We have had a look at the top batsman for the 2019 Cricket World Cup and now it is time to look at those who will be looking to restrict the runs and nail plenty of wickets in the tournament in the top bowler market.
Given that we have the 10 best teams in ODI cricket in this tournament it stands to reason that we have the best bowlers in the world on show here so I’m expecting a very competitive heat over the course of the competition.
Recent Winners
2015 – Mitchell Starc & Trent Boult (22)
2011 – Shahid Afridi & Zaheer Khan (21)
2007 – Glenn McGrath (26)
2003 – Chaminda Vaas (23)
1999 – Geoff Allott & Shane Warne (20)
Market Leaders
Jasprit Bumrah is widely regarded as the best death bowler in the world at the minute and as such he is the 14/1 favourite to be the leading bowler in the tournament. If India make the final you would think that would be a decent price although they are not guaranteed to and Bumrah isn’t the only man in the Indian bowling attack capable of going through bowling attacks. That said, he showed last summer how good he is even in these conditions so he is a worthy favourite.
Kagiso Rabada, Mitchell Starc and Adil Rashid all start the event as the joint 16/1 second favourites to take the most wickets. Until the latter stages of the IPL I would have been giving genuine consideration to Rabada but he picked up an injury towards the end of that tournament and I don’t want to be anywhere near an injured party. It is that which puts me off Starc as well. Rashid should go very well indeed and looks a fair price at 16/1 although I do think there is better value elsewhere.
There are five men at 20/1. They are Pat Cummins, Jofra Archer, Trent Boult, Imran Tahir and Rashid Khan. I’m taking Rashid Khan out of the equation because I think teams will sit on him if they have any sense. The other four would look to have a genuine chance of going well, especially if their teams progress to the latter stages of the competition. You can make a case for all of them for sure.
Yuzvendra Chahal begins the tournament as a 22/1 shot to take the most wickets in it. I’m not sure how leg spin will go in this competition. If it does go well then he’s as good an exponent of it as there is going around but if it doesn’t fare well with the early morning starts then he would be a little bit of cannon fodder which would be less than ideal.
Narrowing the Field
Unlike with the batsmen, there isn’t really too many ways to narrow down the field here. There aren’t many bowler friendly tracks in England at the present time and the ones that there are, notably Durham and Bristol, don’t host enough matches to give off an advantage anywhere which is less than ideal to say the least.
With that in mind, the only real way to narrow down this field is to choose whether to take seamers or spinners and to make sure that we get on players who we think will be in the semi-final and hopefully the final. If we look at the roll of honour above at least one of the two winners each year has made the final. The only anomaly to that was Chaminda Vaas in 2003. Both winners in 2015 competed in the final so that looks a massive advantage.
Profile
I’m not convinced there is going to be a huge amount for the spinners in this World Cup, certainly not in terms of assistance in the pitches, and any wickets they do pick up will come from false shots or the need to score so I’m firmly in the camp of picking seamers for this tournament. It goes without saying that any seamer I take has to be bowling at the death where the cheap wickets come along and with that in mind I’ve found three worthy of backing.
Betting
I expect Australia to go very well with the ball in this tournament and I fancy it will be Pat Cummins leading the way for them. He has been in wonderful touch with the white ball recently. He has taken 17 wickets in his last five ODIs and they have been in India and Pakistan where the wickets won’t have been very helpful in terms of his pace and bounce. He’ll have no such issues with that here it has to be said. He has been leading Australia’s attack in all formats this year. He might not take the new ball but he’ll certainly have it at the death and at 20/1 I think he’s a great bet here.
My other two bets are much smaller punts that would need a lot to go right for them but aren’t forlorn hopes. The first of those is Lasith Malinga. He is clearly getting on a bit now but we saw in the IPL recently that even the very best players in the world find it hard to pick him still and with Sri Lanka relying so much on him there should be plenty of wickets available to him. He’ll bowl at the start of the innings and at the death when the batsmen are swinging merrily and while I don’t expect Sri Lanka to go deep in this tournament it would only need a couple of four wicket hauls and bits and pieces around that to get Malinga in the mix. At 66/1 I’ll pay to see if he can deliver.
Mustafizur Rahman is another bowler who is decent enough at the death and I do expect Bangladesh to go well in this tournament so I can’t resist a punt on him at 100/1 this year. He’s taken 10 wickets in his last five ODIs so even though his star has fallen a little bit because of injuries in recent times he is mighty effective still. If the Bangladesh spinners can either take wickets so that Mustafizur is bowling at the tail at the death, or they put the squeeze on so that the Fiz has to be attacked at the end of the innings, cheap wickets could easily come his way. At the prices he’s worth a small punt.
Tips
Back P.Cummins Top Tournament Bowler (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 21.00 with BetVictor (1/4 1-4)
Back him here:
Back L.Malinga Top Tournament Bowler (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Betfred (1/4 1-5)
PLACED – Back M.Rahman Top Tournament Bowler (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betfred (1/4 1-5)
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019
