Li'l Bird, Stay Home

It doesn't seem like these two have really learned much from their experiences. Agarkar has played over 100 one-day internationals, but I'm not sure he is any better now than when he started off. India's fielding is also something that may cost them at some stage in this tournament.

Pakistan are the unknown quantity at the moment. India beat them comfortably in the Tests and one-dayers when they toured earlier this year but Bob Woolmer will have them fitter and better organised than they have been. They perhaps do not have the obvious class in batting that India has, but they have a better bowling attack. That game will depend a lot on the toss and conditions on the day in Birmingham.

Australia-New Zealand could've been a good game as the Kiwis' record in one-day cricket over the last 18 months was rated very highly. But the fact of the matter is that Australia had already beaten them five times in a row and perhaps some of the opposition New Zealand played in recent months didn't go as hard at them as Australia did. Australia came out as though they were men on a mission in Thursday's game.

Against USA too, they needed to score quickly enough to get their net run rate higher than New Zealand's and they did that with ease. The Australian team is very proud of its record and the fact that the Champions Trophy does not sit in the cabinet in Jolimont Street in Melbourne is something they will be well aware of. John Buchanan certainly would have made sure the team is aware of this. Ricky Ponting will make sure he gives his team the best possible chance of winning.

England-Sri Lanka will be another cracker. Sri Lanka are, on form and potential, the second best side in the competition.They have a pretty good overall balance in the team and the lack of Muthiah Muralitharan may be the one thing that stops them. England overrate themselves in one-day cricket. Against Zimbabwe, some of their fancy players found ways of getting themselves out and it was only solid contributions from Paul Collingwood and Vikram Solanki that saw them through.

But, that said, whoever wins the Sri Lanka-England tie has a good chance of making the final from their half of the draw. I'd pretty much expected Australia to go past New Zealand. I'm not prepared to go out on a limb and pick winners in the India-Pakistan or England-Sri Lanka games. The thing with one-day cricket is that it's a 50-50 game at the best of times, and with this kind of weather, the toss could become very important. That would throw any predictions out anyway.