T20 World Cup Super 12 Team Guide: Who can stop Aussies?

• Ed Hawkings guides us through the main contenders
• Believes Australia look a skinny price
• Thinks that England's Sam Curran can be key
• Says that South Africa have a good path to title

Australia 5/2 - Hosts and holders look a skinny price

To reach final: 2.26/5
To reach semi-final: 1.444/9
Batting power: 5
Bowling economy: 5
W-L ratio: 1.5
Toss bias: Chaser - low w-l ration of 0.5 batting first

Probable XI: Warner, Finch, M Marsh, Maxwell, Stoinis*, David, Wade, Cummins, Starc*, Zampa, Hazlewood
*Probable death combination

Squad: Aaron Finch ©, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

Verdict: The hosts, the holders, the favourites. But boy are they skinny for a team with flaws. They're unconvincing batting first, Aaron Finch has said they're tired and, well, Finch himself is not worthy of his place. If they pick Steve Smith that will compound their problems. But they probably won't.
What the boast s big-game nous. Australia get to the business end time and time again. Tey will surely make the semis and that's when they'll be most comfortable.

England 11/4 - Curran to make the difference

To reach final: 2.407/5
To reach semi-final: 1.625/8
Batting power: 3
Bowling economy: 6
W-L ratio: 1
Toss bias: Defender - just two wins in 10 chasing

Probable XI: Buttler, Salt, Malan, Stokes, Brook, Moeen, S Curran*, Woakes, Jordan*, Rashid, Wood,
*Probable death combination

Squad: Jos Buttler ©, Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Alex Hales.

Verdict: England were the strongest team in the last World Cup but a toss bias and a tendency to be pricey at the death cost them. The latter is still an issue and they hope that Sam Curran, now the chief death bowler after Reece Topley's injury, can make the difference. So too the former. They have been awful going after a chase. The good news is that they have bossed Australia in the three-match series just finished and they have options with their XI. They could bolster batting power later on in the tournament by dropping a bowler and playing Liam Livingstone.

India 7/2 - Form of top batters a concern

To reach final: 2.506/4
To reach semi-final: 1.402/5
Batting power: 1
Bowling economy: 7
W-L ratio: 3.2
Toss bias: Chaser - back them to go big but they're more than useful batting first, too

Probable XI: Rohit, Rahul, Kohli, Yadav, Hardik, Karthik, Axar, Harshal*, Kumar, Chahal, Shami*
*Probable death combination

Squad: Rohit Sharma ©, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammad Shami

Verdict: It's typical of T20 that the most powerful batting unit is also the most expensive with the ball. And yet they don't come in with a reputation as being convincing with the willow. Rohit Sharma looks out of sorts and Virat Kohli's go-slows at No 3 could cost them. Suryakumar Yadav, the best batter in the tournament, may have quite the task. But they have more work to do with the ball. Jasprit Bumrah is a big miss and Mohammad Shami's late calls smacks of a team aware that they lack experience. If Shami has to bowl at the death, they could be in a heap of trouble.

South Africa 7/1 - Title run in palm of their hand?

To reach final: Evs
To reach semi-final: 4.507/2
Batting power: 2
Bowling economy: 8
W-L ratio: 1.4
Toss bias: Defender - just two win in seven batting second

Probable XI: De Kock, Bavuma, Rossouw, Markram, Miller, Stubbs, Parnell*, Maharaj, Rabada*, Nortje, Shamsi
*Probable death combination

Squad: Temba Bavuma ©, Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, Reeza Hendricks, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Rillee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen

Verdict: Another classic T20 bat over ball bias. Apart from that, do South Africa have a title run in the palm of their hand? If only they had the brains to pick the right XI. And by that we mean dropping skip Temba Bavuma and playing Reeza Hendricks. If they do that, they should waltz into the semi-final from griup B against three Asian sub-continent side who could struggle in the fast pitches.

Pakistan 15/2 -

To reach final: 4.507/2
To reach semi-final: [2.10]
Batting power: 6
Bowling economy: 4
W-L ratio: 1.7
Toss bias: Chaser - they have an even money record batting first

Probable XI: Rizwan, Babar, Fakhar, Masood, Haider, Nawaz, Shadab, Asif, Wasim, Rauf, Afridi

Squad: Babar Azam ©, Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood

Verdict: Now then. Does the sudden availability of Fakhar Zaman make this lot the value call? They have beend esperately short of batting firepower without him and if he returns at No 3 it frees up the brilliant Babar-Rizwan combo. Shaheen Shah Afridi's return from injury is the biggest boost of all. From looking one-dimensional and stodgy against England they suddenly may have all bases covered.

New Zealand 9/1 - Price is right

To reach final: 5.04/1
To reach semi-final: 2.255/4
Batting power: 4
Bowling economy: 2
W-L ratio: 2
Toss bias: Chaser - but they still in credit batting first

Probable XI: Allen, Conway, Williamson, Phillips, CHapman, Neesham, Bracewell, Sodhi, Southee, Milne, Boult

Squad: Kane Williamson ©, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Mitchell Santner, Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham, Daryl Mitchell, Adam Milne, Martin Guptill, Lachlan Ferguson, Devon Conway, Mark Chapman, Michael Bracewell, Trent Boult, Finn Allen.

Verdict: We're down on the Kiwis, which is unusual because their stats suggest they perform across all disciplines. But they were hugely disappoiting against Pakistan in the recent tri-series. Daryll Mitchell is coming back from injury and, let's face it, Kane Willaimson has been plodder whoever he's been playing for in this format for some time. They will have to knock out one of the two favourites to progress. And their price is about right for a team which, when the pressure comes in the big games, goes missing sadly. They manage to lose games which they should have had sewn up.

Afghanistan 80/1 - Aussie pitches won't suit

To reach final: 18.017/1
To reach semi-final: 7.6013/2
Batting power: 7
Bowling economy: 1
W-L ratio: 1.1
Toss bias: Chaser - they really struggling batting first

Probable XI: Gurbaz, Hazratullah, Ibrahim, Najibullah, Nabi, Omarzai, Rashid, Mujeeb, Naveen*, Farooqi*
*Probable death combination

Squad: Mohammad Nabi ©, Najibullah Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Azmatullah Omarzai, Darwish Rasooli, Farid Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen ul Haq, Qais Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Salim Safi, Usman Ghani.

Verdict: If Afghanistan were to make a big impact in a World Cup it would surely have ben in the home-from-home that is the UAE, not the fast and bouncy pitches of Down Under. They are tenacious with the bat and the No 1-ranked bowling team in terms of economy in the last 12 months but the quality of opposition is not as high as others. They will be a fancy to suffocate New Zealand with spin.

Bangladesh 225/1 - Dreadful team has no chance

To reach semi-final: 11.521/2
Batting power: 3
Bowling economy: 3
W-L ratio: 0.8
Toss bias: They can't do anything well

Probable XI: Shanto, Das, Sarkar, Shakib, Afif, Nurul, Yasir Ali, Hossain, Shoriful, Taskin*, Mustafizur*
*Probable death combination

Squad: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Nurul Hasan, Afif Hossain, Ebadot Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Litton Das, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shoriful Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Musaddek Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed, Yasir Ali Chowdhury

Verdict: This lot are dreadful. They've already been hammered by Afghanistan in the warm-up and they're not expected to trouble the scorers. The big play of Group 2 will be siding with the 'weaker' qualifer against them for what might be considered an upset but would be nothing of the sort.

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Cricket... Only Bettor World Cup preview Part II