It would take a brave person to pick one winner in the 2019 World Cup at this stage, but equally, only a foolish one would look away from the fact that this could be the most exciting tournament played yet.
To kick things off, the very format for this World Cup allows for excitement. While there has been some condemnation of the fact that the tournament will be less inclusive than some of the previous editions — in terms of fewer teams competing — there are likely to be more competitive games than ever before.
The teams that should be the easiest to beat, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, are no longer slouches in any department, and when they beat even the No. 1 team in the world, it is no longer much of an upset. With every team playing each other in the first round, there is not just a chance for all to stake a claim for a spot in the final four, there is also room for crests and troughs, for recoveries, and for the strongest teams to rise to the top over a period of sustained quality.
It’s also a welcome thing that the home team is also the favourite. For long, cricket has been strongly supported in England, across formats, but their white-ball cricket has left much to be desired. While the Ashes may be the pinnacle of the game for English fans, the World Cup is no longer an irrelevance. The fact that England has failed to win the World Cup in all their attempts will have little or no bearing on this team. England has strong, aggressive batsmen who will go at the opposition for the entirety of 50 overs, something teams of the past lacked, and they are no longer diffident or sticking to the outdated formula of keeping wickets in hand for a thrash at the death. They have allrounders who more than hold their own with either bat or ball, and the bowling to exploit what little help the atmospheric conditions may allow.
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Denne historien er fra June 2019-utgaven av Man's World.
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