McCullum claims WC most open it has been in long time

New Zealand cricket team captain Brendon McCullum has said that the upcoming Cricket World Cup, which starts in Christchurch on Saturday, is the most open it has been in a long time.

The World Cup, which starts on February 14 in Australia and New Zealand, has a sudden death knockout nature this season. In some recent World Cups, points from group games against fellow qualifiers were carried through to a Super Six stage with the top qualifiers all playing each other.

This time, however, at the 14-team tournament split into two pools of seven, a six-match winning streak from pool play counts for nothing at the knockout quarterfinal stage, Stuff.co.nz reported.

In recent times now-retired cricket legends Rahul Dravid and Graeme Smith have queried the merits of such a cutthroat format. Inevitably knockout play is required for the semifinals and final but the aim should be to have the best-performed teams reach that stage.

Obviously winning consistently is still on top and an unbeaten record earns the top qualifier the better draw against the fourth-placed team in the crossover quarterfinals.

However, as McCullum pointed out any one of eight teams could win the title. He said that it's the most open it has been in a long time, adding that with the nature of the wickets being quite pure it brings the batting match-winners into play who can turn a game in a 15-20 over period.

Teams like West Indies, Pakistan, India, and England, while perhaps sitting in the second line of favouritism behind Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, are still studded with game-changers, especially with the bat, the report added.