World Cup Predictions

[Athlai]

"Big 8" side to perform most poorly: Pakistan Bingo
Player with most runs: Matthew Hayden Yep
Player with best strike-rate: Mark Boucher Right
Player with biggest score of tournament: Adam Gilchrist In one that counts
Bowler with most wickets: Glenn McGrath There we go
Bowler with best economy rate: Shane Bond Spot on
Bowler with best performance of tournament: Malinga Near enough
Tournament's emerging player: Malinga Got em
Most disappointing player: English top 3 >>
Surprise package: Ireland or Bangladesh Both accounts
Biggest disappointment: Australia finding form. Sad and true


I may have lied about writing this.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

World Cup Winners : Oz - aye
Biggest "big 8" flop: South Africa - well, everyone except Oz and SL really
Top run scorer: Ricky Thomas Ponting - nope, Hayden
Best strike rate : Christopher Henry Gayle - nope, Boucher
Highest score: Ponting - nope, Nazir
Most wickets : Nathan Wade Bracken - nope, McGrath
Best economy rate : Ian David Russell Bradshaw - nope, Bond
Best bowling figures: Bracken v Scotland - nope, Hall v England (same thing really...)
Best emerging player: Kieron Pollard - can't hand on heart say that...Tait or Malinga
Most disappointing player: Graeme Smith - average of 49, SR of 104, nah.
Surprise Package: India (reaches the final again) - how wrong...
Biggest Disappointment: South Africa - not quite
Semi-Finalists : Australia, India, West Indies, Sri Lanka - two right...

Inclined to say "dire" about this lot.

 

[GIMH]

World Cup Winners: South Africa - no
"Big 8" side to perform most poorly: Pakistan - I'd say yes - India's elimination was at least to a Test side
Player with most runs: Kevin Pietersen - no
Player with best strike-rate: Adam Gilchrist - no
Player with biggest score of tournament: KP again, doubling up against Canada - no
Bowler with most wickets: Shaun Pollock - no
Bowler with best economy rate: Glenn McGrath - wrong bloody question
Bowler with best performance of tournament: Shaun Pollock to run through one of the big sides in a big match - no
Tournament's emerging player: Oooh not sure about this - hahaha, well that's still what i think so....
Most disappointing player: Mike Hussey - not a completely unreasonable selection I suppose, but more to do with how good Australia's top order were
Surprise package: Mighty mighty England - no
Biggest disappointment: That six teams will have won the WC and England shan't be one of them - close, six teams haven't won it, but we still haven't so not bad

 

[Jono]

World Cup Winners: South Africa
"Big 8" side to perform most poorly: England
Player with most runs: Mohammad Yousuf
Player with best strike-rate: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Player with biggest score of tournament: Mohammad Yousuf
Bowler with most wickets: Makhaya Ntini
Bowler with best economy rate: Shaun Pollock
Bowler with best performance of tournament: Murali to turn it on in one of the Super 8 games and Shane Bond to rip England a new one in the first round.
Tournament's emerging player: Depends on the definition of emerging, but I see Devilliers having an awesome tournament.
Most disappointing player: Michael Clarke
Surprise package: Pakistan
Biggest disappointment: Pakistan turning it on for most of the tournament to many people's surprise, but losing badly in the semis.

So off, its not even funny. Particularly regarding Pakistan, Ntini and Michael Clarke. Ntini's the one that **** me the most, because I really thought he'd do alright and had him in my DT, removed him, and then got him back again. Suddenly, he's not even making SA's best XI.

 

[sideshowtim]

Emerging player was definitely Tait. Everyone knew Malinga was a good bowler before the World Cup. Tait was replacing the best ODI bowler in the world and had 4 games under his belt.

 

[The Baconator]

World Cup Winners: SA
"Big 8" side to perform most poorly: India
Player with most runs: Jacques Kallis
Player with best strike-rate: Dhoni
Player with biggest score of tournament: Jayasuriya - Berserk against a minnow
Bowler with most wickets: Ntini
Bowler with best economy rate: Pollock
Bowler with best performance of tournament: Murali - 7/8-fer v England in Super 8
Tournament's emerging player: Ross Taylor,
Most disappointing player: Ricky Ponting
Surprise package (Team): New Zealand - Close semi loss or final for mine
Biggest disappointment: Poor bowing out for McGrath

Pretty poor, especially the McGrath one.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I'll have a bash, but I'm awful at predicting stuff (except for tennis, weirdly, which I know next to nothing about) as anyone who has read the Six Nations thread will know...

World Cup Winners: Australia - form, class; temporary, permanent. Bleh.
"Big 8" side to perform most poorly: Pakistan - bowling attack will either be impotent or spending the entire WC pissing into test tubes.
Player with most runs: Ponting - have to go with class again.
Player with best strike-rate: Dhoni - mightn't score loads, but they'll be quick.
Player with biggest score of tournament: Fat Gray Smith - the tubby dullard will bully one of the minnows to a double ton. You heard it here first.
Bowler with most wickets: McGrath - You can get 20/1 on the great man too.
Bowler with best economy rate: Pollock - no-brainer for mine.
Bowler with best performance of tournament: Ntini - will probably run through someone at some point
Tournament's emerging player: Pollard - heard nothing but good things about the boy. Sounds a beast of a man too.
Most disappointing player: Vaughan - won't play much & will do less when he does
Surprise package: England - to make the semis
Biggest disappointment: That no minnows cause any upsets.
Four Semifinalists: Australia, South Africa, India, England - first two nailed on; latter two based on a superior batting line-up & nationalistic bias respectively

Lets have a look:

World Cup Winners: Australia - Yep. Mad crazy punter that I am.
"Big 8" side to perform most poorly: Pakistan - Yep, partly.
Player with most runs: Ponting - No, but 3rd overall.
Player with best strike-rate: Dhoni - Nah. Nowhwere.
Player with biggest score of tournament: Fat Gray Smith - Nah. Not even 3 figures.
Bowler with most wickets: McGrath - Yep. As with Oz winning, hardly wildest punt ever tho.
Bowler with best economy rate: Pollock - No, but 3rd tho.
Bowler with best performance of tournament: Ntini - Nah, boy had a mare.
Tournament's emerging player: Pollard - Nah, hardly a game.
Most disappointing player: Vaughan - He'd be there or thereabouts, but Ntini for mine.
Surprise package: England - Nah, Ireland, clearly. We were poo.
Biggest disappointment: That no minnows cause any upsets. - & it annoyed Richard too, which is never less than funny.
Four Semifinalists: Australia, South Africa, India, England - 2/4, poor.

Not a complete bust, but some were a way off the target.

 

[STRAIGHT BREAKS]

Decent picks, but then you go and completely ruin it by picking England as a semi finalist and not Sri Lanka.

Ouch. I guess the others were flukes.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Decent picks, but then you go and completely ruin it by picking England as a semi finalist and not Sri Lanka.

Ouch. I guess the others were flukes.

An Englishman who's biased in favour of England. I mean, wow. It's hard to believe, I know, but mea culpa.

 

[PhoenixFire]

World Cup Winners: South Africa - Wrong
"Big 8" side to perform most poorly: India - Half right
Player with most runs: Kevin Pietersen/Ricky Ponting - Wrong
Player with best strike-rate: Shahid Afridi - Wrong
Player with biggest score of tournament: Sanath Jayasuriya - Wrong
Bowler with most wickets: Mohammed Asif - Haha
Bowler with best economy rate: Glenn McGrath - Was it Bond or McGrath?
Bowler with best performance of tournament: Kevin Pietersen 100 against Australia -Wrong
Tournament's emerging player: Dwayne Leverock - Right
Most disappointing player: Adam Gilchrist - Wrong
Surprise package: ENGLAND!!!!! - Wrong
Biggest disappointment: India - Sort of right

 

[Scaly piscine]

World Cup Winners: ---
"Big 8" side to perform most poorly: India
Player with most runs: Ponting
Player with best strike-rate: Dhoni
Player with biggest score of tournament: Ponting
Bowler with most wickets: Ntini
Bowler with best economy rate: Pollock
Bowler with best performance of tournament: Bond
Tournament's emerging player: Plunkett
Most disappointing player: Tendulkar
Surprise package: WI
Biggest disappointment: India

Not too bad.

 

[Sanz]

Not too bad.

Teah wrong on most counts, still not too bad.

But then you are just being yourself, self gloating Scaly

 

[SJS]

Okay lest see who made the best predictions. To find this out I have put the "correct" answers. Some are clear from the figures and other have to be from my judgement (based mainly on stats of course).

I have taken the correct/best answer for each query and 5 points are awarded for that. 3 for the second best fit and 1 point for the third best fit. For example those who predicted Australia as winners get 5 points, those who predicted SRL get 3 and those who predicted either SAF or NZL get 1.

The criteria for the awards is as under.

Prediction....................................................Criteria​

1. World Cup Winners:...................................Winners/Finalist/Semi Finalists (Objective)
2. "Big 8" side to perform most poorly:..........Judgement/Results(Subjective)
3. Player with most runs: ............................Stats of all players (Objective)
4. Player with best strike-rate: .....................From teams who reached second round (Objective)
5. Player with highest score: ......................Stats of all players (Objective)
6. Bowler with most wickets: ......................Stats of all players (Objective)
7. Bowler with best economy rate: ..............From teams who reached second round (Objective)
8. Bowler with best performance of :............From teams who reached second round (Objective)
9. Tournament's emerging player: ...............From teams who reached second round-Judgeement/Results(Subjective)
10. Most disappointing player: .....................From teams who reached second round - Judgement/Results(Subjective)
11. Surprise package: .................................From all teams. Only 1st and 2nd ranked here - Results/Judgement (Subjective)
12. Biggest disappointment:........................ From all teams - Judgement/Results(Subjective)​

Here are the "correct" answers :

1. Australia, ........Sri Lanka, ........SAfrica/NZland
2. Pakistan, ........India, ...............Windies
3. Hayden, .........Mahela, ............Ponting
4. Watson, .........Boucher, ..........Hodge
5. Nazir, .............Hayden, ..........Gilchrist
6. McGrath, ........Murali/Tait, ......Hogg
7. Bond, .............Pollock, ..........Bracken
8. Hall, ...............Langeveldt, ......Nel
9. Tate, ..............Malinga, ..........Chamara Silva
10. Ntini, ..............Vaughan, ........Gayle
11. Ireland, ...........Bangladesh
12. Pakistan, ........India, ..............England

And the winner/s is/are ............... (watch this space)

 

[SJS]

First result coming up and its a bitter disappointment for Geraint0Aint-My-Hero. Six points out of a maximum possible score of 60. Sorry mate. Ten percent is disappointing even though you have the honour of making the first prediction - naturally


1 South Africa (1)
2 Pak (5)
3 KP (0)
4 Gilchrist (0)
5 KP (0)
6 Pollock (0)
7 McGrath (0)
8 Pollock (0)
9 No answer (0)
10 Hussey (0)
11 England (0)
12 No answer (0)
Total 6

 

[PhoenixFire]

Christ SJS, that seriously is going to take you ages, top effort though

 

[SJS]

Barney Rubble

Winners ................SAF (1)
Worst of "Big 8"....Windies (1)
Most Runs ............KP(0)
Best S Rate (Bat)..Afridi (0)
Highest Innings......KP (0)
Most Wkts............Pollock (0)
Best E Rate..........Pollock (3)
Best Bowling.........Bond (0)
Emerging Player....Bell (0)
Disappointing Player..Hussey (0)
Surprise Package......Ireland (5)
Disappointing Team....Australia (0)
TOTAL ...............................10

10 out of 60

 

[Scaly piscine]

Personally I would argue India performed worse or as badly as Pakistan. India got beaten easily by Bangladesh in conditions that should suit both teams. Pakistan lost marginally because of a one-off innings from Niall Obrien in conditions that completely suited Ireland and were somewhat nightmare-ish for Pakistan.

Also going into the World Cup India were more favoured than Pakistan - Pakistan were missing the drugs cheats for a start. So India were as big if not a bigger disappointment than Pakistan.

 

[pasag]

Good work SJS. Also disagree with you there Scaly, from memory even without those two, Pakistan were ahead of India according to most people, going in to the WC.

 

[SJS]

Pakistan were ahead of India according to most people, going in to the WC.

Not just that. India lost to Bangladesh. Anyday a better side than Ireland. They are a test side and went on to beat SAF(an eventual semifinalist) in the tournament. Ireland on the other hand defeated only Pakistan of the top 8 ranked sides (Bangladesh being ranked 9)

 

[SJS]

Here is the next lot. Its speeding up as you can see.


PASAG
Winners…………………. Australia ….5
Worst of "Big 8"………… England ….0
Most Runs………………. Ponting ….1
Best S Rate (Bat)………. Gilchrist ….0
Highest Innings…………. Jayasuriya ….0
Most Wkts………………. Murali ….3
Best E Rate……………… Bond ….5
Best Bowling…………….. Asif ….0
Emerging Player………… RTD ….0
Disappointing Player…… KP ….0
Surprise Package………. Windies ….0
Disappointing Team……. Safrica ….0
TOTAL ….14


Scaly_Piscine
Winners…………………. No answer ….0
Worst of "Big 8"………… India ….3
Most Runs………………. Ponting ….1
Best S Rate (Bat)………. Dhoni ….0
Highest Innings…………. Ponting ….0
Most Wkts………………. Ntini ….0
Best E Rate……………… Pollock ….3
Best Bowling…………….. Bond ….0
Emerging Player………… Plunkett ….0
Disappointing Player…… SRT ….0
Surprise Package………. Windies ….0
Disappointing Team……. India ….3
TOTAL ….10

DONTCLOSEYOUREYES
Winners…………………. Aus ….5
Worst of "Big 8"………… Pak ….5
Most Runs………………. Ponting ….1
Best S Rate (Bat)………. Afridi ….0
Highest Innings…………. Gayle ….0
Most Wkts………………. Pollock ….0
Best E Rate……………… Pollock ….3
Best Bowling…………….. Bond ….0
Emerging Player………… Watson ….0
Disappointing Player…… KP ….0
Surprise Package………. NZL ….0
Disappointing Team……. SAF ….0
TOTAL ….14

JONO
Winners…………………. SAF ….1
Worst of "Big 8"………… ENG ….0
Most Runs………………. MoYo ….0
Best S Rate (Bat)………. Dhoni ….0
Highest Innings…………. MoYo ….0
Most Wkts………………. Ntini ….0
Best E Rate……………… Pollock ….3
Best Bowling…………….. Murali ….0
Emerging Player………… DeVilliers ….0
Disappointing Player…… Clarke ….0
Surprise Package………. Pak ….0
Disappointing Team……. Pak ….5
TOTAL ….9

TURBINATOR
Winners…………………. Ind ….0
Worst of "Big 8"………… Eng ….0
Most Runs………………. Ganguly ….0
Best S Rate (Bat)………. Dhoni ….0
Highest Innings…………. Ponting ….0
Most Wkts………………. Pollock ….0
Best E Rate……………… Pollock ….3
Best Bowling…………….. Bond ….0
Emerging Player………… No answer ….0
Disappointing Player…… McGrath ….0
Surprise Package………. NZL ….0
Disappointing Team……. SAF ….0
TOTAL ….3