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.

Max? Min.

I am amazed, dejected, infuriated, pissed off, stunned and defeated by Max's coverage of the World Cup. It is well and truly appalling.

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.

encore!

!moment :
Dwayne Leverock, the most recognisable cricketer not previously recognisable to anyone except anyone, pulls of a stunner at slip. His giant frame somehow initiates bullet-time, and with great visions of Neo floating in his mind, he latches onto a ball his considerable frame would not have thought possible. But the true cinematic performance comes after, when the policeman's emotions overflow, where all that usually spreads is his body mass. He runs this way, then that. He wards off team mates with a style footballers would be proud of. He blows kisses to his adoring fans, knowing he might just have had the best moment in his international sporting career, ever.

Meanwhile, a 17 year old kid who just got a wicket off his forst ball of the match, sheds a few tears. The team smothers him, celebrating more like they had just taken the 10th wicket for 100 than the first for 5. But hey, who can grudge them that. Here's another thing to learn from the associates- unabashed joy in the game.

addendum: and here it is:

Pathetic

Obsession, fanatical following of a sport that’s just not a game, emotion about something that’s larger than the mundanities of middle class life…and passion. Of all the clichés about Indian cricket fans, the worst is the kind of shameful, and shameless, reactions that follow a loss. I don’t care how much the ‘team performance’ means to you (and I have my doubts about that anyway), and I couldn’t care less about how a win will elevate your otherwise boring or unfulfilling life (it does mine, too by the way)- but you do not have the right to behave like violent, mindless hooligans (video).

You call the loss pathetic? I think you’re pathetic.

St. Patrick's day

I did not particularly want Pakistan to lose, but which neutral doesn’t like a fairy tale like win for an underdog that’s showing oodles of spirit and fight? Despite everything, I fear 2 easy points loom ahead for all the six teams playing Ireland in the Super 8s. But- it if it was ‘just’ an upset I would have been ok with that. Pakistan getting knocked out of the World Cup is just plain….weird.

Kya, yaar.

…and Osman Saimuddin vents. I feel for him.

Oh, no...

A bunch of teenagers hammer India. For the proverbial Martian watching this, it would have seemed Bangladesh are the cricketing giants and India the almost-minnows. Despite some of the utterly hopeless performances dished out by India, I couldn’t help but be stunned at the way Bangladeshis turned up. A Spring in their step, aggressions and attitude brimming over, self belief in every action.

You’d think also that 190 was one of those clichéd neither here nor there scores, that on not-the-best of batting pitches would be a tricky task for a team that’s hardly won anything at a World Cup before. You’d be wrong, as most of us were. Tamim Iqbal looked at first (at least to me admittedly biased eyes) to be trying a little too much, and stuff beyond his depth. Soon he had the Indian bowlers not only on the backfoot, but tripping over themselves. Then Mushfiqur Rahim played with a panache almost unknown to any of his more ‘illustrious’ Indian counterparts today.

Eventually though, it was less about our bowling, a bit about how the top 4 flopped, but mostly about how unforgivable (and unfathomable) losing 5 wickets for 2 runs was. 157 for 4 to 159 for 9- I’m still reeling from that.

Mar 17

191 is not going to be that easy to defend, moderately promising pitch nothwithstanding.
aargh.

meanwhile, it a great St Patrick's day for the leprechaun army. Not so good for the pakistani brethren.

India Cann

Priceless.

"I can honestly say that we have a player called Lionel Cann," says Bermuda skipper Irving Romaine. "He loves India. He has named his child India. His biggest player is actually Tendulkar. Right now I'm hoping Tendulkar does not hit a catch to him because he will probably drop it to watch him bat."

If nothing else, the little stories that come out of these 'lesser-known' nations are worth their participation.

hat-tip: vishnu

track-shack

I find it quite hard to believe that this man, veritable royalty, was not invited to the Opening Ceremony in his homeland. Astonishing. Meanwhile, Andy Roberts, has a couple of blunt things for the Indians.

The man with an impassive face, gave a disturbing piece of news to the Indians: "Don't think the wickets here are going to be too slow, like the last time you guys visited," he said. But what he said just before he got up to leave was more disconcerting. "Enjoy it while it lasts guys, your team won't be here after the Super Eight gets over."

This whole pitch thing is quite interesting. There has been a fair bit of talk about the subcontinental teams feeling at home. Sure, the Caribbean pitches have slowed down considerably in recent years, but I still would nto liken them to subcontinental conditions. Moreover, there has been no reason to think that the relaid pitches - while not quite reverting to the hey days of quick tracks- will be slow or turning. If the first couple of games, especially the opening match are anything to go by, this won't be as much of a 'spinner' tournament as has been suggested.

World Cup Ponderings – life

Life is going to get very tricky. Watching matches through the night (app 9.30pm to 6am) is tough enough, but you would expect someone passionate enough about the game to , at the very least, attempt to do so. Add to that the minor technicality of going to work (presumably straight after, or a few hours later), and the dodgy-ness of it all becomes clearer. Even with a stoic acceptance of bleary eyes and blurry waking hours, the prospect is daunting. Life is going to get very tricky indeed.

I can’t wait.

This was written on Monday. Aforementioned work prevented me from even logging on since.

unningly staesthetic

Andrew Miller's mostly entertaining account of the Opening Ceremony also has this gem:

00.04GMT Brace yourselves. It's Percy Sonn. "The West Indies must rank as the most idyllic and stunningly aesthetic cricket-playing country in the world," announces the President of the ICC. Gosh, try saying "stunningly aesthetic" when you're drunk ...

Ah.

World Cup regulations-scheduling

The ICC decided some time ago to fine tune the World Cup schedule, specifically the Super 8 match-ups. A top seeded team in a group will be considered at the ‘#1’ team in that group, even if they are second on points. For example, if South Africa top group A, Australia will still be ‘A1’ for the purposes of figuring who is playing whom and when, in the Super8s. The only change to this will be if one of the ‘minnows’ makes it through. Then it will replace the team it has eliminated. (For example, Scotland will become A1 if they oust Australia. Ya, right).

The reasoning would seem sound- this will be a big help for the press, media in general, broadcasters, administrators and travelling fans to plan their schedules. For example- again, you’d think Australia will make it to the second stage, but now don’t have to wait to see where they stand in the group to know when and where they will play once they are through.

Yet, given that this change to the schedule (from its original generic one) has been made on the ICC site without them, apparently, offering any explicit reason, it will come across as predictive rather than practical; nonsensical rather than sensible. Also, shouldn’t this have been decided much, much earlier for it to fully serve the purposes mentioned above?

giving the finger

Jacob Oram goes Eklavya on us about the World Cup.

"If it means cutting the finger off, if that's the worse case scenario, if that's the last resort, I'll do that, there's no way I'm missing this."

update: ok then, ha ha.

Semi-prediction

What do you know. Someone is actually, definitively- if in passing- backing India to win the World Cup. I think most India supporters will be hoping rather than expecting; a neutral is far more likely to contemplate more…while another in the Guardian puts them through to the semis.
Also in the piece:

There are five survivors from the 1992 World Cup, four of which you can name at the drop of a helmet: Lara, Inzamam, Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya. To get the fifth you may need a Wisden in your anorak. Anderson Cummins played for West Indies in 1992; this time, at the age of 40, he will represent Canada, where he now resides.

World Cup Regulations

Over at Zainub’s I find a curious article. The Dawn reports that there are a few rule changes in the World Cup, but chooses not to say when or where this was announced, or by who. Given that some of the so-called changes are not insignificant, it’s a trifle strange.

For one, there’s the bit about edges. Once an umpire refers a catch for the usual reasons (bump ball/clean catch), if the 3rd umpire notices that there is actually no nick he can convey this to the on-field umpire. It will then be given not out. What about fine nicks? Nicks that require the Snickometer?

Also, they claim a 5-stage system will be introduced to decide which team go through in the event of a tie. I would think the regular ones are head-to-head, number of total wins and NRR, but they will also be bowl outs, though no details are given. If I am not mistaken, bowl outs were also the last option in ties for the previous edition of the WC.

Either way, its odd none of this has been reported anywhere, which means The Dawn are either very well connected or very alert.

update: I find these condition are in fact present in the ICC’s WC 2007 regulations. What they state is pretty much how I have interpreted above for the caught decisions. The system for tied matches is also outlined, though surprisingly head-to-head results will be relevant only as a 4th level of decision making.
Also, a tie in the semis will mean an immediate bowl out. So South Africa's '99 plight is not an option this time.

update2: there was a cricinfo report day before.

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.

we're not that good

i find it a tad odd that a player comes out with a negative comparison on his team leading up to the World Cup. Murali has done just that, stating his belief that the WC winning Sri Lankan side of '96 was better than the one now heading to Caribbean. In some ways I suppose its a refreshing change from the insipid and predictable quotes that media-managed players tend to offer these days; but it does seem a bit pointless putting down your own team so.

Bruise Lee

I have to admit I am nowhere near glad or relieved that Lee is notmaking it for the World Cup. Sure, it helps make the tournament a little more open, but we really could have done with his searing energy and considerable white-ball skills. What a pity.

adios noodle straps

I still don't know to what extent I will be subjected to her and Charu during the World Cup, but look at this:

(Fashion Designer) Satya Paul has designed some cricket-related saris for me. I have got one sari with signatures of cricketers on it. Another sari is designed with press cuttings of headlines about cricket. Another one has animations of cricketer players. There is also this interesting red sari, which has the seam of the cricket ball printed on the chest. They're designing 50 outfits for the World Cup for me.

Oh my.