The Farce That Was The Cricket World Cup 2007

[Olaf the Stout]

Just when you thought that the Cricket World Cup couldn't get any worse, it manages to surprise you (but not in a good way). They certainly managed to bring new meaning to the concept of a day/night game!

Did anyone else see the final yesterday? What did you think of the whole debacle?

If 5 of the best officials can't figure out simple rules regarding rain, what hope does the sport have. After they finally finished the game (for the second time) I thought I would watch the presentation. Things just seemed to go from bad to worse.

The administrators managed to drag out the presentations for what seemed to be an eternity. The groundskeeper(!), the 2 umpires, the 3rd and 4th umpire and the match referee all managed to get presented with medals before they bothered awarding medals to either side! I'm sure it was a great honour for them but I think that people actually came to see the players.

In the end it was probably a fitting tribute to the 2007 World Cup, a boring and poorly run event from start to finish. And this is coming from an Australian whose team won the event whilst going through undefeated (a much harder feat to achieve than going undefeated the Soccer World Cup). I can't imagine how bad it was for supporters of the other teams.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Jesus_marley]

Did you ever have one of those moments when your mind takes a minute to catch up with your brain?

I read the thread title and knowing full well that Cricket is a sport, and a very popular one(though not very popular in NA), and my mind conjured up images of insect gladiators battling to the death. weird.

 

[Repentant Lurker]

It reads like a freakin fortean times Headline " Top coach murdered by Death cult also in further news black is white and Night is Day!" as Rove would say "WHAT THE ?!?"

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I liked the comment after the game from John Buchanan, the Australian coach.

He said the difference between Australia and the other teams was "like night and day."

This was immediately after the game as he tried to find his way through the darkness to the rest of his players!

Olaf the Stout

 

[MerricB]

Saturday was odd for me.

I went to Sarah's house at 2pm, where we played a game of War of the Ring for 2-1/2 hours or so. After that, I hung around until 10pm, chatting with Dave, Daniel and Sarah about the Ulek campaign, how much fun we were having with D&D at the moment (they keep finding cool things in new Wizards books to use), how unappreciated Magic of Incarnum is, and how one of the players is slightly annoying, and watching a bit of Buffy.

Then I had a solo game of Runebound as I waited for the World Cup Final to start. Eventually it did... except it didn't because it was raining.

Hmm. I'm tired. It's 1am. I set my alarm for 2am, and fall asleep.

Woke up at 2am. Hmm. Still raining. Set my alarm for 2.40am. Fall asleep again.

Woke up again. Hmm. They've started playing! Cool. Watch a little, listen a lot to the ABC radio coverage. Switch between watching and listening, as it's been dark for a few days and our solar-powered batteries are running low, so the TV might cut out.

Gilchrist played amazingly. What a player! Couldn't believe that Hayden wasn't able to do so after being the form player of the tournament. In fact, I think the pitch was harder to bat on than might have been apparent... but Gilchrist was just being amazing.

The Australian score was really, really good, but I was worried that it wouldn't be enough.

It was. Mind you, there was a time when Jayasuriya and Sangakkara were hitting it around in the second power-play that I was really getting concerned. Go Hogg!

Sri Lanka had the worst of the conditions, though. That ball from Clarke that bowled
Jayasuriya just didn't bounce!

When we got to the first end of the game... relief. An anti-climax in a lot of ways (although Gilchrist catching Arnold off McGrath's bowling was great), but I'll take it. Then the complete debacle of the umpires insisting that the game continue for 3 more overs (probably on the next day). Stupidity personified. I really hope that none of them officiate in a game again: they're not good enough.

Didn't see the presentations - the ABC had commitments elsewhere (stupid "Australia all over") and couldn't broadcast them. Didn't matter. I needed some real sleep.

Ian Chappell had it right: "Malcolm [Speed] has been living in Dubai for too long. As I've said before, they've got a hotel under the sea there and a ski resort in the desert. It's too far away from reality."

Cheers!

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Woke up again. Hmm. They've started playing! Cool. Watch a little, listen a lot to the ABC radio coverage. Switch between watching and listening, as it's been dark for a few days and our solar-powered batteries are running low, so the TV might cut out.

Don't you have mains power where you are Merric?

Olaf the Stout

 

[hong]

Don't you have mains power where you are Merric?

Olaf the Stout

It's the drought. It's so bad that even the electrons have stopped flowing.

 

[MerricB]

It's the drought. It's so bad that even the electrons have stopped flowing.

ROFL!

No, no mains power where I am. I'm on top of a small mountain, in a forest, about 30km north-west of Ballarat. We've been here over a decade, using solar power, a wood stove (which heats the water), and a back-up petrol generator that gets used a lot more in the winter.

It was cheaper to get solar power (the government gave a rebate) than put on the mains.

Cheers!

 

[Olaf the Stout]

So remote and yet you still have enough players to game 3 times a week! I'm so jealous.

Olaf the Stout

 

[MerricB]

So remote and yet you still have enough players to game 3 times a week! I'm so jealous.

Olaf the Stout

Yeah. I'm not really *that* remote - Ballarat is 30 km away. It just feels it at times.

Cheers!