gullet made an immediate manifestation. The vision befogged with potbellied globules of brackish water.

And then it hit me! The much harrowed day had most assuredly egressed. His retirement was inevitable, everyone’s is. But who knew the game’s best finisher would call it a close in a manner so devil-may-care kind. With no farewell test match, no guard of honour, and no victory lap.

India's Probable World Cup Squad

2015 has arrived. And with it is coming the World Cup Down Under. There are a few weeks to go but the selection deadline is now imminent. January 7th is the deadline for the submission of the final teams. There may still be some changes on account of injuries and other issues though. India's selectors have already picked a 30 man probable squad and this is going to be pruned down to the final 15 on January 6th. While waiting for the date to arrive, Slipstream Cricket has decided to make its own selections from the probables squad.

This was the squad picked by the selection panel.

Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Manoj

My Love Affair With Cricket

It all began with a trip to Goa, India, in early December 2007. I didn't realize beforehand I was going to a cricket-mad country smack in the middle of a Test series against Pakistan. It turned out to be a vacation that changed my life. Literally.

I became curious about cricket when I saw that the Indian newspapers were full of reports of the Kolkata Test – and found that I didn't understand anything of what had happened during the previous day’s play despite being fluent in English. Despite, in fact, being a translator. Returning home to Finland, I decided to learn enough cricket-speak to understand what was going on. Then I meant forget all about it.

But one thing led to another. As I read cricket reports online, I blessed Wikipedia daily. It has taught me pretty much everything I know about the Laws of Cricket. But it took more than a year of intermittent study, as understanding one term just presented me with more new words. Or, often enough, old words that proved to have entirely new meanings. There are the classics, like duck and beehive, but I was stumped (yes, stumped) by words like crease (clearly not a reference to ironing gone wrong) and beat (as in beating the batsman). And so many cricketing expressions leave big chunks of the action unsaid. Leg before, of course. But also It was going to hit the middle of middle and off. Imagine for a moment that English is your second language (or third, as it is for me) and you are faced with middle of middle and off. Trust me, you start looking for the word you missed on your first reading.