Predictions

Not often you seen many predictions in the sport of cricket. In most cases, it is a very retrospective sport that only assesses things once they have actually happened.

Let's see if any of us can predict the future of the game with any degree of accuracy, and we will revisit this thread in future to see how far off we all were!

I propose predicting the top 3 batsmen and bowlers at the end of 2012, and the top 3 batsmen and bowlers at the end of 2015. It'll be interesting to see what we come up with.

Here are mine:

2012

Batsmen:

1. Ian Bell
2. AB De Villiers
3. Kevin Pietersen

Bowlers:

1. Dale Steyn
2. James Anderson
3. Vernon Philander

2015

Batsmen:

1. Alastair Cook
2. Rohit Sharma
3. Ajinkya Rahane

Bowlers:

1. Pat Cummins
2. Steven Finn
3. James Pattinson

Total guesswork, of course, and I could be wildly wrong, but should be fun to find out! There were numerous names that I could have used, particularly for 2015, but there are many factors that could affect the performance of those youngsters in the coming years - those are just a few I like the look of at the moment.

Over to you.

2012

Batsmen:

1. M.Clarke
2. A.Cook
3. I.Bell

Bowlers:

1. Dale Steyn
2. James Anderson
3. S.Broad

2015

Batsmen:

1. Alastair Cook
2. M.Clarke
3. D.Bravo

Bowlers:

1. Pat Cummins
2. V.Philander
3. D.Steyn

I would guess it would be important to look at the fixture list of the test nations first.

This will give us an idea of the bowling each player will face for the year.

South Africa:
New Zealand away
England away
Australia away

England:
Pakistan away
Sri Lanka away
West Indies at home
South Africa at home
India away

Australia:
India at home
West Indies away
South Africa at home

India:
Australia away
Sri Lanka away
New Zealand at home
England at home

Sri Lanka:
England at home
Pakistan at home
India at home
New Zealand at home


Batting.
Assuming that the top batsmen and bowlers will come from these five nations and Sri Lanka is at home for the rest of the yar, you would have to favour Sangakkara to end at the top.

India is ending their year with tests at home and you can assume flat trcks, so their batsmen could be in with a shout.

Australia does not seem to have to tough a year ahead and Michael clarke is a real possibility considering his recent form.

I wouldn't put too much on the SA batsmen as they aren't playing at home for the rest of the year. Smith has great form in england, but doubt if he will make the top three, perhaps Kallis, amla or AB has a slight chacne, but wouldn't put any money on them.

A few English batsmen could be in the mix, Bell and Cook, they both have great records at home, and the flat tracks of India might just see them at the top.

Bowling:

I would expect the aussie bowlers and English bowlers to have conditions they are accusomted too. Ohilander is untested outside of SA and might struggle, Steyn isn't in great nick, well not as usual.

So in summary.

Batting
Sangakkara
M Clarke
I Bell


Bowling
Anderson
Siddle
Steyn


As for 2015, it will be utter guess work.

It's only light-hearted predictions, Biltong, hence why I had a go at 2015. 2012 is hard enough to predict, and is utter guess work in itself really!

England have a tough year in some tough places, so any of their lot that are at the top come the end of 2012 will have certainly earnt it.

Of course, I understand it is lighthearted, but for me to think that far into the future means I need to get some glue to sniff, or perhaps even something stronger.

To get my mind that far ahead is no easy task.

M Clarke with that 325no has a massive head start for 2012, obviously he could have six ducks in his next six Test innings and still have an average of over 50. He will be tough to beat.

But Bell seem determined to be the #1 ranked bat, so watch out for him too.

Reckon I'd have made a few runs against that bowling attack, though

You're right, Clarke has a huge lead before many others have even played!

Well analysed biltongbek, I'd hate to see you compiling a shopping list.

Galted wrote:Well analysed biltongbek, I'd hate to see you compiling a shopping list.

No mate, I leave the shopping to the wife, but when it comes to sport I like to analyse things, of course not always to great success, but it does keep my need for stats and info satisfied.

Just shot myself in the foot by assuming it's normal for 606 v2ers to compile shopping lists - guess what I was doing yesterday.

Disgraceful behaviour, Galted!

Problem with compiling a shopping list is to see all the $h1t you pay for that you can't eat.

Ill tell you what the top 3 bowlers wont be, Indian.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Ill tell you what the top 3 bowlers wont be, Indian.

2012 Batting:

Sangakkara
Younis
Cook

Bowling:

Steyn
Broad
Umar Gul

2015 Batting

Chandimal
Rahane
Darren Bravo

Bowling

Broad
Cummins
Junaid Khan

2012: Batting:

1) Cook
2) Clarke
3) G.Smith

2012: Bowling

1) Steyn
2) Pattinson
3) Anderson

2015: Batting

1) Cook
2) Shaun Marsh
3) James Taylor

2015: Bowling

1) James Pattinson
2) Steve Finn
3) Dale Steyn

2012 batting:

1.Mohammed Hafeez
2.Alistair Cook
3.Dean Brownlie

bowling:

1.Tim Southee
2.Varun Aaron
3.Junaid Khan

2015 batting:

1.Ajinkya Rahane
2.Eoin Morgan
3.Rohit Sharma

bowling:

1.Marchant de Lange
2.Pat Cummins
3.Shane Shillingford

Some strange choices as always, cf

i went for the outsiders, give them a chance.

2012 Predictions

Batting:

1) Kumar Sangakarra
2) Alastair Cook
3) Michael Clarke

Bowling:

1) Stuart Broad
2) Saeed Ajmal
3) Dale Steyn


2015 Predictions

Batting:

1) James Taylor
2) AB de Villiers
3) Hashim Amla

Bowling:

1) Steven Finn
2) Vernon Philander
3) James Pattinson

A bit of English bias, but hey. It happens.

JDizzle wrote:2012 Predictions

A bit of English bias, but hey. It happens.

Jdizzle, the first step in any therapy is always to admit there is a problem, or in this case english bias. It does tend to have more credibility.