Out of these 8 teams, Bangladesh are probably the only ones that are clearly better than the rest. On current form at least. May be controversial to say, but I'd even rate BD ahead of the Afghans given that we are 4-0 against them in ICC events (3-0 in ODIs, 1-0 in T20). For some reason, they beat us in bilaterals, but in WCs we beat them regardless of the conditions. Even if this WC was played in England or Australian conditions, anyone would have to agree just based on the experience factor. Bangladesh are the side that should win a game or two in the Super 12 stages. Can't see any of the other 7 sides, Namibia included, winning in the main round, except perhaps against Afghanistan. Sri Lanka are a wild card, they have a few talented players, but just can't seem to be consistent.secretzimbo wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 1:56 pmI will be surprised if Ireland win a single game tbh. Group of death and on paper they are the weakest of the 4.
My predictions would be;
Group A
1 Sri Lanka
2 Namibia
3 Netherlands
4 Ireland
Group B
1 Scotland
2 Bangladesh
3 Oman
4 PNG
(I put Bangladesh lower solely to annoy Kriterion tbh . They'll almost certainly win the group lol )
As you say though these teams are always unpredictable. There's not a huge difference between any of them and I include SL & Ban in that. Hard to know how the associates will deal with conditions too. I wonder if we will see relatively low-scoring pitches like we have in the IPL?
My predictions:
SL > NED = IRE > NAM
BD > SCO > OMN > PNG
Also, I think the pitches will be in the 150-170 range. Neither low scoring, nor belters where it will be raining 6s and 4s. Thats for the Super 12 stage. In the first round average scores could well be lower but thats because Oman, PNG, Namibia could all be expected to be bundled out for under 100 runs in any given game.
I will cover my ass, and say I wouldn't be surprised to see one upset, but its hard to see Sri Lanka or Bangladesh losing to an associate in Asian conditions. But NED and SCO and IRE shouldn't be taken lightly, and could theoretically beat SL or BD on a good day.