theme not to be

Marlon Samuels you bloody clown. You just called time on one of the greatest careers of all time. You foolish, foolish man.
Adios, Brian Charles.

what a pass

! moment: We here have decided to try and jot down moments we see during this wonderful tournament. Here's another one.

Vusi Sibanda's catch yesterday. Gayle nicks it, it takes a deflection from Taylor , just as Sibanda at first slip is moving to his right. The keeper gets a hand, it shoots towards Sibanda's left and he catches in an very unlikely direction shift of his body. An assist from Taylor, Michael Holding called it- hardly, its lucky they got it. It happened in the match against Ireland too, but this was a mite more...watchable.

Also, anyone see the 3rd umpire referral from Aleem Dar during the Indian innings yesterday? A stumping appeal was sent up to the 3rd umpire despite it being a called no ball by the umpire. Yes, you can't be stumped off a no-ball, so, er... why the referral? We is bemused.

Harmy's back. not.

One of Sony's spots for the World Cup features none other than Steve Harmison. Yes, the same one who retired from ODIs a couple of months ago.
I am amazed.

discount? absolutely.

Starhub is the local cable service. Those of us crazy enough to do so, pay a sizeable S$26/month to watch cricket on the so-called Cricket Channel, which basically obtains the feeds of different rights holders and shows us a lot of matches from around the world. So one was waiting to see if their World Cup coverage would be priced, as some expected, extortionately.

Now some points about this:

- The mailer loudly shouted “Who will be the champion batting team of the world?” (er, its cricket, not The Batting Game.)
- The World cup would be available on two PPV channels for a cool S$100 for all the matches. “Not too bad”, one thinks. After all, 2 months of the Cricket channel would be $52, so this was basically double. Also:
- Current 'cricket channel' subscribers would get a 30% discount. Which means I would pay only $70, not much more than the usual amount I fork out.

- When I called, I was told that I would be given the 30% discount only if I continued my subscription to the Cricket Channel during the World Cup.
“But there will be no cricket on the cricket channel during that time”, I protested.
“I’m sorry sir, then you can take the World Cup PPV for 100, like any other customer.”
It failed to make a difference to them that their ‘discount’, would make me effectively pay about 125 during the WC. So I, as a ‘faithful cricket subscriber’ would be paying more than the average Joe, Jatin or Jhoolan.
- To cut a long- and infuriating- story short, I asked to be called back by a manager or something. To be fair, they were prompt enough to do so in a few hours, and offered me, instead, a 15% discount. So I am now paying 85. But, I politely told them they are misleading and misinforming their customers.
“yes, sir, I understand where you are coming from… but that’s all I can offer.”

And to think, these matches will run broadly from 9pm to 6am our time! How much will one be able to see? What about work???

add: apparently there's also a complaint letter in Monday's Straits Times in the Forum section. Lets wait and see if that yields anything.

quotable

Hussey on their losses, from Cricinfo quotes:

"I actually don't think we did too badly with the ball and in the field."

...and, from HT cricket:

Australian captain Michael Hussey has said Australia's drubbing at the hands of New Zealand was due to bowlers' failing to make breakthrough and not because of excess workload.

Hmmm.

oh, kasper

Kasper's getting smarter with age:

"My theory is that every time a batsman plays and misses he should be asked to take off one piece of protective clothing of the bowler's choice."

Sure, then maybe every two no-balls or wides bowled, bowlers can bowl with their wrong hand next delivery. Or if Kasper likes, they could take off one item of clothing at a time.

wake up!

Remember the story about Sehwag being held by the collar by John Wright once, when he'd just come back in dismissed off a rash shot? I wonder what would have happened if he had walked back in after today's dismissal. Hats off to Sangakarra, but that was unforgivable from Viru. Wake up!

That was a thrilling display of typical Yuvi batting, by the way.

SA squad?

A quick question thats been bothering me- where is South Africa's team for the World Cup? I can't seem to see it announced anywhere...?

edit: I have eventually found this. Wasn't the deadline yesterday ( I mean, the 14th- this team was announced on thursday, the 15th) ?

er...

come again?

Apart from the security, Bevan [representative of the England Players Association] was also concerned about England players having enough things to do while in Pakistan, the report added. The source was cited as saying that Bevan was "assured by the PCB that there was plenty to do for the English players like playing golf even at smaller centers like Multan and Faisalabad."

(stresses mine)
Am I missing something, or is this a bit ridiculous? What happened to exploring a new country, imbibing a different culture, or simply warming up for the next match?

read the original piece here in The News