The Quarter Finals

If one was to apply common sense, logic and as a last resort form to a discussion about the World Cup quarter finals that begin this evening, then the four winners are obvious: Pakistan, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka. In fact, those watching results closely, have been naming these four as semi finalists whether they were playing the tough games when the top eight played clashed or the games against lesser lights with sub continental left overs. These four are the stand out sides of the last month of preliminaries.

You don't have to be a sage to also know that any contest which has only two contestants battling for one spot in the next game can still go either way but here, in this set of quarter finals, it seems unlikely.

Tonight, Pakistan will hope to continue to mine the rich vein of form that they shown, including but not the best being their win over Australia in the last of the round matches. They withstood all that Lee offered and despite his four wickets, they won. There was great common sense in their batting which Mishba and Younis must take credit for. They are fine Test players and when calm is required, they play their best innings in ODIs. Afridi is a passionate and infectious captain who has mastered the art of bubbling this side along at just the right pace. The old reverse swinging yorker man Waqar has worked wonders as their coach - his most remarkable achievement being the bringing of the various factions together. Their spin attack is the most potent, Umar Gul would be the equal of Brett Lee as the best pace man on show and their fielding is so sharp that no single is run in complete safety. Against them, the West Indies provide an improving side with some fine athletes who are on the rise such as Kemar Roach and Keiron Pollard and of course loads of experience in the likes of Gale, Sarwan and Chanderpaul. They'll compete but not well enough to worry Pakistan.

The second match is the one Australians will have their eyes on and thanks to all of the off field issues involving Ponting, not necessarily because a loss here means the end of Australian domination of the World Cup. So much of the lead up has been predictable ... Mr Cricket assures us that all of the players are behind the Skipper, although what they are doing back there wasn't made clear ... Mitch Johnson is going to attack Virender Sehwag's rib cage (good luck with that Mitch) ... the coach claims India will be the side under pressure in front of 54 000 screaming fans, 99.9% of them in Indian blue (can't see it myself). India have been sketchy but less so than the Australians. They have the better bowling attack - Lee accepted - and as good as Watson and Haddin have been, Ponting is in the doldrums and Clarke has been good but not great. Great wins these matches and his greatest won't come until the substantial shadow of Ponting has finally stepped out of the spotlight. India, by comparison, have a very potent and dangerous top four who will tear an unbalanced and inappropriate Australian attack. If Australia was concerned at the runs Kenya and Canada made against them, then India's top end will terrorise them. Its true that the Indian line up has collapsed several time but only after they already had banked a fortune in runs.

South Africa are the form team and they will crush New Zealand. Unlike Australia, who share some handy pace resources, although not in the class of Steyn and Morkel, South Africa have spinners who have taken swags of wickets. Robin Petersen and Imran Tahir have both had turns opening the bowling with their bewitching spin and their success and the confident South African batting from one to six makes them very much the side to beat. New Zealand have struggled with injuries and their easy capitulation to Australia is the form guide here. South Africa will romp into the semis.

The final match is the hardest to predict. It shouldn't be. Sri Lanka are a close second to Graeme Smith's men on form and if it were that alone, expecting them to win would be easy. However, against them are the completely split personalities of England, the only side to topple South Africa and also tieing with India but losing twice when wins should have been completely assured. Who will forget the jig Ireland danced over their reputations? If Strauss fires to back up the dependable Trott and Graham Swann can find another miracle in his bag of magic tricks, England could beat the Sri Lankans ... but in Colombo? Its hard to see England being able to lift of the canvas again and if any batsman hand out an ugly beating to Swann, Sangakkara can. England haven't enjoy playing spin in this event and Sri Lanka have three of the best, including that man with the bulging eyes and the impossible action who has many times wrapped English batsmen in webs that have them tripping over themselves.

My winners would be Pakistan, India, South Africa and Sri Lanka, with England being my sleeping dragon.