Commonsense at last?

At last there's a possibility of some commonsense about spectator management being injected into the World Cup. See this Cricinfo piece.

At last a cliffhanger

I thought that Sri Lanka would beat England but I'm not claiming any bragging rights after the close result in the Super Eight match which the Lankans won by 2 runs from the last ball of the game.

It was , as many of the best one day games are, a low scoring match (by contemporary standards). Sri Lanka, sent in, reached 5/215 from 45 overs, lost 5/20 and were all out for 235 from the last ball of the 50th over (Upal Tharanga 62/103b, Mahela Jayawardene 56/61b, Sajjad Mahmood 4/50, Andrew Flintoff 3/35).

England lost Michael Vaughan and Ed Joyce cheaply, but Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen, again, steadied the ship. Bell was, again, run out (how many times has this happened to him in crucial situations?). 3/101 from 25.2 overs became 6/133 from 33.3 overs as the middle order crumbled. Paul Nixon 42/44b and Ravi Bopara 52/53b put the chase back on the rails using a combination of orthodox and (especially Nixon) unorthodox methods, but could raise not quite enough steam to get their team over the line. Bopara was bowled by Fernando trying to win the game from the last ball.

I'll refer you to the Cricinfo match package and Scorecard for more information and comment about the game.

As for the future prospects of the two teams, England have a tough task to qualify for the semi-finals. They're not playing badly at present, certainly not as badly as they were three months ago in Australia when they flummoxed their critics, including me, with a form about turn (President Bush might have called it a surge) which gave them the tri-series trophy. So they shouldn't be written off yet.

Sri Lanka are doing pretty well everything that their supporters could ask of them. They're batting, bowling and fielding well enough to look a likely contender to proceed through the semi-finals to the final. I'll keep my powder dry and not say any more than this for the time being.

Pattern repeated as South Africa defeat Ireland

After the shocks of the Group Stage the Super Eight series is following a pattern of (1) rain, (2) team winning toss puts opposition in and (3) stronger side wins regardless. Today was no exception as South Africa defeated Ireland by 7 wickets in a 35 overs a side match decided according to the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Ireland made a half respectable 8/152 (Shaun Pollock 2/17 at last returning good figures, Charl Langeveldt 3/41 and Andrew Hall 2/37). Jacques Kallis 66 n o /86b, Graham Smith 41/45b and Ashwell Prince 47 n o/44b saw the Proteas home comfortably.

Scorecard.

World Cup shortcomings keep spectators under house arrest and threaten livelihoods of firework dealers

When Tony Cozier, the doyen of West Indian cricket commentators (and one of the best in the world) is moved to write a Cricinfo piece lamenting the administrative shortcomings of the World Cup organisation, you know that something is seriously wrong.

Public ire has been especially aroused by the stipulation that offers no pass-out vouchers. It means that once the punter has left the ground, there is no way of getting back in unless through the understanding of some sympathetic official-and that's an oxymoron.

Once they hold a ticket, West Indians are accustomed of being able to come and go as they please, to attend a meeting, to take in the lunch hour from the office, to pick up the kids. At this World Cup, they are under virtual house arrest once they are in the ground. Those who turned up early yesterday morning at the Viv Richards ground had to wait five hours before play got going. Had they left, there was no way back.

It must be especially galling for Cosier, who has reported West Indies cricket since its glory days of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, to see both his team and its constituent nations palpably failing to make a reasonable fist of the tournament both on and off the field.

"The 2007 World Cup nightmare seems to get worse every day for organisers, sponsors and hosts," says Peter Lalor in The Australian, echoing Cosier's sentiments.

Last Tuesday only 9500 turned up to watch the home side play defending champion Australia in Antigua. Authorities had spent more than $25 million increasing capacity at the ground from 10,000 to 19,000. West Indies captain Brian Lara was angry and embarrassed at the Antigua snub but he has bigger problems with three straight losses leaving West Indies on the verge of elimination. Plans are already in place to bus in schoolchildren and members of local cricket clubs to matches in Antigua and Guyana.

But it is the exit of India that has really hurt the competition. "It is like Brazil going out in the first round of a soccer World Cup," Chris Dehring, managing director and chief executive of the tournament, said. "There is virtually no substitute when a team like India goes out in terms of a travelling contingent."

The economic impact has been felt across the subcontinent. The Gujarati State Fireworks Dealers Association and their colleagues in other states are complaining that they had expected to make a killing from the sale of fireworks to cricket fans but are sitting on a stockpile of the incendiaries. The biggest damp squib is the loss to broadcasters and sponsors who bank on India's enormous population to keep the world game afloat.

New Zealand continue in Australian vein and trounce Bangladesh

Hard on the heels of their defeat by Australia, Bangladesh had to face up to another in form team, New Zealand at Antigua. Though the match was not interrupted or delayed by rain, the Black Caps' 9 wicket victory was almost the same margin as the Australians' two days before.

NZ opted to field first and kept the Bangladesh batters on so tight a rein that they used up all except 9 balls of their 50 overs in crawling to 174 all out ( Steve Styris 4/43, Shane Bond 2/15 from 10 mean spirited overs, and Jacob Oram 3/30 including a stumping).

Stephen Fleming (102/92b) led his team at the gallop into the final straight . After reaching his century he allowed Hamish Marshall to take them past the winning post, and his 50 in 54b, with a six.

Scorecard.

Sri Lanka win easily and diminish West Indies' chances of making semi-finals

After winning the toss West Indies chose to send Sri Lanka in. This turned out to be yet another unwise decision, as the Lankans, with Sanith Jayasuriya jumping out of the blocks with a rapid 115/101b (10x4, 4x6) and Mahela Jayawardene contributing a relatively placid 82/113b, amassed 5/303.

The West Indies reply started, as it needed to, positively but the openers were both out by the time the total reached 40 and then Brian Lara, their great, if not last, hope, was stumped by Kumar Sangakkara standing up to W. P. U. J. Chaminda Vaas, his first stumping dismissal in a lifetime of bowling (Cricinfo has a photoof this). Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shiv Chanderpaul stopped a further slide but couldn't accelerate enough to keep their team, with its unreliable lower order, in touch with the required run rate. Sarwan was out at 134 in the 35th over for 44/68b, three others followed in swift succession trying to force the pace, and at 173 in the 42nd over Chanderpaul was out for 76/110b. The rest of the game was a formality: Sri Lanka won convincingly by 113 runs with 33 balls to spare.

Scorecard.

West Indies are now in even more danger of missing the semi-finals, which will be a disappointment to their supporters who, judging from the highlights shown on tonight's TV news, turned out in some force at Providence Stadium in Guyana.

Sri Lanka continue to look good and must fancy themselves to make the final. They have a well balanced team and everyone is in at least reasonable form, though whether Jayasuriya or Vaas can reproduce today's performances against Australia or South Africa or even England, is a moot point.

Australia race to victory in 22/22 match

I stayed up last night intending to watch Australia v Bangladesh but grew tired of watching the ground dry slowly (despite the sunshine) and fell asleep after Mark Nicholas, hair was blowing in the wind, had interviewed Umpires Bowden and Aleem Dar (why do they always seem to be officiating when there are delays and interruptions?).

I woke up to find that the game had begun as a 22 overs a side match, that Bangladesh, sent in by Ricky Ponting, were batting and that,at 3 for just over 30, they were in trouble. Glenn McGrath, whose 3/16 (all top order batters) from 5 overs gave him 57 World Cup wickets and therefore the record as the highest wicket taker in the competition, was in top form. As one of the commentators said , he may not be quite as menacing as he was a few years ago, but he is still very, very good.

Bangladesh finished with 6/104 from their 22 overs. In the innings break I nodded off again and awoke to find Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden toying with the bowling. They passed Bangladesh's score without losing a wicket: Gilchrist 59 no/44b and Hayden 47/39b. This took all of 13.5 overs and 56 minutes.

Scorecard.

To judge from the TV pictures and comments by Cricinfo's Andrew Miller the spectators must have felt that they had been shortchanged, especially with all the irksome restrictions (eg no pass outs issued, no food and drinks allowed to be brought in) further diminishing their enjoyment.

Australia are cruising along comfortably at the moment, but even they have a couple of matters to worry about, particularly the injury which Shane Watson, who is so important to the side's balance, sustained in the match, and residual concerns about the middle order batting. Both Michael Hussey and Andrew Symonds would probably have found conditions to their liking today had the match been a full 50 overs a side contest, but they will almost certainly have other opportunities before the semi-finals, in which Australia now looks almost certain to participate.
Bangladesh are struggling in the Super Eight stage, and today's defeat was so comprehensive, even though the match was shortened, that they may just want to go away, try to forget it and regroup before their next game, another tough one, against NZ on Monday Caribbean time.