Isaac Schrödinger

Cricket Gets Wacky

Cricinfo:

Cricket's first global inter-club tournament, it is the latest twist in a format that is only seven years but has established itself as the game's main money-spinner.

A mix of state, county, regional and franchise teams will battle it out for a US$ 6 million cash prize, with $2.5 million going to the winners. The unpredictability of the format is enhanced by the fact that there is little history between the teams, though many of the players would be familiar to each other as team-mates at some level.

India Wants Pakistan To Win

Some peculiar mathematics at the Champions Trophy.

Update
Unfortunately for India, Pakistan lost the game. Though, it was incredibly close. The game went to the last ball of the match.

It's now Pakistan vs. New Zealand and England vs. Australia in the semi-finals. I'm hoping for a Pak-Aus rematch in the final. Thus, Pakistan will get two grand opportunities:

1. Pay back Australia for the thrashing in the 1999 World Cup final.
2. Win a second global cricket tournament within 5 months.

A Stylish Doofus

The future captain of the Australian cricket team is not good at Arabic.

Flintoff's Last 5-Day Fling

Amusing headline: Flintoff's fling inspires England Ashes glory.

That would be mighty confusing for those who don't know the context or those who aren't aware of The Ashes.

Misery in England

After this horrid performance, England will likely not win the Ashes:

If England believed that their downward spiral of Ashes misery had bottomed out with their 5-0 thumping in Australia three winters ago, they might just have to reassess that situation before the series decider at The Oval in a fortnight's time. Barring a late rally that seemed inconceivable in the fading light on Saturday evening, England are hurtling towards their heaviest home defeat in the history of Ashes cricket, and if they fail to scrape an extra 36 runs tomorrow, they will have surpassed the innings-and-226-run trouncing that West Indies inflicted on them at Lord's in 1973, the single biggest home defeat in England's entire Test history.

It would be hilarious if they only got 34 runs.

A Small Moment

They lost both warm up games and lost twice in the main tournament but won when it mattered the most:

A journey through the World Twenty20 champions' win against the odds.

The Glorious Khans

Andrew Miller:

A Pakistan with momentum is a beast that cannot be contained. England discovered that fact to their cost in 1992 at Melbourne, when Imran Khan's cornered tigers sprung at their throats to seize the country's first major global title. And now, a generation later but in a campaign of distinct and glorious parallels, Sri Lanka have also sampled the unstoppable alchemy that occurs when cricket's most emotional and temperamental participants find a way to meld their ambitions to their deeds.

Then, it was Imran Khan. Today, it is Younis Khan:

"I'm the second Khan winning a World Cup for Pakistan, so I'm very proud of my Khans," said Younis. "This is my dream. I dreamed all the time of lifting the World Cup. My thinking in all my career is that I will be remembered for a team like 1992. I was not in the Imran Khan team, and this is a dream come true. I'm really happy. Though this World Cup is Twenty20, at least we won our second World Cup. This is a gift to our whole nation."

More:

Both the captain and his Man of the Match hail from the troubled North West Frontier Province, and Afridi himself from the Khyber Agency, the symbolic frontline of Pakistan's War on Terror. Chaos can seem at times to be embedded in the Pakistani DNA, but as both men showed in their performances in this tournament, it does not have to be this way.

2009 Twenty20 Final

Sri Lankan Innings

1st over: Aamer just dismissed the top-scorer in the tournament for a ... zero! A wicket-maiden. Wow. The 17-year-old Aamer has cemented his place in the national side.

2nd over: Another wicket! This time by Razzaq. Sri Lanka 2/2. Pakistan's traditional bowling strength is firing on all cylinders ... and they haven't even brought out their best bowler yet.

4th over: Jayasuriya smacked around Razzaq in the beginning but the veteran bowler had his revenge. Sri Lanka 26/3. Umar Gul is going to have Sri Lanka's lower order for lunch, assuming Sri Lanka survive for that long.

6th over: Jayawardene departs for a miserable 1. Razzaq has 3 wickets in 3 overs. Pakistan has annihilated the Sri Lankan top order. 32/4.

12th over: Umar Gul is on. Sri Lanka, somewhat stabilized, at 65/4.

The best bowler of the tournament strikes with his third ball. The Sri Lankan lower order is exposed at 67/5.

13th over: Afridi strikes with his last delivery of the match. Sri Lanka 70/6.

17th over: Sangakkara has done the heavy lifting for Sri Lanka. He has scored more than 50% of his team's total.

20th over: Fantastic hitting by Mathews. Aamer wasn't able to contain the big hitting in the last over. Sri Lanka end their innings at a defendable 138/6.

Pakistan need 139 to win. Can the mercurial Pakistanis do it? Can Misbah redeem himself for that horrid shot in the last final?

We shall see.

Pakistani Innings

5th over: They're motoring along nicely. 26/0. The wily Murali starts bowling his first over which ends at 30/0. A pleasant five overs for Pakistan.

6th over: Pakistan need 100 runs from 14 overs. They have all 10 wickets in hand. This is now Pakistan's game to lose.

8th over: Akmal did his job; he's out for a 28-ball 37. The most loved cricketer in Pakistan comes to bat. Afridi is on.

10th over: Murali gets rid of Hasan. Pakistan 65/2.

74 runs needed from 60 balls.

13th over: Pakistan hasn't scored a boundary in four overs but they sure are running hard for 1s and 2s. 83/2. 56 runs needed from 42 balls.

14th over: Afridi smashes Murali for a six and a four in two balls.

15th over: More hard running. At the end, 36 needed from 30.

17th over: At the end, 26 runs from 18 balls. 8 wickets in hand.

18th over: Afridi reaches his epic half-century by taking apart the hapless Udana. 19 runs in this 1 historic over.

Pakistan need 7 runs from 12 balls. They will win.

19th over: Game over with 8 wickets and 8 balls remaining.

Afridi, a truly gifted all rounder, has won the World Cup for Pakistan.

ODI history

1992: Pakistan vs. England
1996: Sri Lanka vs. Australia
1999: Australia vs. Pakistan
2003: Australia vs. India
2007: Australia vs. Sri Lanka

T20 history

2007: India vs. Pakistan
2009: Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka

In the last 20 years, Pakistan and Australia have made it to the finals of four global tournaments. Australia has won three and Pakistan has won two.

I was ten years old when Pakistan won in 1992. Hopefully, today's win will provide memories and inspiration to another generation of kids in Pakistan.

An Epic Finish

On the Cricket World Twenty20 final tomorrow:

That the two best, most varied, and most individualistic bowling sides have made it to the final of the premier tournament in Twenty20, a format that gives batsmen obscene liberty, is itself a cause for celebration. But if you allow yourself to see the broader picture, the matters of bat and ball become insignificant before the human possibilities the final offers. Among all those participating in this tournament, no two nations need the lift sporting success can bring more than Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Taliban supporters attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in my birth-city earlier this year. Sri Lanka, perhaps the most friendly cricketing nation to Pakistan, was stunned. They quickly went back home. Understandably, no country was interested in playing cricket in Pakistan.

Later, Pakistan was stripped of the right to host World Cup matches in 2011.

Recently, an undercooked Pakistani team started playing in a global, hypercricket tournament in England. Now, they are in the final. Their journey mirrors the jagged path of the 1992 Pakistan side. Then, Pakistan was thrashed in the early stages of the tournament. Then, they met the undefeated New Zealand side in their last group match.

The Kiwis were rudely beaten.

A few days later, the Pakistanis met New Zealand again. In the semi-final. Imran Khan's Pakistan beat them again. Pakistan vs. England in the final. Pakistan won the match as Rameez Raja made the last catch to end England's misery.

In 2009, Pakistan also met the heavyweight favorite in the semi-final: the well-oiled South Africans -- who had won 7 games in a row. And just like in 1992, the mechanical side was beaten.

In less than 24 hours, the two sides most affected by terror will meet in the final.

Going by how they have played so far, Sri Lanka deserve to win but Pakistan need it more. It's a cliché, but there will no losers tomorrow.

A Miracle

Kumar Sangakkara, a Sri Lankan cricketer, writes:

As we moved towards the stadium, Tharanga announced he was hit as he sat up holding his chest. He collapsed onto his seat and I feared the worst. Incredibly, the bullet hit his sternum at such an angle that it did not penetrate. He was fine. Shortly afterwards Thilan complained of a numbness in his leg, which we later found out was a bullet wound.

Thilan and Tharanga were the worst hit. Just before reaching safety I felt a dull ache in my shoulder. Shards of metal, shrapnel, were lodged in the muscle. After being quickly evacuated to the dressing room the paramedics attended to those with minor wounds. My cuts were cleaned. Ajantha Mendis had several shards of metal removed from his head and neck after his hair was shaved off. Paul Farbrace, our assistant coach, had a large piece of shrapnel removed from his arm. Mahela [Jayawardene] had a minor cut to his ankle. After a while we started to calm down, and the phones started ringing.

More:

We were promised "Head of State" security and we were satisfied with this.

Benazir Bhutto got the same treatment in late 2007.

Inevitable Attack

The Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in Pakistan:

Former Sri Lanka coach Trevor Penney never believed there'd be a terror attack on a cricket team in Pakistan because the people were so passionate about the sport.

Yet Sri Lanka's decision to tour Pakistan after teams such as Australia, India and the West Indies had refused ended in a deadly attack Tuesday that has been condemned by governments and cricket players and officials around the world.

A dozen men used rifles, grenades and rocket launchers to attack a bus and van carrying the Sri Lankan team and officials to the Stadium for the third day of the second cricket test, injuring players and killing six police officers and a civilian.

Haydos Leaves

An eloquent summary of the greatest Australian opener ever.

His breakthrough came on the 2001 tour of India. After experiencing mixed fortunes in his comeback series against West Indies, he was a marginal selection. Many thought the Indian tweakers would make him look like an elephant in dancing shoes. Before the series began, Hayden made the most critical decision of his career. Accepting that he lacked touch, realising that his footwork might appear cumbersome, knowing that it was make or break, he resolved to stop fretting and to attack. Nor had he come unprepared, A few months before, he had paid his own way to the subcontinent to work on his game against spin. He figured out a method founded upon hitting the ball against the spin and aiming at empty parts of the outfield. His strategy played to his own strengths and put pressure back on the bowlers.

It worked a treat. In a trice Hayden was carting the ball around India, repeatedly dispatching Harbhajan Singh over deep midwicket and treating the other bowlers with equal brutality. Hayden was the highest scorer in the series. It was a towering performance and led to the most fruitful period of his cricketing life.

More:

he won World Cups and Ashes series, and helped Australia retain top position in the Test and ODI rankings. From anyone it'd be convincing; from a batsman disregarded in his formative years it is astonishing.

Indeed.

One of the Greatest

The legend from Mumbai makes history:

As Graeme Swann prepared to bowl the second ball of his 29th over, more than 20,000 people in the stands abandoned their plastic chairs. They were on their feet, creating the sort of bedlam and noise I last witnessed at this very venue seven years ago, when Harbhajan Singh's squirt past point clinched the most famous of India's series victories. Swann bowled. The batsman came forward and patted the ball back with almost exaggerated flourish. The crowd was momentarily quieted but the primal scream started again as Swann went back to his mark.

Again, there was sharp turn, but the paddle-sweep that greeted the ball was emphatic. As it streaked to fine leg, the batsman ran down the pitch and punched the air in celebration, before being held aloft by his equally delighted partner. He's 35-years-old and owns practically every batting record in the game, but you couldn't escape the feeling that this was probably Sachin Tendulkar's finest hour.

Tendulkar talks about the Mumbai terrorist attacks:

"From my point of view, I look at it as an attack on India, and it should hurt every Indian, not only people from Mumbai," he said. "I would like to dedicate this hundred to all those people who have gone through such terrible times."

Absolute Carnage

Imran Nazir murders the hapless Hyderabadis.

Link via Lahore Metroblogging.

One Hundred Years Ago ...

... A legend was born.

More:

• Unassailable.
• Forever Superstar.
• The Don and I.
• The Supreme Outlier.

On Racial Quotas

Cricinfo:

Last month, while stressing that the current "targets" should continue until at least 2010, the South African board recommended that the ultimate responsibility for selecting the national XI should lie with the coach and convenor of selectors, that the selectors should be solely responsible for squad selections, and that the board president should no longer be empowered to wield a veto. Many interpreted this as confirmation that the end of quotas was nigh. However misplaced, the applause was global, the mourning inaudible.

Mourning?

There were Hashim Amla, Makhaya Ntini and Ashwell Prince clopping down those ancient pavilion steps, wearing those dark green, defiantly unbaggy caps, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Afrikaaners, 153 Tests between them already, 345 wickets, 17 five-fors, 4598 runs and 11 centuries safely deposited in their joint account. For a few moments, as this realisation dawned, the lump in my throat had all the makings of a second Gibraltar.

All of which posed a question to those who had long protested against the justice and worth of quotas: without them, would one of the most successful fast bowlers of all time have ever scaled such heights, paving the way for a Cape Coloured and a grandson of Indians to follow? To me there can only be one answer, and it does not contain the letters y, e or s.

I find this logic silly. Whites were discriminated against so that a few non-whites could be brought into the South African cricket team. How is that in any way moral? Just because non-whites were kept out of the team years ago, the opposite racism today somehow becomes just?

So what if these non-whites went on to perform for the team. Is the author arguing that the whites who were kept out wouldn't have brought glory to the South African team?

Does the name Kevin Pietersen ring a bell? Without the racial quota system, would one of the most talented (but white!) batsmen on Earth have left South Africa for England? To me there can only be one answer, and it does not contain the letters y, e or s.

Oh, The Oppression!

I feel so sorry for Indian men:

"All the organisers are doing by making scantily-clad white women dance in front of huge crowds is to stoke the base voyeuristic and sexual insecurities of the Indian male. It is revolting, appalling and shows the game in very poor light."

Cricket historian Ramachandra Guha on the cheer girls in the IPL

That's in India. Imagine if someone were to suggest that these babes visit the friendly neighbor to provide some entertainment ...

Update
My apologies to readers for not providing any informative, um, links.

Here's one:

More here; an interesting excerpt:

"The Cheerleaders? Oh, they are hot, they are rocking. I want their numbers. Can you do that for me?" quips 21-year-old Goney Kakwani. He and his friends have imitated, screamed at and pretty much stared at the cheerleaders all night. Dozens of empty beer cups sit at their feet.

But challenged as to whether he would want to see Indian cheerleaders dressing like the American cheerleaders, dancing like the American cheerleaders, he sobers up a bit.

"Indians should be Indians. Indian beauty is like — they wear beautiful clothes. They can wear their clothes. They don't have to wear anybody else's clothes."

Hmm.

What Could Have Been

Commentary on the banning of Shoaib Akhtar:

He had the hostility of Walsh but he lacked his honesty towards the game, he had the guile of Akram but he lacked his grit, he had the curving swing of Younis but he lacked his commitment.

I still remember the truly massive hype surrounding his entry into international cricket in the late 90s. He had the opportunity to learn from the masters -- Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. He could have been the greatest bowler of his era. Instead, he'll be remembered as a disappointing, uncouth character who likely cheated.

The Man Who Likes Big Hundreds

It was a wretched day for South African bowlers. Virender Sehwag destroyed them and reached a score of 309 -- he equaled the highest score by an Indian batsman which, by the way, is his own record!

His last ten hundreds have all been 150-plus knocks, a trot unlike any other batsman in Test history. He joined Brian Lara and Don Bradman as the only two batsmen to cross 300 twice. He may not be mentioned in the same league as those two legends - not as yet - but like them he remains a man apart.

He's still not out. So, tomorrow, new records will most certainly be created.

Einstein of India

Cricinfo:

There have been some memorable names in cricket - perhaps none more so than Hogsflesh - but there's one at the Under-19 World Cup that runs it close. Napoleon Einstein, an offspinner from Tamil Nadu, is part of the Indian squad.

I concede that my pseudonym is no match.

No Love for Singh

The Aussies aren't fond of him:

Matthew Hayden has stirred already troubled waters by calling Harbhajan Singh an "obnoxious weed", a comment that will only serve to deepen the animosity between the two sides that has surfaced during India's tour.

This I find funny:

The pair clashed during Sunday's CB Series game at the SCG when the Indians complained that Hayden had called Harbhajan a "mad boy".

Oooh.

Balance, Grace, Power, Technique.

For almost four hours this teenager, brought up on low, slow Indian wickets, had defied four bristling Australian pacemen on the fastest, bounciest pitch in the world with a mixture of grace and power his opponents found hard to fathom in one so young.

Merv Hughes cracked open a beer and turned to his captain, Allan Border, the tough, proud Australian who within a couple of years would become the most prolific batsman in Test cricket.

"This little prick's going to get more runs than you, AB."

Hughes was right.

World Cup Final of the Century

Pakistan vs. India in the first final of Twenty20 cricket in two days.

These Asian superpowers, shockingly, got knocked out in the first round of the ODI World Cup earlier this year. Oh, look at them now: they've made to the ultimate, explosive* showdown.

* Here's hoping that actual explosives are not involved.

Update
I can't help but steal this gif from Metroblogging Lahore.

A New Era?

Sambit Bal:

Pakistan have almost qualified for the semi-final, and it came on the back of a performance so controlled and clinical that it could have belonged to the team they beat. Australia, judging from what Adam Gilchrist had to say at the post-match press conference, are yet to embrace this format wholeheartedly and they are far from invincible in this form, but there was nothing remotely flukeish about Pakistan's win. They out-bowled, out-batted, and would you believe it, out-fielded Australia.

They played so .... well, I'll let Bal articulate it:

There was a coolness to their victory which was almost un-Pakistani.

That says quite a lot.

Is Cricket Getting Sexier?

It seems like it:

In order to cater for the need to globalise the game, the next ICC World Twenty20 should be expanded from 12 to 16 teams. Because the games are so condensed, even an expanded Twenty20 competition with a best-of-three final series could be completed in around two and a half weeks, a far cry from the nearly two-month long World Cup that everyone had to endure in the Caribbean.

Twenty20 is here to stay.

Prima Donna Defined

Cricinfo:

Shoaib Akthar said he made a mistake "in the heat of the moment" when he hit Mohammad Asif and has apologised to him and his Pakistan teammates for the dressing-room scuffle that saw him being sent home from South Africa.

You know how it is. You're arguing with someone and then the next moment you unintentionally hit that person with a bat. It happens.

He likened the incident to the headbutt by the French footballer, Zinedine Zidane, in the final of the World Cup in Germany last year and said what happened was not intentional.

Yeah.

He might not be playing cricket for a while but the sex machine can still strut it!

Update
This is precious:

"The incident began with a verbal spat between me and Afridi, who used foul language," Akhtar said, "and Asif intervened and in anger I hit Asif with a bat."

You see, Afridi is to blame for this entire mess.

Afridi, however, denied that he had provoked Shoaib and was surprised at the accusations.

One of them has to be clearly lying.

Asif from Punjab

Cricinfo interviews one of the most talented bowlers in the world:

"When I close my eyes at the top of my mark, I can just see exactly where the ball pitches, how it swings in, and hits the top of the off stump," he told Cricinfo in a chat recently. You believe him. Batsmen who didn't, have suffered.

12 in 10

This time line makes the Pakistani political sphere look stable.

Aussies Supreme

Ian Chappell presents a most true view of the modern cricket world.

The Decay Reaches Cricket

Michael Jennings:

Guy Herbert this morning posted a piece commenting on Australian Prime Minister John Howard's decision to "ban" the Australian cricket team from touring Zimbabwe later this year. I generally have little time for Mr Howard, but in this case I can't personally be very harsh on him. What clearly happened is that the Australian Cricket Board (which these days prefers to call itself "Cricket Australia" begged him at length the make such an announcement, and he eventually gave in despite considerable resistence, and because from his perspective the alternatives were probably worse.

Jennings talks about the political and economic reasons behind this decision. He also ties in the murder of Bob Woolmer (Pakistan's coach) and how the deterioration of society heavily affects the spirit of the sport.

Aussie Supremacy

Statistics that show off Australian dominance in the just concluded World Cup.

F. A. R. C. E.

Bloody buffoons:

The match referee Jeff Crowe took the blame for the farcical finish to the World Cup final which saw Australia celebrate victory twice and forced Sri Lanka to bat in pitch-black darkness. But he suggested the third umpire Rudi Koertzen may have initiated the process leading to chaotic scenes at the climax of the game.

Crowe, despite heading up a team of officials which included the umpire Steve Bucknor, standing in a record fifth World Cup final, managed to overlook a basic playing condition which states that once 20 overs have been bowled in both innings enough cricket has been played to create a match. A result can then be declared under the Duckworth-Lewis system for rain-affected games.

I know that freakin' rule! How could the referee confuse that! The whole point of the D/L method is to have a result in a game even if 60% of the total overs are lost due to whatever reason. The fact that "the experts" messed up in the World Cup final is hugely embarrassing.

Ponting joked: "If the umpires don't know, I don't know. It appeared we had a premature celebration for the best part of ten minutes. I thought Aleem was having a bit of a joke with us when he said it looks like we'd have to come back tomorrow and play three overs. I said: 'Mate, we've played the 20 overs, we've actually finished the game.'"

Quite right.

ICC World Cup - Final

The match is reduced to 38 overs each due to rain.

Australia won the toss and elected to bat. Gilchrist and Hayden offer a dream start: Aussies 112/0 in 17 overs. Gilchrist has now scored a half-century in three successive World Cup finals -- now that's an awesome component of any CV.

Hayden is scoring at a slow rate and playing the anchor; allowing Gilchrist to smash the hapless Sri Lankans. Only Murali is being treated with caution. The others are leaking sixes.

Damn. Murali just got hit for a six. Australia on the rampage: 135 runs off 19 overs. Sri Lanka need a wicket now.

Century for Gilchrist off 72 balls. Eight 4s, six 6s. He scored two runs combined in the last two matches. Now, he roars back on the greatest stage. In fact, this is his first World Cup hundred!

OUT. Hayden is gone for a 55-ball 38. He is the top scorer of this World Cup with 659 glorious runs. He gets my vote for Man of the Tournament.

OUT. Gilchrist leaves after scoring a 104-ball 149. Australia at 227/2 with 7 overs remaining. A total of 300+ runs is likely. Ponting and Symonds are at the crease for the late carnage.

Sri Lanka need 282 runs to win. Australia had 172 from 23 overs. They managed another 109 from the last 15 -- an under par finish to the innings. Still, their total is formidable. Had Australia been given 50 overs, they would have managed 370 runs with their run rate.

Pressure is piling up on Sri Lanka. 42/1 off 10 overs.

OH NO, RAIN. After 24.5 overs of the Sri Lankan innings, the umpires decide to stop. If the day ends without further play, then Australia will rightly win by the Duckworth/Lewis method.

Still, this sucks.

THEY'RE BACK! The Lankans lost two overs. They now need a spectacular 119 runs from 11 overs to win.

157/4. Sri Lanka need 112 runs from 60 balls. If they win, then it'll be the finest run chase in a World Cup final. If they lose, then Australia will become the greatest ODI side in history -- winning three World Cups in a row!

The Australians are victorious by 53 runs. They've defeated all three former Asian champions in three tournament finals. (Pakistan: 1999, India: 2003, Sri Lanka: today.) Not a single team beat them in their campaigns in 2003 and 2007 -- an unprecedented feat.

Of course, Gilchrist is the Man of the Match. Glenn McGrath retires from cricket by winning the Player of the Tournament award. What a fitting end to a truly peerless and glorious career.

The Aussies go home contented. They are, no question, the unmatched superpower of cricket.

The Great Pigeon

Steve Waugh tells us a few things about Glenn McGrath.

ICC World Cup - 2nd Semi-Final

Australia humiliate South Africa by 7 wickets.

The Aussies have now gone on to the World Cup final four times in a row -- a new record. They won on the last two occasions. If they win on Saturday, they'll become the first team to earn three successive trophies.

The upcoming final is a re-match of the 1996 final: Australia vs. Sri Lanka.

Update
The 149 runs by South Africa today was the lowest total by SA in any World Cup match. They saved their worst for the semi-final.

"Crazy Cricket":

Former batsman Adam Bacher said the gap between the two teams was almost embarrassing. "It was boys against men," he said on public television. "They taught us a cricket lesson."

Ouch!

ICC World Cup - 1st Semi Final

Sri Lanka defeats New Zealand.

So, for the fifth time in a row, an Asian team makes it to the final.

1992: Pakistan (won)
1996: Sri Lanka (won)
1999: Pakistan (lost)
2003: India (lost)
2007: Sri Lanka

Sadly for New Zealand, it was the fifth time they've reached the semi-finals and not gone any further.

The second semi-final is tomorrow. The out-of-sorts South Africans take on the all-conquering Australians -- still undefeated in the World Cups of this century.

World Champions

Cricinfo: "More Australian talent on display in Barbados".

Mmm-hmm.

The Other Pakistani Religion

Younis Khan declines to lead the Pakistani cricket team:

Younis admitted that widespread criticism of the national side since their shock exit had been tough to digest, and affected his decision. "I am still hurt and upset at the sort of hostile reception we have got since returning from the World Cup. I have always given 100 percent for my country. But when your family gets threatening calls and our effigies are burnt and our pictures put on donkeys, then I can't lead the team in such circumstances."

I don't see why any sane man would.

ODI no. 2565

The Australian juggernaut rolls over England.

The sorry Brits went down by 7 wickets. Pietersen scored a fighting century but the rest of the team scored 125 runs combined.

The Australians have now gone undefeated in 24 consecutive World Cup matches. They are one slick ODI-winning machine.

Very Embarrassing

Bangladesh defeat South Africa:

How many times in your life will you watch the No. 1 side in the world comprehensively outclassed by one ranked eight places lower? This match, three weeks on from that epic triumph against India at Port-of-Spain, will linger long in the memory for the manner in which a young and vibrant side embarrassed one that appeared to rest on its laurels.

The South Africans will likely have to win all their remaining matches to make the semi-finals. Oh, they're no longer ranked number one -- Australia deserves that spot.

Too Much Islam?

Cricinfo:

PJ Mir, Pakistan's media manager during the World Cup, has blamed the influence of religion in the dressing room for Pakistan's disastrous performance in the Caribbean.

Speaking to reporters after his appearance at the performance evaluation committee looking into Pakistan's shambolic display, Mir said, "I could not disclose this fact before, but today I inform the media that most of the members had no focus on cricket. Their fixation was on preaching, affecting the team's preparations."

Devil's Advocate: Hey, the outcomes of the games were in the hands of Allah. So, really, what's the point of planning and preparation?

4 in 4 For The First Time

Cricinfo:

South Africa needed a meagre four runs to win with five wickets in hand when Malinga finished batsmen as if swatting flies. He fooled Shaun Pollock with a beauty of a slower ball before hurrying Andrew Hall with a juddering yorker that looped up to cover. The first ball of the next over produced the hat-trick, the fifth in World Cups, when the set Jacques Kallis nicked to the wicketkeeper before a brute of a yorker zoomed past Makhaya Ntini.

No bowler in one-day history has managed four in four - Saqlain Mushtaq has managed four in five - and Malinga took Sri Lanka to the brink of an outrageous day-light robbery.

We would have got the choking of the decade had the last South African wicket fallen.

An Awesome Statistic

Australia thrashed the West Indies in their backyard.

Andrew Miller reports:

"They look like a team that have come here for one purpose," Lara said, breathing a quiet sigh of relief that his players would not have to face them again in their bid for a semi-final slot. Australia have now won 22 of their last 23 matches in World Cup competitions dating back to 1999 - a run that has been interrupted only by that famous tie at Edgbaston.

Think about that. The Aussies have not lost their past 23 matches in a World Cup tournament. What makes that fact even more impressive is that all those games were played outside Australia! That is truly unrivaled domination.

The Champions are a lock for the semi-finals. If they go on to win those two important games, then they'll become the first team to win three World Cups in a row.

ICC No Like YouTube

Cricinfo:

The ICC [International Cricket Council] has ordered YouTube, the online video-sharing website, to remove World Cup clips claiming copyright infringement. The ICC and the rights holder to the event, the Global Cricket Corporation, took the action after hundreds of World Cup clips appeared on the site.

Andrew Miller:

It is an astoundingly short-sighted decision by a ruling body that has once again shown it is completely lacking in a sense of priorities. God knows that cricket could do with some good publicity at present. Only 24 hours ago, the ICC's Lawyer-in-Chief, Malcolm Speed, was telling Cricinfo how wonderful the match between Australia and South Africa at St Kitts was turning out to be. "Let's all just watch the cricket," he suggested when queried about the latest murmurings about Bob Woolmer's death. Mal, we'd love to. But 75% of your global audience have no means of tuning in.

Reader feedback is also quite negative.

ODI no. 2552

The champions show what they're made of. The Aussies defeat the South Africans by 83 massive runs.

One of most impressive feats in the game was the century scored by Hayden. He hit a magnificent 68-ball 101. Had the rest of the Australians matched his strike rate, the team would have notched up 444 runs!

Still, it's a rare feat for every single player to have a strike rate of a 100 or more in an ODI innings. This was the area in which the South Africans failed. They needed big runs in every over; Kallis couldn't manage and thus they lost.

It's possible that these two teams will meet again very soon. Perhaps, in the semi-final or ... the final.

Click here to read the bulletin by Anand Vasu.

A Billion People Disappointed

ODI no. 2550: Sri Lanka defeat India.

If Bangladesh beat Bermuda, then India will be knocked out of the World Cup. Since 1979, at least one of the two Asian superpowers has progressed to the next stage of the big tournament. So, it'll be quite incredible to see both Pakistan and India get eliminated in the first round.

Too bad.

The match, however, that I have been waiting for will take place tomorrow. The defending champions (ranked second in the world today) will take on the top ranked team: Australia vs. South Africa.

Woolmer Was Murdered

Cricinfo:

Police are searching for the killer - or killers - of Bob Woolmer after revealing he was strangled in his hotel room on Sunday. During a press conference in Jamaica police confirmed Woolmer was murdered - he showed few signs of struggling with his attackers - and there were no suspects.

"The pathologist's report states that Mr Woolmer's death was due to asphyxiation as a result of manual strangulation," Karl Angell, the police spokesman, said. "In these circumstances, the matter of Mr Woolmer's death is now being treated by the Jamaica police as a case of murder."

MSNBC has this as one of its top stories right now.

Woolmer’s death had prompted much speculation among followers of cricket, a sport that breaks for tea and makes baseball seem fast-paced, but generates tremendous passion in Britain and its former colonies.

An outspoken Pakistani player speculated that gambling interests had it in for Woolmer. The coach’s widow said he was depressed about losing the game, but would never have committed suicide. She said an irate fan might have killed her husband.

That seems to be a likely scenario: an angry Pakistani fan killed Woolmer after Pakistan was knocked out of the World Cup.

For many in the subcontinent, cricket is equivalent to a religion.

End of an Era

There is truth in this:

As an Indian fan, I had always been jealous of the immense all-round talent that the Pakistani team possessed from the mid 80s to the early 2000s. But the thing I had envied the most was their ability to win from the tightest situations possible: it was common knowledge that greater the challenge, more dangerous the Pakistanis became. A Manzoor Elahi would come from nowhere and take a match away, a then-insignificant player like Salim Malik would announce his arrival with an innings of blinding power in a cause all but totally lost, a débutante like Inzamam ul Haq could turn defeat into victory in the biggest stage possible.

Not any more though.

It seems that the South Africans have the fire now.

Let's see if it takes them to the ultimate glory this year.

The Death of Woolmer

Cricinfo:

Pervez Mir, the Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman, told AFP: "The police suspect that Woolmer may have been murdered. They have started an investigation."

Good luck to the next coach (whoever he may be).

No Pity For Pakistan

Osman Samiuddin from Cricinfo:

First, an apology to the Irish: what follows is meant in no way to take anything away from what must be one of that immensely warm, tiny nation's greatest sporting achievements. They outplayed Pakistan with bat, ball, mind, body, soul and all else that goes into the winning of cricket matches.

More:

And we apologise to you for our captain Inzamam-ul-Haq's disgraceful yet revealing post-match comment that kismet was not with Pakistan; kismet or fate, Inzamam, had nothing to do with it and to say it did degrades a mighty performance.

Gotta love that fatalism!

[...] by losing to Ireland, by getting knocked out of the World Cup barely five days after it began, throwing out of the window in five days what was supposed to have been three years of preparation and somehow contriving to make even the doomed World Cup class of 2003 appear champions, is cause enough to churn out that most hackneyed of literary cliches - the cricket obituary.

Related articles
Cricinfo: Lowest point in Pakistan cricket, say former players.
Kamran Abbasi: Shamed by the shamrock: an open letter.

Update
I just got back from work and found that Rezwan had left a comment about ... the death of Pakistan's cricket coach!

Bob Woolmer died at the age of 58.

• An eventful life, a premature end.
• Thanks Bob, you did make a big difference.
• The tragedy of Bob Woolmer.
• Tributes from around the world.