world cup five-fer: day two

Ponting in fine form against Scotland.

By Tristan Holme

1. Predictability
It was down to earth with a bump for the Cricket World Cup after the euphoria of the opening match.

Both games went according to script on Wednesday as Australia gave Scotland a good hiding and Kenya won their opening encounter despite Canada putting up a good fight.

The group stage was always going to be a low-key affair but I still fancy there will be some highly competitive games between the minnows with Zimbabwe v Ireland looking like a well-balanced contest on day three.

Stay tuned...

2. Ricky Ponting
It may have been against Scotland, but the Aussie skipper made an awesome return to competitive cricket with the first century of the World Cup.

The fact that he offered just one half-chance in his knock of 113 from just 93 balls is a warning to the rest of the Test teams that the highest-scoring Australian in World Cup cricket is on a serious mission.

The nature in which he scored his runs was also worthy of praise - he clearly went in to play every ball on merit, instead of thinking he could just have a jolly good slog like some of his team-mates seemed to believe.

3. The St Lucia pitch
This is a key ground in this World Cup and the fact that it offered plenty of assistance to the spinners will be of interest to England.

With James Anderson breaking a finger on Wednesday, it could confirm England's instinct to play both their spinners.

To my mind, England lack depth in the pace bowling department so losing Anderson is a big setback.

But with a spin-friendly pitch, Dalrymple could turn out to be a useful bowler, while Monty Panesar has a chance to make another step up in the world's already growing estimation of him.

4. Kenya
There's no doubt that Canada's batting is better than their bowling but the way in which Kenya put them to the sword suggests that Steve Tikolo's men can write another exciting chapter in their World Cup history.

There's bound to be an upset at some stage and from the evidence so far, Kenya look most likely to provide it against either England or New Zealand.

Not only do they have a solid batting line-up, but the spin duo of Jimmy Kamande and Hiren Varaiya is formidable.

Whoever loses Friday's encounter in Group C had better watch their backs...

5. Mitchell Johnson
What does this guy have to do to get a game?

When he has got a chance in the Aussie side he's done nothing to harm his credentials and yet, to ourbewilderment, he always gets overlooked.

Glenn McGrath did his usual thing while Shaun Tait impressed against the Scots, but none of the other seamers took advantage of the weak opposition to cement their place in the Aussie starting line-up.

Whether Johnson will get a go against the Netherlands on Sunday remains to be seen, but for our money he should be chosen ahead of Nathan Bracken any day.