The initial days of the World Cup

So far we've learnt:

- Sehwag is very dangerous when he comes off
- But not just to the opposition - his running is so poor it puts at risk his team mates and himself
- Kohli is a class player in the mould of Tendulkar so capable of playing that role if the little master is dismissed early
- Sangakarra and Jayawardene are superb and crucial to Sri Lanka's chances at this World Cup
- Lesser nations like Kenya are more prone to batting collapses
- Ray Price looks like a good opening bowling option for Zimbabwe - not surprising really as he is rated the 4th best ODI bowler in the world.

So, nothing learnt at all really as we knew all that already....

KP as an opener?

That's not something I saw coming - using Pietersen as an opener. It didn't really work today with Pietersen making a start and not converting (no change there then), but it will be interesting to hear from England after he match whether this is the plan for the World Cup when it starts.

Stuart Broad played in the end, despite not being well, although why England felt they needed to ask the ICC for dispensation to play Tremlett (who's not in the squad) in a warm up game confuses me. It's up to them what they do isn't it - other sides have even fielded 12 or 13 players!

Disappointed that Bopara isn't in the side, as I imagine King Cricket might be given their Bopara piece yesterday - I thought the top 7 picked themselves and it was just a matter of working out what order to bat them in....

Mosquitoe repellant required for Wolrd Cup

It seems that Bangladesh are very keen to ensure that the opening ceremony in Dhaka isn't marred by everyone involved getting eaten alive by mozzies according to the BBC. They're "deploying special teams" to wipe out mosquitoes apparently....if it was that easy then why can't these teams be deployed to The Isle of Skye and other places like that where you can't leave your house without losing a large proportion of your blood?

England 1st team for the World Cup

Assuming the walking wounded make it for the 1st match of the World Cup I'd be going with:

Strauss, Trott, Bell, Pietersen, Bopara, Prior, Collingwood, Bresnan, Broad, Swann, Anderson.

If Collingwood finds batting form I'd bring him higher in the order because otherwise you've got four loose flashy players in a row. Yardy can consider himself unlucky and could come in for any of the bowlers on spin-friendly wickets, which some will be.

It's difficult to get concerned about the World Cup at this stage - if England make it to the knockout stage I'll take an interest then! Believe it or not, that's not until 23rd March! Three thoughts for you coming into the World Cup:

Limited squad numbers

I assume there's a very good reason for having a set number of players in a squad but off the top of my head I can't think of one. If the national board can pay for accomodation and flights, wouldn't it be easier to allow them as many as they need or want? That way the likes of Mike Hussey could grace the later stages of the competition....with it being 6 weeks in total, there is the prospect of some of the world's great players watching the final stages from home, fully fit. That seems daft, given that everyone - spectators, players and sponsors alike - want to see the best players available contesting the World Cup.

Warm up matches

Warm up matches need to be against local first class sides - warm up matches between international sides are just World Cup matches without anything riding on them. Completely pointless!

ODIs in general

Although he was quick to deny it, it's been claimed that Kevin Pietersen was considering retiring from ODIs after the World Cup. If he isn't, he isn't, but some will do eventually if the ICC don't take the decision to end ODIs and go back to two forms of international cricket. Twenty20 is where the money is and Test cricket is where the real skill and quality cricket is. Difficult though it is, the ICC and member countries need to take the decision to bring ODIs to an end.

Who will win? I'm going for Sri Lanka given that they're on home turf (until the final anyway). But there's any number of teams that can win it and with the final just the one match it's impossible for anyone to predict with any accuracy.

All going smoothly for the World Cup

Well perhaps not....one stadium not ready and a wall falling down in Chennai now. 6 hurt, but no fatalities. All bodes will then...

England shaping up poorly for the World Cup

Before The Ashes some people were worried that England's preparation was too smooth and of course they went on to dominate the series. Quite the opposite has happened in the run up to the World Cup. The side that is playing these matches has only one or two of the likely bowlers for the World Cup. Both sides are playing on wickets where even slower ball bouncers are in danger of being given as wides for getting too high, where as the wickets for the World Cup will be slow and almost certainly low. So the only advantage to be taken is one of positive morale and England have lost the huge positivity that came from The Ashes win...imagine if they'd had a good break before the two World Cup warm up matches and gone there with fresh players, many of whom were recent Ashes winners and/or World Twenty20 winners?

Instead, England will go to the World Cup jaded and low on confidence after a drubbing from Australia. So are there any positives to come from the incredibly drawn out series of ODIs in Australia? Possibly two.

First, Jonathan Trott is batting sensationally and has proven that he can bowl three or four overs without being a liability. But that's only possibly a positive because it remains to be seen if the confidence he will have going into the World Cup will translate into runs given that the wickets will be almost exact opposites of the Australian wickets he's been successful on.

And second, England may have realised they can play Collingwood as a bowler batting at seven who can be relied upon to bowl his 10 overs just as much as any of the other bowlers. He was England's most economical bowler in the 4th and 5th ODIs and, although that stat doesn't always hold up these days with some bowlers bowling nearly all their overs in powerplays and others not bowling any powerplay overs, he's certainly bowled well. As long as England play on grounds with normal size boundaries, England should have confidence in Collingwood as a bowler, knowing they can get a few overs out of Trott and Pietersen if necessary (and understanding that those guys are just as likely to be needed to fill in for one of the "bowlers" as Collingwood).

Do those possible positives outweigh the negatives? Not at all. If England really had to play 7 ODIs (not to mention two Twenty20s) then they needed to play them over a far shorter period of time and get home for a rest before heading to the World Cup. Winning or losing, 3 days was never a sensible amount of time to return to the UK for.

And what of Australia? They have the positive morale from winning of course, but they also have a couple of other positives - Hastings has found his feet and Michael Clarke has come good. But they also have the problem that form on Aussie wickets may not translate to form on slow sub-continent wickets, and one of their key bowlers - Nathan Hauritz - is now a major injury worry. So there will be positive noises of course, but Australia could have also benefited from a shorter or non-existent ODI series.

I wonder if there are odds on England playing a seven match ODI series the next time they visit Australia?

England and Australia hamstrung for World Cup

In 2009 Ricky Ponting complained that the 7 match ODI series lessened his side's chances at the Champions Trophy and in 2011 the same can be said again, this time with the World Cup the looming global competition. If England or Australia win it will not be down to good fixture planning, that's for sure...who needs a 7 match ODI series at any time ever? 5 is quite enough.

The England players needed to return to England for a break and then get out to the sub-continent well in advance to play practice matches there, instead of on hard(ish) Australian wickets. As they haven't they're less likely to win the World Cup. I'm afraid I can't find the article, but there is statistical evidence that team performances slump after 6 weeks away....I'll see if I can locate it again. Not just for the readers of Cricket Burble, but so the ECB can have a read too for when they're next considering fixtures.

Prior ousts Davies and Wright gets lucky

The England selectors have decided that Matt Prior offers a better option than Steve Davies at the World Cup which is a call that it's difficult to find fault with. But the selection of Luke Wright, ahead of the likes of Tremlett, might raise a few eyebrows. It's difficult to see in what circumstances Wright might play so perhaps his fielding is a critical factor in his selection....it's tricky to see what else it might be given his ODI average of 21 with the bat and 51 with the ball.

Presumably Bell will open with Strauss and Prior will bat 6 or 7 rather than Prior opening...

Two sides with a couple of positions to finalise

As has been pointed out on King Cricket, a massive 7 ODI series just before the World Cup can only be assumed to be a set of practice matches for the two teams, allbeit in conditions completely different to the World Cup. England will be using the matches to finalise their best XI, and will soon announce their World Cup 15-ma squad.

Massive Collingwood fan though I am, I think they did the right thing dropping Collingwood. He'll definitely go to the World Cup and in those conditions his bowling will be an excellent option, far more so than in Australia. So there's even the possibility of him batting as low as 7 and still being an important part of the side as a core bowling option depending on the wickets. Certainly if I was picking between Wright, Bopara and Collingwood, for me it would be the ginga ninja every time. England have all but announced Collingwood will be in the World Cup squad so it's just a question of his role and whether he'll make the starting XI.

In some ways the 1st ODI will have done Collingwood's chances of making the World Cup 1st XI a lot of good, as he watched from the sideline. Jonathan Trott isn't as good a bowler as Collingwood so England had just the five realistic bowling options with Pietersen and Trott in reserve....no doubt that left Strauss feeling a little uncomfortable. They would definitely want to go in with Collingwood as the 6th bowler if they could find a way to make that happen.

So with that in mind I wonder if they have at the back of their minds that Eoin Morgan has done some occasional wicket-keeping. It's not something they will consider unless Davies has a very poor Australian series, but it may just surface if that is the case, and that would allow Collingwood to slot in at 6 and Strauss to have his 6th bowler. It's not ideal but you never know.

Although I think England are unlikely to spring a surprise with their World Cup selection, I would be considering Bopara carefully myself, but would very narrowly overlook him for Shahzad. So the 15 would be Strauss, Davies, Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Morgan, Bresnan, Yardy, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Collingwood, Shahzad, Tremlett, Tredwell (assuming Broad is fit). Woakes can consider himself unlucky and could still get a call up if there are injuries.

Australia, despite their brilliant victory are far less settled. Ponting is already injured and Mike Hussey is now struggling to be fit for the World Cup. And any side batting Steve Smith at 4 clearly hasn't got the right line up - he should have batted 7 on merit. What will Australia's 15 be? Assuming the selectors have got over their strange hatred of Nathan Hauritz, my guess is that they will ignore David Hussey unless his brother is injured and go with Watson, Haddin, Ponting, Clarke, White, Hussey M, Smith, Johnson, Hauritz, Lee, Tait, Bollinger, Paine, Doherty, Siddle. Personally, I'd find a place for David Hussey ahead of one of the pace bowlers, pick him ahead of Smith or Doherty, or go without Paine, but I'll be surprised if they do that (although I'm not sure what the rules are about replacing the keeper if he gets injured).

England's ODI side

It seems strange that Alastair Cook isn't around to open the batting in the ODIs given his form, but I think I'd be wanting to find a way of getting England's second best batsman from The Ashes into the side if the Australian ODIs mattered at all. With Bell back, Trott doesn't have a natural position in the side if Davies opens and the best short-term side might be Strauss, Trott, Bell, Pietersen, Morgan, Collingwood, Davies, Bresnan, Swann, Shahzad, Tremlett (given that Anderson isn't available).

But with the World Cup coming up in the sub-continent it will be interesting to see if Trott gets a look in. Class player though he is, there may be a suspicion that slow low wickets may mean that Trott will find it hard to score quickly. If they're single-mindedly preparing for the World Cup, perhaps the side might end up being Strauss, Davies, Bell, Pietersen, Morgan, Collingwood, Yardy, Bresnan, Swann, Shahzad, Tremlett.

It will be interesting to see if Woakes gets any sort of chance to impress. I can't help feeling that Shahzad could be a little expensive in Australia, but I suspect the England management will be hoping that he can get some reverse swing in the middle overs before the ball change and if he can that would be invaluable in Australia and at the World Cup....

New Zealand move to 2nd in ODI rankings

New Zealand's thrashing of India yesterday moved them up to an incredible second in the ICC rankings ahead of India. I say incredible not because it isn't deserved, but because when you look at their side they appear to be reliant on a very limited pool of players and and an even more limited number of players who strike fear into international oppositions - a position made more fragile still by Shane Bond's premature retirement.

Given that's the case, it was definitely the wrong call to consider jettisoning someone with the experience and quality of Scott Styris, so I'm glad they've brought him back and that he can look forward to playing a key role at the 2011 World Cup. Now if they can get the wayward Jesse Ryder to focus, and the rest of their stars are fit and on form, they could be a real challenger to win the tournament.