Out of this world!

Sky Sports' experts run the rule over the best players in the universe as the World Twenty20 blasts off!

It's lift-off for the best Twenty20 sides in the universe

The summer blasts off with the launch of the ICC World Twenty20 - and you can follow every blow exclusively live on Sky Sports. Over the next three weeks the cream of the world's cricketing talent will gather at Trent Bridge, the Oval and Lord's to thrash out who is the undisputed king of the 20-over game. And, of course, Sky Sports will bring you every six blitz, free-hit and Super Over as the tournament unfolds. SKYSPORTS.COM: England have home advantage and plenty of momentum going into the tournament, while Paul Collingwood is talking up his side's chances. So how do you think England will fare?

Michael Atherton

Winning the tournament is a realistic aim for the players - especially with home advantage on their side. Rather than thinking of themselves as underdogs, they should believe they have every chance of becoming champions. That said, I don't think they will win it given there are other sides out there who appear far more capable. Luke Wright has the ability to score heavily and now that he has been paired with Ravi Bopara at the top of the order he must be given a chance because if one thing is for sure in Twenty20 cricket, you've got to go hard at the top of the order. But I am sceptical about whether Wright can perform consistently as an opener and that could be a problem.

Ian Ward

Based on Wednesday's more ruthless showing against the West Indies, England may well get a lot further than I thought! They should qualify for the Super Eights but will then need to step up two gears to perform against the real big guns. England did everything right at Lord's; they bowled well and had interesting plans that were well implemented but crucially when things weren't going well they weren't afraid to change things around and try something new. It's great to see Adil Rashid playing well because that will give England real confidence if they do decide to choose to play two spinners.

Nick Knight

I've always felt that Andrew Flintoff's injury has severely dented England's hopes. They will definitely miss his bowling in the middle overs and at the death so I can only put them as an outside-chance despite home advantage. I can't see them having the consistency to reach the semi-finals. Rashid has confused the selection issued for me because playing five front line bowlers - Anderson, Broad, Sidebottom, Swann and Rashid - is suddenly a realistic option, with Bopara and Collingwood filling in when needed. But that would mean leaving out Dimitri Mascarenhas, which will be a really tough decision.

David Lloyd

England mustn't get too weighed down by fear; they should just go out there and whack it. There was no theory to what Luke Wright did against the West Indies. He just hit it, he smacked it. I like that. People say he won't do this and he won't do that, but he is a joker in the pack. He might come off now and again but when he doesn't come off it means Kevin Pietersen's in nice and early. Why doesn't Pietersen open in Twenty20, many people ask? Well, if Wright gets out early he effectively will! Graham Napier can't get into this team; the clue to that with him is that, surprisingly, he's not in the first six for Essex! England have got to play absolutely out of their boots to get to the semi-finals. If they did, that would be a major surprise.

Nasser Hussain

I think England will do better than people expect, actually. I think they will continue the momentum of the good work they have done so far this summer; they've got some very talented cricketers in the side now like Bopara and Pietersen, Anderson, Collingwood just to name a few. But I think it is pushing it to say they will win it just because of the group they are in. If they qualify and they go into the South Africa, Australia, India group that will be hard work. I struggle to see them getting through that group by beating everyone. Can they beat those teams? Of course they can but who can tell on the day. The other group looks the easier to go through but I'd give England a decent chance to be honest.