Thursday, March 3, 2011

World Cup Thoughts - March 2nd

Here are the thoughts after one of the best games in the World Cup history. 
  • The English have taken upon themselves the task of making the World Cup worth watching. A struggling win against the Dutch, a crazy tie against India and now a high scoring defeat against the Irish. The winter Ashes thrashing of the Australians already seems like a lifetime away.
  • You always tend to support the underdog (except when the underdog is thrashing up your team). But the Irish really dug a big hole (it was more like a crater after a meteorite impact) for themselves, letting the English score 327, then got 5 down for 113 before going for victory.
  • Kevin O'Brien was AWESOME. Pure and near chanceless slogging. And he had great support from Alex Cusack and John Mooney.
  • The Irish today showed how to use the Batting Powerplay, unlike most teams. They used it as a shock value, did not wait till the end or even the change of ball. And it changed the momentum of game.
  • Unfortunately, the best Irish player in the world was not playing for either side today. Wonder how Eoin Morgan must be feeling today.
  • Funniest Comment - From the BBC text commentary "Could this match also be seen as a recruitment opportunity for England? Is it considered bad form to steal the other team's best players during a tournament? Or a match?". The ICC qualification rules are weird but it seems England can actually pick an Irish player as a replacement in case of injuries but the Irish will have to wait 4 years to take him back. 
  • ICC still planning to allow only 10 teams in the 2015 Cup?
  • Ireland/ICC should immediately take steps for Test status. Nobody really wants anymore cases like Ed Joyce. (A really nice of Ed Joyce is here)
  • Group B has been thrown wide open by this result. Some team is going to miss out big time. England face off against South Africa, West Indies & Bangladesh. Certainly not going to be easy.
  • India need to be very worried about Ireland now.
Now for some other thoughts.
  • Post the spot fixing scandal, anything even remotely out of ordinary is being treated as a suspect. ICC investigating into slow Australian start against Zimbabwe, while some Sri Lankan TV channel has accused Jayawardene & Samaraweera of deliberately losing against Pakistan. Some are also questioning Shane Warne's tweet about India-England match getting tied. Cloud of suspicion is never good. And the ICC/Boards must act if anything untoward is found.
  • And finally to Lasith Malinga. Does not play when I make him my trump player, but on getting dropped from my team, makes a comeback and taakes a hat-trick.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Nishant,

    The other day Nasser Hussein sounded a bit worried while mentioning that the only thing England lacks at this moment is a big-hitter like Yusuf Pathan at number six or seven.

    Now, if England do have the permission to pick an Irish player, then they have a better option in Kevin!

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  2. Hi Sambit

    Yups they can pick from Irish players, only those who play county cricket. And Kevin would definetely be a good choice. They are already mentioning flintoff when they talk about Kevin.

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  3. Does Kevin bowl? I'm not sure as I haven't seen Ireland on the field till now.

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  4. Yes Kevin does bowl, though did not bowl in this game. Here is his profile http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc_cricket_worldcup2011/content/player/24605.html

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