Dubai [UAE]: England wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow admitted that many teams are capable of winning the forthcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Cricket World Cup, however, praised the West Indies’ ability to win the game from nowhere.
“Lots of teams who could win it and there would be upsets along the way. West Indies could win a game from nowhere,” ICC quoted Bairstow, as saying.
All England players are expected to fly back home by the end of the month to take part in a busy period of World Cup preparations, which means the players currently playing the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) will put an end to their contribution to this season’s league.
“We get back after the Chennai game on April 23. Then we’ve got the World Cup camp. We then play Pakistan in the five-ODI series and then we’ve got two warm-up matches in which we play Afghanistan and Australia. And then we go into the World Cup,” he said.
“It’s a lot of cricket leading into the World Cup. And then we’ve got five Ashes Tests after that,” he added.
Bairstow, who is playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, has amassed 365 runs in eight innings and will aim to deliver the same kind of performance in the quadrennial tournament.
Even though Bairstow will miss the remainder of the league, the 29-year old has expressed his desire to perform well in his remaining games to give Hyderabad a chance to reach the playoffs.
“So far it has gone well. To be in the top five leading run scorers… it is really very pleasing. Hopefully I can finish on a high in the next two games as well and we could be in the position to make the play-offs by the time I leave,” he said.
England will begin their World Cup campaign against South Africa at The Oval on 30 May.