Australia win Cricket World Cup farce

I was stupid enough to stay up all night to watch the World Cup final, which ended in the controversy that befits the whole tournament, having run for too long, and being badly organised.  

Cricket World Cup final

Well after several long months that really seems to have dragged on too long, we are down to the final. 

World Cup Cricket finals

With the last Super 8 round is now behind us, it is time for the Semifinals.

World Cup Cricket – Aussie thrash the Kiwis !!!

Last night, I managed to stay up and watch a fair bit of Australia’s last Super 8 round match against New Zealand, who thought they were very clever after winning the short New Zealand tour 3-0. At that stage, everyone had written off Australia as a serious World Cup competitor 😆

World Cup Cricket semi-finals

Well we are now up to the point where we know who the teams to play in the semi-finals are, and the top 4 placed teams so far are …

1. Australia – 6 wins, 0 losses
2. New Zealand – 5 wins, 1 loss
3. Sri Lanka – 4 wins, 2 losses, ahead on run rate
4. South Africa – 4 wins, 3 losses

Australia had a very comfortable 7 wicket win over Sri Lanka, which didn’t really affect any of the results, but Sri Lanka did rest 3 of their best bowlers, so obviously their attitude is a little suspect going into this stage of the competition. They were all out for 226 just short of the 50 overs, and Australia reached the total in 42 overs for the loss of just 3 wickets. Ponting and Symonds both finished Not Out with 60+ scores. Bracken excelled for the bowlers with 4 for 19 🙂

South Africa cemented their spot with a shellacing of the abject England, reaching their paltry score of 148 (all out in 48 overs) in just 19 overs for the loss of 1 wicket. Hall took 5 England wickets for just 18 runs in a magnificent display of bowling.

Was this the same team that supposedly came to Australia recently and claimed a One Day trophy ??  🙄

The next matches before the semis are …

• Ireland v Sri Lanka
• West Indies v Bangladesh
• Australia v New Zealand
• West Indies v England

World Cup results so far

After the first week or so of the World Cup ‘Super 8’ finals, we have had the following results …

West Indies vs Australia – Australia thrashed the West Indies by 103 runs 😆

South Africa vs Sri Lanka – South Africa won by 1 wicket (with 10 balls remaining)

West Indies vs New Zealand – New Zealand won by 7 wickets (with 64 balls remaining)

Ireland vs England – England won by 48 runs

Australia vs Bangladesh – Australia won by 10 wickets (with 49 balls remaining)

West Indies vs Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka won by 113 runs

Bangladesh vs New Zealand – New Zealand won by 9 wickets (with 124 balls remaining)

Ireland vs South Africa – South Africa won by 7 wickets (with 21 balls remaining)

England vs Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka won by 2 runs

So Australia have easily won their games, and other main winners are South Africa, Sri Lanka & New Zealand. The ‘home team’ have easily lost ALL their games so far 😳

Highlights so far are …

• Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga with an international world-first so-called ‘double hat trick’, meaning 4 wickets from 4 balls!!! I would have thought a double hat trick would be 6 wickets, seeing one hat trick is 3 wickets and double 3 is 6, but then again seeing it has never happened before, they probably didn’t know what to call it. Unfortunately for the poor bugger, they didn’t even win the game 🙂
• Australia’s fabulous Matthew Hayden with 158 against the West Indies off 143 balls, and Glenn McGrath reaching the all-time highest World Cup wicket record of 55, previously held by Pakistan bowling great Wasim Akram.

Sri Lanka, having played one extra game, are on top of the table with 6 points, followed by Australia, South Africa & New Zealand on 4 points, England on 2 points, and Bangladesh, Ireland & the West Indies on ZERO!!!

World Cup news – it’s now down to the ‘Super 8’

The teams in each group that have now reached the ‘Super-8’ round are the ones originally expected, with the definate exception of Ireland instead of Pakistan, and possibly Bangladesh instead of India. The final 8 are …

• Group A – Australia
• Group A – South Africa
• Group B – Sri Lanka
• Group B – Bangladesh
• Group C – New Zealand
•  Group C – England
• Group D – West Indies
• Group D – Ireland

The top teams in each each won all three of their games, and except for Ireland with a tie, the other teams all won 2 out of 3, and the ones that only won one game only beat their other cellar-dweller friends. I really don’t see why most of the these countries participated – I mean 4 of them did not even win ONE GAME 😳

Australia finished off the first round with a big 83 run win over South Africa, with AB DeVilliers putting up a good fight of 92 before being run out from an amazing throw from the boundary by Shane Watson. Matthew Hayden also excelled with 101, and made his hundred in a World Cup record of just 66 balls 🙂

Another interesting stat that I overlooked last week was another world record – in the game against the Netherlands, South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs hit the highest score possible of 36 runs in one over off poor Dan van Bunge – that’s 6 SIXES in a row !!!! South Africa’s total of 18 sixes for the match was also a record 😆

The next round of matches are (one day apart) …

• West Indies vs Australia
• South Africa vs Sri Lanka
• West Indies vs New Zealand
• Ireland vs England
• Australia vs Bangladesh
• West Indies vs Sri Lanka
• Bangladesh vs New Zealand
• Ireland vs South Africa
• England vs Sri Lanka
• Bangladesh vs South Africa
• Australia vs England
• Ireland vs New Zealand
• West Indies vs South Africa
• England vs Bangladesh
• Sri Lanka vs New Zealand
• Australia vs Ireland
• South Africa vs New Zealand
• Bangladesh vs Ireland
• Australia vs Sri Lanka
• South Africa vs England
• Ireland vs Sri Lanka
• West Indies vs Bangladesh
• Australia vs New Zealand
• West Indies vs England

Cricket’s wacky World Cup news so far

This 4 yearly event is now underway in the West Indies, and we have already have some startling events …

• England’s captain Andrew Freddie Flintoff has been axed after a drinking binge AGAIN !!! What ? – does he still think he has something to celebrate after their Australian tour ?? Can’t have been the current state of affairs – so far they have been beaten by New Zealand, and unconvincingly beat Canada 😆
• Pakistan are the first team to exit the competition having been beaten by lowly Zimbabwe and then Ireland. Unfortunately this put too much pressure on their coach, ex-England player Bob Woolmer who died (probably from stress) a short time later 😦
• the previously mentioned Irish win over Pakistan (a 1 run win on St Patricks day no less!!!) comes after a tie with Bangladesh. Should mention that Ireland have several Aussies in their lineup 🙄
• India are beaten by Bangladesh.
• Sri Lanka created the 2nd largest ever winning margin of 243 over Bermuda.
• 3 of the 4 second round gaes were won by just 1 run !!!

So far, Australia have beaten Scotland and had a huge win over the Netherlands in the 3rd largest ever winning margin of 229, with a world record 4th wicket partnership of 204 between Michael Clarke and Brad Hodge 🙂 The Netherlands were also thumped by the South Africa by 221 runs  – why are these clowns included in the competition ❓

Australia win the One Day International series :-)

Thanks to the Poms for bringing their dreary drizzly weather over with them – if they can’t win a game by playing it out to the end, then they shouldn’t play at all. To call yestereday’s result a ‘result’ is ridiculous 😡

If Australia were only able to play 27 overs, then England’s score should also be based on  the same amount of time. 27/50 = 0.54, so that figure times Englands score of 246 equals 133 – 19 less than Australia’s score of 152. Therefore Australia WINS BY NINETEEN RUNS 😀

We then should have gone to Adelaide, where we would have thrashed the bastards – just you wait until the 9th March lads !!!!

Other than that, the fact of the matter is that if you look at the overall number of games and results, it is clear who the winner of the series was anyway …

1. Australia – won 7 lost 1
2. England – won 3 lost 5
3. New Zealand – won 2 lost 6

What a surprise – England win ANOTHER match …

In an amazing change of form, England managed to beat Australia in the 1st final with just 4 balls to spare 😦

All credit goes to Paul Collingwood for a not out 120, and also Ian Bell who got 65. Their partnership steadied the team after a bad start of 3-15 made it look certain that they could not catch Australia’s lame total of 252 in just 48.3 overs. 🙄

Once again Gilchrist got out cheaply, but Hayden and Ponting made a good start for Australia – however after their 2nd & 3rd wickets at 170 & 180, the rest of the team could only make another 72 runs !!! Glenn McGrath must be rueing his dropped catch of Bell, and also a bungled runout attempt.

The 2nd final is today – bring it on 😀

What a shock – England reach the ODI finals & it’s bye bye New Zealand !!!!

After a remarkable and unlikely winning ‘streak’ of 2 games, England have managed to squeeze past the favoured New Zealand to play Australia in the One Day International series finals – who would have though this possible just a week ago 🙄

Batting first, they put together a respectable score of  270, and despite some erratic bowling at the start, managed to bowl the Kiwis out for 256. Coincidently, the top scorers for each team, Fleming and Collingwood, both got 106 😀

New Zealand had previously appeared to be the better side, bringing it right up to Australia a couple of times previously …

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In previous games, New Zealand made a total of 290, and were unlucky for Australia to make up the total with just 10 balls to spare. Ricky Ponting showed his superiority again with a score of 104, and Brett Hodge was unlucky to be stranded at the end on 99 not out from just 86 balls :sad:Before that, England were rejoicing in beating Australia for the first (and last) time 😆

Once again, they got a good score of 292, and then bowled Australia out for just 200. However it must be said that Pontoing did not play, and raging Roy Symonds had to retire hurt when he was making good progress in building up Australia’s total. It just goes to show how important Ricky Ponting is to the side 😀

Congratulation to Ricky Ponting !!!

Ricky Ponting showed just how much of a champion he is by scooping the pool at the Alan Border Medal presentation last night. As the winning captain of Australia 5-0 Ashes test series, and the dominant side in the One Day International series, he managed to take ALL THREE major awards …

1. One Day player of the year
2. Test player of the year
3. Alan Border Medal (his third)

This is the first time a person has taken a clean sweep of all three awards, and also the first time to win back-to-back Alan Border Medals.

Second by just two points in the Test awards was Shane Warne, with Stuart Clark coming in third.

Ponting also only just beat Andrew Symonds for the One-Day award, who was injured in the last game.

A lengthy standing ovation was also given to Richie Benaud who was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his long and distinguished contribution to the game, both as an Australian player and one of their greatest ever captains, and as a commentator.

Congratulations New Zealand !!!

On Sunday we finally saw a game worth watching, and a decent fight by bothsides. The Kiwis didn’t beat the Aussies, but they did come very close, and put in a very good effort, just managing to lose by 8 runs after Australia set them a total of 344. New boy Jacob Oram got an unbeaten 101, but then Hayden and Ponting both made centuries AGAIN !!! And once again Gilchrist got out earlier than he should have 😦

Also New Zealand have just beaten England AGAIN, so it must be a certainty that the final will be between them and Australia (of course England COULD qualify if they will ALL their remaining games!!!!). They beat the Poms by 58 runs, but England did play better than most other games, getting a very respectable (for them) 260. Once again Oram did well, getting his 50 (off 32 balls, including 3×4 & 4×6) on the last couple of deliveries, and he also caught Nixon off Bond to deny Nixon his 50. Shame both sides fielding let them down – you know when you put your hands up in the air and the ball is coming down towards you, you are supposed to keep it in your hands 😆

Are the English cricket team rubbish, or what ???

Another completely embarrassing display by the bunch of clowns that the English Cricket Board sent over here to pretend to play their own game. After a near record-breaking lowest ever score of all out for 110 (in just 34 overs), Australia was able to pass that total in just 24 overs for the loss of 1 wicket.  How’s this for demolishing the tail end – 6-103  7-106  8-106  9-107  10-110 in 6 overs. 😆

 This was supposed to be a day/night international game – two problems with that description …

1. the game didn’t even last until night time 🙄
2. this bunch of no-hopers shouldn’t really even allowed to pretend to play at international level 😳  – maybe the Lalalty local league would have been more suitable …..

I think this article from the Sydney Morning Herald say it all …

“Bury this corpse: it’s starting to smell”

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In previous matches, New Zealand got their revenge of having been the only team to have been beaten by England so far, by making a respectable total of 210, and then bowling England out for 120 in 37 overs. Once again we saw a collapse of 6-107  7-107  8-107  9-120  10-120 in 4 overs.

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Before that, Australia managed to win a tight one over New Zealand with 8 balls remaining. They actually had a bad start, going 1-6  2-6  3-17 before Symonds and then Hussey (unbeaten on 65) steered the ship back on a straight path. The highlight of this game was Michael Clarke (who ended up getting 75) coming in to bat at number 3 after Ricky ponting was literally caught with his pants down when it suddenly came time to bat 😳

Congratulations England !!!!!

After being here for three months, the English cricket team have finally won a game 😆

In their second one day game against New Zealand, they were set a modest total of 206, and just managed to scrape through with ONE ball to spare – well I guess to them a win is a win, even if they stumbled to victory with the closest possible timing 😛

Previously they have failed miserably in the 20-20 game. In this one, the Australian team set them a total of 221 (a record score actually), and all they could manage was 144. Strangely enough, Australia’s total in 20 overs was more than most of England’s innings in the five tests 🙄

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Australia also managed to bundle out New Zealand as well – with a total of 8-289, the Kiwis could only manage a total of 184, meaning Australia won by 105 runs and gained a bonus point. The only shining light for the Kiwis was Shane Bond’s hat-trick, so maybe it is not such a surprise that they also lost to England 😀

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So to finish off today, here is a joke for you to enjoy (which actually came from a member of the Barmy Army, so it’s good to see they do have a sense of humour) ….Freddy F. Jnr was at school and the teacher asked all the children what their fathers did for a living. All the typical answers came fireman, policeman, salesman etc, but Freddy was being uncharacteristically quiet and so the teacher asked him about his father. “My father is an exotic dancer in a gay club and takes off all his clothes in front of other men. Sometimes if the offer is really good, he’ll go out with a man, rent a cheap hotel room and let them sleep with him.”

The teacher quickly set the other children some work and took little Freddy aside to ask him if that was really true. “No” said Freddy, “He plays cricket for England but I was just too embarrassed to say.” 😆