The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup is less than two months away to begin. Every team is now waiting for the World Cup squad selection. Meanwhile, a recent report in cricket.com.au has suggested that the Cricket Australia (CA) will announce the 15-man World Cup squad on April 9.
England and Wales will host the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup from 30th May to 14th July. It will be the 12th edition of the tournament where a total of ten teams will participate. England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Windies will compete in this tournament.
In this one-and-a-half-month-long tournament, each team will play against all other teams for once. After the completion of the round-robin stage, the top four teams in the points table will qualify for the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals will play the final of the tournament on 14th July at Lord’s.
The record five-time World Cup winning team Australia will play the tournament as the defending champions. They will begin their forthcoming World Cup journey on 1st June when they will face Afghanistan at Bristol.
The deadline to announce the 15-man squad for the upcoming World Cup is 23rd April. However, cricket.com.au has recently reported that the CA is likely to announce the 15-man World Cup squad on 9th April.
Australian national cricket team’s present condition
After the massive struggle in recent time, the Australian national cricket team has just returned to the form. Meanwhile, world cricket is excited to see the World Cup fate of David Warner and Steven Smith.
Before Australia’s incredible ODI series victory against the host India in last March, they haven’t won an ODI series for the last two years. Since January 2017, they had to wait for a long time to taste a new ODI series victory.
However, recently, Australia has won eight consecutive ODI matches. After getting behind by 2-0 in the five-match ODI series against the host India, Australia incredibly won that series by 3-2.
More recently, they whitewashed Pakistan in the five-match ODI series in UAE. They outclassed the young Pakistan side in every aspect.
While the present Australian team has just returned to the form, the selectors are facing more complications due to the availability of David Warner and Steven Smith. Both the cricketers have just completed their one-year suspension period, and they are now available for the national team’s selection.
David Warner is currently in a lethal batting form. At present, the left-handed opening batsman is the Orange Cap holder in the ongoing IPL 2019 where he has scored 254 runs in three innings with an average of 127.00. In the first three matches of the tournament, he scored 85, 69 and 100* respectively.
Steven Smith is taking a little time, but he has also shown the bright potential in recent time.