By Jim Morrison
All 12 sides have now named their squads for the 2020 Over-50s Cricket World Cup
The list of players includes:
- 20 Test and/or ODI players
- 72 first-class/List-A players
- Nine of the the world's 10 leading run-scorer in Over-50s Internationals (O50Is)
- Eight of the world's 10 leading O50I wicket-takers
- All 3 of the world's top O50I wicket-keepers
- 15 of the world's top 20 on the Over-50s Player Rankings
Will the new big-name ex-internationals (Jonty Rhodes, Carl Hooper, Eddo Brandes, Mark Alleyne, et al.) dominate in Cape Town?
Carl Hooper - former West Indies Captain
Or will the guys who haven't played first-class cricket but continue to play high-level club cricket (Tony Clark, Joe Santostefano, Mason Robinson, Steve Gollan, Roshan Ismail, Rudy Gibson, etc.) show that, at 50-plus, playing regularly is the key to success?
Or will the solid first-class players (Peter Solway, Stephen Foster, Adrian Dale, Dastagir Butt, Jaffar Qureshi, and the like) use their years of experience to again top the stats?
Among the returning players, the usual suspects like Solway, Robinson, Dale, Foster, Sajid Ali, Sean Cooper, Richard Petrie, Jaffar, Dastagir and Ismail will all be relied upon by their sides for big performances.
There are plenty of newcomers to watch as well. Sri Lanka will be looking to Suranjith Dharmasena to add some steel to a previously brittle top order, while former Australian rep Noel Raymond will bring some experience as well.
England has named a number of exciting stars in the making, particularly in the form of batsmen Giles Ecclestone, David Snellgrove and Sultan Mahmood, all of whom put in some amazing performances in the English domestic competition.
New Zealand's new faces include a pair of dashing batsmen in Kelvin Scott and former Otago first-class player Andrew Hore. Keeper-batsman Bert Horner and tall off-spinner Stephen Hewson were top performers at NZ's recent domestic competition.
Australia has changed almost half its 2018 World Cup-winning squad - look out for pace bowler Phil Melville, spinner Gary Eisenmenger and batsman Andrew Bethune to perform well.
Pakistan have also swung the selectorial axe since Sydney, but still have 13 former first-class players among their 16. Newcomers Mazhar Hussain (former Test player) is one to watch, as is Raja Hayat, who played for England in Sydney and will be looking for a change in fortunes playing for his native Pakistan.
Although South Africa participated in Sydney, their squad is almost entirely new, with only 3 players surviving that unsuccessful campaign. All but one of their 16 have played first-class cricket, and six have represented SA at full international level. Obviously all eyes will be on the super-fit Jonty Rhodes, but I’m expecting two other ex-ODI players - Alan Dawson and Dave Callaghan – to have a big impact.
Wales may have lost their top player from Sydney (Steve Maddock), but they have an exciting prospect in Iwan Rees, who scored an epic century against England earlier this year. Rees has rocketed to third in the player rankings and may prove the mainstay of the Welsh batting order.
Canada also have some personnel changes, following a bit of political manoeuvring over the last 12 months. They have lost top wicket-taker Mahmood Ahmed and opening batsman Roy Singh (playing for the West Indies), but picked up Michael Correia and Graham Castanheiro.
Then we come to the unknown quantities – the four new teams. Zimbabwe could be a dark horse in this tournament, especially if big-hitting Craig Evans fires and Eddo Brandes is inspired to recreate his World Cup heroics of the past. Also watch out for Andrew Walton, considered by many to be the best indoor cricketer of all time.
Eddo Brandes
Namibia are another dark horse. While they are not traditionally counted among the powerhouses of world cricket, they have an almost-home advantage and most of their players have represented the full Namibian side in the past. I’m picking Lennie Louw to be a key player with his tight bowling, despite him being in his 60s.
Then we come to two countries that definitely are global powerhouses: India and West Indies. The former has overcome many challenges in terms of the lack of over-50s cricket infrastructure and drawn on the huge passion and enthusiasm that the Indian diaspora can offer. Watch out for Tushar Zaveri, who scored a 100 in a recent trial match, spinner Ashwani Arora, and former Ranji Trophy player Iqbal Khan.
West Indies must now count themselves as one of the favourites for Pool A. Carl Hooper, Suruj Ragoonath, Ishwar Maraj and Sudesh Dhaniram make for an imposing batting lineup, while the likes of fast bowler Allison Johnson and left-arm spinner Zamin Amin will make things tough for opposing batsmen.
There are some mouth-watering match-ups in prospect, between players and between teams. With only 2 teams progressing out of each pool, every match will be important and teams will need to juggle their selections wisely.
Match Schedule Over - https://www.over50scricket.com/world-cup-2020-cape-town
Over 50s teams selected - https://www.over50scricket.com/world-cup-scores-squads-news
For all the Over-50s Internationals records, stats and Player Rankings, please visit www.over50scricket.com/statistics.
Highlights of the 2018 Over 50s Cricket World Cup in Australia
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