A slow start

The cricket world cup is well and truly under way. Today we were even treated to our first competitive game. Thoughts on that later.

It's difficult at this stage to offer any insight into performances or form as the big teams have only been playing the minnows of the game as yet. What is apparent is that one group is more loaded than the other. Bangladesh, Ireland and The Netherlands are proving to be far stronger than Canada, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

I understand the logic in giving the lower ranked teams a place on the highest stage, but  unless they are going to be competitive it seems like needless fixtures in an already over long tournament.42 games to eliminate 6 teams is incredible. I appreciate that to improve and gain experience the lower ranked nations will benefit from playing stronger teams but as a spectacle it hardly generates excitement. I'm not sure what the sensible answer is, but can guarantee that it would be the least likely course of action of the ICC.

England's performance today was way below par, but there are positives to be taken from it. Generally speaking in recent times England have been slow starters in world cups so a win is a win. The bowling bar Anderson and the part time shit from KP wasn't as bad as sections of the media would have you believe. Indeed if England had taken their opportunities The Netherlands would have struggled to muster anything approaching 200. Its an old adage but winning when not playing well is a good sign.

Before the tournament began my main concern regarding England was the batsmen's inability to convert a winning position and a propensity to succumb whilst under pressure. The boy's in general got the job done and the majority looked in reasonable nick. Yes there were soft dismissals, but that is the very nature of one day cricket.

In the next 7 days we have some fascinating match up's which should present us with a better idea as to who are the teams to watch.

Three games I am particularly looking forward to are Australia v New Zealand, Sri Lanka v Pakistan and India v England.