Tuesday, March 27, 2007

ICC world cup SWOT analysis:WI vs Australia

India, Dead and Buried. Pakistan, Thrashed out.

While India's and Pakistan's exit has filtered out the causal fans, cricket purists will no longer have to wait for some lip smacking dose of their favourite game.

Here comes the Super 8. Here begins the World cup.

SWOT time for the big match of the Super 8 today! Hosts West Indies clash with Defending champs Australia!

West Indies

Strengths: Lara loves Aussies. Lara Loves Antigua. The likes of Shaun Tait and Bracken shouldn't give any sleepless nights to Lara. If he along with Chanderpaul, Gayle and Sarwan get going, i definitely see them giving the Aussies a run for thier money.
And talking of run, expect good young legs on the field from the Windies.

Weaknesses: Well, WI will surely not depend on their bowling to get them out of the dumps. Also Gayle has not been scoring for sometime and is surely a cause for concern.

Opportunities: WI have beaten Aussies in the past(remember the DLF and Champion trophy?) Australians come to Antigua from St. Kitts and the conditions there was totally different from here. If Australians go with the flow they had in St. kitts, they could be down the dumps.

Threats: Entire Australian team!

Australia:

Strengths: I would say the Aussie batting is definitely better off than its bowling attack with Lee and Warne out. It is their biggest strength and the one which they have not failed to use to its potential. Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Symmonds...Bowler's nightmare!

Weaknesses: Except for a tad inconsistency in bowling, its one mean winning machine,

Opportunities: Gayle's low form and thier own current form!

Threats: Not much teeth in the WI attack to be a threat to the Aussies. Lara is the only man who can stand up to be counted as a threat. Home conditions for the West Indies and big crowd support.

Karth Inc predicts: Its gonna be yet another win for the Aussies. If the West Indies do win, it will be the 3rd biggest upset of this cup!