ICC World Cup 2015: 5 things we learnt from first week

Nine days of cricket, plenty of lessons, quite a few surprises, couple of big games - thanks to some big teams playing like minnows and some minnows playing like big teams, this World Cup hasn’t been boring even on a single day. For the cricket connoisseurs, there has been plenty of action – upsets, thrilling minnows’ games, big shots, big scores, even a hat-trick. We look at 5 things the last nine days of cricket have taught us about the World Cup.

#5 New Zealand stronger than on paper, SA more vulnerable

We have seen two matches from each of them and couple of warm-up games. One of them, in fact, was New Zealand against South Africa, a match where strong title contenders South Africa were absolutely smashed by New Zealand. From then on, the Kiwis grew up in stature, going from strength to strength.

They intimidate now, bullying Sri Lanka into a defeat in the tournament opener and then knocking the daylights out of England. They have all the ingredients to go the distance at this World Cup. Most importantly, they have a very bold and attacking captain in Brendon McCullum who makes cricket really exciting.

South Africa, on the other hand, although firm favorites on paper, aren’t really getting their playing XI right. Their top order didn’t do well against Zimbabwe, while against India, they failed as a batting unit completely. It is not an aberration either, as it has been repeated thrice, including the failure in the warm-up game against New Zealand. 

South African fans will hope for Michael Hussey, their batting consultant, to bring some positive changes.