Countries those will feature in ICC World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand have already started their build up. Host Australia is in UAE facing the challenges of Pakistan. One of all-time favorites South Africa will locks horns soon with the other host New Zealand before proceeding to Australia .India is hosting West Indies and England will be going to Sri Lanka soon. Bangladesh and Zimbabwe will soon be appearing against each other in Bangladesh. Even ICC associate countries those qualified for World Cup are acclimatizing in Australia New Zealand. World cup is 50 Overs game and cricket environment, pitch conditions in Australia and New Zealand are very different from those in the rest of the world.

India is the current holder and is tipped by many to retain it though on the southern hemisphere condition India will be seriously tested by Australia and New Zealand. South African bowling and batting may favor the condition if only they can prove their choker tag wrong.Sri Lanka will have their three aces Dilshan, Sangrakara and Jayawardene for the last time in a major tournament .They have an excellent blend of youth and experience. Pakistan and West Indies are in the rebuilding process but yet can surprise many. English team is not good enough to test the best of the best.

We will try to discuss about the prospects of each team as the team composition becomes clearer as world cup time comes closer .From now on we will try to preview and review as each series leading to world cup proceeds.

Australia proved too good For Depleted Pakistan:

Australia 255 /8 [Steve Smith 101, David Warner 43, Brad Haddin 23*, Glen Maxwell 21, M Johnson 21, Shahid Afridi 3/ 46, Wahab Riaz 2 /61 ] beat Pakistan 162 All Out [ Umar Akmal 46 ,Sarfraz Ahmed 34 , M Johnson 3 / 24, G Maxwell 2/29 and N Lyon 2/33] by 93 runs 

Full strength Pakistan at its home away from home in UAE is a difficult opponent for the hot climate and its strong spin attack that suits the wickets. But their ace bowler Saeed Aajmal is serving suspension for suspect action and leading all-rounder Hafiz is injured. Hafiz ,Afridi , Aajmal combination is difficult for any team at least in ODI as the three are among the top ranked ODI bowlers .Now Afridi has to deal with new spinners .  

Pakistan batting is very lean .Hafiz is a great loss and for some reasons best known to selectors they overlooked experienced Younis Khan from ODI which upset him to withdraw from all formats for the time being .Australia on the other hand is without Michael Clark and Shane Watson. Yet the greater depth of Australian cricket for their vibrant domestic format could put together a strong enough team to blow away Pakistani challenge in the lone T20 and the first of the three match ODI series .Pakistan lost the T20 by 6 wickets and the first ODI by 93 runs .

Pakistan batting is going through a prolonged lean time for a long time .The absence of international cricket in Pakistan and limited opportunity for Pakistanis for playing in India, England and other Countries are not maturing young Pakistani batsmen to international class. The present Pakistan batting cannot considered to strong enough to challenge the major teams as they have hardly the quality to confront good opponent attack be it pace  or spin  on fast or turning wickets. 

Yesterday at Sharjah the depleted Pakistani attack could restrict Australian batting to a manageable score of 255/8 with only Steve Smith scoring a smart 101 and Warner producing an uncharacteristic 43 in 63 deliveries. Pakistani spinners Shahid Afridi and late debutant Zulfiqar Babar bowled intelligently to stifle the Australians to a chase able target .Afridi took 3/46 and Zulfiqur bowled tight giving away only 31 runs in his nine overs grabbing the wicket of danger man Glen Maxwell.

But when Pakistan batted they neither had the skill or temperament to deal with quality Australian attack having Mitchel Johnson, Glen Maxwell and Nathan Lyon. Only Umar Akmal with 46 and Wicket Keeper Batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed with 34 could produce some resistance .Pakistan losing 6/102 did not look like challenging Australian score at any stage. If batting does not significantly improve Pakistan looks to be in danger of getting white washed at all forming of the game in the current series as Australians will only keep on improving.

BDST: 1246 HRS, OCT 08, 2014