CWC 2011

Well, the CWC aka Cricket World Cup 2011 has at last, after a measured progression through the preliminary round, reached the quarter final stage.

As expected, the minnows, aka the non-Test playing nations, were eliminated though some, notably Ireland , had a few overs of fame. Enough of the contests, particularly the India- England tie were close enough to refresh interest in the 50 overs a side ODI format.
As usual Cricinfo has very detailed coverage.

Last night Pakistan, for whom Shahid Afridi has bowled very well, trounced the West Indies by 10 wickets.

Tonight India will start favourites against Australia in the second quarter final, which has been billed in parts of the media as a Sachin Tendulkar v Ricky Ponting or, according to The Australian's South Asia correspondent an "angel of light v prince of darkness" contest. It will almost certainly be more than this and should be much less onesided than last night's encounter, though both sides have shown weaknesses: both middle orders have underperformed, India's fielding and Australia's spin bowling have not always delivered.

The match deserves to be shown here on free to air TV, but apparently (unless I've not read the schedules properly) won't be.

Update/ correction 7.20pm CST

Apparently Channel 9 are showing the match from 11pm.