Season Preview

[Simon]

First Class Division 1

The Lowdown
South African side Cobras will be out to defend their crown in season 2 after claiming the honours in WCC's maiden season. Some would say Cobras were lucky to win the title last season and these claims are somewhat justified by the fact they won less matches than runners up Kandurata. Cobras powerful batting line up again has a scary look about it, even their back up batsman would make most other teams. This season the bowling needs to improve though, they got less bowling bonus points than any other division one side last year and it won't be enough to get them a title this time round. Kandurata look to be the main threats, although most sides have a chance to claim the title. The Lankans bowling is a major weapon and you'd imagine they wont have to post big totals to win most matches. The two Indian sides will also challenge, North Zone India haven't strengthened their line up but were awfully close getting it right last year, perhaps their bowling might be just a little weak. Under new management South Zone India have a good chance, they are strong across the park and have match winners everywhere.

Who's Who
The players to look out for in this competition include R Levi from Cobras, the youngster had a brilliant season last year and possess the highest first class batting average in world club cricket. Excepted to move up the order a little this season he should do well again. M Muralitharan, another of last season's best performers will be expected to do it all again, I've seen nothing to suggest he won't. L Pomersbach, another youngster with a huge batting average that will do well. The West Australian had a season interupted by injury last year but if he can stay on the park for the whole campaign chances are he'll score 1000 runs. M Saggers will again lead the charge with the ball for Kent. The veteran produced good numbers last year and a fast bowler like him is vital if Kent are to do well, his captain K Pietersen is another who needs to do well and he should have a big year too.

Who Drafted Well
Queensland come into division one with nothing to lose, finishing second in division two last year it would be expected that they are the weakest team, however the draft was kind to them. They have secured the best young keeping talent in R Shearer as well as two quality bowlers in H Jenkins and C Gonzalez. They should have the team to compete in the division without a doubt.

What's Gonna Happen
Champions: Kandurata
Runners Up: Cobras
Relegated: New South Wales and North Zone India
Leading Run Scorers: R Levi, S Yashpal and M Hayden
Leading Wicket Takers: M Muralitharan, Y Arafat and S MacGill

 

[Simon]

First Class Division 2


The Lowdown
The division two competition is wide open. The two sides relegated from division one last year in Titans and Yorkshire will given themselves realistic chances to win it. Yorkshire in particular struggled with the bat in season one, however this season their line up looks a bit more solid. The big question mark for them will be how much they will be effected by the retirement of three key players. Their youngsters will need to step up. Titans showed a lot of promise last year and probably would have avoided relegation with a bit more stability. I think they are the best side on paper in the division and should do well. Of the challengers I believe Auckland's bowling line up will cause problems for opposition teams but their batting will eventually let them down. Karachi are a bit the opposite, have a very good top order but don't have the bowlers to win the title. Tasmania are the real darkhorse here, potentially could do very well if things go their way.

Who's Who
S Mushtaq of Yorkshire will enjoy this season, started last season on fire before falling away a little, he should take a lot of wickets against supposedly weaker batting line ups. R Ponting, more was expected of him last year, the Tasmanian captain was still his sides best batsman but that says more about the lack of ability of his team mates, this year they are stronger so he'll do better, expect 1000 runs+. D Steyn, didn't take a truckload of wickets as was expected in season one, this season he will deliver for the Titans. D Hussey, looks set to move to the top of the order in a bid to get Victoria some better starts. I think this move will pay off and he will score a lot of runs again.

Who Drafted Well
Tasmania, they picked first in rounds one and two and they made the most of it. H Midlane was one of the stars of last seasons academy series and the opener shouldn't have any trouble adjusting to WCC. L Bond was their second pick, the keeper is more suited to one day cricket but at first glance he may get the nod in the longer form in front of T Paiine. Other picks Le Roux and Allen are no mugs either and all four of these guys will start come round 1.

What's Gonna Happen
Champions: Yorkshire
Runners Up: Tasmania
Bottom 2: Auckland and South Australia
Leading Run Scorers: R Ponting, D Hussey and M Ramprakash
Leading Wicket Takers: D Steyn, S Mushtaq and S Tait

 

[chaminda_00]

Excepting our bowlers to perform like crap again and batsmen to overperform. Stupid batter friendly pitches and lack of real turners.

 

[Mister Wright]

Think Simon's got it right, we've recruited well and really strengthened areas we lacked last season (first class keeper being the main priority). Also, with the loss of Bichel, we required some good quick bowlers. Hopefully, we won't be relying on the allrounders as much this season. Really need Hayden to have another strong season.

 

[Simon]

One Day Division 1

The Lowdown
Yorkshire come into the one day season with high expectations after last seasons shock triumph in One Day division 1. Their all rounders were the difference last year and they will need to be again, the stars in the middle order will also have to make a mountain of runs. On paper they should be right up there again, but this time round they are the team to beat, nobody really expected them to be champions last year and theres seven teams hoping history doesn't repeat. Their main challengers being New South Wales again. Last season's runners up enter with much the same side who were favourites in season one, so they will expect to feature pretty highly again. South Zone India have struggled in the pre season again weaker opposition but when the real stuff starts they will improve. The other side who will feature at the top is North Zone India, for mine they are the team to beat. Strong bowlers and top class batsmen make for a perfect combination.

Who's Who
Last season's leading run scorer M Hayden will be at it again, after leading Queensland to promotion the big opener will have to produce more efforts like he did last year to save his team from relegation. M North is an interesting one, some would argue he was under used with WA last year but his move to Victoria will see him take on a new role, he's likely to do a lot of bowling as well as bat in the top six, I think he will surprise many this year. H White of North Zone India is another all rounder who will perform well. One of the stars at last seasons Academy he will be a household name in the world of WCC in the near future. South Zone India's medium pacer V Kumar will be another to burst onto the scene this year. He spent time at the academy in season one as well as feature heavily in his WCC's campaign, I'm tipping a big season 2.

Who Drafted Well
North Zone India invested heavily in one day talent. The likes of H White and A Ardley were among the best one day all rounders available and they snapped them up, for NZI to have gotten White in the fourth round in particular is a huge bonus. L Harris was their third round pick and he was another of the big stars of the academy series last year, after scoring 427 runs @ over 85 he comes into WCC with a big reputation.

What's Gonna Happen
Champions: North Zone India
Runners Up: New South Wales
Relegated: Queensland and Victoria
Leading Run Scorers: M Hayden, A Voges and Z Roberts
Leading Wicket Takers: V Kumar, VRV Singh and D Zulch

 

[Simon]

One Day Division 2

The Lowdown
On paper some of the squads in this division could quite easily match it with those in Division one. There are a number of stand out teams though that will challenge for the title and promotion. Warwickshire and Karachi are the two sides that have come back from division one but I see neither of these teams with any real chance of being back there in season 3. Warwickshire's bowling is too weak and Karachi are just carrying one or two too many passengers, they should both be satisfied with a solid mid table finish here. There are three contenders for mine, last seasons third place getters Kandurata are among them. They are the strongest bowling side with plenty of depth and have some very good bats too. Their batting line up isn't one of the best in the competitiion but they have eleven players who can all make a contribution each game. South Australia's batting line up should be enough to see them feature no matter how poorly they bowl. Even saying that they have a couple of match winning bowlers so it's hard to see them not being top three this season. The dark horses are Titans, sometimes not pretty to watch but I like them this season, they bat deep and give themselves a lot of bowling options, the best all round team in the division to me.

Who's Who
W Fitzstanford of Cobras comes to WCC with plenty to prove, he's an all rounder with plenty of ability with both bat and ball. Despite having a career average of just on 40 it's his bowling that will be most important as this is the area his team performed poorly in last year. Warwickshire wicketkeeper batsman I Jeffrey will again need to score a truckload of runs for his team to have any chance. Batting in the top order and keeping is a tough ask for any youngster but last season he proved to be once of WCC's best one day batsmen. South Australian opener M Elliott will be required to do an even bigger job than last year, with several retirements in his team he is now by far the most experienced batsman in the line up and he has to perform again. Tasmania will look to get more out of M Lampard this season, he was largely over looked for selection in season one but under a new manager he looks set to thrive, the big fast bowler will need to do the job his teams mates couldn't last year.

Who Drafted Well
South Australia have obviously targetted one day cricket as their arena. Already boasting a solid team they attacked the draft for it's best batting talent and came up with two of the best in G Carter and F Rickman. Both will be expected to bat top three and its hard to see anything but success for South Australia. The Redbacks picked up P Boxall in round four and he will be another big contributor to their challenge.

What's Gonna Happen
Champions: Titans
Runners Up: South Australia
Bottom 2: Warwickshire and Cobras
Leading Run Scorers: H Midlane, I Jeffrey and H Kuhn
Leading Wicket Takers: O Gayle, M Lampard and M Muralitharan

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Didn't realise I'd been promoted in the OD stuff. Should be very interesting.

 

[chaminda_00]

If we don't promote this season in OD heads will role, namely non Lankan players that we brought in to promote.

 

[Mister Wright]

Would honestly suck if we were demoted. Will be demanding from the players that this scenario does not occur.

 

[Raghav]

Good review to start off.. Excellent work Simon