Opinion: Will there be a first-time champion at ICC World Cup 2019?
The eleven ICC ODI World Cups played so far have seen only five teams lifting the title. Australia have won it the most times (5), followed by India (2), West Indies (2), Pakistan (1) and Sri Lanka (1).
It is quite surprising that England, the country that gave birth to the game, have failed to win a single ODI World Cup. They reached the finals in three of the first five editions and lost each one of them. Their last final appearance was in the 1992 World Cup in which they lost to Pakistan who had reached the final for the first time.
After 1992, there was a steep decline in the ODI standard of England and they have not managed to reach another final since. However, their ODI fortunes seem to be on the upswing once again and they are currently the number 1 ranked side in the world.
They have a settled side with some of the most explosive batsmen in the world in Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan, Alex Hales, and Ben Stokes, apart from the ever-dependable Joe Root. Also, they are going to play on their home ground. This could turn out to be the world cup where they end their elusive search for a first World Cup triumph.
The other cricketing powerhouse that has failed to live up to its reputation is South Africa. They were the team in form in 1999 and many expected them to lift the World Cup. But a collective brain fade from Lance Klusener and Alan Donald resulting in that infamous runout against Australia meant they fluffed their best chance to win a World Cup till then.
South Africa have usually dominated many bilateral ODI series, but somehow underperformed in big multi-nation tournaments, including the World Cup. Rightly or wrongly, the chokers’ tag is attached to the South African ODI team for this reason, for quite some time now. The good thing is that they still have a pretty decent team, which is ranked 4th in the world. There is no reason why they cannot put behind the previous disappointments and attempt to win the world cup for the first time in their history.
In contrast to the South African team, the New Zealand cricket team has usually over-performed in ICC World Cups. Even when they were not considered a top side for many years, they still regularly made it to the semifinals on a regular basis. They lost a close semi-final to eventual champions Pakistan in 1992 when they were almost on the verge of winning. They even made it to the final of the last edition in 2015.
Like England, New Zealand ODI cricket too seems to be on an upswing. They are ranked number 3 in ODI cricket now. They must be hoping that this time they would not only make a mandatory semi-final or final appearance but go all the way and win the title.
The two other ODI sides which have not won a World Cup, but are in some sort of good form are Bangladesh and Afghanistan. But with all due respect to them, they may end up causing a few upsets in the tournament at best, but it will be too much to expect them to go on and win the world cup in 2019. They may eventually win it in the future, but 2019 comes too early for them.
So, if at all the 2019 ICC World Cup is going to have a new champion, then it has to be one of England, South Africa, or New Zealand.