World cup jinx and consitency

Jinx of losing in the Finals?

It certainly might appear so. In the history of world cup, except for 2 occasions, the team that loses in the finals has not had a chance to make it to even the semi-finals of the next edition of the tournament. The only sides that managed to break this trend were England (in '83 after having lost the '79 Finals to the mighty Windies) and Australia (in '99 after losing the '96 Finals)

So, this brings out the possibility that often, its the team that manages to keep its energy levels high and brings its "A" game to the field when it matters most. After all, World Cup is the ultimate test of limited overs skills (correction, it was generally accepted as the litmus test until the advent of t20)

But if the finalists from one edition fail to make it to the semi-finals of the next, it surely must mean one of 2 things

- Either the squads are very shallow and a few injuries lead to losses in matches and a general loss of form and confidence which translates to poor performance

- The teams are plain inconsistent and find it difficult to be able to maintain a consistent performance level over a sustained period of time.

Consistency is the name of the game

So, i came to the conclusion that in order to be successful, you need to have a deep squad and be very consistent. Of these 2 qualities, consistency trumps the other since we have seen on many occasions that strong squads don't necessarily win all the time.

We are all aware of the awesome consistency that the Aussies have displayed in this (among other) formats of the game.

- 4 World Cup victories
- 2 time finalists
- Missed out on the semi-finals on only 2 occasions - in '83 (they had lost the previous finals in '79) and '92 (where they were the main hosts, a fact I will dwell upon in greater detail later)

What many might have missed out on, is the consistency displayed by the Kiwis

- Semi-finalists in 4 out of the last 5 editions of the world cup from '92 to '07. Ofcourse, the semi-finals is a jinx that they must be hoping desparately to break.

New Zealand have never won in the semi-finals of a world-cup. Australia have never lost in the semi-finals of a world-cup!!!!

Funny, uh? :)