Marcus Trescothick column

South Africa are my tip to win the Twenty20 World Cup, but I believe England have a definite chance.

In fact, I think the competition is wide open and any one of half-a-dozen countries could win it. The reason I am going for South Africa is that they have some very powerful batsmen, but also a couple of high-class spinners in Johan Botha and Roelof van der Merwe.

Look out for left-armer van der Merwe, who my Somerset CCC team-mate Charl Willoughby rates highly and was the leading wicket-taker in South African domestic cricket last winter. He also smacks it with the bat.

Botha has had a few problems with his action, but he and van der Merwe bowled well in the warm-up win over Pakistan at Trent Bridge and I think spin could have a big say in the outcome of the tournament.

Most of the big teams have formidable batting line-ups, but South Africa wouldn't want to swap Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs and AB de Villiers. They will take some beating.

Holders India will be a big threat to anyone and, of course, many will fancy Australia, although I don't think they are the most consistent of Twenty20 teams.

England must set out to be really positive, particularly in the power-play overs at the start of their innings, because that is when the foundation for a winning total can be set.

It takes confidence to hit over the in-field and Ravi Bopari is high on it, having done really well in Test and one-day cricket recently. I am very excited by him and feel he could be a really key player in taking England forward.

He has got the game to go over the top or through the field and can go leg-side or off-side, so he is going to be very tough to bowl at.

Kevin Pietersen could be the difference between England struggling and winning the competition. He doesn't have the best of records in Twenty20, but he is a big-occasion player with fantastic ability.

I'm more concerned about our bowling than the batting. Some of the England attack won't have played a huge amount of Twenty20 cricket and I think that in our domestic game bowlers in general are still working out the best methods to curb scoring.

It's all about having the correct plans in place for different stages of the game. I'm talking about things like the right time to be bowling yorkers and when to make use of slower balls.

James Anderson is a nailed-on choice in Twenty20 for me and Stuart Broad must play for his all-round ability, although I don't think he has done that well in 20-over games. What worried me about those six sixes India's Youvraj Singh hit off a Broad over in the last World Cup was that someone like Freddie Flintoff would have been able to bang in two yorkers when he needed them.

Our own Alfonso Thomas at Somerset has similar ability and it is a huge asset when the ball is flying everywhere. I'm not sure Broad has that control as yet.

Spin has become an increasingly effective weapon in our domestic competition, so I can see Graeme Swann being very important to England.

James Foster has been the best wicketkeeper in domestic cricket for a couple of years and fully deserves his chance in the tournament.

He is brilliant standing up to the stumps and the closest we have had to Jack Russell in that respect since Jack retired. I don't think it is overstating it to say that Foster could win us a game with the gloves.

Jack used to keep the pressure on batsmen so much that he made them commit errors. Foster can do the same and is capable of dismissing a key player with a brilliant catch standing up to the seamers.

I think home advantage can be quite important to England. Thinking back to the ICC Champions Trophy held here in 2004, knowing what the pitches were going to do was a great help in our reaching the final.

We should have won that competition, but ended up losing to the West Indies. Having the crowd behind you also gives you an extra edge and England have to use such factors in a tournament where small details can make a big difference.

From my experience in 2004, I believe it's important to win a big game early on. England should have no difficulty in beating Netherlands tomorrow, but that won't do much for them.

Pakistan on Sunday is a really tough early fixture. Win that one and it will spread such confidence throughout the squad. Lose it and there will be question marks.

I hope the lesser teams like Ireland and Scotland can enjoy the experience, but the harsh truth is that they are likely to be on the receiving end of a pasting or two. They haven't found it easy in domestic one-day competitions, so this is going to be very hard work.

Whatever the outcome, it is great that such a prestigious sporting event is being held in England. We had the World Cup in 1999 and the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004, but this could be even bigger in terms of the massive worldwide interest there is in Twenty20 cricket.

Millions of people will be watching on TV in a lot of countries so for our own cricketing public to get the opportunity to see games live is hugely exciting.

Interview: Richard Latham