Familiar faces dominate World Cup quarter-finals

The eight teams in the quarter-finals of the 2011 Cricket World Cup are pretty much as expected but the draw has still thrown up some intriguing ties. India‘s clash with Australia undoubtedly the most attractive to neutrals. Australia‘s record in this tournament in recent years has been pretty much unblemished and they were never going to be troubled by the likes of Kenya, Canada and Zimbabwe in the group stages of this year’s tournament. However Pakistan showed, in their final qualifier, that the Aussies’ batting line-up may be isn’t as strong as they would like others to believe, even though Mike Hussey‘s late call-up has added much-needed stability in the middle order. Given that they cracked under pressure in the Ashes, it’s certainly going to be interesting to see how they cope with the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the Sardara Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad against the co-hosts. India, however, have problems of their own. There’s a huge weight of expectation riding on the shoulders of Mehndra Singh Dhoni and his men and they’ve come up short on both occasions when the screws have been turned by quality opposition. They allowed a mis-firing England to chase down a huge total and claim a tie in Bangalore before blowing a brilliant start against South Africa to lose by three wickets. I just fear for India if they lose Sehwag and Tendulkar cheaply as the Australians are the more likely to press home an advantage if they get on top. India are a best 7/2 to win the tournament while Australia are a surprisingly big 6/1 with Skybet.

Our pre-tournament fancies Pakistan are still in there pitching and we certainly weren’t surprised to see them top Group A. They are now a best 13/2 to win the final with extrabet having been paired with general 22/1 outsiders the West Indies. Pakistan certainly aren’t perfect and you always get the impression they are one bad decision away from a meltdown but, in Umar Gul, they have the best bowler in the tournament with both old and new ball and look certainties to make it into the last four at least as the Windies, despite the emergence of one or two promising youngsters, have already been exposed as very average by the better teams. New Zealand (25/1 with sportingbet, totesport and Victor Chandler) are always capable of scoing runs but, without a fuly-fit Daniel Vettori, their attack is very one-dimensional and you feel Group B winners South Africa will have their measure in Mirpur. The Proteas have realised that spin could be the key to winning this World Cup and they also bat a long way down the order so it’s no surprise that they are general 10/3 favourites.

So what of England? On paper, it’s difficult to see how their patched-up side can possibly trouble Sri Lanka in Colombo. Yet one certainly couldn’t see them forcing a tie with India or beating South Africa. Equally, defeats by Ireland and Bangladesh wouldn’t have been in the script. Andy Flowers and Andrew Strauss gambled against the West Indies and won but getting enough runs on the board against the bowling of Muralitharan and Malinga might not be as straightforward unless someone like Eoin Morgan gets in a position to cut loose. England, therefore, make little appeal at the 10/1 with bet365, Boylesports and Victor Chandler though Sri Lanka haven’t done enough either to suggest the general 9/2 to go on and win the competition is any kind of value.