Group A - Australia, Netherlands, Scotland, South Africa

[nightprowler10]

Group A consists of Australia, South Africa, Scotland and Netherlands. All matches will be played at Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts.

Fixtures

Mar 14: Australia v Scotland
Mar 16: Netherlands v South Africa
Mar 18: Australia v Netherlands
Mar 20: Scotland v South Africa
Mar 22: Netherlands v Scotland
Mar 24: Australia v South Africa

Squads

Australia

1. RT Ponting (captain)
2. NW Bracken
3. MJ Clarke
4. AC Gilchrist (wicketkeeper)
5. BJ Haddin (wicketkeeper)
6. ML Hayden
7. BJ Hodge
8. GB Hogg
9. MEK Hussey
10. MG Johnson
11. B Lee
12. GD McGrath
13. A Symonds
14. SW Tait
15. SR Watson

The Netherlands

1. LP van Troost (captain)
2. Adeel Raja
3. PW Borren
4. TBM de Leede
5. MBS Jonkman
6. AN Kervezee
7. Mohammad Kashif
8. DJ Reekers
9. E Schiferli
10. J Smits (wicketkeeper)
11. WF Stelling
12. ES Szwarczynski
13. RN ten Doeschate
14. DLS van Bunge
15. B Zuiderent

Scotland

1. CM Wright (captain)
2. RR Watson (vice-captain)
3. JAR Blain
4. DR Brown
5. GM Hamilton
6. RM Haq
7. PJC Hoffmann
8. DR Lockhart
9. RT Lyons
10. NFI McCallum
11. JD Nel
12. NS Poonia
13. GA Rogers
14. CJO Smith (wicketkeeper)
15. DF Watts

South Africa

1. GC Smith (captain)
2. JH Kallis (vice-captain)
3. LL Bosman
4. MV Boucher (wicketkeeper)
5. AB de Villiers
6. HH Gibbs
7. AJ Hall
8. JM Kemp
9. CK Langeveldt
10. A Nel
11. M Ntini
12. RJ Peterson
13. SM Pollock
14. AG Prince
15. R Telemachus

 

[barmyarmy]

Clearly Scotland are favourites in this group what with our star bowler being an Aussie (Hoffman) and our star batter being South African (Watson).

 

[BigCrickNan]

A problem with these groups is that the top 2 are totally obvious. The main battle will be between Australia and South Africa for top spot and extra points going into the super eights. Unless Scotland can spring a surprise against Australia :upray

 

[Leicester Fox]

I back the Dutch and the Scots to go through here with Ryan Ten Doeschate being the star for the Dutch

 

[manee]

I believe good performances against Netherlands and Scotland for Australia will be vital for them regaining form.

 

[The Spin]

Unless Scotland can spring a surprise against Australia :upray

With Australia's current form this might not be as absurd as it sounds

 

[andrew_nixon]

This group shows why the seeding method needs to be looked at. How the top two teams in the world can be grouped together is beyond me.

 

[manee]

The unusualities in the seeding process is because Australia, England, West Indies and India were placed in different groups because of the amount of spectators from those four countries.

PS: Yay, I know another thing.

 

[andrew_nixon]

The unusualities in the seeding process is because Australia, England, West Indies and India were placed in different groups because of the amount of spectators from those four countries.

PS: Yay, I know another thing.

Yes I know that, but the question still stands as to why the top two are seeded together. From my memory the seedings were decided even before the 2005 ICC Trophy. Surely they should be decided closer to the actual tournament?

From the current rankings, the groups would be as follows:

A: Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands
B: India, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ireland
C: England, Pakistan, Kenya, Canada
D: West Indies, New Zealand, Scotland, Bermuda

Which are much more balanced groups.

 

[manee]

Yes I know that

Take away my glory why dont you?

 

[usy]

From the current rankings, the groups would be as follows:

A: Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands
B: India, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ireland
C: England, Pakistan, Kenya, Canada
D: West Indies, New Zealand, Scotland, Bermuda

Which are much more balanced groups.

I 100% agree, actully you can be future ICC Chairman, Pakistan VS England would have been a good one.

Anyway Scotland should go though.

 

[icyman]

True,maybe the ICC should announce groups just before the start of the Cup.
THis being the case,the BCCI would'nt have been able to fix the series well in advance.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Aus vs. RSA and Scot vs. Netherlands should be great games. The rest, sad to say, should be rather predictable.

 

[Left_Hander]

That is the shame about the start of the World Cup Zorax. But with Australia in its current form I wouldn't be suprised if Scotland or The Netherlands give Australia a run for there money.

 

[aussie1st]

Yes I know that, but the question still stands as to why the top two are seeded together. From my memory the seedings were decided even before the 2005 ICC Trophy. Surely they should be decided closer to the actual tournament?

From the current rankings, the groups would be as follows:

A: Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands
B: India, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ireland
C: England, Pakistan, Kenya, Canada
D: West Indies, New Zealand, Scotland, Bermuda

Which are much more balanced groups.

Yea the groups look a lot more balanced there, and as you said number 1 shouldn't be playing number 2 so early.

Tait's pace will probably be enough to get us over the minnows as not many would have faced a guy that is consistently over 150km/h.