The farce gets even better - Sri Lanka being second in Group B would mathematically be in a better position in the table by forfeiting the game to New Zealand rather than playing the game and losing - thank goodness common sense has prevailed and they have announced they will be playing the game as sheduled. Someone, somewhere should have seen this coming.
Begrudging congrats toi Australia for grinding out the win when all looked lost.

SL.. are 1/61 after 14 overs.. standard start..

You guys crack me up!!!
Islingtonian, that was a GEM!!

Duckworth/Lewis have a lot to answer for. Could it be any more complicated?

Tony Greig said earlier (when it was starting to rain) "If it's a tie when they come off then the game is a draw" wellllll, duh!

I knew what he meant but he has a knack of stating the obvious. Was watching at about 4am this morning and he said something else brainy like that .... just wish I could remember what it was.

Well Deja Vu......

(I am telling you we are in a MATRIX....)

Proteas SHOULD consider themselves unlucky

Before we ridicule D/L method once again, the following points should be made clear :

1) While no-one agrees to understanding IT, everyone agrees that it is the fairest system...
2) South Africans have no reason to complain that they were unaware of the requirements.
the permuatation and combinations (similar to a log table) is given to the teams (after the firrst innings) which will enable them to check and compare their relative positions.

Once it started drizzling, the Proteas should have started their assault (Zulu scored 1 run from 8 balls at this stage...)

Super six points table:

Sri Lanka - 7.5 points (dont know how they are going to distribute the points for a tied match!)
Kenya - 9 points (Surprise, they beat both Kiwis & SL in group matches)
New Zealand - 4 points

At the end of all this, Group A teams have a very GOOD reason to smile.....

Ace - Duckworth/Lewis was introduced for the benefit of getting a result FOR TELEVISION. I played local league cricket for many years and a game rained off (before or/during play) was a draw and everyone accepted it as such (cup games were re-arranged if possible and yes due to the English Summer weather I have been on a winning side and losing side on the toss of a coin on who went through to the next round) One of the crimes committed by this World Cup organisation is not to have put any days into the fixtures for rained off or rain affected matches. And one wonders what the results of the games held in Zimbabwe would have been if they had allowed spectators to actually enter the grounds, what contingency did they have for "invasion of the pitch - match abandoned"
Anyway back to the Cricket - has anyone done the calculations - ignoring D/L - on wether the teams who have qualified would have qualified if the games which were decided by D/L had been declared draws (have my pencil and paper at the ready!).

Fosse -
I agree with you on the count that there should have been reserve days for Group stages (did you know the official reason for NOT putting reserve days was the fact that "it doesn'tin SA during this time - well at least that claim has been put to rest ...)

If rain affected a match and the latter was declared a draw, then it Would have affected the good teams a lot. Imagine a test teams matches with the Non-test teams rained off (e.g Windies), it directly affected their chances!

More than the rain. what determined the third place (Kenya & Zimbabwe) was the 'forfeited' matches. ultimately a decision like that affected England very badly (and NZL to a Lesser extent)

One more correction from my earlier post: Kenya has 10 points in the super six stage

Nassar has quit as one day captain for England! Poor bugger, I can't imagine it was the most satisfying job ever.

Had to love the Sane Warne dig about how he wouldn't read from a piece of paper.

Anyone with an idea as to who should replace him?

I dont know but I think Hussein was the one of the better captains of England (after all, he leads a bunch of .....)

To be honest, I think he did reasonably well; it wasn't captaincy that let England down (in this World Cup), is it?

Copago - My choice to replace to replace Nasser - If he's not named as One-day Captain, I think he'll retire (on a high note)
No2 on the signatures.
Whilst I think Nasser has made mistakes (apart from the above mentioned) I honestly can't see anyone in the current set up or good enough to follow him. It's going to be give a youngster a chance and see if he's man enough for the job.

Didn't it brighten up a little (and stop raining), after the handshake?

I dunno, call me an old cynic if you like, but............? Ah well.

Is Mike Brearley still about?

wez

My pick to replace Nasser would be Marcus Trescothick. (Actually, my pick would be Alec Stewart, but I don't think they would, would they??).

And re South Africa being unlucky, sorry but I don't subscribe to that. Jayasuriya knew what was required because he had the foresight to get the piece of paper during a rain break. The South Africans were in the dressing room, and had no excuse to get it wrong.
What chance the end of Shaun Pollock's captaincy reign, as well?

RE England's new captain, Darren Lehmann suggests Adam Hollioake??? He's not even in the team, is he? RE South Africa, I'm told (my source is a Magistrate, so not overly reliable) that both captains were given the scores required to be BEATEN for a number of scenarios (i.e. wickets down and overs bowled) and Pollock took that to be the score REQUIRED.

The first teams are through to the semis

Australia (No surprises!)

(Stop watching Cricket, watch the Ferraris at Albert PARK)

and India (99% through)

The second semifinal will be between India and Kenya.

Tell me honestly, did anyone expect such an upset?
Ok teh Kiwi boycott helped them, BUT they still beat three TEST Teams! (Praying they don't claima fourth..)

For the Aussies, it's either Kiwis or Lankans. Hehehehe

(Something tells me we got away with the better deal!)

Ace - The Aussies are due a stinker - they dragged themselves out of the proverbial against England, they've excelled in the other games but !. With the way the results are going is KENYA the name on the trophy ?(tic)

Sorry to drag up the past, Ace, and maybe I'm being a supreme optimist, but when they play overseas, India can be as unpredictable as Pakistan. While a lot of people are still scoffing at the fact that Kenya made Super 6 (more convincingly than Zimbabwe, I might add, but nothing was said of them), they have been known to spring the odd upset in the past (remember the West Indies in 1996, and there wre no implications of match-fixing in that one).
And also, they are, technically, the only home side left in the comp, as was Sri Lanka in 1996 when they got up.

I have question for Islingtonian and Fosse4, but anyone is welcome to answer: "If Glenn McGrath was English, what would he be"?

An all rounder hehe

This should have gone in the "Tipping Competitions" Tips but I decided to post it here!

Why You shouldn't be tipping Ricky Ponting and his troops for winning the 8th WC:

Since 1979, there is a pattern in the batting style of captains lifting the WC:
1979 : Lloyd(Left handed batsman)

1983 : Kapil (Rightie)

1987: Border (Leftie)

1992: Imran (Rightie)

1996: Arjuna(Leftie)

1999 : Stephen Rodgers (Rightie)


So unless Rickie doesn't drastically modify his batting style, the numbers will conspire against HIM!!! He hehe he

(Another reason Why You should be tipping Ganguly and OUR MERRY MEN; though you could argue it could also be Fleming or Jayasuriya)



Why you should be tipping an Indian win

reason one:
The West Indies were Champions in 1975 and 1979 (i.e a gap of 4 years) .

The Australians were Champions in 1987 and 1999 (i.e a gap of 12 years ).

So by Arithmetic Progessionwise, the next GAP should be 20 years .

On that note ...
India won our First WC in 1983 , its 2003 now....

(Am I convincing you about the Inevitable...)


Reason two:

Assuming Australia wins all matches till the WC Final, it will be their 16 consective ODI VICTORY! - a record

Oh did I forgot to tell you this: Australia also holds the record for most consecutive TEST victores :- 16

In both these cases they broke the record held by West Indies team.

In the TEST scene, their record of 16 consecutive records was halted by a team called INDIA


Please Note:

1)SG : I tipped an Indian win when the group stages were on; so if India WINS,do I get an Extra Tipping Points?

2) To Dalgeish: You are Quite Wrong when you say that we are unpredictable when we play abroad! We are the most predictable in this - We never Win!
Look at our records : In the last 17 years, we haven't won a test series abroad (discounting a 1993 win over the Lankans and 1999 win over Bangladesh!)

By the way, I demand an apology for comparing us with the Pakistanis I never compare the Aussies with the English or vICE vERSA!

Copago gets first prize, but then, he is an Aussie!

There is a major flaw in your logic, ace-sodium. Who the hell is Stephen Rogers????

Its Stephen Rodgers Waugh....

(The Aussies should know this character, though Calcutta will be More proud of him!)

Quote:

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Copago gets first prize, but then, he is an Aussie!

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Kev, 'he' is also a 'she'..

Steven Rodgers had me wondering too, ace, a bloke with that name use to play rugby league for Cronulla

Quote:

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'he' is also a 'she'..

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Ozz - what do you mean by 'also'?
(hehehehe (read as Devil's grin!) )