Cops are still treating Bob Woolmer’s death as suspicious. I hope there wasn’t anything sinister involved.
Just got this in a text - it’s a bit sick but make up your own mind.
''The Pakistan government has this morning announced that cricket will no longer be the nation’s national sport after their shock World Cup exit at the hands of Ireland. Though no final decision has been made on what sport will replace cricket it is believed that ‘bob slaying’ is a favoured passtime for many of the cricket fraternity in the country.
brilliant!
The runners and riders for the Super Eights
Sri Lanka are the form team and Australia look dangerous, but the World Cup remains tantalisingly open.
Andy Bull
March 26, 2007 4:10 PM
Australia odds: 6-4
Top run scorer: Ricky Ponting 227
Top bowler: Brad Hogg: eight wickets @ 13
The favourites made an ominously quiet start to the tournament. While the hype and attention was fixed elsewhere they hammered Scotland and the Netherlands. The results were so unsurprising that they attracted little interest, but the size of the margins (203 runs and 229 runs respectively) meant that those looking for signs of weakness were disappointed. Only Mike Hussey has been attracting raised eyebrows for his lack of form, with a measly 11 runs so far, but then he hasn’t really been needed yet. The competition began in earnest with the third group game against South Africa on Saturday. Australia may have won it by 83 runs, but South Africa ruthlessly exposed what many suspected - that the Australian bowling attack is distinctly vulnerable. Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers put on 160 for the first wicket off just 20 overs. The Aussies are prone to leaking runs, but they rely on their batting and fielding to compensate for that. Against South Africa, the run-out of de Villiers from long leg by Shane Watson and the brutal batting of Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke did just that. They’re not quite the shoo-in that most people seem to make them, however.
South Africa 9-2
Top run scorer: Graeme Smith 232
Top bowler: Andrew Hall: six wickets @ 20
South Africa need to win their next game, against Sri Lanka on Sunday, to take the annual prize-money for holding the No1 spot in the ICC world rankings on 1 April. But that will mean nothing though if they don’t come away from the Caribbean with the big one. And if that is going to happen they, like Australia, will be depending on their batsmen to compensate for the comparative weakness of their bowling. With five right-arm medium to medium-fast bowlers in their side and only the pace and bounce of Makhaya Ntini and Graeme Smith’s part-time off spin to provide variation, they will suffer when batsmen get on top of them. The onslaught launched by Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist was calculated to take advantage of what had been the great strength of the Proteas’ attack - consistency of line and length. None of that seemed to be a problem when their batsmen were busy carving up the Netherlands and Scotland, but questions will abound over the ability of their bowlers to make headway against the best batting teams.
Sri Lanka 9-2
Top run scorer: Chamara Silva 166
Top bowler: Lasith Malinga: seven wickets @ 10
With Australia and South Africa having done a number on each other’s bowling attacks, Sri Lanka are the team who go into the Super Eights in the best form. Their tag of ‘dark horses’ always seemed a little harsh for a team who won 5-0 in England last summer, and after comprehensive wins in all three of their group games it has been replaced with a rightful position among the favourites. They have a better balance to their team than any other side in the Super Eights, and it has showed. They battered Bermuda and then thrashed Bangladesh before knocking out India. They’ve scored seven fifties as well and one century, and all four of their frontline bowlers are averaging below 20 with the ball. Lasith Malinga provides pace, Chaminda Vaas and Farveez Maharoof add accuracy and movement and Muttiah Muralitharan, who was majestic against India, is as destructive as ever.
New Zealand 11-2
Top run scorer: Scott Styris 178
Top bowler: Daniel Vettori: five wickets @ 31
After an unspectacular first three games the Kiwis are in a similar position as when they started the tournament: they’re clearly capable of making the semi-finals and yet it’s difficult to see them going further than that. More than any other of these teams they are suffering with injuries. Lou Vincent and Daryl Tuffey have both had to leave the squad due to injury, star batsman Ross Taylor is waiting on a tweaked hamstring while back-up bowler Mark Gillespie is yet to play a game because of a damaged shoulder. In Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond they still have the bowling firepower to make an impression on the best teams but somehow they still seem to add up to less than the sum of their parts.
West Indies 11-2
Top run scorer: S Chanderpaul 142
Top bowler: Dwayne Bravo: five wickets @ 15
An utterly competent start to the tournament has done little to boost the Windies’ odds. The victory against Pakistan was devalued by Ireland’s emulation of the feat. Subsequent victories against Ireland and Zimbabwe were treated as routine, even mundane. The batting has plenty of menace and the bowling places an emphasis on economy. That, in combination with increasingly excited home crowds, could be enough to surprise a few of the more fancied teams.
England 12-1
Top run scorer: Ed Joyce 141
Top bowler: James Anderson: five wickets @ 21
England have surprised nobody with a thoroughly mediocre campaign so far. Having lost emphatically to New Zealand they made heavy weather of beating Canada and rounded things up with an adequate performance against Kenya. While a side containing the world’s top-ranked one-day batsman in Kevin Pietersen can’t be dismissed, it will take a turnaround of CB Series proportions to get England into the semi-finals. Uncertainty over the best XI persists, with Jamie Dalrymple, Saj Mahmood, Ravi Bopara and Liam Plunkett competing for two spots. If the ball swings, England have a good team. Otherwise they struggle.
Bangladesh 50-1
Top run scorer: Saqibul Hasan 83
Top bowler: Mashrafe Mortaza: six wickets @ 18
Having turned in one brilliant performance against India, Bangladesh suddenly had everyone thinking that they may be in with a real chance of making the semi-finals. A crushing defeat to Sri Lanka quickly reminded everyone that this team, while capable of some spectacular cricket, is still very inexperienced. Saqibul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahmin and Tamim Iqbal are all 20 or younger, yet each has played some startlingly good innings at times. Mashrafe Mortaza and Syed Rasel are a talented pair of fast bowlers but the team comes into its own on turning pitches when their trio of excellent left-arm-spinners become potential match-winners.
Ireland 300-1
Top run scorer: Jeremy Bray 159
Top bowler: Kyle McCallan: five wickets @ 20
Well, no one expected this, did they? Even Ireland’s coach had to rearrange his holiday plans after his team made it through to the Super Eights by tying with Zimbabwe and beating Pakistan. While they have plenty of grit in their batting, the responsibility for actually scoring runs has fallen on Jeremy Bray and Niall O’Brien. The bowling has been more of a revelation, typified by tight lines and a refusal to concede extras. They have five bowlers averaging under 30, and while at times they will be brutally exposed in the Super Eights, expect them to do OK when the pitch suits.
Hayden’s starting to cane the Windies attack around now in the last few overs.
Just took 19 from a Taylor over there. He took 18 balls to get off the mark earlier but he’s on the rampage now.
Windies will have a 300+ target to chase so this’ll be good.
Was watching the cricket earlier on today. An absolute joy to watch Brian Charles Lara. He may well be 37 but what class the man still has. Some of his shotmaking was a joy to behold. Legend.
Super win for Bangladesh against South Africa yesterday. Really opens up the competition and makes a mockery of those claiming the competition has been diminished by the presence of “minnows” in the Super 8.
Just shows how quickly a team can progress once they get test status. Unfortunately all the commentary in England is still all about how Ireland and Bangladesh are devaluing the competition - they’re happy with their closed shop and don’t want Ireland or Kenya or anyone to be a part of it.
I saw Mark Nicholas’ article in the Telegraph the other day and he was saying how it’s a disgrace that India, with their hundreds of thousands of supporters, are not involved in the Super 8s. Does he not realise sport is about competition, winning and losing, and if you’re not good enough then you go home? It’s the equivalent of Brazil being elininated early in the Soccer World Cup and commentators wanting the rules changed to get them back in it. Ridiculous stuff.
Aussies have done really well to pull this game back after England looked like getting 330 plus. Australia really came back at them, stifling the run rate and then picking up runs to get them all out for 247.
Still a decent score to have to chase but far more managable than it looked at one stage.
Decent performance so far from England by the looks of things but I presume it’s too little too late. The defeat against Sri Lanka was crucial but they’re the only team left capable of upsetting the running order for the semi-finals.
England/South Africa next Tuesday should be the key game now to see who joins Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the last 4.
Bangladesh were excellent on the slow, low, spinning pitch in Guyana, similar to pitches they’re used to at home, but this one in Barbados is full of pace and bounce and Mahmood, Flintoff and Anderson have destroyed them early doors.
Have SAfrica played Bangladesh yet?
Lost to them at the weekend.
Read back over this thread - you posted about it!
Ah yeah so I did. I couldn’t remember. In that case England have a pretty decent chance of overhauling the Africans I suppose.
South Africa were sloppy last night. Once they knew the Windies couldn’t chase their 350 odd they used all their back up bowlers and the Windies crept up to near 300. It adversely affected their net run rate and so England/SA is the big one now.
Do England play the Windies before or afterwards?
Apologies, was just wearing my keeper gloves there as part of my big match build up and was unable to type.
Think England/Windies is this weekend but no definite on that.
Distinctly unimpressive win for England last night - falling to 110-6 before getting it together to surpass the 147 needed for a win. That will do little for the confidence ahead of the South African game.
Fooking English fooks.
I gave up watching the England game, I was certain it was a lost cause. How they managed to win it is unbelievable.