Kelly

I know the sports guys will be all over the pages with their ICC Cricket World Cup predictions but I'm a guy and I kinda like cricket (and it's kind of hard to ignore the whole thing).

So it would be remiss of me not to give my predictions on the world's third-largest sporting event. My predictions are based on something between sports knowledge and something even better: Kelly's World logic!

All right, let me break the bad news to everyone: the West Indies won't win. They'll come close but it will all end in disappointment. Why?

Home support will only go so far

Apart from the ICC Champions Trophy final, we don't win close games in big tournaments. (The only reason we won that one, is that we were playing England!)

As the recent series in India showed, dem no ready!

So, while the local lads will be crying in their Carib beer and rum, who will the winner be?

Well all the smart (or stupid) money was on Australia. But recently, they look like the old men they really are. Glenn McGrath looks tired, Andrew Symonds (the dread), is injured and Brett Lee is playing more like Nixon McLean than Michael Holding. Furthermore, they've won two consecutive cups. The law of averages (and my goat mouth) are upon them.

England? Not enough bottle in the stomach (that's courage for you uninitiated folks) they did beat the Aussies in a recent tri-nations series in Australia! But England plays as well in the Caribbean as well as I play cricket in general, so forget it.

What about our friends from the Asian continent? Pakistan perennially has the weapons to cause, mass destruction. Unfortunately, they are consistently inconsistent. As for India? Same thing. Sri Lanka seems to play better at one-day matches so they always have a chance, but still too many old guys.

New Zealand could bedangerous but my gut isn't with them. Ireland, Scotland, Bermuda, The Netherlands and Canada are all coming for the sun and sand. Zimbabwe's captain is barely old enough to drive (much less drive a team to a championship) and Kenya and Bangladesh may surprise, but world champs, no sah!

So who wins it? South Africa. Yes, the Proteas (or the Springboks, whichever name you like) will, in my (warped) mind, win the big prize. Sure they mucked it up in their own country four years ago. But that means they can't do any worse. Plus, like Italy in the other World Cup, no one is really looking at them. And we know they play well out here!

So, start brushing up on your Zulu and learn the words for "world champions."

Kelly would love to see what your predictions are. Send them to daviot.kelly@gleanerjm.com.