Collingwood predicts teams for WC semis
Dubai, Jan 13 (IBNS): With less than 37 days to go until the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, England’s Paul Collingwood says England, India, South Africa and Australia are likely to make it to the ICC Cricket World Cup semi-finals.
Speaking on this week’s ICC Cricket World audio show, the 34-year-old batsman, who announced his retirement from Test cricket last week, looks ahead to England’s upcoming ODI series against Australia as well as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
“It’s a huge motivation to do well against Australia in all formats of the game. We want to keep the momentum going from the Test series and we want to carry that into the ICC Cricket World Cup. We want to finish the ODI series in Australia filled with confidence and ready to take on anyone at the World Cup,” he says.
When asked to pick his four teams for the ICC Cricket World Cup semi-finals, Collingwood says, “On current form I’d hope to put England into a semi-final, it would be hard to not put India in there with the strength in their batting and in home conditions – they’ll be tricky to play against.
“I always think Australia can’t be ruled out since they’ve had a good history in this tournament and finally I’d pick South Africa as the fourth semi-finalist. But you never know I may be well off the mark!”
Also on this week’s show, Zimbabwe’s chairman of selectors, Alistair Campbell, discusses his country’s ICC Cricket World Cup squad which was announced today (Thursday).
“We’re very happy that Sean Ervine’s come back into the Zimbabwe fold as he strengthens our middle-order and our batting line up. I think we’ve a good draw for the ICC Cricket World Cup and we’d look to perhaps target New Zealand as they’re pretty unpredictable as can be Pakistan. So if we play to our ability there’s every chance things could go our way to get into the next round,” says Campbell.
Emirates Elite Panel ICC umpire Simon Taufel reflects on the pressures of umpiring as well as the excitement of being part of an ICC Cricket World Cup in this week’s show.
“There are some challenges on officiating in the sub-continent as the ball turns a lot more there. You work in an environment where there’s a lot of noise and you can’t hear what you want to hear so you have to learn to trust your eyes more and you’ve also got the heat which sets its own challenges.
“But the ICC Cricket World Cup has a lot of focus and highlight on it – it’s the pinnacle for players and it’s a great opportunity to umpire with your peers and also a chance to perform at a higher level,” says Taufel.
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