Barring moments of enthusiasm, England in their first match of the WC against NZ looked like a boxer with a broken hand. They wanted desperately to win but simply lacked the neccesary tools to do the job. Wickets fell at bad times, and were failed to be taken when needed desperately and it was NZ’s ability to hold their nerve that eventualy saw them home.

I can’t say I’m surpised but I am unfortunately out of pocket by about $100 with all of the patriotic bets I’ve been laying with Kiwi’s around the world.

Bugger!

I’m sitting in Starbucks refreshing the arse off Cricinfo as Ireland try and defend a total of 221. My Irishness is tingling so much I’m asking the girl at Starbucks if I can order a MoccaGuinness but I think she’s one step away from calling the cops as its only 10.00 in the morning in NZ.

Anyway, gotta run! Bugger I want to see this game so badly, but will have to wait for the Sky highlights later tonight. I doubt whether Ireland can do it, but what a way to start St Paddy’s day celebrations early if they could record a World Cup win.

Update, by Jaysus Ireland have taken their fifth wicket. Fat lady aint singing yet, in fact she still in the ladies room powdering her nose.

WC2007 Day 2

OK so Scotland lost. Nobody with more than a couple of brain cells would have predicted anything different, but they certainly avoided humiliation and against the Worlds best team (whatever the rankings say) that’s no mean feat.

The skipper got a fifty and three other players scored in double figures (including Angus McExtras).

Lets all clear our throats for the Scottish national cricket anthem.

“You can take our wickets

You can take our wives

But you’ll never take our….FREEEEEEDOM”

Or at least I hope so! I’m the only one in the dream team comp to fail to have notched a single point so far (but then in fairness none of my players were in action today). I’m hoping for a big day tomorrow from Australia so Hussey and Punter can score me a few points.

Thinking about it though, the kilted wonders may not have the firepower to knock over the Aussie openers, in which case I’m stuffed!

Thank God the World Cup starts in less than 24 hours for with it will come the cessation of the abundant assurances from every team participating that;

• We’re in good shape
• We have the right balance
• We have no fear
• We’ve prepared well
• The mix is good
• The early loss helped us focus

What a load of old toadstools! I can’t wait for the inevitable shock defeats (Go Ireland!) to rock the socks off the platitude progenitors and bring some realism to the press conferences.

Ricky Ponting was the most popular choice in our wee dream team competition, with all but one player picking Punter.

The other popular choices have been Hussey, Jayasuriya and Kallis. I am alone in picking Pathan and Ntini to nudge me a few points so here’s hoping for a SA - India final!

To add some spice to the World Cup, we have a dream team competition running here for the 2007 World Cup. A point for a run and 25 points for a wicket seems to be the order of the day. I’m in the middle of trying to figure out an easy way of keeping the results and scores up to date so will post something more about the competition soon.

Jacob Oram sounds as though he’s serious when he says he would chop off a finger if it meant playing in the world cup. That’s a pretty serious commitment from the big fella. I guess he could try and keep his lopped digit cryogenically frozen for a couple of weeks and then try and stitch the finger back on, or alternatively if New Zealand have a particularly good world cup he could flog the finger on eBay for a tidy sum. Those eBayers buy some pretty sick stuff.

Oram’s bold statement got me thinking - exactly what would you trade for a chance of world cup glory. What about 2 fingers? (Starting to look a little deformed now). A little toe? Sure - who needs it. A big toe? Hmmmn, balancing issues perhaps. What about an ear? Would you trade an ear for a few games in the world cup?