With the 2019 ICC World Cup looming closer, a lot has been said and several favourites have been gleaned. But in a practical scenario, it all comes down to the adaptability coupled with the familiarity of the conditions.
The English turfs have always been a tricky locus to deal with, especially because of the uncertain weather conditions. This time around though, right from Sachin Tendulkar to David Warner, everyone is expecting this tournament to be a high-scoring tenure and the ongoing ODI series between hosts England and Pakistan is living up to its full potential.
England have held their fortress over the years and the touring teams – speaking post-2015 World Cup especially – have found it tiring to breach the base. And the fact that their last defeat in an ODI series at home – barring the Champions Trophy - came against Australia in 2015 is an ideal specimen of it.
Speaking of tours, every World Cup bound nation, except for Afghanistan, have made their trip to England since 2015 and most of them have returned red-faced with figures they would want to forget.
Defending champions, Australia, have played 13 ODIs in England since 2015 and have picked up the victories on just three occasions. The likes of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have only won one game out of their four and eight encounters in England respectively. India, on the other hand, have relatively been the best of the rest, having won four and losing four of their eight matches.
|
Team |
Mat |
Won |
Lost |
Tied |
NR |
|
Pakistan |
13 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
|
India |
8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
|
Australia |
13 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 2 |
|
New Zealand |
8 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
|
South Africa |
6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
|
Bangladesh |
4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
|
Sri Lanka |
8 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
|
West Indies |
5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
AFP / Lindsey ParnabyAnd as the former Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly recently said, Pakistan’s record in the ICC events in England has been exceptional, to say the least. Having won the World T20 in 2009, the Men in Green went on to clinch the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017, beating arch-rivals India in the final. Regardless of the team results, discrete showings in England have gathered several accolades and this World Cup could well and truly witness such showings.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has been the most successful batsman in England since 2015, having scored a whopping 640 runs in mere eight games at an average of 80.00. His teammate Ross Taylor follows suit with 523 runs in eight games at 74.71.
The Indian trio of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli then find themselves behind the New Zealand duo with 458, 458 and 449 runs in eight games respectively.
And as far as bowling is concerned, no one comes close to Pakistan’s Hasan Ali, who in 12 games, has picked 22 wickets. In an era where the totals have increased without any notable hitch, thanks to the abilities of the batsmen mastering wide range of shots, bowlers who can pick regular wickets in the middle overs will be indispensable for the teams.
Regardless of all these individual numbers though, the fact remains that the teams have struggled for consistency in England. Thus, expect this tournament to be an absolute nail-biting tenure.
* (Stats as of May 16) *
