Group B is almost a joke - ireland could finish 3rd/4th with a little luck!

great draw for Ireland would have to fancy the "super eights" or whatever silly name they come up with this time.

Both Canada and Kenya will play in Group A, Pakistan and Lanka are Asian teams. Canada have tried to give contracts to some of their players and other are playing club cricket in Pakistan and Lanka which is good. Kenya must try and visit these nations or even Bangladesh.

It's a little ambitious to talk up Ireland chances so early but I must say it is a good an oportunity as any for them to once again make the finals. I can't see either Canada or the Netherlands achieving the same result but hopefully we will se the asociates competitive, the gap between the Test nations and asociate is shrinking, but it is still very wide. I hope to see some upsets and competative cricket so that the full members will sit up and take notice of these nations. Kanya will struggle I think to compete the internal fighting and politcal factions within the gamne there are making it difficult for the players in the existing team and any potential international player to succeed. Internal comnflict will destroy the game there if it dosen't improve.

I will put my money on d Bangladeshis 2 go through 2 d 2nd round. They have players like Al-Hasan,Ashraful,Mortaza,Razzak,Iqbal,Aftab,Kapali & Nafees. Bangladesh will b stronger with d re-admission of ICL Players. For last 2 years their squad was depleted

If i have to pick teams to go through from Group B. My pick would be India as B1, South Africa as B2, Bangladesh as B3 & one from Westindies/England as B4. Dont forget India & Bangladesh will play at home soil

To, Andrew H, dont be too ambitious. I see Ireland finishing as 6th or 7th in Group B. England, Bangladesh & Westindies will fight for the two spots of B3 & B4

In 2011 edition of World Cup, we do not have any second round of leagues (Super-6 or Super-8). Top four teams from both the groups qualify for the qtr-finals, like it was in 1996 format. Two good days and Ireland have a great chance of qualifying.

@ Andrew H, Irish fans are a joke. Ireland will finish as 6th or 7th in the group. India, S africa & England are also in group B. Westindies will be full strenght by then & Bangladesh will also be full strenght after the ICL players back in the fold again

To Vikram Maingi & Bizzare Irish Fans. 5 test teams in Group B INDIA, SOUTH AFRICA, ENGLAND, BANGLADESH & WEST INDIES. Among them 4 will qualify for the quarter-finals. So, Ireland have no chance of qualifying

@ Frankie, Andrew H & blind, annoying Irish fans. HU HA IRELAND, HERE COMES IRELAND ( Aya Ireland). And Ireland will be failed miserably in the coming world cup. Forget about test teams might be eventually beaten by the NETHERLANDS

Strange how people are turning on Ireland - just because we show a little ambition and are doing our best to produce a competitive team. So much so that England have stolen our best players of recent years, Ed Joyce and Eoin Morgan, and no doubt have eyes on Niall O'Brien and Paul Stirling! We can beat England - especially if they were only allowed to choose actual English players - minus Strauss, KP, Trott, Morgan Shah etc!!

Group A looks straight forward. We know which 4 will qualify for 2nd round. But Group A looks exciting with 5 full member teams Ind, Sa, Ban, Eng, Wi & giant killer minnows Ireland, Holland. So group B looks slippery. Basically group B is group of deaths

In 2011 World cup two teams will create trouble in their respective group ,Bangla Tigers and Heath Streak Lions (Zim)
Only 4 teams will qualify from each group , so for forth place they are tough fighters .

To Andy Long, You Irish fans always shouting & crying that England poached 2 Irish players Joyce & Morgan. What about at a point when 18 Pakistan, 14 Bangladesh & 7 Newzealand players were poached by an unsanctioned organistion

Andy you must be a mind reader. There go England again; it seems Boyd Rankin is the next player they want to steal. Please Ramesh less of the abuse.

I want to add few points with Manish Sawant. Before Joyce got selected for England he just played 10 ODIs and Morgan played 23 ODIs. While Pakistan, Bangladesh and Newzealand lost experienced and well established players. Did they shouted and cried: NO

I think Bangladesh is closest of the top 8 teams. Players like Sakib Al-hasan, Ashraful, Kapali can single handedly win them matches. So Bangladesh is the team to watch in the 2011 world cup. They will create a lot of havoc for the big teams

To andy long, if aussie and south african players (Bray,Johnston,Botha etc)did not played for ireland. Ireland couldn't have been qualified for the world cup. With only homegrown irishman ireland might struggle against bermuda

ICC should give test status to Ireland, just to save their players from English poachers. Ireland have done really good over the last few years, all they need is better exposure and availability of their top players. England, have mercy on Ireland. Let a good team grow. Poach as much as you want from South Africa.

I think Ireland again become a black horse in WC 2011

If we rate teams which are below top 8 teams, it should be like this: 9. Bangladesh 10. Zimbabwe 11. Ireland 12. Netherlands 13. Canada 14. Kenya

Go team canada!! Rizwan Cheema is the brightest prospect. He is a aggressive batsman

It looks canada and holland will be competetive in the 2011 Wc. ten doeschate of holland and cheema of canada are the players to watch out for

From the lesser ranked teams only Bangladesh is capabiable of causing two or more upsets. I got a feeling that they are gonna be the surprise package in the sub-continent world cup (like South Africa in the 1992 & Srilanka in the 1996 edition)

Manish, the players of Pak,Bang, NZ were motivated by money some may call it greed, Irish players are motivated by a desire to play test cricket, if Ireland were a Test Nation this would not happen.While the ECB have given support to Irish Cricket they have benefitted by taking these players thus making the strongest opposition in Europe weaker, now they are attempting to take Rankin, indeed it is not impossible to have 5 Irish born players playing for England at the next world cup, put yourself in our position, Cricket is enjoying huge growth in Ireland and our success is reaping rewards for England. Test status for Ireland now.

I would not discount Ireland and if they get two or more good bowlers to replace Johnston and Rankin(if he moves to ENG)no-body would take Ireland lightly!

Bangladesh is emerging as the next elite team. They have Shakib al Hasan the #1 allrounder currently. And i think ind, sa, eng, wind is unlucky to have them in their group. It looks like banglas are the best contender to sent any of the major team packing

I think Bangladesh is the biggest fear for SA, ENG and W.I. By that time Bangladesh will be packed by all world class players like Nafees, Kapali and Nazim. So they will have enough batting power than any of those top countries. Thats the fact. Bangladesh never had this line up for a long time. So it doesnt matter where the game going or who is hosting..bangladesh will be a very strong team with a lot of player choice.

When I think of Rizwan Cheema, John Davison and Ian Billcliff's batting, these are the words that come to mind clouting, clubbing, punishing, slamming, smacking, striking, thumping, whacking, whipping. Guys like Ashish Bagai and Geoff Barnett can play the sheet anchor role and Sunil Dhaniram and Sandeep Jyoti can be used to finish the innings. If the guys get going Canada can beat any one.

Re Irelands foreign legion:

Ireland have one of the best junior development programs around, and have had that for a while. Unfortunately the current beneficiary is England. They're certainly in better shape cricket wise than Bangladesh was in 1999 or Zimbabwe is now.

Its unlikely that Ireland, Bangladesh or the Netherlands would cause enough upsets to progress - Bangladesh dont lack the ability, but between the ears is a different story, Ireland wont be able to sneak under the radar this time around, the Netherlands are (relatively) much better performed in World Cups than outside them but minus Dirk Nannes its hard to see them keeping the opposition to low enough scores.

Bangladesh are hosting the world cup this time. Remember Zimbabwe in the 2003 WC or SriLanka in 1996? Bangladesh have not just whitewashed WI in Indies this year in both Tests and ODI's but have beaten Zimbabwe comprehensively both home and away.
Shakib is the worlds number one allrounder for a while and is ranked number 4 in the balling rankings.....Razzak who has was injured (15 wickets in recent ODI series) is a far better leftie spinner than Shaqib is in ODI's.Mashrafe Mortaza is a world class bowler....looking at the batting line up we have growing players like Tamim and Shaqib....The return of ICL players like Nafees, Aftab and Kapali will definitely enhance the batting line up...Nafees has the xperience of scoring 1000 plus runs in ayear and the latter to are one of the most destructive batsmen u'll c...and Ashraful will be saving up his runs for teams like Australia or England (4got his 53 ball 93!)
just recently Bd under 19 have beaten the English under 19 5-2 in a 7 matches

Enough of the fighting guys, but one thnig is for sutre that it is going to be a gr8 contest nt fr playing countries but , CRICKET as a whole..

Seems that Bangladeshi fans are still hurting over the 2007 and 2009 losses to the Blarney Army! Ireland have the potential to finish 4th but there is also the strong chance of finishing 7th! I'll be happy with 5th really! England are having a MASSIVE effect player-wise on Ireland's progression but we still have great talent (no we wouldnt struggle to beat Bermuda, whoever said that). If we can concentrate on beating England and Windies then we only have Holland to dispatch in the final game! (Before getting stuffed by AUS or PAK in the quarters! CMON IRELAND!

Bangladesh have a great chance to go next round because South Africa & England are now weak in Bangladesh spin attack & also has home soil benefits but West-indies will show their magic classic. So England have to fight hard with South Africa & West-indies. India is the favourite team for the next round for this group but finally i want to say Bangladesh will record by their class......................................