We have already started taking bets here for the World Cup (Cricket).
So who do you think is likely to usurp Australia from that title of World Champions ( thanks to Lance Klusener and Allan Donald more than anything else! )
I would have gone for India but seeing India's remarkable batting performance against the Kiwis, I am reserving my opinion till the end of one-day series.
All this if India will play in the WC, the way things are going, it's going to be a WC without Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ganguly and should I say, the present Indian team (over the ICC contract and Ambush Marketing issue).
As it is India's group also contains those damn Aussies, England, Pakis (of all the people in the world ), Zimbabwe, Namibia and Holland.

I hate cricket when India loses

I have no idea who will win the one day cricket world cup - it's a lottery of a game of cricket! I do have doubts as to wether the tournament should go ahead as planned - Englands first game will be against one of the host countries and yet the BBC (Radio and Television) are banned from entering the country - how safe are the supporters going to be?

I am told that Australia will not play in Zimbabwe?

I'm not sure if they've said that they WON'T play but the Aust. and the Bristish are strongly suggesting that NO games are played in Zimbabwe due to the situation there. They'll probably win out in the end.

I think it is even ebing televised on free to air TV here, which is great. It may not be every game but certainly the Australian ones and the finials I should think.

One only has to cast their mind back to 1996, when the West Indies and Australia forfeited their games in Sri Lanka rather than play in the uneasy political climate of the time. It could happen again.
BTW, Ace, I'd keep that 'placing bets' thing quiet. You know how paranoid people involved in cricket are about that sort of thing at the moment!

Yikes - I forgot all about that!
Anyways from the Indian front, BCCI has threatened to go to International Court of arbitration (spelling ?) over the contracts issue; they have, however announced a 15 man squad. Guess this WC is making headlines for all the Wrong reasons!
Again in 1996, Sril Lanka could have easily spoiled West Indian fun if they decided to lose to Kenya in their final match.
Again I believe political influence on the game is bad, Indian government doesn't allow any sporting ties with pakistan (except in WC)

The following is taken from AOL's sports section:

NASSER HUSSAIN says England's cricketers need as much political guidance as possible over whether they should play their World Cup fixture in Zimbabwe.

Tony Blair has joined in the growing row over the scheduled match in Harare on February 13.

He says that while his Government could not prevent the team from going to Zimbabwe, he is against such a move.

Speaking after England's fourth-Test loss to Australia in Melbourne, Hussain told Sky Sports: "My thoughts are the same as before the Test match and during it. I believe that cricketers have a decision to make but it should be an informed decisio n.

"If that's what the Prime Minister thinks, or any other politician thinks, I'd like as much information as possible for the team. I'd like them to help us make the decision or even make the decision themselves.

"It's a political issue, it's a moral issue. You can't expect some of these young lads who are touring around the world to make a moral decision about Zimbabwe, an uninformed decision.

"What we need to do is get as much information as possible and help from the politicians to all make the right decision about whether England should be playing World Cup cricket in Zimbabwe.

"We're not passing the buck, we understand our role, we can't just bury our heads in the sand.

"But let's get some help from the politicians, lets get together, lets get some help from the people who actually know about Zimbabwe, not me just stuck here at the MCG.

"Let's get an informed decision. If someone rings me up, I'll speak to anyone."

Good, now even New Zealands joined in the fun - though they are not playing in Zimbabwe, they have agreed with the viewpoints of the Aussie brotherhood!
One important doubt - Assuming that ICC doesn't buckle under pressure, can England afford to boycott their match against Zimbabwe. While Australia might scamper through, one must realise England , Australia etc are in a Tough group and if these two nations forfeit their matches, then Zimbabwe will virtually make into the supersix - thus leaving the teams to fight for those last two places (as if the competition wasn't tough enough!)

Political wranglings aside and back to the question at hand:
Who will usurp Australia???

Ace, Ace, the answer is NOBODY :-)

Well the England and Wales Cricket Board have said that the game will go ahead as planned. They have also said that the team will not get involved with any celebrations of the tournament in Zimbabwe(IE shaking hands with Mugabe or any officials from the government).
Why is it that Cricket - the gentlemens game - is always the one that gets to be the political point.
Personally I think the Zimbabwe games (all of them) will be re-sited on the grounds of players and spectators safety (a political but excusable reason to move all the games) AND IN MY VIEW THE RIGHT ONE!
.

As Fosse4 said , Why is it that Cricket - the gentlemens game - is always the one that gets to be the political point' ?

The tournament hasn't even started and the basket of woes is full:
Now the New Zealand team is threatening to go to court
the details from Cricket.org

Quote:

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WELLINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - New Zealand Cricket (NZC) says it may appeal to Switzerland's Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to end the stand-off over its refusal to play a World Cup game in Kenya later this month.

An NZC spokesman, who declined to be identified, said that registering a case before the Geneva-based CAS was an option being explored by its lawyers in an attempt to save the February 21 match against Kenya.

"It's one of the options being looked at but we are working through legal options at the moment," the spokesman told Reuters.

The NZC wants the game moved to South Africa, where most of the World Cup fixtures will be played, because of fears over the safety of its players.

Security concerns over Kenya intensified after a suicide bombing killed 16 people in an attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in the city of Mombassa in November. Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network claimed responsibility.

Zimbabwe and Kenya on Thursday retained their preliminary matches for the World Cup after a special International Cricket Council (ICC) tele-conference discussed potential security fears.

On Monday, the England team issued a statement saying they wanted their game in Harare on February 13 switched to South Africa because of growing concern about the political situation in Zimbabwe.

LEGAL PROCESSES

The NZC said after a day-long board meeting on Friday that the ICC decision on Thursday was unreasonable, and called in its lawyers to resolve the matter through "legal processes". But it gave no details.

NZC chief executive Martin Snedden was unavailable for comment on Sunday but he was quoted by local media as being "increasingly optimistic" that the Kenya match could be saved.

"I have confidence that can be achieved. This is a rapidly moving issue. I have more optimism today than yesterday," he reportedly told New Zealand's Sunday Star Times newspaper.

The 19-year-old CAS has more than 150 arbitrators from 55 countries chosen for their specialist knowledge of arbitration and sports law, according to the court's website.

Around 50 cases are registered with the court each year but there are also other independent processes available to the NZC through which it can seek a review of the ICC decision.

Other possible options include an independent ICC committee of up to five members hearing the dispute, or arbitration through the ICC World Cup Events Technical Committee.

"I imagine we would be in more of a position to say what we are doing legally by about Tuesday," the NZC spokesman said.

ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed is working to see if there is any prospect of the match proceeding or being rescheduled.

World Cup executive director Ali Bacher has said that the New Zealanders would automatically forfeit all four points from the Kenya match.

Australia and West Indies lost their points at the 1996 World Cup when they refused to play in Colombo after bomb blasts there the previous week.

Kenya are now left with just one match in the tournament, which begins with an opening ceremony in Cape Town on February 8. Sri Lanka are scheduled to play Kenya in Nairobi on February 24.

The tournament is based in South Africa, with six of the 54 games taking place in Zimbabwe.

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and thankfully the Indian row over the contracts issue has been temporarily solved - It is decided that no ambush marketing (or ads by rival companies) will take place ONLY during the WC.

Phew - that was a really long and sophisticated Opening ceremony for a cricket wold cup.
Nice, very nice and talking of criet
Its the first match 2morrow - SA vs WI. Cool...
and England will make their decisionwhether or not to play in Zimbabwe 2morrow

First match - what a first innings

30/2 after 15 overs to 279 - that was awesome hitting in the end by Powell and Sarwan.

Lara - nice way to come back!

Has anyone tipped Windies to win the opening match?

(are England playing?)

News just in

5 minutes ago, England announced that they got some new information about 'security' and they are going to pass this info to ICC.
so they hav still made no decision!

SA off to a great start

Ahhhrrgg, our telecast is delayed about half and hour. Geez, I hate that.

West Indies won the match by 3 runs - amazing till Klusener was there


Brian LARA : Man of the match

I am surprised that 4 tippers actually predicted this (including one who says he knows nothing about Kriket.)

The organizers must be over the moon at such a great match first up ... takes a bit of the light of other events. So much could have happened ... SA should have bowled quicker to get the extra over, Klusener and Boje should have crossed when he got out and so on. It could have gone either way until the third last ball.

Brian Lara may have got man of the match but Pedro Collins is still the happiest man out there. He'll never live that non-catch down!

What a fine, fine first match! Who would have actually known that South Africa would have been beaten by the Windies!

The delayed telecast has its' benefits. I turned the game off at midnight, when the Windies were 7 off 6 overs. (Game's a forgone conclusion, I thought)
I turned it on in the morning in time to see the last 7 overs.
For once, thank you Channel Nine!

LOL, silly me turned on the radio just as they said that Klusener has put SA within a sniff of winning with the 3 sixes off the one over. had to wait about half hour to catch up to them.

Wish they would say it was delayed, I jsut assumed it was live. And come to that ... why isn't it live???

Quote:

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And come to that ... why isn't it live???

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Erm, it is over here , and interactive, where we can see what game we choose.

It has to be LIVE here or the cable guy will be roasted alive! It is shown live in two channels (interactive t.v hasn't made its debut here - but we get to watch all matches - they put in different channels)

Todays two matches - New Zealand vs Sri Lanka ( & Namibia Vs Zim)
The weather forecast for the first match isn't very promising!
2 hours to the next match.... (the programs are starting )

So both of you are getting it on pay tv, then? Perhaps that's why? This whole interactive bit intrigues me, too.

Any Australians watching it on pay tv? Is it live on there?

Pay TV - No way !

for others, Cricket may be a sport. In India, It is a religion.
Sony India (Set max) is one of the channels showing (and it is not a pay tv)
The other channel is Doordarshan (India's national channel - run by Government) - they are showing so that people in the villages don't miss out on the worship.

On cricket news, in HARARE, Murder of innocents is taking place (as I write). Poor Namibians!
Sri Lanka off to a decent start

Mine is on satellite. I do pay for the service, but I don't have to pay for the game.
Interactive is good though. I keep switching between matches.