It's effigy time.
Green Day
Green Side 1 beats Green Side 2 on a green track leaving Green Side 2 feeling green and Green Side 1 drinking green beer to celebrate. Slainte.
Four things: one, if you were going to put a handful of magic beans on any one match in any cricket tournament, PuckyStan would feature prominently in your calculations; two, Ireland - I.R.E.
L.A.N.
D Urrlund! Urlund! to the chanting Blarney Army - couldn't have fielded any better, pulling in a swag of CCs; three, over No.
30 was a laugh: W, 0, Wk, W, W, 0, 0, Wk, 1; and four, the last few runs of Urlund's chase seemed to take forever.
Ingladesh
In the day's lesser upset the Bangers mashed India by 5 wickets. Not much more to say than:
Indian fans celebrate the loss in traditional fashion.
Posted by Tony on Sunday, March 18, 2007 at | On Vindi's top-scoring extras for 'Stan. I laughed when I saw Urlund bowled 23 wides and still won. If we'd bowled 23 wides, there's be rioting in the streets of Sydlamabad or Membai.
So, this morning, at the risk of floging a dead horse, who would get punched first in a bar in India - Sunil Gavaskar or A.N. Ozzie?
ps 23 wides made me think nostalgically of SK Warne...
Flogging, flogging...
mea culpa
It's probably the first time the Pakistani's haven't been corrupt in ten years and now everyone will think they threw the game.
Well, if A.N.
Aussie was actually G.S.Chappell, then my dough's on Chappell to cop any kind of floging, but I take your point.
Throwing games requires a modicum of skill to hide the crime. Ergo, Pakistan can't have chucked it; they were too bad.
Those last few Irish runs were pretty tense.
I was on the edge of my seat and laughing maniacally as they edged closer. The six to finish - icing.
Will the BCCI start up their own tournament again?
At least they are guaranteed to make the semis there.
Imagine the reaction if Greg Chappell had ordered the Indians to bowl underarm. The sad thing is that this will be used as justification for Bangladesh continuing to have test status, which they don't really deserve.
But yes, the Irish victory was sweet. And what a fitting end to the career of Inzi the potato. If only Darrell Hair had been officiating, that would truly have been icing on the cake.
The only way the BCCI could guarantee India make the semis is to limit the number of teams to 4. Any more and the team would find a way to balls things up and miss out.
On paper here they should still be a chance, but logic says Straya, Yarprica, Windia, Engerland, UnZud and the Shrees will fight for the last 4.
Anyone for a Super 8 prediction?
Kenya (C) Kenya beating England would be piss funny although it's not likely to happen.
Am I reading things right?
Does each side play SIX Super 8 matches and not seven? The tournament already goes for the best part of five years. What's another round in this protracted scheme of things?
I've worked out what's wrong with Inzi Potato - his beard.
It might have worked for The Batsman Formerly Known as Yousuf Youhanna, but it's completely sapped any tiny remnant of animation Potato had left.
Tony, as in previous World Cups the game played in round one counts towards the superflous round to follow.
(Why they couldn't have just put the teams that won through into two groups of four is beyond me, but anyway).
Theoretically this is to add some, otherwise absent, meaning to games in the earlier round instead of being merely a couple of weeks of minnow bashing. I love when plans work out, don't you?
B could still be interesting. Likely Sri and Ban, but if India get their stuff together it may come down to run-rates. Particularly if Sri Lanka also lose to the Bangles.
It isn't inconceivable, given they seem to have drafted in the U19 side that caned everyone in sight a couple of years ago.
C: NZ are looking good, and so many people are tipping Kenya they almost start as favourites against England. We can hope, but I doubt it.
D: WI and probably Ireland, unless Pakistan contrive to lose to Zimbabwe too. The West Indies are hardly shining beacons of cricketing glory either, but home advantage should tell, and the Zimbos are barely toddlers (and not in a good way like Bangladesh).
So, for the semis, Aus, SAf, NZ, and WI, or maybe Sri Lanka.
England, even if they do make it past Kenya, are still rubbish, and in any case, they've lost the first of their seven games, which is hardly a good start.
Actually, scratch some of that. Bangladesh U/19 seem to have been caning unimpressive associate nations while Zimbabwe have been losing at a respectably higher level.
Lots of familiar names though. Both of them seem to have a knack of producing fluent, yet brainless strokemakers.
Posted by on March 18, 2007 at
Okay Oz got 358 against Netherlands.
Par score, really.
Bloody hell, speaking of burning effigies, Bob Woolmer's dead! Found unconscious in a pool of his own vomit in his hotel room.
No-one's actually said that his death was suspicious, but you'd have to wonder about the circumstances!!
Poor guy either way - a good coach that had to put up with a lot of shit that various of his colleagues didn't.
Match fixing, Cronjegate, ball-tampering, test forfeits, doping, you name it! And now he's dead after being on the wrong end of one of the biggest upsets in cricket history.
Sensitive people, those Pakistanis.
just more proof (following their standover and blackmail tactics against Hair) that Pakistani cricket is one sick islamic fundementalist/ gangsta puppy.
It's lucky I didn't have a pop at Woolmer yesterday, effigy wise. That would have turned out to be a dire case of poor timing.
Inzamam Ul-Haq - better timing than Dean Jones AND Ian Healy.
I too originally thought Woolmer's death must have been suspicious, but it's not exactly . Looks like March is a bad time for ex-England Test cricketers-turned-managers with dicky hearts to be visiting the West Indies.
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