“Day after day, day after day, we stuck, nor breath nor motion”

As idle as a painted ship, upon a painted ocean. Perhaps Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his co-sailors were watching World Cup cricket whilst they were becalmed. Notwithstanding what will always be known in World Cup cricket law as “Stunning Saturday”, Ricky was right. The past four days of cricket have been complete rubbish. That’s why I have not written. There has been nothing interesting to write. It is more interesting to quote poetry.

Of course, the Bob Woolmer affair threatens to shake the whole World Cup and cricket itself. I dare not write very much about this – there are too many unknowns and too much speculation. It’s sad that the poor bastard, who from all accounts, was a fine gentleman, and still a young man, is dead. To think that foul play might have been involved and the possible reasons behind it, makes one’s stomach churn. The biggest concern is that we will probably never know the whole truth. We couldn’t even drag the truth out of Junior and Warnie over a few thousand bucks.

I find it a little tiring listening to commentators trying to extract something meaningful out of these games. Australia looked great against Scotland. South Africa must be on top of their games if they can brush The Netherlands aside like that. The West Indies weren’t too convincing against Zimbabwe. It’s all fiddle sticks. The matches are meaningless. Sri Lanka managed 321 against Bermuda and 318 against Bangladesh. So Bermuda and Bangladesh must be about the same right? Yet, India scored over 400 against Bermuda and managed just 190 against Bangladesh and lost! Zimbabwe tied with Ireland and that wasn’t a surprise. That was one of the few matches that had the tipsters guessing – they were evenly matched it seems. Pakistan scored 349 against Zimbabwe and a miserable 132 against Ireland. And lost! No. Scoring mountains of runs against the minnows is meaningless. And it’s boring (for the spectators).

As a voice of protest, and as tomorrow’s matches promise more of the same, I am going to recognise some other worthy cricket. The Pura Milk Cup final is being played in Hobart at present and at the end of Day 4, the Tassie Tigers have it all stitched up. Tasmania is going to win its first domestic first class cricket title by crushing the Blues. Scores are Tas (340 & 460) v NSW (230 & 0/3).

Roll on the Super 8s. Soon to be known as the Super 8s with two faulty spark plugs.

“It’s a great day for the Irish, it’s a great day for cricket and a great day for the world”

St Patrick’s Day has been sandwiched between two enormous days for Irish cricket. The tie on Thursday, seen as a consolation point by many, assumes huge significance now. That final ball cock up by Zimbabwe assures Ireland of a place in the Super Eight round. Ireland brushed aside Pakistan and were able to win fair and square in the end, without any help from Duckworth & Lewis.

And at the same time, another boil over was taking place. India’s World Cup started disastrously as they were rolled by Bangladesh. In the group that was always going to be the most difficult, as Bangladesh cannot be regarded as easy beats or mere minnows, it is wide open. It’s not curtains for India yet, but they must beat a very good looking Sri Lanka to stay alive. If they fail, Bangladesh are as good as through.

While these results are fantastic for cricket and I’m sure the ICC would see it as a big “up yours” to all of the detractors of the first round of this World Cup, I’m not sure how good it is for the Super Eight round. Basically, most of us were just waiting until the Super Eights started for the real Cup to begin. I recall that the wheels fell off the last World Cup at the Super Sixes stage when through a bizarre combination of luck, lunacy, bad weather and politics, two of the six were Zimbabwe and Kenya. This time around, we are faced with the prospect of Ireland playing another six matches after the first round. I don’t want to detract from Ireland – they have shown themselves to be competent at the very least but I don’t know if they are going to be able to perform consistently. Still, who could say that the Pakis could. They have blown it, they are packing their bags, and I don’t see too many tears (outside of the Pakistan team).

Spotted: Trent Johnston, Irish cricket captain. Last seen playing for the NSW cricket team, before they were the Speed Blitz Blues. In fact, Tubby Taylor and Slats were opening the batting and Brett Lee was the new pace sensation. Turns 33 just after the Cup ends.