Former New Zealand pacer Danny Morrison has claimed that the upcoming Cricket World Cup is a wide-open tournament.
England and Wales are ready to host the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup that will run from 30th May to 14th July. A total of ten teams will participate in this 12th edition of the Cricket World Cup. These teams are England (host), Australia (defending champions), New Zealand, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Windies.
Recently, the former Kiwi pacer Danny Morrison has spoken about the World Cup prediction. He believes that the upcoming Cricket World Cup is wide-open.
Talking about the favourites for the semi-finals in the forthcoming tournament, he first picked up England, India and Australia. Then he named New Zealand and Pakistan in the possible semi-finalist options.
According to Sportstar, Morrison said, “England and India. We have a great healthy rivalry with Australia, who have David Warner and Steve Smith back. Warner had a point to prove in the IPL after his suspension for a year.
“The big three (India, England and Australia) have the arsenal. Then New Zealand. And Pakistan, if its batting and bowling click together. The Pakistan players play a lot in those conditions. Can they get it all together, we know they can be ‘a bit pagal’.”
Morrison has also faith in his favourite team Windies. He believes that the present forms of the Caribbean players are the big hopes for Windies.
He added, “My big love romantically would be the West Indies. [Chris] Gayle is on the way out, we know what Andre Russell has just done in the IPL and also Nicholas Pooran could even blossom more there. So it’s quite a wide-open World Cup.”
There is no reason why New Zealand should not make the semifinals – Danny Morrison
Talking about New Zealand’s chances in the upcoming Cricket World Cup, Morrison is hopeful about their semi-finals qualification. He believes that the English condition can be helpful for New Zealand in the forthcoming Cricket World Cup. The 53-year-old has the high faith in the front-line pacers Trent Boult and Tim Southee.
Morrison said, “World Cup in England, two white-balls and if conditions are overcast, it would be fascinating. There will be a bit of New Zealand in England. We have genuine swing bowlers for early June, a mix of batters, and Mitchell Santner; he is quite similar to Daniel Vettori, both funky batters.
“There is no reason why we should not make the semifinals. I think that would be the team’s goal. England is a small land mass, crappy weather, like New Zealand, very indifferent. The go-to guys are Trent Boult and Tim Southee and there are the bits and pieces guys. Don’t know whether they will go with pace or medium pace sort of guys.”
Danny Morrison also spoke about the spinners’ importance
Morrison believes that the spinners can play an essential role in the upcoming World Cup if the weather remains great and the pitches remain dry. Talking more about the spinners, he pointed out the Indian spin-bowling variety. India has the leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja in the World Cup squad.
Yadav and Chahal are the seventh and eighth-ranked ODI bowlers respectively at present. Meanwhile, Jadeja was the former no.1-ranked ODI bowler.
Morrison spoke about this, “If the weather is great and the pitch is dry, then the spinners come in. The pace of the ball will be important, and to work that out, delivering the correct delivery or funky deliveries at the right time is the key. And India has the variety — Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja.”
Morrison featured in three Cricket World Cups (1987, 1992 and 1996) during his international career. Playing 11 matches in Cricket World Cup history, the right-arm pacer picked up eight wickets.