Written by Valar on 31.01.2007 at 18:32

Sachin(GOD) scored his 41st ton and helped India win the series against West Indies 3-1. He was named the man of the match and man of the series.

All hail The Little Master.

It's about time he came good again, and the timing is impeccable too! I think the upcoming series against Sri Lanka will be very important for India's World Cup aspirations, and will also show us the improvement in the Sri Lankan squad. Remember, this time last year when these 2 teams met the scoreline was 2-0 in Tests and 6-1 in ODIs, with India comprehensively thrashing them.

And England have just beaten New Zealand in the final preliminary match, earning themselves the right to face the Australian onslaught in the 3-match finals series.

Written by Judas on 06.02.2007 at 14:03

...to face the Australian onslaught...

Hmm, wouldn't say an onslaught after watching the first match...

Think England deserved it more though. The tail end of Australia's batting innings was pretty bad getting 33 from the last 10 overs, which imo they should have done better. England's start of their innings Australia definatly look on top with 3/15.

But some poor fielding and yet another skilled over 100 run go from Collingwood was what put Australia away. Should be an entertaining 2nd match on Sunday, and hopefully Australia will do what we should have done this match and win.

All I can say is - what happened ?

How did England manage to win ?

Miracles do happen

Man, another good go from England and, well, an un-impressive knock from the Aussies in the 2nd final.

Washed out from rain, Australia werent going to get the target anyway if they werent stopped by rain. Very disappointing, but now England dont look to bad heading into the World cup. They were ranked 7th in one day games... reckon after what 4 straight wins and the commonwealth trophy their rank will have gone up a couple. Not to mention they're convidence after a somewhat dreadful start to the summer.

Congratulations England, I think it's really good for them (and the rest of the cricketing world!) that they could convincingly beat Australia in the finals, because it shows them and the rest of the world that it's not impossible. At the beginning of the series, I would have put money on Zimbabwe, Kenya, Bangladesh, Ireland, UAE, Canada, Scotland, and even Holland (sorry Marcel! ) to beat the Poms, and now, they've totally turned it around. It's really good to have momentum at such a crucial time.

As for the Australian effort, well, they don't have anyone to blame but themselves. Having said that, it was a class performance by England. Jamie Dalrymple's catch to dismiss Shane Watson was one of the greatest that we're ever likely to see. Well done!

@hanna: Gloat away...

@ Judas - I won't presume to even begin to gloat.

The way England play it would be asking for trouble :p

Just because they somehow managed to get this victory doesn't mean we will get anywhere at all in the World Cup - they will probably change all the players anyway.

But it is especially nice to beat Australia

England won mainly cause they came good towards the end of the tournament and Austrailia just dont have the bowling attack anymore to be all that lethal. When their batting doesn't click they dont have much backup in the bowling dept. specially now that even McGrath and Lee aren't likely to be there..

Anyway WC is coming up! I'll go with SriLanka on this one heh! For some reason I like that team. Nice to watch when they're on song..

Written by Himann on 26.02.2007 at 23:13

England won mainly cause they came good towards the end of the tournament and Austrailia just dont have the bowling attack anymore to be all that lethal. When their batting doesn't click they dont have much backup in the bowling dept. specially now that even McGrath and Lee aren't likely to be there..

Anyway WC is coming up! I'll go with SriLanka on this one heh! For some reason I like that team. Nice to watch when they're on song..

Great to see someone from a TOTALLY non-cricket country posting here. Okay, Norway does have a national team but I think they are ranked amongst the C-countries in Europe.

Aaah only two more weeks before the start of the WC. I am really forward to Holland's matches against South Africa and Australia. Scotland we should be able to beat. But those other two will be a great learning experience.

As for my favs for the WC, still Australia, the pitches in the West Indies might suit their bowling quite well. And my dark horse is the West Indies themselves. home advantage and look at how they perfomred in the Champions Trophy.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 27.02.2007 at 10:55

Written by Himann on 26.02.2007 at 23:13

England won mainly cause they came good towards the end of the tournament and Austrailia just dont have the bowling attack anymore to be all that lethal. When their batting doesn't click they dont have much backup in the bowling dept. specially now that even McGrath and Lee aren't likely to be there..

Anyway WC is coming up! I'll go with SriLanka on this one heh! For some reason I like that team. Nice to watch when they're on song..

Great to see someone from a TOTALLY non-cricket country posting here. Okay, Norway does have a national team but I think they are ranked amongst the C-countries in Europe.

Aaah only two more weeks before the start of the WC. I am really forward to Holland's matches against South Africa and Australia. Scotland we should be able to beat. But those other two will be a great learning experience.

As for my favs for the WC, still Australia, the pitches in the West Indies might suit their bowling quite well. And my dark horse is the West Indies themselves. home advantage and look at how they perfomred in the Champions Trophy.

I spent some time abroad and follow the game quite a bit. Not so much interest in it her in Norway though. Actually the pitches which were prepared are said to be spin friendly which isn't very good news for Australia or South Africa cause they lack a bit in the spinning dept. I agree abt West Indies having a really good shot at this. If Gayle and a couple of others score they would be fine I think..

Anyway I'm tipping Sri Lanka to win. I think they've been in good form recently and that India tour was a wake up call that they needed. They do well when they go in termed underdogs..

Written by Himann on 27.02.2007 at 13:46

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 27.02.2007 at 10:55

Written by Himann on 26.02.2007 at 23:13

England won mainly cause they came good towards the end of the tournament and Austrailia just dont have the bowling attack anymore to be all that lethal. When their batting doesn't click they dont have much backup in the bowling dept. specially now that even McGrath and Lee aren't likely to be there..

Anyway WC is coming up! I'll go with SriLanka on this one heh! For some reason I like that team. Nice to watch when they're on song..

Great to see someone from a TOTALLY non-cricket country posting here. Okay, Norway does have a national team but I think they are ranked amongst the C-countries in Europe.

Aaah only two more weeks before the start of the WC. I am really forward to Holland's matches against South Africa and Australia. Scotland we should be able to beat. But those other two will be a great learning experience.

As for my favs for the WC, still Australia, the pitches in the West Indies might suit their bowling quite well. And my dark horse is the West Indies themselves. home advantage and look at how they perfomred in the Champions Trophy.

I spent some time abroad and follow the game quite a bit. Not so much interest in it her in Norway though. Actually the pitches which were prepared are said to be spin friendly which isn't very good news for Australia or South Africa cause they lack a bit in the spinning dept. I agree abt West Indies having a really good shot at this. If Gayle and a couple of others score they would be fine I think..

Anyway I'm tipping Sri Lanka to win. I think they've been in good form recently and that India tour was a wake up call that they needed. They do well when they go in termed underdogs..

well after WI and Australia (remember they also have Cameron White as leggie and Clark (not Stuart but the other one) and Symonds as part time offies)
I do actually rank Sri Lanka of maybe regaining the trophy especially since they have attacking batsmen (good for 1-dayuers) and of course Murali (especially helpful if the pitches are spinner friendly)

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 27.02.2007 at 13:52

Written by Himann on 27.02.2007 at 13:46

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 27.02.2007 at 10:55

Written by Himann on 26.02.2007 at 23:13

England won mainly cause they came good towards the end of the tournament and Austrailia just dont have the bowling attack anymore to be all that lethal. When their batting doesn't click they dont have much backup in the bowling dept. specially now that even McGrath and Lee aren't likely to be there..

Anyway WC is coming up! I'll go with SriLanka on this one heh! For some reason I like that team. Nice to watch when they're on song..

Great to see someone from a TOTALLY non-cricket country posting here. Okay, Norway does have a national team but I think they are ranked amongst the C-countries in Europe.

Aaah only two more weeks before the start of the WC. I am really forward to Holland's matches against South Africa and Australia. Scotland we should be able to beat. But those other two will be a great learning experience.

As for my favs for the WC, still Australia, the pitches in the West Indies might suit their bowling quite well. And my dark horse is the West Indies themselves. home advantage and look at how they perfomred in the Champions Trophy.

I spent some time abroad and follow the game quite a bit. Not so much interest in it her in Norway though. Actually the pitches which were prepared are said to be spin friendly which isn't very good news for Australia or South Africa cause they lack a bit in the spinning dept. I agree abt West Indies having a really good shot at this. If Gayle and a couple of others score they would be fine I think..

Anyway I'm tipping Sri Lanka to win. I think they've been in good form recently and that India tour was a wake up call that they needed. They do well when they go in termed underdogs..

well after WI and Australia (remember they also have Cameron White as leggie and Clark (not Stuart but the other one) and Symonds as part time offies)
I do actually rank Sri Lanka of maybe regaining the trophy especially since they have attacking batsmen (good for 1-dayuers) and of course Murali (especially helpful if the pitches are spinner friendly)

Murali will be a handful on any pitch, turning or not lol. He even bowls legbreaks a bit if I remember correctly. They come out quite well actually. I think Symonds is a decent spinner but I wouldn't bet too much on the other two though not enough turn and they aren't exactly spot on when it comes to line and length. Australia's bowling attack is not the best this time and since the pitch is more of a spinning pitch I doubt they can manage to keep the runs down. Either West Indies, Sri Lanka or South Africa for me..

England winning the World Cup this time, well i certainly bet against that....i tip them....
But I would so like see INDIA winning it again
I mean we can with our explosive batting which needs to strike along with are decent fast bowlers and great spinners.....
If we stick to it we can get the job done.... C'mon India!!

Well and MS users arent that interested in Cricket it seems like Football thread which was like the thread during the WC in Germany.....
Anyways here it starts.....

10 days to go

Written by Valar on 02.03.2007 at 18:35

England winning the World Cup this time, well i certainly bet against that....i tip them....
But I would so like see INDIA winning it again
I mean we can with our explosive batting which needs to strike along with are decent fast bowlers and great spinners.....
If we stick to it we can get the job done.... C'mon India!!

Well and MS users arent that interested in Cricket it seems like Football thread which was like the thread during the WC in Germany.....
Anyways here it starts.....

10 days to go

yep... Dutch left for Jamaica today and will be playing warm-up m,atches against INdia and Kenya next week. But, damn, we're in toughest group which also features the current no. 1 and 2 of the world (South Africa and Australia) Our goal is to beat Scotland and NOT to be murdered by SA and Australia.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 02.03.2007 at 19:11

Written by Valar on 02.03.2007 at 18:35

England winning the World Cup this time, well i certainly bet against that....i tip them....
But I would so like see INDIA winning it again
I mean we can with our explosive batting which needs to strike along with are decent fast bowlers and great spinners.....
If we stick to it we can get the job done.... C'mon India!!

Well and MS users arent that interested in Cricket it seems like Football thread which was like the thread during the WC in Germany.....
Anyways here it starts.....

10 days to go

yep... Dutch left for Jamaica today and will be playing warm-up m,atches against INdia and Kenya next week. But, damn, we're in toughest group which also features the current no. 1 and 2 of the world (South Africa and Australia) Our goal is to beat Scotland and NOT to be murdered by SA and Australia.

SA seems to be in good form this time so thats going to be tough. Its always going to be difficult against Australia. Anyway someone should put up the groups and schedules here.. I can never remember which team is in which group..

GROUP A : Australia , South Africa , Scotland , The Netherlands

GROUP B : Sri Lanka , India , Bangladesh , Bermuda

GROUP C : New Zealand , England , Kenya , Canada

GROUP D : Pakistan , West Indies , Zimbabwe , Ireland


Match schedules can be found here : http://cricketworldcup.indya.com/event/schdules.htm

I'm too lazy to type them out

world cup is coming, but I don't think I'll be able to watch the matches....
a few years back one of our teachers won 15000 rupees (72rupees=1dollar) in bets in different matches in the cricket world cup.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 02.03.2007 at 19:11

Written by Valar on 02.03.2007 at 18:35

England winning the World Cup this time, well i certainly bet against that....i tip them....
But I would so like see INDIA winning it again
I mean we can with our explosive batting which needs to strike along with are decent fast bowlers and great spinners.....
If we stick to it we can get the job done.... C'mon India!!

Well and MS users arent that interested in Cricket it seems like Football thread which was like the thread during the WC in Germany.....
Anyways here it starts.....

10 days to go

yep... Dutch left for Jamaica today and will be playing warm-up m,atches against INdia and Kenya next week. But, damn, we're in toughest group which also features the current no. 1 and 2 of the world (South Africa and Australia) Our goal is to beat Scotland and NOT to be murdered by SA and Australia.

Well i still remember how well the Dutch played against us in the last world cup which we just won, it was a low scoring one and only Sachin played a good innings of 50 + from India....
A holland player batted right through the innings in that match i cant remember his name... Ozman any idea?

My top 4 bets are on Australia, South Africa, India and Pakistan. Australia, simply because they are still the best team in the world, regardless of their recent lack of form. South Africa, because they are playing the best One-Day cricket that they've played in a long time, probably since the 1999 World Cup. India, because that's who I'll be supporting and they are just getting back into good form. The West Indies because they've started playing very well again for the first time in years, and they've got a home advantage. But it's wide open, the way world cricket is at the moment I wouldn't be surprised if my prediction was totally wrong. Unfortunately for me, being in Australia the time difference is horribly inconvenient, but hey, it only comes every four years, I'm not going to miss it!

@hanna, thanks for being a dear and posting all the silly things I ask for sometimes lol.

Well all the cricket fans I know from my stays in Asia are talking abt which 4 will make it to the quaterfinals. Noone wants to predict the winner because its fairly even at the moment.

Anyway would like to pose a question to all those interested in this sport: Which 4 teams will qualify at the top of their group? hanna has already posted the Groups around 4 posts ( ) back so take a guess..

Anyway my prediction would be South Africa, Sri Lanka, England and the West Indies.

@ Himann -

My predictions for top of groups:

Australia , Sri Lanka , New Zealand , West Indies

You will notice I have not named England - we have already had our moment of glory this year.
I expect we will get through to the next round , but not as group leaders.

Well I personally think England can beat New Zealand and can win their group but I dont think they'll go all the way though..

Written by Valar on 03.03.2007 at 08:24

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 02.03.2007 at 19:11

Written by Valar on 02.03.2007 at 18:35

England winning the World Cup this time, well i certainly bet against that....i tip them....
But I would so like see INDIA winning it again
I mean we can with our explosive batting which needs to strike along with are decent fast bowlers and great spinners.....
If we stick to it we can get the job done.... C'mon India!!

Well and MS users arent that interested in Cricket it seems like Football thread which was like the thread during the WC in Germany.....
Anyways here it starts.....

10 days to go

yep... Dutch left for Jamaica today and will be playing warm-up m,atches against INdia and Kenya next week. But, damn, we're in toughest group which also features the current no. 1 and 2 of the world (South Africa and Australia) Our goal is to beat Scotland and NOT to be murdered by SA and Australia.

Well i still remember how well the Dutch played against us in the last world cup which we just won, it was a low scoring one and only Sachin played a good innings of 50 + from India....
A holland player batted right through the innings in that match i cant remember his name... Ozman any idea?

I can't remember who it was, sorry, I'll have to look it up.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 06.03.2007 at 14:56

Written by Valar on 03.03.2007 at 08:24

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 02.03.2007 at 19:11

Written by Valar on 02.03.2007 at 18:35

England winning the World Cup this time, well i certainly bet against that....i tip them....
But I would so like see INDIA winning it again
I mean we can with our explosive batting which needs to strike along with are decent fast bowlers and great spinners.....
If we stick to it we can get the job done.... C'mon India!!

Well and MS users arent that interested in Cricket it seems like Football thread which was like the thread during the WC in Germany.....
Anyways here it starts.....

10 days to go

yep... Dutch left for Jamaica today and will be playing warm-up m,atches against INdia and Kenya next week. But, damn, we're in toughest group which also features the current no. 1 and 2 of the world (South Africa and Australia) Our goal is to beat Scotland and NOT to be murdered by SA and Australia.

Well i still remember how well the Dutch played against us in the last world cup which we just won, it was a low scoring one and only Sachin played a good innings of 50 + from India....
A holland player batted right through the innings in that match i cant remember his name... Ozman any idea?

I can't remember who it was, sorry, I'll have to look it up.

Daan van Bunge .... didnt bat throughout but was the last man dismissed..... he scored 62

Written by Valar on 06.03.2007 at 15:16

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 06.03.2007 at 14:56

Written by Valar on 03.03.2007 at 08:24

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 02.03.2007 at 19:11

Written by Valar on 02.03.2007 at 18:35

England winning the World Cup this time, well i certainly bet against that....i tip them....
But I would so like see INDIA winning it again
I mean we can with our explosive batting which needs to strike along with are decent fast bowlers and great spinners.....
If we stick to it we can get the job done.... C'mon India!!

Well and MS users arent that interested in Cricket it seems like Football thread which was like the thread during the WC in Germany.....
Anyways here it starts.....

10 days to go

yep... Dutch left for Jamaica today and will be playing warm-up m,atches against INdia and Kenya next week. But, damn, we're in toughest group which also features the current no. 1 and 2 of the world (South Africa and Australia) Our goal is to beat Scotland and NOT to be murdered by SA and Australia.

Well i still remember how well the Dutch played against us in the last world cup which we just won, it was a low scoring one and only Sachin played a good innings of 50 + from India....
A holland player batted right through the innings in that match i cant remember his name... Ozman any idea?

I can't remember who it was, sorry, I'll have to look it up.

Daan van Bunge .... didnt bat throughout but was the last man dismissed..... he scored 62

Aha, thx, well he is part of squad once again. And when he played for the MCC Young Cricketeres three/two years ago he was the all-time runscorer for a single season there, outscoring people such as Mike Atherton who had also played there.
Btw, Bas Zuiderent is the second youngest cricketer ever to score a half century in the World Cup (that was against England) in 1996, the only player younger than him to have achieved that is Sachin Tendulkaar being a couple of weeks younger.

the live scorecard for the warm-up match India - The Netherlands can be found here:

http://www.cricketeurope4.net/LIVE/2/live.shtml

The Dutch did pretty well by the looks of it restricting India to 300 for 9 in the allocated 50, Ten Doesschate taking 5 for 57 in 10

Today the big teams meet each other and we shall come to know a lot about what type of performance will be delivered on these slow pitches by the teams....
Already the first shock is registered in the tournament with Bangladesh beating New Zealand....

West Indies were pwned by India by 9 wickets...they got out for 85 runs

Also England were beaten by Australia - by 5 wickets.

Nothing new in that though :p

Bangladesh beating New Zealand was a pleasant surprise, mind you I've always thought them capable of anything on their day: remember a few years ago when they beat Australia in a NatWest Series match in England? West Indies were comprehensively walloped, that's not the start they were hoping for, but full marks to India, I'm particularly pleased to see my favourite horse out of the ranks well. Sehwag with a duck though, this is becoming a habit...

@hanna: Oh well, it was good for you while it lasted!