Very excited about this tourney. I've always been inordinately fascinated by Associate cricket and in particular I'm rooting for Nepal and PNG who have native teams and will get a chance to play on TV for the first time should they make the Supers. Of course, I'm an Afghan fan, but they have had so much success recently that a subpar performance would be good. Still want them to get 1 of the WC berths. As for the other berth, I can't decide which team I would like to see, although Nepal seems the obvious choice.
Looking at the teams based on rank order, here are my predictions:
9) West Indies - they will lose a couple of games, will it be enough damage to knock them out of the WC? My prediction is they will just scrape in somehow.
10) Afghanistan - one of the favorites given their form and confidence over the past several years. But their batting is weak, like most of the teams here. They have the mental strength to win in clutch situations so in a do or die situation, they will most likely prevail.
11) Zimbabwe - arguably the strongest side in the tourney on paper and well balanced too. But they're ranked 3rd due mostly to lack of mental strength and habitual repitition of old mistakes.
12) Ireland - better form than their rank. Like the Afghans they thrive under pressure so qualification would not be a surprise despite their lowly rank.
13 & 14) Netherlands and Scotland - outsiders, but they will upset at least a couple of the above teams.
The other 4 teams don't really have a shot at the WC, but do have a good opportunity to gain ODI status.
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Bangladesh cricket fanatic, observer of all others.
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