well... it's almost tuesday, and then we'll see what really happens.

Promising display by The Netherlands against Kenya in their warm-up match, only losing by 9 runs.

Who here also remembers the shock victory of Kenya over West Indies in a previous world cup? Man, that was thrilling. Hopefully one of the associates will be able to pull off such a stunt this time around as well.

Well the World Cup begins today !!
i heard this weird news today that Pakistan players will only speak in Urdu to avoid being misquoted.....

Here's one reason why Inzi will be speaking Urdu and not English i found on one of the websites...

It's said that the post match script for the Pakistan cricket team captain Inzamam Ul Haq is always prepared in advance, as questions are more or less the same...... and replies too are quite similar. This gives enough time for Inzy to memorize the script in advance, as he is supposed to be weak in English.

But once Rameez Raja put him in big soup by asking a different question after Pak won the match. Needless to say, Inzi was not prepared.......
RAMEEZ: So Inzy.....Congrats..........we understand your wife is pregnant???

INZY: Bismilla e Rehmaane Rahim, Sabse Pehle to Allah talah ka Shukar....Insha Allah all credit goes to the boys...every one worked hard for it........especially Afridi. Without his hard hitting strokes, it wouldn't have been possible. The patient knock of Younis Khan kept the momentum going....... and Yohanna led from the front.......... that gave the courage and confidence to our young boys to believe in themselves and make the most out of this opportunity. Also Bob Woolmer kept a closed watch on the progress..... after all, its a great team effort.

Rameez Raja quickly wound up the Award Giving Ceremony!!!!!!


No offence to anyone but i found this so fuckin hilarious....

Written by Valar on 12.03.2007 at 07:57

Well the World Cup begins today !!
i heard this weird news today that Pakistan players will only speak in Urdu to avoid being misquoted.....

Here's one reason why Inzi will be speaking Urdu and not English i found on one of the websites...

It's said that the post match script for the Pakistan cricket team captain Inzamam Ul Haq is always prepared in advance, as questions are more or less the same...... and replies too are quite similar. This gives enough time for Inzy to memorize the script in advance, as he is supposed to be weak in English.

But once Rameez Raja put him in big soup by asking a different question after Pak won the match. Needless to say, Inzi was not prepared.......
RAMEEZ: So Inzy.....Congrats..........we understand your wife is pregnant???

INZY: Bismilla e Rehmaane Rahim, Sabse Pehle to Allah talah ka Shukar....Insha Allah all credit goes to the boys...every one worked hard for it........especially Afridi. Without his hard hitting strokes, it wouldn't have been possible. The patient knock of Younis Khan kept the momentum going....... and Yohanna led from the front.......... that gave the courage and confidence to our young boys to believe in themselves and make the most out of this opportunity. Also Bob Woolmer kept a closed watch on the progress..... after all, its a great team effort.

Rameez Raja quickly wound up the Award Giving Ceremony!!!!!!


No offence to anyone but i found this so fuckin hilarious....

The strange thing is the World Cup has started but the first match is tomorrow between the Windies and Pakistan.
Well, I can't wait for Friday when The Netherlands will try and not be slaughtered bvy South Africa.

^^ Yeah because there was an opening ceromony today i guess....

I think it might have to do with the fact that the opening ceremony was on jamaica and most teams play their matches on the other islands. I sure am ready for 6 weeks of high class cricket. I wonder if the Dutch team will stay in the Carribean after they have been eliminated next week Thursday. If I were them I would stay and go an watch as many of the Super Eight matches, semi finals and the final if possible. It's a good way to learn as well by watching the great countries play.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 12.03.2007 at 09:37

I think it might have to do with the fact that the opening ceremony was on jamaica and most teams play their matches on the other islands. I sure am ready for 6 weeks of high class cricket. I wonder if the Dutch team will stay in the Carribean after they have been eliminated next week Thursday. If I were them I would stay and go an watch as many of the Super Eight matches, semi finals and the final if possible. It's a good way to learn as well by watching the great countries play.

Do you think Cricket can develop in these nations like Bermuda, Holland, Scotland etc
Over the years only Sri Lanka and one might say Bangladesh has been able to get foward in cricket but the rest have been far behind....I think it needs the support of the people and the media in the counrty....
The same problem is faced in India in Football.....

Written by Valar on 12.03.2007 at 11:15

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 12.03.2007 at 09:37

I think it might have to do with the fact that the opening ceremony was on jamaica and most teams play their matches on the other islands. I sure am ready for 6 weeks of high class cricket. I wonder if the Dutch team will stay in the Carribean after they have been eliminated next week Thursday. If I were them I would stay and go an watch as many of the Super Eight matches, semi finals and the final if possible. It's a good way to learn as well by watching the great countries play.

Do you think Cricket can develop in these nations like Bermuda, Holland, Scotland etc
Over the years only Sri Lanka and one might say Bangladesh has been able to get foward in cricket but the rest have been far behind....I think it needs the support of the people and the media in the counrty....
The same problem is faced in India in Football.....

IMO, cricket will never be as big in Holland, Ireland, and Scotland as it is in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. I think that is because the sport isn't as much ingrained in our every day life as it is in those countries, plus the fact that here in Holland only about 5,000 people actively play it and of those 5,000 about half are non-Dutch (primarily Pakistani, Indian immigrants and expats from SA, Aus, england, etc.) Another big problem is media coverage. It is apparently very hard for the meida here to write accurately about it or to put it on tv in such a way that it is intersting for both the people playing it and for the non-playing dutch people. IMO Holland shoudl focus on developing their one-day game and forgetting about test status (all players have regular day jobs so test will be a problem for them as well) ATM Holland is at the top of the Associate countries together with Scotland and Ireland and together with those two they should try and work hard at trying to close the gap to countries such as Kenya and Zimbabwe (in its present state)

^^ yeah good call they should forget about the test status and concentrate on one day cricket and not twenty twenty as IMO it basically sucks, and is all hitting no technique needed.....

@IndianSteel: Man that Inzamam thing is hilarious, Rameez would have been in a pretty awkward position!

I can't wait for the action to get underway, unfortuntately the timing is unbelievably inconvenient for me in Australia, but I'll be staying awake! Cricket > university.

And YES, Windies beat Pakistan. Good start to the torunament of the Windies. Taking 2 points to the super eight with them (most probably)

Windies 241 for 9

Pakistan 187 all out

Samuels 63, Sarwan 49,

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 14.03.2007 at 00:16

And YES, Windies beat Pakistan. Good start to the torunament of the Windies. Taking 2 points to the super eight with them (most probably)

Windies 241 for 9

Pakistan 187 all out

Samuels 63, Sarwan 49,

Yeah i am very happy with the result
I first thought that 242 was about the 20 runs short but I guess it was a good total on that pitch and the Windies bowled well ......

Written by Valar on 14.03.2007 at 05:02

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 14.03.2007 at 00:16

And YES, Windies beat Pakistan. Good start to the torunament of the Windies. Taking 2 points to the super eight with them (most probably)

Windies 241 for 9

Pakistan 187 all out

Samuels 63, Sarwan 49,

Yeah i am very happy with the result
I first thought that 242 was about the 20 runs short but I guess it was a good total on that pitch and the Windies bowled well ......

I also thught the 241 wouldn't be enough. But like you said the Windies bowled well, but they also fielded well. Plus Bravo held on to two great catches.

Pakistan fielded very poorly, even by their low standards. They didn't bowl badly or anything, but they needed to take the chances offered, and they choked at the death, allowing Dwayne Smith to boost the total. Marlon Samuels did a good job, for a change, I've never really rated him as a good player but if he can play well with regularity it might be a sign of his coming-of-age.

Pakistan's chase was pathetic. Really, if it wasn't for Shoaib Malik they wouldn't have even been within 100 of that total. Credit to the Windies, they've bounced back really well after their thrashing in the last warm-up match by India. These are 2 of the most unpredictable teams in the competition, so really, anything could have happened. Glad the Windies won though!

Scotland and Australia are next to play. I don't think there's any doubt in the outcome of this match, it'll merely be one of the formalities that the Aussies have to perform before the real tournament starts with the Super 8s.

Written by Judas on 14.03.2007 at 11:48



Scotland and Australia are next to play. I don't think there's any doubt in the outcome of this match, it'll merely be one of the formalities that the Aussies have to perform before the real tournament starts with the Super 8s.

Hopefully. but Scotland did give Australia a bit f a run for their money in 1999 though.

I am looking forward to Suday though. My two favourite teams playing each other. Okay, I will be rooting for Holland, but I don't really see them having even the slightest chance in hell of pulling off a shock victory. IMO the only match of importance in the tournament is their match against Scotland next week Thrusday. 50-50 chance of victory there.
But Holland should enjopy their matches against South Africa and Australia and learn from the experience. espcially good learnign experience for young players such as Mark Jonkman and Alexei Kervezee (17 and already a contract with Gloucestershire)

Australia 334/6 defeated Scotland 131. A resounding margin of 203 runs, but that's not anything out of the ordinary when a real lightweight meets the world champions. Good knock of 113 from Ricky Ponting, who is just going from strength to strength in his batting, whatever may be said about his captaincy. Scotland never had a chance.

Kenya came out on top of their battle with fellow minnows Canada rather comfortably, bowling them out for 199 then chasing it down for the loss of only 3 wickets with 40 balls remaining.

Sri Lanka are the next big gun looking to open their account in their match against Bermuda later today, and whatever may be said about this Dwayne Leverock character, the poor fellows don't have a hope of outclassing the likes of Jayasuriya, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Vaas, and Murali. Another whitewash is my bet.

Written by Judas on 15.03.2007 at 12:59



Kenya came out on top of their battle with fellow minnows Canada rather comfortably, bowling them out for 199 then chasing it down for the loss of only 3 wickets with 40 balls remaining.

Okay Kenya might be considered a minnow but they are light years ahead of Canada. And remember Kenya have reached the second round once or twice and murdered Windies quite a few years ago at the World Cup.

Of the so-called minnows Kenya is by far the strongest, followed by Ireland, Scotland, Holland (all three are about as strong) and then there is quite a big gap to Canada and Bermuda.


And shit, I missed the thriller between Ireland and Zimbabwe yesterday. I think this is the first tie ever during the World Cup. And my man Jeremy Bray was MoM, and guess what he is Australian. Used to play Sheffield Shiled/Pura Milk Cup for WA in 1996/1997 or thereabouts but married a Irish woman and moved to Ireland. Durin the summer of 1997 he was coach at my club (Kampong, Utrecht)

The Ireland-Zimbabwe match was incredible, Zimbabwe seemed to have the match in the bag, but Ireland came back superbly.

Sri Lanka slaughtered Bermuda, as predicted, by 243 runs.

Marcel, sorry that I have to mention this, but your boys, the Dutch, were comprehensively thrashed by the South Africans. The match was reduced to 40 overs a side by rain, and yet the Proteas managed to rack up 353/3, with Smith, Gibbs and Boucher getting 50s and Kallis scoring 128 not out. The match will probably be most remembered for Gibbs' six sixes in an over off van Bunge. Holland only managed 132/9 in reply, but I suppose they did bat out the overs and ten Doeschate scored a respectable 57. Definitely room for improvement though.

The English, despite triumphing in the VB Series in Australia earlier this year, could not repeat their victories over New Zealand, and had their 209/7 total chased down with the Black Caps only losing 4 wickets, and with 54 balls to spare. Kevin Pietersen did well with 60 for England, but Scott Styris (87 not out) and Jacob Oram (63 not out) were the stars of the show.

Today, India will finally start their campaign against Bangladesh. India are heavily favoured to win, but they are also prone to screwing up, and Bangladesh are also unpredictable. It should be an interesting contest.

Pakistan and Ireland play each other as well, which again, could make for good viewing, because Pakistan are playing lacklustre cricket and morale will be high in the Ireland camp after their draw against Zimbabwe.

Two unexpected results today :

India 191 (49.3 ov) - Bangladesh 192/5 (48.3 ov

Pakistan 132 (45.4 ov) - Ireland 133/7 (41.4/47 ov)


I only hope the same doesn't happen tomorrow when England play Canada .

India lost to Bangladesh!! Surprising really but I guess Bangladesh are comparatively a decent team.. Anyways the last I checked Pakistan were not faring too well against Ireland either..

Written by Himann on 18.03.2007 at 01:22

India lost to Bangladesh!! Surprising really but I guess Bangladesh are comparatively a decent team.. Anyways the last I checked Pakistan were not faring too well against Ireland either..

It seems we posted at the same time - Ireland won

Written by hanna of steel on 18.03.2007 at 01:25

Written by Himann on 18.03.2007 at 01:22

India lost to Bangladesh!! Surprising really but I guess Bangladesh are comparatively a decent team.. Anyways the last I checked Pakistan were not faring too well against Ireland either..

It seems we posted at the same time - Ireland won

Heh!! awesome for Ireland.. I read that polls in some places say that minnows should be kept out of the World Cup.. Well look what the minnows are doing now.. Yeah we must have posted at the same time..

Written by Judas on 17.03.2007 at 03:35

Sri Lanka slaughtered Bermuda, as predicted, by 243 runs.

Awesome but expected.. Anyway I'm still rooting for them..

I listened in a FM radio news that a person from India tried to sell his kidney to go to WI to watch the cricket world cup. (maybe he wasn't allowed to do so), and he said that he'd commit suicide if he didn't get to go to WI, and currently he's under police watch.

btw both India and Pakistan lost!! quite an unexpected result; wwell, pakistanis, better luck next time, and for indians, best of luck for you all to win next time.

Ahhh, India lost. I'm not best pleased about that, seeing as they're the team that I'm supporting, but I do like seeing the Bangladeshis doing well, so I'm really happy for them. India now need to win both their remaining group stage matches to have a chance of going through. They don't have anyone to blame but themselves, really, it was a very poor batting effort. Hats off to the Bangla bowlers though, in particular Mashrafe Mortaza, who picked up 4 wickets. The Indians luck didn't improve when they were out in the field, as Bangladesh constructed their chase well and didn't really give India any sniff of bowling them out cheaply. India were outplayed in all three departments of the game by Bangladesh. They batted terribly (going from 157/4 to 159/9 is inexcusable!), their bowling lacked any intent, and their fielding was sluggish as usual. Congratulations to the Tigers on a great victory. Shame on India for pure idiocy.

This upset was overshadowed by the result in the other game, Pakistan v Ireland. Everyone expected Pakistan to win, but they just proved that the World Cup requires consistently good cricket, and they played terribly against the Irish, giving them a great present on St Patrick's Day. I didn't watch this match, but from what I've heard the Pakistanis self-destructed while batting, and the Irish, while looking a bit shaky themselves during the middle overs, showed resilience right up to the end and were able to come up with a win, with 3 wickets in hand! Hearty congratulations to the men from the Emerald Isle, and a pathetic display from Pakistan. I wish them the best of luck in going back home and facing their irate fans, they sure as hell are going to need it.

Today, we have England v Canada, which could potentially mean another upset, and Australia v Holland, in which Marcel's Dutchies are probably going to need all the luck they can get, but with the recent upsets, who knows anymore?

@ Judas - by an upset for the England v Canada match - do you mean that England will win ?

I still expect either Australia or South Africa to win the tournament , but it is good to see some of the smaller sides having some success.

Good luck to the Dutchies today - I have a feeling they will need all the luck they can find.

RIP Bob Woolmer. That is a huge loss, and totally out of the blue.

Congratulations to England on their win over Canada. Credit to the Canadians too, for batting out their 50 overs and getting within a respectable margin.

Australia thrashed Holland by 229 runs. Not much to say on that one...

Lots of stunning news about Pakistan. Bob Woolmer has died. Apparently there has been some kind of poison in his blood. It is unclear about the cause of death but Suicide and Murder are also conclusions being drawn up.. Nothing can be said for sure until the autopsy report is obtained.. He was found unconscious in the hotal room and died in a Jamaican hospital. Inzaman has retired from one day internationals and Pakistan are out of the world cup..

@ Judas, looks like we posted at the same time lol..

@Himann: Apparently so!

Jeez I was so shocked waking up and reading that news. I don't think any of us can actually grasp the magnitude of his job, the only people in the world who could would be those who have already coached India or Pakistan. The pressure must really have been immense.

In Pakistan, the standard effigy-burning has begun, but one can only hope that those people realise what Bob Woolmer actually achieved with Pakistan. Somehow, I doubt it.

In India, a house that Dhoni is currently building has been attacked by a mob, the homes of many other players are being protected by armed guards, and people have already started gathering stones to throw at the players if they fail to get to the Super 8s.

When will these idiots realise that it's just a game?