2019 Cricket World Cup
May 30th – July 14th
Sky Sports
The Cricket World Cup has delivered tales of woe for England throughout the competition’s history. So much so, that the nation is still awaiting its first ever World Cup title. This summer’s tournament appears to offer a genuine chance of that duck being broken.
English supporters are certainly expecting the drought to end. England are the hosts of the 2019 World Cup and they have been tipped by many as the ones to beat. But will they be able to deliver the goods when the action starts?
Can England’s cricketers deliver?
England are the 2/1 outright favourites with top bookmakers to win the Cricket World cup 2019. The stars do seem to be aligning for them. They are fresh off making a clean sweep of Pakistan in recent ODI series and England, captained by Eoin Morgan, are the top-ranked ODI team in the world.
They, of course, have home soil advantage on their side as well. When it comes to cricket, conditions favouring a home side are a big factor. That was evident in the 2015 World Cup when joint hosts Australia and New Zealand made it through to the Final, which was won by the former.
Players are brought up through the ranks playing in certain conditions. An English player playing County Cricket in their early career up and down the country is going to develop different skill sets, to a player raised in the hot and humid conditions of, for example, India.
So England, with batting and bowling in conditions that are favourable to them, have that massive advantage.
Past misses
But even when you put all of the positives surrounding England together, it doesn’t guarantee success on the pitch of course. England knocked on the door of World Cup success over the first five editions of the tournament. They were runners up three times and claimed a semi-final finish in the other two of those five tournaments. But then it has been all downhill for them.
In none of the last six editions of the Cricket World Cup have England managed to get past the Quarter Finals. They have had some horrible collapses as well. They were hosts back in 1999 and didn’t even make it out of the group stage. It was the same story four years ago. Another group stage failure.
Batting power
But England have more than one ace up their sleeves this time around. They are laden with supreme batting talent. It looks as if the 2019 Cricket World Cup is going to be all about batting power and high scores because that’s the way the game is going. If that is the case, England have to be close to getting their first CWC title.
They have batting power in spades. It starts with the prolific opening partnership of Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow. Looking deeper down the batting order and seeing world-class names like Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali along with the input that all-rounder Ben Stokes can deliver, it’s England’s batting threat which is attracting favouritism.
The batting line up runs deep which means that there is likely someone on a given day who is going to deliver a big score for them. If you look at the Top Batsman market for the tournament with leading bookmakers, three of the five shortest priced options are Englishmen; Bairstow, Root and Roy. Of them, it is Bairstow who is the shortest-priced at 10/1 odds.
The threats to England’s title challenge
Of course, there is no reason to suspect that England are just going to cruise through the tournament unchallenged. That’s not likely. In fact, their opening game of the tournament is not the easiest of games. They will be taking on South Africa on May 30th, the curtain-raiser to the 2019 World Cup. South Africa bring a solid batting line up with them and are capable of causing an upset. The Proteas are 74 underdogs with leading bookmakers to win that opening match, with England at 4/9 odds on.
Reigning Champions hit top form
But the two big threats to hosts England, as far as the title is concerned, are Australia and India. Australia, in particular, look to be peaking just at the right time. Top bookmakers have them as 7/2 third-favourites. They have won each of their last eight One Day International matches, all of those successes in the sequence coming against Pakistan and India.
So for sure, the Australians, who have won the tournament five times in their history ( making them the most successful nation in the history of the Cricket World Cup) are going to be a threat.
Before this current eight-match winning streak, they had crumbled to just two wins in thirteen games. But they look to have turned the corner. A victory over England in a warm-up match prior to the tournament showed what a danger they could be. Australia are the reigning Cricket World Cup holders after beating New Zealand four years ago. They aren’t going to lose their grip on it without a fight.
India’s incentive
The 2023 Cricket World Cup will be held in India. So how much would they love to host the tournament as the reigning champions? A lot. That’s a big incentive for India and it may be in the back of their minds as a motivator. India took the 2011 World Cup title and just fell short in a title defence four years ago, slipping out in the semi-finals. India are the 3/1 second-favourites for this year’s tournament with leading bookmakers.
They have arguably the best batsman in the world in Virat Kohli. Big performances from their captain is going to be crucial for their chances at potentially winning a third World Cup title. He is going to be ably backed up in the batting line up by the likes of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. Not only that, India have the world’s best ODI bowler up their sleeve in Jasprit Bumrah. He’s a star in all aspect of the word and is the 12/1 favourite to finish the tournament as the leading wicket-taker.
Summary
It is a big summer for England. They will be well-supported in their own backyard and the full weight of the country will be behind that. That can make a huge difference and this time around, England look capable of handling the pressure that is on their shoulders.
It would be a spectacular summer if they were to deliver the title. With the big threats of Australia and India there though, the hosts most certainly are not going to have things all their own way.
