Jos has big job on hand

Each 50over menrsquos World Cup provides its share of surprises but I wasnrsquot expecting two favourites in England and Australia to be struggling to keep their head above waterEnglandrsquos loss to Afghanistan was a huge upset and it means they now have to be near flawless to qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament This wonrsquot be easy as they face some tough encountersAustraliarsquos batting was dismal in their two lacklustre losses but they at least showed improvement in beating Sri Lanka and Pakistan However Australiarsquos inability to cope effectively with good spin bowling was no great surprise but it did confirm their deficiencies This signal is not one to send their more fancied opponents However it was their shoddy fielding that stood out in Australiarsquos losses and this often relates to a loss of confidenceBacktoback wins for OzAustralia were able to regain their poise in claiming backtoback victories and those wins came via a muchneeded improvement in both pace and spin bowling and encouragingly against Pakistan a mammoth opening partnership The scintillating form of both David Warner and Mitchell Marsh provides a huge fillip to their prospectsIf Australiarsquos fielding had been shoddy Pakistanrsquos was absolutely abysmal and left them with a tough qualifying proposition Australia on the other hand are talented enough to make the semifinals but the major concern is their frailty in coping with good spin bowlingAlso read Mumbai lsquoTheir descendants too will be called traitorsrsquoEnglandrsquos bowling has generally been profligate and their outandout speedster Mark Wood deserves an opportunity to use the new ball The most impressive aspect of Afghanistanrsquos victory was their attacking attitude and ample spin bowling threatAfghanistan here to competeI first met the Afghanistan players in the Caribbean during the 2010 T20 World Cup It was there that they expressed the sentiment ldquoWe are not here to just make up the numbersrdquoWhile this is a regularly muttered but not necessarily meant sentiment the Afghanistan teammdashalthough short on batting talentmdashlived up to that impressive approach on the fieldTheyrsquove since added to their batting skill whilst retaining their aggressive attitude Their spinners attacked looking for English wickets and they were backed by thoughtful field placings to support those efforts When you compare the positive Afghanistan attitude with the often disappointing negativity that surrounds Bangladeshrsquos performance itrsquos a case of chalk and cheeseEngland have looked surprisingly tentative and Jos Buttler now has the difficult leadership task of galvanising his team This will be a demanding test as both his batting and rsquokeeping have been disappointing so far along with a lack of Eoin Morganlike leadership aptitudeIt was a matter of when not if South Africa would falter at a 50over World Cupmdashitrsquos their history The fact that it came against the Netherlands with their sketchy South African link only added to the dramaBoth India and New Zealand have produced the right ingredients for success in the tournament The two teams have individuals performing effectively in both runscoring and wickettakingThe injury to Hardik Pandya is a major concern to the otherwise inform India who will anxiously hope the vital allrounder still has a role to play in the tournamentThe early stages of the tournament have involved a lot of pushing and shoving but we now enter the doordie stage of the World CupThose early stages have demonstrated how upsets influence the latter stages of the tournament However apart from New Zealandrsquos perennial ability to punch above their weight in World Cups it should concern the ICC that the financial heavyweights are once again flexing their muscles when it matters most