Will Smith Backs The Men In Blue

Will Smith established himself in the Durham championship side during the 2008 season, primarily batting at No 3. He has a first class double-hundred (201 not out) against Surrey to his name and was appointed as Durham captain on 14 November 2008, succeeding Dale Benkenstein who since tipped him as a potential future England skipper.

Outside of cricket, Smith is a keen journalist and writes for All-Out Cricket as well as doing the odd bit of commentary for Sky and the BBC. Football is another favourite and he supports non-league side Rusden and Diamonds.

“I think India will win the tournament as they have the big game experience and plenty of the players have been in the IPL which is why they should be considered favourites. They have plenty of strong, big hitting batsmen, clever seamers and terrific spin options.  All this combined means they are the stand out team.”

Will Smith’s charity choice is International China Concern (ICC).
The ICC’s mission is to provide love, hope and opportunity for every disabled child. International China Concern is a Christian development organisation that changes lives by bringing love, hope and opportunity to China’s abandoned and disabled
http://english.chinaconcern.org/

Mr Betdaq
England’s Super-Eights got off to a flying start against Pakistan, a refreshing change after labouring through the rain-effected group stages. India and Australia, the two favourites, are going head-to-head at the time of writing, so just how good Will’s tip is shall become a little clearer later on.

This stage of the tournament is notoriously tricky to predict from a betting angle, especially with the calibre of teams that have already made it through.

The experienced Aussies will stand an excellent chance if they can use their pace effectively in Barbados. Having the likes of Shaun Tait, Dirk Nannes and Mitchell Johnson should create fear amongst any batting line-up they come across. Australia sailed through to the second phase of the tournament with comfortable victories in the group stage and even with Philip Hughes’ injury – they stand a fantastic chance. 

India's top order has plenty to offer as Suresh Raina demonstrated with his brilliant century against the South Africans. Yuvraj Singh has also scored well during the start of the tournament and he’ll need to offer batting support to Raina.

Sri Lanka will hope to have Muttiah Muralitharan back before too long, but in Ajantha Mendis they have an exceptional replacement that can spice things up with his varying spin. One cannot forget the lightening quick Lasith Malinga, who can put any batsmen under pressure with his unorthodox deliveries. Their bowling attack is supported by bags of run-scoring potential. Mahela Jayawardene can quickly take the game away from any opponent, as shown with his century versus Zimbabwe.

The winners of the Australia-India match will have a much clearer path to the semis, and the side that claims this one could well end up as champions. The Aussies look to be the team to beat, but India do stand a very good chance of a second T20 World Cup victory.

Latest odds on Betdaq:

Outright Twenty20 World Cup
Australia 14/5
India 4/1
South Africa 4/1
England 6/1
Sri Lanka 9/1
West Indies 9/1
New Zealand 16/1
Pakistan 18/1

Will Smith is exclusively represented by Total Sport Promotions.