Srilanka

With the flagship tournament the Cricket World Cup 2019 on the near horizon, it is time to look at the teams that will be competing for cricket's top prize this English summer.

OLDEST SQUAD

While there isn't much clarity on how the side will line up, Sri Lanka's contingent of experienced older figures could be vital in ushering them past the group stages. With an average age of 29.9, they are the oldest squad competing for the trophy in this edition. Seasoned pacers Lasith Malinga, 35, and Suranga Lakmal, 32, look likely to spearhead the bowling attack. Former captain Angelo Mathews, 31, was destined for a return after the side's poor 50-over form in the absence of the talismanic all-rounder, and there's a call-up for Jeevan Mendis too. The 36-year-old has not played ODI cricket since 2015, but an extra wise head in the dressing room might be key to revitalising fortunes for the 1996 winners.

South Africa, and hosts England aren't too far behind, with average squad ages of 29.5, while Australia are just marginally younger at 29.4. All three nations possess more settled sides that have achieved good things of late in the ODI format, with a good balance of sprightly young stars alongside wily veterans.

The Proteas possess the tournament's oldest player, 40-year-old leg-spinner Imran Tahir, whose exuberance and manic celebrations are not quite reflective of his age.

YOUNGEST SQUAD

The youngest squad at this summer's Cricket World Cup is that of Pakistan, where the average age is 27.3, followed closely by Afghanistan (27.4). Pakistan look set to unleash promising 19-year-old quicks Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Hasnain on the world's biggest stage, while Afghanistan will look to exploit their youthful options with the two-pronged spin attack of 20-year-old Rashid Khan, the No.3-ranked bowler on the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Bowling Rankings, and fellow tweaker Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who at 18, is the youngest player at the tournament.

MOST CAPPED

Although age might signal ample cricketing experience, it needn't necessarily have come at the international level. India have the fourth youngest side in the tournament, but also the most capped squad, with a combined total of 1573 appearances, eclipsing the second-most capped team, Bangladesh, by a margin of 274. Among India's seniors are MS Dhoni, who has played 341 ODIs, and has still remarkably managed to maintain a batting average of 50.72. Virat Kohli, the captain and No.1-ranked batsman on the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Batting Rankings, has 227 appearances to his name, and Rohit Sharma, ranked No.2, has 206 caps, forming a frightening combination.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, will look to draw on their experience as they push for their first World Cup title. Mashrafe Mortaza (205 caps), Shakib Al Hasan (195 caps), Mushfiqur Rahim (201 caps), and Tamim Iqbal (189 caps), will know that this is probably their final shot at achieving greatness together. Mushfiqur recently said that &having most experienced players in the team, this is the strongest World Cup team that Bangladesh have ever had,& and he might just be right.

MOST HUNDREDS

India have little to no competition here. With a team tally of 90, and a whopping 41 of those belonging to Kohli, India's capacity for mammoth innings will certainly be of concern to their opposition. Rohit (22), Shikhar Dhawan (16), and Dhoni (10), also have multiple tons under their belts, but over-reliance on these veterans could be a pitfall.

Although New Zealand, South Africa and India top England with their tally of centuries, it is the host nation that boasts the most centurions. Seven England players have reached three figures in ODIs, compared to five each for India, South Africa and New Zealand, which is an indication of their strong batting depth. Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are both lacking in the century department, with 12 apiece; West Indies& Chris Gayle alone has more three-figure scores (25) in ODIs than the two nations combined. That being said, Afghanistan only played their first ODI in 2009.

MOST WICKETS

Taking wickets on hard, high-scoring tracks can be difficult, but English conditions might just give hope to those who are more skilled at getting the ball to nip around, and we have seen many a swing bowler achieve great successes on English shores.

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka's squads sit atop the leaderboards for ODI wickets, with 829 and 815 respectively, and the onus will fall on the side's veteran seamers. Mortaza, with 259 scalps in the format, will lead the line for Bangladesh, whilst Malinga, who has the most ODI wickets among all players in the tournament, with 322 scalps, still carries much of Sri Lanka's bowling weight on his 35-year-old shoulders. Aaron Finch's Australia have the least ODI wickets, with 495. Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc has 145 of those, while fellow fast bowlers Jhye Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jason Behrendorff are all relatively inexperienced at the top level. Nathan Lyon is no stranger to the international arena, but exciting young leg-spinner Adam Zampa might be primed to undertake the Aussies& main spinning role.

BHUBANESWAR, India/ DHAKA (Reuters) - A cyclone barrelled into eastern India on Friday, damaging houses in the tourist town of Puri and wounding 160 people after a million people were moved into storm shelters.A woman carries pitchers next to uprooted trees and a fallen signboard following Cyclone Fani in Khordha district in the eastern state of Odisha,Trees were uprooted, power and telecom lines snapped as Tropical Cyclone Fani, the strongest storm to hit India in five years, swept ashore the eastern state of Odisha.

Bangladesh, which lies further up the path of Tropical Cyclone Fani, ordered the evacuation of 2.1 million people before the storm arrives on Saturday.Indian government spokesman Sitanshu Kar said there were no reports of deaths but 160 people were believed injured.

Bangladeshjunior disaster minister Enamur Rahman said 56 thousand volunteers were racing to move millions out of the stormpath.Fani spent days building up power in the northern reaches of the Bay of Bengal before it struck the coast of Odisha at around 8 a.m., the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Howling winds gusting up to 200 kph (124 mph) whipsawed trees, uprooting scores, and driving rain impacted visibility, while streets were deserted in the state capital Bhubaneswar and Puri.&Damage in Puri is extensive, power supply, telephone lines disrupted,& OdishaSpecial Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi told Reuters, referring to the seaside Hindu temple town that is popular with pilgrims and was directly in the stormpath.

Cyclone tracker Tropical Storm Risk put Fani as a powerful category four storm on a scale of one to five. The IMD said the storm was now weakening.

Close to 60 km (37 miles) inland, winds brought down electricity poles in Bhubaneswar, where authorities had ordered the airport to stay closed. Schools and colleges in Odisha were also shut. A major hospital in the city suffered extensive structural damage but all patients and staff were safe, authorities said.

&PANIC SITUATION&&It was a massive cyclone, like many others our house is flooded. Boundary walls of houses around us have collapsed, trees have been uprooted. It is a panic situation,& Anuradha Mohanty, a Bhubaneswar resident, told Reuters.

People packed into shelters, spreading mats to wait out the storm, television and social media showed.

More than 600 pregnant women were shifted into safe locations, with nearly 500 ambulances on standby. Some 242 medical institutions had been provided with power back-up, government authorities said.

Heavy rains lashed the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka and a few coastal districts of the country. Seaports have been ordered shut, a government official said.

The storm is not expected to touch the countrysoutheastern district of CoxBazar where nearly a million Rohingya Muslims are sheltered.

Plants of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, the countrytop refiner, and power producer NTPC Ltd are operating normal in Odisha.

Indiacyclone season can last from April to December, when severe storms batter coastal cities and cause widespread deaths and damage to crops and property in both India and neighbouring Bangladesh.

But recent technological advances have helped meteorologists predict weather patterns more accurately and prepare.

Slideshow (16 Images)A super-cyclone battered the coast of Odisha for 30 hours in 1999, killing 10,000 people. In 2013, a mass evacuation of nearly a million people likely saved thousands of lives.

Cyclones typically quickly lose power as they move inland.