World Cup #10 – Dwayne Leverock. Cheer the man.

Okay. I’m going to watch ALL Bermuda games. Dwayne Leverock. Wow.

He comically dropped a couple of catches (what was he doing fielding at slip and cover, for goodness’ sake?). Bowled some decent deliveries, and even managed a scalp. And broke out into one of the most charming celebrations I’ve seen at the fall of a wicket – a most enjoyable jiggle fest.

His Mum’s pissed that someone in the media poked fun at him by likening him to Eddie Murphy’s Nutty Professor’. And proceeded to defend her son in classic Indian mum fashion, saying something to the effect of “He’s not fat. Just healthy.”

He’s a jolly guy, and he’s having a whale of a time playing the world cup.

It’s stories like this that warm the cockles.

World Cup #09 - Ponting vs. Gavaskar

First, Ponting needlessly drags the Indian team into it. Now, Gavaskar, rather distastefully, drags a dead man into it. This scrap is ugly and needless. Gavaskar has nothing to lose. Ponting is on a World Cup campaign that is probably the toughest Australia has undertaken in 10 years. What is he thinking? Why the sharp reaction? Has Sunny touched a raw nerve, perhaps? Sometimes, when it hurts, perhaps it's the truth.

World Cup#08 - Watching the Minnows

Canada and Kenya are duking it out most respectably. I just tuned in (why do we still use that expression ? Nobody TUNES in on TV anymore,), and saw a twenty run over, followed by a splendidly judged boundary line catch. Top stuff. Hope this one's a close game. Who says the minnows serve no purpose, eh?

In fact, it was when going to see a minnow match (Kenya vs. Bangladesh at Chennai) that a bunch of us came up with a great idea for youngsters looking to get drunk on a tight budget. Just add a couple of teaspoons of good ole Glucon-D to your drink, and it's like having two drinks. Sensational buzz. Mildly yucky, but great value.

World Cup #07 - The first wrong prediction.

Well, I guess commonsense batting is never quite guaranteed from this mighty Pakistan lineup.

Of course, they began with a six. And lost a wicket of the next ball. And hit the next one for four. Only Pakistan can entertain like this.

Inzy, naturally, played some shots so sublime that I actually gasped. And then proceeded to mismanage the chase in the company of the excellent Mohammed Yousuf. What were these two great batsmen thinking? Corey Collymore and Dwayne Smith are good, hardworking bowlers, but did they deserve the respect they were shown today?

Pakistan lost this game in the middle overs. I think that this tournament will largely be won and lost by how overs 20-40 go.

On a happy note, if all the wickets are like the one we saw at Sabina, then we're going to have good games. Wheee.

World Cup #06 - A good game is what we all want, really.

This game is going to be good. Sporting wicket. Even contest.

Yay.

And, of course, I have found that Simon Hughes is actually Marcus Trescothick. They are one and the same. Look closely.

Oh yes - Pakistan to take this one. If they bat with a semblance of common sense.

World Cup #05 - Commentary classics

Rameez Raja just said - "The spectators come to the ground to watch attractive knocks like Lara's."

Does he know something we don't?

World Cup #04 - Bad Ad Watch

No world cup is complete without - that's right, bad advertising.

This year, I think we must set up an award to honour the most execrable, putrid, and plain crummy ad films that we're going to be subjected to thanks to the efforts of the advertising industry's most idiotic brains.

Our first nominee - The CBZ ad featuring that wannabe James Bond guy spouting immeasurably, excruciatingly bad lines - of course, ably supported by an appropriately annoying 'babe' and 'mission giver' characters. At one point, the guy actually says ' Thinking. Such a waste of time'. Perhaps the creative team behind the ad believes in this philosophy a tad too fervently. At least, I hope that they didn't put too much thought into producing this turd. The idea of an agency that brainstormed for days, went through innumerable options, and then came up with this is too painful to contemplate.

World Cup #03 - And we're away!

Well, it's begun.

Chris Gayle has left the building. The excitement is mounting. If you're reading this, ask yourself why you aren't somewhere else.

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Empty seats? What's going on? This is a world cup opener!Featuring the home team, no less!

I'm beginning to wonder if there's any point to holding the world cup anywhere but in India (maybe Pakistan and Sri Lanka as well). It's all very well about promoting the game, boosting the economy, and all the other stuff they always bleat about, but a world cup opener with empty seats is NOT a good advertisement.

Here's hoping we don't see too much of this.

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The pre-match show was a pleasant surprise. Henry Olonga, Dean Jones and Simon Hughes were crisp, interesting and kept it tight. Even Mandira Bedi managed not to grate on the senses. If only they'd get rid of Charu Sharma.

World Cup #02 - Drink up and sing along

I've written a little world cup song - set to music by the two and only Jubbs and Self of 'The Place'. Download, learn and sing along during the cup.

You can get the song and the lyrics here.

World Cup #01 - Resolve.Blade.Play.

Okay. A World Cup is upon us. No use pretending that I don't care, or that I'm too busy. Time to get into it. And resolve to blog regularly. So I shall – sit by my computer while watching the games, and post-as-I-think.

 

 

Before every tournament of this stature, a collection of former greats will contrive to make fools of themselves in a national newspaper or magazine by making inane, stupid, and sometimes plain wrong statements. The year's best so far? Sandeep Patil in last week's SPORTSTAR : “ Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, England and India are the teams with a good chance to win.” Really? Wow. Well, at least he didn't add that Zimbabwe, Kenya, Holland, Bermuda, Scotland, Bangladesh, Ireland and Canada are the teams that will be eliminated.

 

 

Spending a lot of time watching the cup, and debating on it endlessly with friends during the day? Might as well profit from your expertise. www.cricketology.com offers an interesting prediction game where you can wager points on match results, scores et al., and redeem your winnings for exciting prizes. It's something no self-respecting armchair (or staircase / corridor / cubicle) pundit should be able to resist. Check it out here.