Sri Lanka will win the World Cup! Why not? They have a good as chance as any other country.
The top eight countries should stroll through to the quarter finals. It is then that you only need to win three games of fifty over cricket to win a World Cup.
These games are often fifty-fifty at best and even the well credentialled teams are vulnerable to a bit of bad luck on the day.
The odds being offered on the favourites are nothing flash, but ten to one is a bit more value being given for Sri Lanka.
Ever since the inaugural World Cup in 1975, the Sri Lankans have shown themselves to be newsmakers in the Cup. During that first World Cup Jeff Thomson terrorised the minnow nation, breaking batsman’s toes and putting multiple Sri Lankans in hospital, but they vowed to get better.
So much so that by 1996 they were upsetting the giant of Australia and winning the Cup on home soil.
Since then they have made the last two finals without taking the ultimate prize.
The ageless three of Jayawardene, Sangakkarra and Dilshan are as good as any limited over batsmen in world cricket.
Matthews will lead the side and is a rare gem that wins World Cups, an all-rounder who can close out an innings with the bat or keep things tight with his variations with the ball.
They have slow bowling options in Herath, Mendis and Senanayake. Slow bowlers will once again prove economical in this form, especially on the big grounds in Australia.
Lasith Malinga is still the best exponent of fast bowling in this form of the game.
Sri Lanka has also got their preparation right. They cleverly played a series in New Zealand, where they play three games during the tournament.
Playing in Australia is not a concern either. They get unbelievable support from their communities and love playing on the Aussie grounds.
We have heard all the reasons why countries can’t win the Cup.
Australia … home pressure, this must surely apply to New Zealand as well.
India doesn’t travel well and are out of form, South Africa are chokers.
England are just no good.
So why not Sri Lanka? As I said it will all come down to the knock-out games and then it will be a bit of luck to win all three.
If Australia is to fall at one of these hurdles I wouldn’t mind taking the 10/1 on offer for Sri Lanka and putting the hard earned on them.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was looking comfortable at 67 off 40, until this moment when he hit the ball into his own stumps!
The Aussie made his 50 off 37 balls, for his fourth half-century of the season as his Sunrisers Hyderabad went on to beat Rajasthan…
Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. This quote is often attributed to Albert Einstein, but nobody knows if he…
This series’ twelfth and final team has a distinct West Indian flavour at the top of the order, and a domineering captain.
Mitch Marsh has been appointed as Australia's men's Twenty20 captain, set to lead a squad to the World Cup that does not include Steve…
Australia are set to turn their back on rising star Jake Fraser-McGurk’s whirlwind IPL form and drop Steve Smith in their T20 World Cup…
