ICC World Cup 2011 - SWOT Analysis : NEW ZEALAND

Who will stand-up and deliver for the Black Caps?

   Kiwis are going to the world cup, with the worst possible form imaginable. Like your date never turned up to pick you up for the "Prom", the night you've dreamt about all your life. But, just then the door bell rings and the rest is interesting if you are a girl and totally lost. So, coming back to the cricket.. which is why you and I are here right? Something's gone horribly wrong for New Zealand in the last 12 months, they've lost the ODI series against Bangladesh(0-4), India(0-5), Pakistan(1-3*) which includes a 11 match losing streak, which brings us to having new coaches, management and even Dan the man Vettori giving up test captaincy. Vettori has announced he will give up his ODI captaincy after the WC so, where do the Kiwis go from here?
   On the team selection front most notable names feature as expected with a few youngsters making a back-door entry. Selectors have opted not to take Gareth Hopkins or any back-up wicket keeper so, Baz is the only man for the job. Grant Elliot too misses the team bus where as Jacob Injury-free Oram is chosen. Considering the world cup fiesta is taking place in the sub-continent, the selectors have given Vettori a helping hand and opted for Nathan McCullum and a certain Mr. Woodcock. No kidding! Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, James Franklin the team is nicely beefed up with bowlers who can bat and vice versa.

Daniel Vettori (c), Hamish Bennett, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Jamie How, Brendon McCullum (wk), Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Luke Woodcock.

Strengths:

• Dictator Dan. Vettori is the key to this team, forget the current form and start afresh.
• Ross Taylor & Brendon McCullum. If the team needs a new lease of life. They need it ASAP from their senior players. Rosco, Baz are hard hitting batsmen and they need to deliver more often.
• All round abilities of several players will be extremely useful.

Weakness:

• Kiwis opening batsmen have struggled. They've tried so many opening pairs of late that we can go on and on. Ryder and Guptill seemed to have been given the responsibility to get them good starts in batting friendly conditions.
• Middle order has been very inconsistent and failed more often than not. Taylor, McCullum, How, Styris will need to show some gutsy performance.

Opportunities:

• This edition of the world cup favors out of form sides like West Indies & New Zealand or even the underdogs. Once, they pass the league stage it is a knock out tournament. Kiwis should be able to get through to the quarters, from there onits just backing yourselves to win.
• They did very well in the 2009 champions trophy which is a knock-out tournament. For the record, they lost in the finals to Australia or should I say Shane Watson!
• Comeback man Big Jake, has taken time out from his injuries and is most likely to participate in the world cup. His batting, bowling abilities will be key to the Kiwis. In his absence James Franklin has made quite a reputation for himself. If both play along with Dictator Dan, Nathan, Mills, Southee the Kiwis tail looks more consistent than the top-order.

Threats:

• The team is at a low right now any injury to their top performers will spell "doomsday" quicker than Andrew Symonds giving a radio interview.
• Current set of Black Caps are brittle against quality spin attacks as we have seen recently. They face Pakistan, Sri Lanka in the league stage that wont paint a beautiful picture for them. They could try and avoid India in the Quarters.

   To keep the plot short, no one is expecting much out of the Kiwis. They are the underdogs, which is reason enough to cheer them. They haven't really put on a show in big tournaments and have won just one champions trophy back in the days of Roger Twose! A decade later their cupboard is empty and talent is starting to fizzle out.

DLF IPL - CSK rope in Doug Bollinger

Not much of a surprise, after the horrendous run chase against the Zintans, CSK have been on repair mode ever since. If you do remember a certain member of the team Jacob Oram a.k.a delicate doll was injured and ruled out from playing in the IPL this season. Following further damage caused due injuries to MSD and Kemp, CSK have roped in Doug Bollinger. Looks Santa gave them their X-mas present quite early this year. This will definitely boost their chances to make it to the knock-out stage of the tournament. Bollinger is said to join the team from Apr 1st following the aus-kiwi test series.

IPL 3.0 Sooper Dooper Kings

Chennai Super Kings

Alas the Chennai Sooper Kings, the side that lost the championship in the inaugural season and then lost in the knock-out semis in the second season, look like they are on the downslide. They rely heavily on Aussie giant Matt Haydos and from there the problems begin. MSD has played Parthiv-mini-Patel as he is free from the wk duty that has already given him enough back issues. But this means Parthiv who can(read should) be playing lower down the order opens the batting with Hayden. If MSD is going to take IPL seriously, as equal to winning World Cup. Then he may have to strain his back a bit more and stand behind stumps and accommodate an extra bowler in place of mini Parthiv. Otherwise Parthiv has to lift his game, or bat lower down the order so, Vijay can open the batting. The CSK are marred and scarred by injuries to Jake' Oram, Al' Morkel has his line of fitness issues, Mike Huss wont be available initially. Losing Flintoff was a big blow for them. But, the replacements for Freddie and Stephen Fleming were just not enough. So now they have Justin Kemp their new recruit along with a few Lankans whom they dont miss to buy at every player auction.

CSK do look like a formidable opposition but, seriously not the top-3 in the competition. In Balaji and Gony their bowling can fall apart anytime. Add Tyagi to that, MSD will have some serious cardiac issues while fielding. Raina, Badri, Vijay should help MSD post big, bigger, biggest totals everytime so, he wont worry about the bowling too much. Ashwin, Jakati & Murali give him added tension of whom to drop and whom to play. It will take a few games initially to find the balance in the team and sort out fitness issues.

SQUAD:R Ashwin, L Balaji, C Ganapathy, MS Gony, SB Jakati, M Muralidaran, M Ntini, S Tyagi, KB Arun Karthik, S Badrinath, GJ Bailey, ML Hayden, MEK Hussey, SK Raina, M Vijay, T Thushara, JA Morkel, JDP Oram, NLTC Perera, JM Kemp, MS Dhoni, PA Patel.

STRENGTH:Hayden opening, Depth in batting.

WEAKNESS:Bowling in death overs.

WATCH OUT FOR:Lankans could well prove to be strong plus for CSK, Ganapathy, Bailey. Justin Kemp.

WAH'S XI:

• Haydos
• Patel*
• Raina
• MSD©
• Albie
• Badri/Vijay
• Perera/Thushara
• Ganapathy
• Murali
• Balaji
• Jakati

WAH SAY: Bailey replacing Pup in the Kiwi tour mid-way will hurt CSK. Mike Huss will have to play in a cramped batting order again. I will have to stick my neck out and say CSK are most likely to miss the bus to the semis. DD, MI, RCB clear favorites right now. With KxiP, DC, CSK fighting for that final semi spot. But, dont count them out completely! Like MSD would say it "MIND IT!" Period.

Quick Updates: Oz Vs Kiwis ODI #1

Aussies may have been undefeated thru'out summer but, I have always wondered why the Aussies suck when they enter Kiwi-land. Its been happening for ages now. I think they are not able to cope up to the irregularly shaped rugby grounds or pitch or whatever ( just kiddin :P) Dan the Man was not in the playin XI and Rosco was the skipper today. Punter won the toss and chose to bat and the Ozzies were off to a flier. Watson scored a quick-fire 45. Everybody chipped in with 30 , 20 etc and ended up setting a target of 276 for the Kiwis. Mike Huss topscored with a run a ball 59. A target of less than 300 in NZ has always been defendable(at-least most of the times!). Ingram and Mc Kill'em got off to a good start sharing a 75 run partnership for the opening wicket. If only Baz realised it's a 50 overs a side game! Ross Taylor then steadied the ship scoring a valuable 70. Definitely a captain's knock! Suddenly in the early 40 overs, Kiwis lost some quick wickets. Oram's injury was a huge blow (for ppl who consider the Oram can still bat).

Scotty 2 Hotty put all his experience into play and the altercation Mitchy must have pumped him up more. He played some gutsy shots and made sure NZ reached home in time :) Not to miss Bond's 4's in the 49th over. Definitely it did settle the nerves in the Kiwi camp. Ross Taylor was adjudged the MOM, Scotty Virus could've bagged it though. So Kiwis are 1 up in the ODI series. Let's see if they can keep the momentum going throughout the series.