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WC 2015 Pools.
A: England, Australia, Sri Lanka, NZ, Bangladesh, 2 qualifiers.
B: SAf, India, Pakistan, WI, Zimbabwe, Ireland, qualifier

This is as good as death knell. Pool A seems to be such an easy group for Bangladesh - their best chance to impress, while we even have Ireland to contend with in addition to all the bigwigs.

Presumably most of our pool matches are in Australia? I was thinking the only chance for success might be that we are playing in New Zealand where India and Pakistan have often struggled. Ireland should feel right at home however.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-cricket ... 56365.html


either group looks solid the only difference is having Ireland in the same group .......

Wouldn't back Zimbabwe to knock off NZ or Australia at home so at least they avoid them ......

Pakistan and West Indies always struggle here in Oz in recent times so maybe not as bad as it looks....

It all depends on what the state of Zimbabwe cricket is when the World Cup comes around if things improve and the current players stay plus the likes of Criag Ervine and Choppa return and youngsters like Lake, Burl and a few others return and develop it could be an exciting tournamnet

Players like Vusi, Hammie, BRMT and Sean Williams ( if he is still around ) will be in their 30's so should be at the peak of their powers ( Hopefully )

But if things continue with the player drain and lack of fixtures Zimbabwe could be left battling the last qualifier for a consolation victory ......

either way Ill be making my way to watch the Zimbo's play hopefully see them win a couple of matches

BD fans are thinking the opposite: that pool B is so much "easier".

The truth is they're both the same. BD was in ZIM's group in 2011 WC on home soil and still failed to qualify due to our absurdly low net run rate.

For us to qualify we're going to have to knock off at least one and quite possibly two of England (ridiculous form), Australia (playing at home), SL (hit or miss side, but have done well in away ODIs lately), NZ (always good in world cups). The only positive over ZIM's group is that we don't have Ireland, who could very likely beat us in Oceanic conditions. We'll probably have Scotland and Afghanistan in our group.

Of course a number of things can change in 2 years time, but as it stands, neither group is "easier" or "harder" than the other from a qualifying to the next round perspective.

Zimbabwe have got the easier draw once you analysis it and despite Ireland and Tasmania being roughly similar climate wise, Hobart is far from a typical greentop style Irish wicket. Plenty of bounce and carry. Australian batsmen Cowan, Ponting, Bailey are all excellent off the backfoot (cuts, pull shots) and all play for Tasmania. Zimbabwe just needs to make most of their opportunities.

eugene wrote:Presumably most of our pool matches are in Australia? I was thinking the only chance for success might be that we are playing in New Zealand where India and Pakistan have often struggled. Ireland should feel right at home however.

We do play India at Eden Park in our last match. Our other matches in NZ are the opener against SA at Hamilton -- a great chance to start the tournament with a few bruises, psychologically and otherwise -- and the Qualifier at Nelson, a ground which has to this date hosted the grand total of two FC matches.

Happy that we have Ireland in our group chance to prove a few people wrong.

Only issue is that we play them at the end of the group stage, would love to have a crack at them in the first match which both teams would be really fired up for.

Zim are definately in a good group, as good as the other teams are, they are teams which often have an off day.

Sun Feb 15 3rd Match, Pool B - South Africa v Zimbabwe
Seddon Park, Hamilton

Thu Feb 19 8th Match, Pool B - Zimbabwe v TBC
Saxton Oval, Nelson

Tue Feb 24 15th Match, Pool B - West Indies v Zimbabwe
Manuka Oval, Canberra

Sun Mar 1 23rd Match, Pool B - Pakistan v Zimbabwe
Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane

Sat Mar 7 30th Match, Pool B - Ireland v Zimbabwe
Bellerive Oval, Hobart

Sat Mar 14 39th Match, Pool B - India v Zimbabwe
Eden Park, Auckland

It's not as tough as Bangladesh's group, but I'd be surprised if Zimbabwe won any games besides the ones against the qualifier and Ireland. West Indies and Pakistan could falter though if they have an off day.

foreignfield wrote:

eugene wrote:Presumably most of our pool matches are in Australia? I was thinking the only chance for success might be that we are playing in New Zealand where India and Pakistan have often struggled. Ireland should feel right at home however.

We do play India at Eden Park in our last match. Our other matches in NZ are the opener against SA at Hamilton -- a great chance to start the tournament with a few bruises, psychologically and otherwise -- and the Qualifier at Nelson, a ground which has to this date hosted the grand total of two FC matches.

I lived in Nelson for 12 years and I have no idea about Saxton Oval. I think I know where in the city it might be, but it certainly wasn't the main cricket ground (Trafalgar Park was) when I lived there.