Legendary Steve Waugh has picked England as his favourites for the title based on Eoin Morgan and Co’s recent form. England have been labelled favourites by a number of former cricketers as they have played some phenomenal cricket in the past couple of years and will be well aware of the conditions as hosts.
“England to me are probably the favourites – their form has been outstanding over the last couple of years. They are playing at home. Sometimes, that creates more pressure, but they’ve got a really good coach in Trevor Bayliss to keep the players grounded. So I think England would be favourites, and probably Australia and India on that second line of favouritism,” said Waugh.
Waugh further said that Australia might not be title-favourites but every team needs to be wary of Aaron Finch’s men as they are peaking at the right time with the return of Steve Smith and David Warner.
“Every side will be wary of Australia. They know the potential of the Australian side. There’s been turmoil in Australian cricket over the last 12 months, but that has been put aside now. We’ve got our best players available to be picked in Smith and Warner,” Waugh was quoted as saying by the ICC website.
“Their form was very poor, but all of a sudden, they’ve won their last eight matches, and they’ve got Smith and Warner in the team. And that is ominous for other sides, they know how good these sides are. Australia will be one of the teams… probably not the favourite for the tournament, but the team that other sides will be probably most fearful of. They could do some damage. So I think Australia could go really deep in the tournament,” Waugh added.
