The last time Australia and New Zealand hosted the World Cup, in 1992, the event was lauded for providing a variety of tracks. But there’s likely to be a larger degree of homogeneity, at least during the business end, this time around.
Brisbane and Perth, tracks renowned for the extra pace and bounce they offer, will not host a match in the final fortnight of the tournament. And five of the seven knock-out matches will be played on drop-in wickets, which don’t have the same extent of natural variation as conventional surfaces.
The Hindu analysed every ODI played in the Antipodes since the last World Cup, and the numbers from the past four years suggest a certain uniformity. When relatively even sides play, extreme scoring patterns -- very low and very high totals -- are rare.
So don’t expect a lot of scores in excess of 300 (only twice has a team chased 300-plus since the 2011 tournament), but the batsman shall remain king.
Note: Pakistan was the only side that escaped scrutiny since it hasn’t played a 50-over match there in this period.
