ICC World Cup 2019: 3 teams that can defeat hosts England

The World Cup is now less than 6 months away, and all the teams have started practicing hard ahead of the much-awaited cricket extravaganza.

Now there's no doubt that England will start the tournament as one of the favorites, because not only are they the hosts of the tournament, but they are also the No. 1 ODI team in the world currently.

They boast of some of the best ODI players of the modern era in Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes, to name just a few. And with the players having the advantage of home conditions, many are expecting them to lead England to their first ever cricket World Cup triumph.

However, this time the format of the World Cup has been altered and all teams will collide with each other at least once in the tournament next year. And with England set to battle the other top 9 teams of the cricket world, there are high chances that they might to lose to these 3 opponents:

#1 South Africa

South Africa recently dominated Australia in their One-day series

South Africa started the year on a losing note against India, but have improved since then and have won multiple series in 2018. Despite the retirement of their talismanic batisman AB de Villiers, the team has performed well under Faf du Plessis.

The Proteas have big names like Dale Steyn, Du Plessis himself, Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock and David Miller in their ranks along with the young guns in Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and others.

Their pace battery could trouble the English batsman in their own home conditions. And the South African batsmen have a lot of experience of playing in those conditions too, which could help their team win their match against England.

#2 Bangladesh

Bangladesh v England - 2nd One Day International

Bangladesh have defeated England in their last two World Cup matches. They upset the mighty English side by two wickets at Chittagong in 2011, and also conquered Eoin Morgan's men four years later at Adelaide, by 15 runs, to book their maiden quarterfinal berth in World Cup history.

Given the bowling talent this Bangladeshi unit has, it can easily be labelled as the second best Asian cricket team after India. They had also defeated the likes of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan on their way to the Asia Cup final this year.

Bangladesh also have experienced batsmen in Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim who were a part of the squad which reached the 2017 Champions Trophy semifinals.

The two sides will lock horns once again on 8th June at Cardiff, and Bangladesh would be keen to complete a hat-trick of wins over England in the World Cup.

#3 India

England v India - 1st ODI: Royal London One-Day Series

India and England recently played an ODI series in England which saw the home team winning the 3-match series by a margin of 2-1. Virat Kohli's men tried their best but could not defeat the English team in their own backyard.

The two sides played a tied game in their last World Cup match, and will once again lock horns on 30th June 2019 at Edgbaston.

With Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan in the batting order and Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the bowling attack, the Indian team will be the favorites heading into their match against England.

The Indian team is currently one of the most balanced in the world, and can defeat any cricket team on any given day. Thus, they have the highest chance to hand the hosts a defeat in the World Cup next year.

Which team do you think will defeat England in the 2019 World Cup? Share your views in the comments box below.