The Googly

Sachin Tendulkar in ludicrous Adidas ad

Have leading sports stars no shame?  Fresh from his eye-wateringly poor scores in the World Cup, in which he averaged 3.5 runs against anything resembling decent opposition, and despite calls for his head in India, Sachin Tendulkar's "Impossible is Nothing" Adidas ad campaign in now polluting the airwaves. 

If I was him I would have had the dignity to tell Adidas to put out an ad saying "I'm very sorry everyone, my insistence on continuing to play despite teeth-scrapingly crap form, in the knowledge I will never be dropped, is a huge factor in India being knocked out. Cheers"

Instead we get some bollocks about coins on top of wickets and a wistful yearning for his old coach. Git.  [lee calvert]

Cricket World Cup, Super 8: Ireland vs England preview

England today face an Ireland side that they should beat with greater ease than a pissed bloke can fall off a pedalo.  But we've heard that before about England teams in every sport ever playes and it is not always the case, and the enormous spanner in the works here is that England must win to realistically have a chance of reaching the semis.  England don't do pressure very well, as Adelaide 2006 proved, and I fear the worst.

Ireland, as a counterpoint, have absolutely nothing to lose.  They can simply revel in all the patronising overtures about "pluckyness" and "fighting spirit" etc etc before setting out to throuroughly enjoy the game and the event.

Having said all that I think England will win, but only after resticting Ireland to a modest total and then creaking past it like a rusty pram, 8 wickets down.  [lee calvert]

Cricket World Cup, Super 8: New Zealand humble West Indies

New Zealand remain on course as my tournament favourites after this almighty mauling of West Indies.

The Kiwis won the toss and entered the field with the knowledge that the Windies batting line up currently has two modes: shit and mediocre.  And so it proved.  Chanderpaul once again went cheaply, Sarwan and Gayle both got starts but then fell, and Marlon Samuels once again hit one lusty boundary before edging behind off the lightning slow medium pace of Jacob Oram.  West Indies were by this point on 81-4, and the writing was on the wall; and it said "You Are Going To Lose".

Lara once more offered come classy resistance, but the Islanders' runs were throttled by the accuracy of the Kiwi attack, before being robbed of wickets by the pace of Shane Bond and the guile of Daniel Vettori to finish on 177 all out.

The Kiwi innings was a cakewalk, although they will have some worries that the injury replacements Fulton and Marshall did not show up well; it hardly mattered.  Stephen Fleming got them underway with a classy 45 before being stupidly run out, but that man Scott Styris did the damage once again with his 80 (a third half century of the tournament), as the Blackcaps sauntered to 179-3 and a seven wicket victory.

West Indies need to find some form with the bat sharpish, whilst New Zealand simply need to carry on like this to make at least one of my predictions come true.  [lee calvert]

Cricket World Cup Kitwatch: Ireland

Ireland take on England tomorrow in the opening Super 8 match for both teams. 

England are odds-on to win the game, but it would appear they have already lost the kit battle as this Kukri-designed Ireland effort spanks the pants off the Admiral England disaster.

Kukri rarely venture into high level sport, but I find they often make very good Rugby shirts for second tier teams also.  [lee calvert]

Lasith Malinga: hair apparent

There has been a steady and regretful decline in the number of players with very big hair in recent years.  So it is refreshing to see current hero Lasith Malinga carrying the baton that Bob Willis dropped and sporting the kind of barnet that could unbalance a tortoise. 

Only one other Cricket World Cup player may qualify in the big hair stakes, namely Andrew "Predator" Symonds, however his hair is in dreadlocks which are a different follicular matter entirely.

Let us know your favourite giant-haired players. [lee calvert]

Cricket World Cup, Super 8: West Indies vs New Zealand preview

The West Indies players, fresh from a night of weeping quietly in their beds after the spectacular humbling they took off Australia, must today put all that aside and saddle up to face New Zealand.  Hopefully Lara will move himself up to number four in the order to give themselves a chance.

New Zealand have lost Lou Vincent to injury, just after his century in the last match meant he was finding some form and they will also miss his incredible fielding in the circle.  However, Shane Bond, who injured Vincent in the nets, is back in the side and I have him to be the player of the tournament come the close. 

West Indies could go one of two ways here, either their confidence is completely shot and they lose or New Zealand will find themselves on the end of an almighty backlash from the Aussie defeat.  I predict the former, but what the hell do I know?

West Indies (probable): Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Brian Lara (capt), Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Ramdin (wk), Daren Powell, Corey Collymore, Jerome Taylor.

New Zealand (probable): Peter Fulton, Stephen Fleming (capt), Hamish Marshall, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum (wk), Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Michael Mason, Shane Bond.

Cricket World Cup, Super 8: South Africa defy Malinga heroics to win

This game is memorable for two things: it made my predictions look stupid, and an extraordinary feat of bowling from Lasith Malinga, taking four wickets in four balls.

Sri Lanka, much to my surprise, won the toss and decided to bat.  How Jayawardene must wish he read this blog.  The Sri Lankans had one of those funny innings were no-one looked to be struggling particularly and yet no-one managed to get hold of it either; evidenced by the fact that six of their top seven bats managed to reach double figures without kicking on.  Jonty Rhodes will no doubt have been at home admiring Herschelle Gibbs' spectacular run out of Silva as a carbon copy of his in 1992.  Sri Lanka eventually reached the largely inadequate total of 209 all out.

South Africa had a slightly shaky start, losing AB de Villiers for an easter egg in Vaas' very impressive opening spell.  But any hope was extinguished by a steady 94 run partnership between Kallis and Smith, only for it to be reignited by Malinga the Slinger at the death. 

Malinga had a very poor opening spell, going for nearly 9 runs per over as he struggled for accuracy.  However, as is the nature with bowlers of his type, in his second spell he accounted for Kallis, Pollock, Hall and Ntini in consecutive balls to give Sri Lanka a glimmer of hope.  A glimmer is all that it proved to be, as Peterson and Langeveldt hacked enough runs to see SA home on 212-9.
[lee calvert]

Cricket World Cup, Super 8: Australia tonk West Indies

The Australian total was always going to be tough, but surely not as tough as West Indies made it look.  The Australian team, however, were incredible from the outset with tight bowling and a intensity in the field that crackled in the morning dew and West Indies simply had no answer to the onslaught.  They couldn't get runs, Chanderpaul crawled  to 5 before being trapped lbw by the rapid Shaun Tait, closely followed by a monumentally stupid skied shots from Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels. 

Sarwan and the old master Lara did their best to dig in, but ultimately the innings was doomed.  In fact it was doomed from the minute they were 20-3 very early on and eventually reached 219 all out in 45 overs.

The Aussies march on and their bowling, the one thing that may have been a slight weakness, seems to have sorted itself out to say the least.  Having said that, the Windies looked nervous and indecisive as soon as they lost Chanderpaul.  Please let this tournament not be yet another Australian parade to victory, as the last two were. [lee calvert]

Woolmer may not have been murdered

There are murmurings from a number of websites that Pakistani officials are now saying that Bob Woolmer was not murdered.  There are calls for a second autopsy to clear this up, due to fears of a bungled first port-mortem exam.

The thought dominating my mind is how truly awful this must be for Bob's widow and family. Also I was under the impression that the reason there was such a delay with the cause of death in the first place was because there has already been two autopsies?  What a shockingly awful state of affairs from all concerned.
[lee calvert]

Cricket World Cup, Super 8: Sri Lanka vs South Africa preview

It's been hammering it down with rain in Guyana for the last three days, hopefully it will stop in time for this potential cracker to get underway.   The toss will be a very good one to win here as both sides will want to field first with the dampness on the pitch and moisture in the air following the downpour.

Sri Lanka are the form team here after beating India at the weekend, while the Proteus, in the only match in which they have faced top opposition so far, were mauled by the Aussies.

Sri Lanka to win, as their slow bowling options with Murali and Jayasuriya will keep the SA total relatively modest.  [lee calvert]

South Africa (probable) Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Ashley Prince, Mark Boucher, Justin Kemp, Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Charles Langeveldt, Makhaya Ntini

Sri Lanka (probable)Upul Tharanga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Russel Arnold, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga