World Cup 2007

It is here.

It is hard to believe that there are 16 teams in the world that play this beautiful game called cricket; the caveat being that in 7 of these countries a majority of the people don’t even know that they have a national cricket team and will probably be bewildered to find out that their team is playing in a World Cup. Yet the average cricket fan will be rooting for an upset from one of these teams. Anybody who has seen the joyous celebration of the Bangladesh team after their victories over India and Australia will understand why they should play this game.

In the warm-up matches these teams showed glimpses of their potential. I was rooting for Ireland when they bowled South Africa out for under 200, I took great pleasure when Bermuda’s 270lb leviathan Dwayne Leverock took 2 wickets for 32 runs in 10 probing overs against England, I enjoyed Kenya’s robust chase of the host West Indies’ big total and was positively over the moon when Bangladesh embarrassed New Zealand, one of the strong contenders for the title.

For those of you who are not die-hard romantics and don’t enjoy the thrashing of the smaller teams, the Super 8’s provide exciting match-ups of the top 8 teams, assuming that they all make it to the second round.

This time around, Australia’s dominance has waned and they are without their premier one day fast bowler, Brett Lee, another key player, Andrew Symonds, the best cricket athlete in world, is recovering from a torn bicep which will definitely curtail his fielding ability. I don't think that this makes them vulnerable, but there is a perception of vulnerability and that maybe enough for the other teams to get their noses ahead. Having said all that, and even though South Africa are currently ranked number one the overwhelming favorite still is Australia and they will take some beating.

Bravely putting my foot in the mouth for the entire world to see; here are my picks for the semifinals: Australia, South Africa, India and the West Indies.

Let the cricket begin.