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Cricket World Cup 2007 - Preview

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Rich D
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Cricket World Cup 2007 - Preview

Post by Rich D » Tue, 06 Mar 2007 9:28 pm

Having got over the shock of having to shell out 70 bucks plus GST for the right to stay up until 4am most nights from the middle of March to the end of April, my thoughts are turning to who will lift the ICC Cricket World Cup trophy. I wonder if they’ll give a refund on the $25 I already pay for the cricket channel since all they can show on ch95 is repeats or delayed telecasts of what am paying through the nose for already? No, I don’t think so either!

I was recently challenged by one of Singapore’s leading expatriate wayang performers to identify the 4 teams who would make it through to the semi-final stage and I quickly realised that this was no simple feat given that the Super 8 format requires each team making it through the group stage to play everyone else except their fellow first round qualifier.

To keep things simple I am going to assume that there will be no shocks in the group stages and so the Super 8 will comprise West Indies, Pakistan, Australia, South Africa, England, New Zealand, India and Sri Lanka. Points from the groups are carried forward so all things being equal the Windies and Australia will have a 2 point start. As an Englishman I’m backing England to be in a similar position having got past New Zealand and I reckon India will beat Sri Lanka.

In fact, India having cleverly timed a one day series in the Caribbean at the end of last year are one of my safe bets I expect to make it to the last 4. I know about their ranking but given the depth of their squad and experience of turning out almost 7 days a week for a 50 over game I am going to stick my neck out. A safer choice of course is Australia who I predict will make it through, putting recent underperformances with weakened sides behind them.

So 2 more spaces to fill and I have to admit I am struggling but I’ll fill up one of the vacancies with the Calypso Cricketers based on nothing firmer than them having home advantage. I tried to identify the fourth team by a process of elimination but the only team I could remove by that method is Pakistan and even that is on the assumption that Bob Woolmer doesn’t come up with one of his wizard wheezes to give his boys an edge.

So, anyone fancy Sri Lanka? They’ve got a bit of form in this competition, blasted everyone away in their first appearance and recently drubbed England (but then who hasn’t?) Are England resurgent or were their recent wins the usual rebound they have at the end of a disastrous tour? The conditions are also likely to favour the South Africans and what about New Zealand fresh from beating Australia 3-zip?

So here we go then my 4 semi-finalists are Australia, India, West Indies and one from England and South Africa (the one to go through being the winner of the head to head game). Cop out? Possibly but then my challenger asked for the top 4 and then came back with his own selection of 6!

So let battle commence both on the pitch and on the internet. With games starting just after the kids have gone to bed, going on until the coffee enhanced early hours and such a wide open competition there’s got to be something worth talking about!
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BPSing
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Post by BPSing » Thu, 08 Mar 2007 12:39 pm

1. Australia
2. South Africa
3. Sri Lanka
4. India

Roughies

West Indies
England


if England wins I would stick my neck out and say to I would consider buying you a ticket on the "Orient Express" from Istanbul to London!!!!

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Post by Rich D » Sun, 11 Mar 2007 5:57 pm

Thanks BPSing, given Friday night's results I reckon you should offer to put the wife and kids on too if England win it by beating India in the final! Can I take back what I said about the Windies?

Looks like you and I are the only cultured ones into cricket on this forum. I can understand the Aussies keeping quiet having lost their last 5 competitive matches but I was hoping for some chirping from the Indians. There may be some Kiwis out there reading this but I guess I'll have to wait until Saturday to find out and even then we'll only hear from them if they beat England.
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Go Lanka

Post by sene » Thu, 15 Mar 2007 1:30 am

I would love to see Sri Lanka repeating the 1996 success ... we still have Jayasuriya and Murali rearing to go.

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Post by Rich D » Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:51 pm

Yep, they're definitely exciting to watch

As I type this they are looking a bit wobbly batting against Bermuda but still managing over 6 an over.

Commentator has just made a wonderful comment about Bermuda's 20st spinner Dwayne Leverock (who dropped Jayasuriya off his first ball).

"Leverock is pretty deep there at slip - he's also quite wide!" - camera zooms in on his not inconsiderable girth.

Btw - good to see Tharanga walk after edging down leg side to the 'keeper. Thank goodness some of the aspects that make cricket unique can survive on the professional stage.
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annoying ads

Post by sene » Fri, 16 Mar 2007 1:45 am

Can someone ask Starhub to block those annoying Indian ads because they seem to be more interested in putting on the ads then showing us the cricket?

After all we've forked out $100 to pay for the channel during the World Cup and I think we have a right to get ad free cricket.

Most annoying thing was when Jayasuriya got injured (against Bermuda) and they were trying to treat him on the field they kept on going into and out of ads rather than let us see what is happening on the field.

This is commercialisation going too far
:x

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Post by Rich D » Fri, 16 Mar 2007 8:50 pm

I can only sympathise with you there bud. And what about the ads DURING the overs when they push in the picture and put a an ad in the border? Then there's those stupid dropped catch and boundary mini ads!

Ah well, when I first came here in 1996 there was no cricket at all on the telly so I guess we just have to pay up and shut up.

Did you see the ending of the Ireland and Zimbabwe game? Fantastic - and a great spirit in the crowd too!
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