Speaking of betting, I should have added this to my list of predictions:
Match where all bets are off: March 4, Zimbabwe v Pakistan
If it’s a “dead match” for Pakistan, you could almost guarantee a Zim victory. (See: Bangladesh v Pakistan, 1999 World Cup.)
The line “all bets are off” may not be as accurate as you said.
This match was generally accepted at the time - and I haven’t heard much about it since - as having been thrown by the Pakistani players in return for money. The Sydney daily newspapers at the time claimed to have evidence of the amount of money that was paid - and gave the figures, although I can’t remember what they were - and who provided the cash.
Yet another reason not to bet on the games I guess…
Oh, and congrats to the Aussie dopers, your Women’s team won the quad series against NZ, England and India. An omen perhaps?
Not long to wait now…
Not as important as the betting odds perhaps, but the England players have received more death threats and are set to announce tomorrow their intention to pull out of the Zimbabwe match:
Given that the World Cup is about to start in less than 6 hours, I’m starting a new thread…
Check for schedules, predictions, comments, “If I were Captain” talk there…
Purely out of interest, why? And why call it an “official” World Cup thread to denegrate this one?
7 overs in, the home team is doing very well against the West Indies, but I think it could have been a very different game if the umpires had called the half-dozen wides off the first three overs and made the Boks change their bowling line (and, resultantly, their heavily stacked field).
Not to mention the fact that the catch given off Hinds wasn’t actually touched…
Any chance that the umpires have already had an important effect on the cup?
Observations so far:
Given the heavy financial consequences of not playing in Zim, I do find myself wondering about the clauses of the relevant contracts. For example if there was a ‘catch all’ clause about being able to cancel in “exceptional circumstances” / ‘matters beyond all reasonable control’ / etc. then these ‘death threats’ might have huge financial significance. Legally speaking.
I’m not belittling the threat but theoretically ‘death threats’ take a couple of minutes in a phone box to make … and could be several million quid saved … Call me old fashioned but wouldn’t it be naive, in the era of professional sports, to not have ‘get out’ clauses when playing part of a World Cup in a dictatorship … ?
Anyone know ?
Woah. England have just postponed their “boycott Harare?” decision again.
Will they ever make up their minds?
No, I don’t. But I see where you’re coming from L_C. Who do you think had the better of the drafting, the ICC’s lawyers or Murdoch’s?
The WI’s innings has just finished. An intriguing start to the Cup, eh? If I were Gayle or Hinds I’d feel my place was in question. Lara is back in town. Hooper looked superb. Sarwan looked like he should bat at 4. With 5 overs to go is there a better man than Powell? SA - as they so often do - looked suspect under pressure. I doubt they can win.
Hawthorne
Who knows? There was a great article about this on cricinfo last week. It’s just one of those Indian seleciton mysterys.
You’ve got to love articles about cricket that start like this:
Windies are looking good to win with ten overs to go…
I would love to see the West Indies do well. And after beating South Africa, thanks to the deady Brian Lara, they are off to a good start.
I’d like to see the Windies do well too. Just call me a product of the 80s. Aaah, those were the cricketin’ days. 
For our American readers, the West Indies (often simply called The Windies in cricket), were a formidable force twenty-odd years ago. These days, the Australian side is the world-beater. Back in the 80s, the greatest joy for the Aussie players was to be able to beat the almost unstoppable Caribbean machine. Those guys were bloody good!
Unfortunately for the game of cricket, but fortunately for United States sports fans I guess, their geographical proximity to the USA has meant many talented young W.Indies sportsmen have been attracted to the bigger money offered by US basketball and the like.
Just typical!!!
After months of anticipation, I miss the opening game of the World Cup - and, from what I read, a classic (even though we lost :(). Time now to rue the lost over that (probably) cost us the match - with a little more time, Lance Klusner would have been able to pick the balls to hit, and not needed to have forced things so much…
I agree that Alan Donald may well be a spent force - I hope the selctors do not continue to pick him out of a misplaced sense of compassion/sympathy/nostalgia, but make the best choice for the team. There is an old adage - “Pick you batsmen on experience, and your bowlers on form” - which rings true…
Grim
Zimbabwe posted a mammoth 2/340 against minnows Namibia. Now it’s raining. Sri Lanka batted well against NZ, with Jayasuria scoring another big, quick ton.
On the politics front, (Zimbabwe’s) Andy Flower and Henry Olonga have got stuck into their government prior to their game.
NZ lost three for 15 chasing SL. Wisden’s Live Audio coverage of the match is down 
Thus far, neither of the two “serious” matches have gone the way I thought they would. This World Cup is going to be a lot more interesting than I thought.
Damn that Brian Lara!!! The man is class and shows just why he is considered one of the worlds best! But congrats must go to Powell and his partner who really smacked the ball around later in the innings.
SA was let down by it’s early order batsmen (again!) with only Kirsten scoring a decent total. And once again it came down to Lance Klusener (who won almost every game for us in the '99 WC) to save the day. Himself, Boucher and Boje put on a valiant showing but unfortunately the Windies took some vital wickets.
We will have revenge!!!
Sri Lanka (272-7) beat New Zealand (225 ao, 45.3 ov).
Still no decision over Zim v Eng, South Africa are threatening to boycott their summer tour of England.
According to Wisden.com, the ICC was all ready to announce that the Eng v Zim match should go ahead (meaning that England would forfeit points and money)…
…but now they’re postponing the decision until tomorrow. Their meeting with the ECB today was acrimonious but solved nothing. Hussein says the Eng team is in a state of disarray, not surprisingly. Developments to follow, I’m sure.
New Zealand’s hopes of making the super six just took a major blow. Sri Lanka comprehensively outplayed us.
Will be interesting to see how Australia look tonight.