In amongst all the Brexit and Euro election shenanigans, it’s worth noting that by this time next week England and South Africa will have completed the first match of the CWC 2019 at The Oval.

Great opening game, with two solid teams. Viral Kohli was commenting today that he thinks games might be quite tight as the first round progresses but I fully expect England to go all out for a signature victory to set the tone.

Their challenge will be a very high-performing SAF bowling unit with strength at bat as well. Should be a cracker.

As for the tournament itself, clearly England, South Africa, India and Australia are the favourites for the semifinals. I expect Pakistan to disrupt things by showing up against one of the top four but not necessarily dominating the second-tier teams. New Zealand seem to be the solid outsider bet, good individual players permeating the team and a good team spirit. I’ve grown to really like the Windies over the last couple of years, they have some outstanding young talent. And Afghanistan will pull out a surprise or two, I suspect. They play with a lot of passion and no small amount of skill.

So, overall, I think the winner will be England or Australia. A lot depends for Australia on th form of Smith and Warner and how they integrate into the side. If it works they have th batting and bowling to compete. I noticed England have a tricky conclusion to the group stage - after SAF they play the lower-rated teams and finish off with Australia, India and NZ. Could end up being interesting!

I would love to hear anyone else’s predictions for the winners or semifinalists and look forward to what should be a great tournament and hopefully some great commentary on here.