Now this is the real U19 Action.

I mean it has to be right, it's the only U19 Tournament I've seen that's got more defection issues that a whole Cuban Oylimpic Team: http://www.cricinfo.com/u19wc2010/content/story/444043.html. Meanwhile action today (tomorrow?) has started with four first round games. In game one, they're currently in a break, as Afghanistan went 118 all out in 49.2 overs. The rumor I am hearing is that India will bat one handed in their innings just to make it fair (this is of course totally made up by me). In match number 2, Canada (RELIVENT TEAM ALERT) put up 201 in a full 50 overs, with Zimbabwae still to bat. In match number 3 (which is also probably the match of the day, Ireland put up 216/6 against South Africa, which has players that have played in international settings against much better teams than u19s, so it will be interesting to see how they respond. In the fourth match of the day Pakistan (which obviously has to be one of the favorites of the tournament, put up a 297/7 which the West Indies must have quite the confidence in being able to top, since they won the toss and elected to bat first.


However, I think the biggest news will come at 4:30 tomorrow afternoon, when for the first time since I've created this blog, an American Team will step out into an international tournament , they open their tournament up against Austrailia, and would probably have to be considered to be in the group of death (since it's also the Ireland-South Africa group) but hopefully they can put on a good face for Americans, and I know I for one am proud of the team for even making this far. So good luck USA!

Post Game Show: Blogiversary Edition

I'm not going to lie, I fell asleep during that live blog last night (I guess that would make it more of a dead blog, since no one showed up either *rim shot) but every so often, I keep getting woken up with announcers yelling "What a shot!" Turns out Taylor was going for 118 and I was sleeping through the whole thing (it was 65-2 when I went to bed) but in the end it turned out again that his effort was for not, because Bangladesh got some hot batting and ended up winning by scoring 222.

I would like to thank everyone who has read this little corner of the internet for the past year, whatever your reason, it's your eyes that keep me typing on this page, I know I've failed you lately in being timely, and probably even being good at writing, so if you're still around, it'd be nice to know, and hopefully this winter will be a time to improve my writing and maybe turn a few fans onto this game that I've fallen in love with myself.

Zimbabwae v Bangladesh ODI 5

This game is also technically being played on my Blogiversary (since it's already tomorrow over there)


Links to watch:

http://espn.go.com/broadband/espn360/index

Invalidating your excuse with my mighty typing skills

Alright, so we're gonna try a live blog again. The video goes live at 9:25 Eastern tonight, so I'm gonna start the liveblog at 9:10, if no one is here by 10, I'm shutting it down again. It will be the last ODI between Bangladesh and Zimbabwae. Hope to see you there.

I'm back

And now that I'm back, there is Cricket on to be watched:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bangladesh-vs-zimabwe

Bangladesh vs Zimbabwae ODI, (and while we're at it let's welcome back Zimbabwae) I'll see if I can get a Cover It Live up, but the Blog will be open for now if anyone is around.

No More Heroes

We have become the softest bunch of people in the world. People are railing on this woman for getting upset because she got screwed over on a bad call. I'm sorry I didn't realize that she was supposed to take bullshit lying down. CBS is who gets off the worst on this, because, they're the ones who the day before during the rain delay were showing a old Jimmy Connors match where Connors was telling the umpire he "needed to get his ass out of that chair" and what happens then, the crowd whistles and cheers wildly, really it's become a joke.

I think the most ridicilious part is the argument that she shouldn't do that because she's a "role model". Why do we even tell kids to try to live like someone else? They should be their own damn person, not follow in someone else's path, no one is perfect, and it's disgraceful if we hold it against someone.

This Blog, and My Love of Sports Explained

Do you know what happens when you tell someone you write a blog about cricket? They usually ask you why cricket. Well why not cricket? Why should I cover baseball or football or basketball, hell there are thousands upon thousands of people already covering those sports (I left out hockey, because it is something that is occsionally touched upon around here). Anyways , I never had a solid answer, although I am a Boston sports fan (loosely, which will be explained later) I've lately found myself drawn deeper into more "obscure" sports, for which I often receive ribbings about (it's been called "My Canadian Football League on more than one occusion). I wondered what it was that made me enjoy stuff like Cricket, and the CFL, and Rugby. And then I came upon this letter to the editor. But before I print it, a little background:

For some inexplicable reason, there has been debate in the letters to the editor section of my local daily paper (The Providence Journal Bulletin) about whether or not Dennis Eckersley is a good color commentator for Boston Red Sox home games (how this ended up next to the Republican hate speech du jour, I do not know). Anyways, the clearest insight, and probably part of the deeper explanation of my love of sports, came from a name named Leon Urban, who I will now let take it away:


In their evaluation of Dennis Eckersley’s baseball announcing, Fred and Trish DeWolfe hit the nail on the head by noting that “it’s not all about him” (“Dennis is a delight,” letter, July 5).
Having a captive audience, few sports announcers can resist self-promoting (staged?) gimmicks, such as “We Love You” signs, and so on. Incidentally, in its wisdom, the Los Angeles Angels [Of Anaheim] do not permit such signs in the stands.
Self-promotion is rampant in the media. Clueless news readers have bloviated themselves into huge multimillion-dollar salaries they fear to lose, and too often become the news themselves.
Dennis Eckersley promoted baseball — the game, not just the NESN home-team propaganda. Very refreshing. He reminded viewers that there are other good teams and players in the American League, as there are in the National League.
Many of the guys I grew up with knew every starting lineup in both the American and National leagues. True, they were only eight-team leagues. Radio and TV announcers made this learning easy by relating pertinent information, nearly every inning, from around the two leagues: scores, homers, winning pitchers, etc. And such information was given in a tone meant to promote the game, not to incite fans to behave like fools in the stands or in bars or in living rooms.

That second paragraph is what really stands out in my mind, I live in the middle of "Red Sox Nation" I'm supposed to live and die by this team, but often I don't care. The joy of being a fan has been sucked away by this expectation that the team will always do well, and the team does well on behalf of the fans, and if the team sucks, then they are personally failing many of the people who "root" for them. But when I'm watching Cricket, that isn't there, I'm learning little things about every man who steps out onto that pitch, there are 22 people who after that day has ended, I will probably know a little more about, and in between I'll watch an exciting sporting event where men aren't out to promote themselves, but they do it for love of country, or for team pride (yeah some of them do it for money, but that's how society is, and you have to ignore it) I don't get announcers with agendas, I get announcers that are trying to teach me something, or tell me the story of the match, and it's that, that true understanding that sees me the fan as more than a dollar sign, that makes me love cricket, and want to share that experience with everyone who reads this.

The Canadian National Rock Championships Part 1

This was not the big surprise I had in mind. Instead, I was starting to get the idea of a Rock N' Roll Olympics. Then I came to Canada, and quite frankly Canada knows how to rock. So I am running in a new direction instead, I'm gonna leave it up to you guys to help me decide what basically amounts to the best rock band of Canada that we've heard of. So far, I found 12 bands I think are worthy of vying for this honor, but I am open to other ideas, so here's what I want to do, I am going to post the 12 bands as I have seeded them, you will have until Wednesday at noon to either

A) Argue for a band to be moved up or down (but, it would also help if you made an argument for why the band that is being punished (or rewarded) is doing so.

B) Adding a seed that you believe I left off the list (excluding the two exceptions I will explain at the end, although I will let you try and talk me out of those exceptions if you are good enough)

C) Instead of just adding a seed, taking a band that is not seeded, and changing places with a band that is seeded (again, I would prefer arguments for both sides, not just for the band that you want to be added)

With all that said, here are the 12 nominees I have for Canadian National Championship of Rock n' Roll:

1) The Guess Who
2) Rush
3) Our Lady Peace
4) Theory of a Deadman
5) Arcade Fire
6) BTO
7) Steppenwolf
8) Loverboy
9) Gordon Lightfoot
10) Three Days Grace
11) Arcade Fire
12) The Tragically Hip*

As you can obviously see, the Bare Naked Ladies, and Nickelback were left off of this list. It is my opinion that BNL are more of a folk rock band, than a traditional mainstream rock band. I would also argue that Nickelback is pop rock and that wasn't what I was going for (otherwise, you're gonna have to include Avril Levigene and Sum 41, and I had no intention of doing that).

* The Tragically Hip have gotten themselves intentionally buried by me, because I don't really like the band, and I also don't really like the fact that their fans think me sub-human for my opinion, so therefore, they start in the basement, and it will take some damn good arguments (and probably youtube videos) to get me to move them up that list.

So there you go, have fun with it, and I'll be back with my decisions on Wednesday.

Nuts..

Due to unforseen circumstances, the suprise I had in mind is going to have to be postponed, I might have it ready by the end of the summer, I can't say for certain, sorry for anyone who had their hopes up : (

What's Next Dave Richardson? The BCS?

http://www.cricinfo.com/ci-icc/content/current/story/410448.html

Dave Richardson and Adam Gilchrist would like to see I-A and I-AA Test Cricket (suck it, bowl and playoff divisions). The feel that people stopped watching the cornerstone of the game is that the games are no longer competitive enough, because there are too many bad teams playing not enough good teams. Ignoring the fact that the sport is biased towards India and England (and occsionally Austraila, except when they piss it away like at the 20/20 Worlds), I don't see how keeping the "bad" teams away from the "good" teams would improve the sport at all. If England wants to no longer play Zimbabwae that's fine, but how do you know you're not killing the sport in Zimbabwae because you're taking away showing those people what they could become?

I mean let's just look at what the two divisions would probably look like (these are based entirely on my assumptions, and Test Results as of May 18, 2009)

I-A:
1) Austrailia
2) South Africa
3) England
4) India
5) Whoever is currently hotter of Pakistan and Sri Lanka

I-AA
1) Whoever is cooler of Sri Lanka and Pakistan
2) The West Indies
3) New Zealand
4) Bangladesh
5) Zimbabwae

There are only 10 teams to choose from in the entire world, and instead of trying to level the playing field and expanding the oppertunities to more teams in the world, they would rather narrow it down and keep the teams they don't like out of their "good game". It's a disgrace and a joke and I hope it never comes to fruition.

BLNAH: Now Predicting the Future with Bad Puns

I told Sri Lanka to be Afridi, but apparently they decided not to listen, and Pakistan (if they could put the guns straight up into the air in celebration instead of at each other, I'm sure the ICC would appreciate it) are your 2009 ICC World Twenty20 Champions. I would tell you the man of the match, but you should already know by now, but in case you don't here's the title of the Cricinfo article:

"Afridi fifty seals title for Pakistan"

So go crazy folks, Afghanistan and Pakistan have one the last two international cricket tournaments, up next, we clearly need an Iraq-North Korea final.

You Can't Beat a 96

Really that is all there is to it, this is a Sri Lankan team they played in group, and lost there, and nothing really changed between that meeting and today's. I have to say, I'm proud of how far the West Indies have come, they have a shot to take 3rd place, all they have to do is step up and become a different team than the one that already lost to South Africa. That being said, this was a fine performance from the West Indies. They really did give it everything they had, and when the tournament goes home next year, we will not be looking at a #11 seed. Good luck against South Africa, and maybe we'll get a "We're Number Three!" chant.

Be Afridi, be very Afridi

Copyright AP

That's Shahid Afridi in the middle of the picture. Come Sunday, you might want to remember that name. You might also want to remember the numbers he put up against a South African team that was 5-0 in this tournament, and had been making teams look very very bad for the past two weeks:

51 runs off 34 balls (8 x 4, 0 x 6)

4 overs bowled, 16 runs allowed, 2 wickets.

Afridi does not really need me to sing his praises (he's got his unoffical Youtube fan club for that). But whoever wins today between Sri Lanka and the West Indies had better come full force on the 21st if they want to put up any serious contention against the man who knows this title is his for the taking.

I'll have my thoughts on WI-SL after it's over, but we all know to say Go Windies!

and since I don't have anywhere else to put it, here's a great song to get you amped up for the game:

Wow...just...wow..

I didn't get to see the end, I had to leave for work early. The whole time I was at work, I was convinced they lost, I was writing a post in my head about how impressed I was, how except for Chris Gayle, this wasn't the team I'd been following with great disappointment since February, that they proved themselves out there, and they certainly weren't going to be #11 when they went home next year. I was ready to complain about how I hate the Duckworth-Lewis Method. Only I got it all wrong.

I wasn't alive in 1980 (I'm only 23 after all) I always thought it was exciting when Al Michaels yelled about believing in miracles, but it had never happened in real time, I've never even seen that game in real time, even on a replay. But out there today two of the Windies classiest acts Chanderpaul and Sarwan got the job done. Most people have a number they will never forget, and will always bring them smiles: 61, 14-14, Dywane Bravo will probably enjoy that 66* for a long time, but for me, I will never forget one simple pair of numbers 19* and 17*

It's too bad Brian Lara wasn't there, he probably would have been looking for someone to hug.


*this isn't actually a footnote, in Cricket if there is a star next to the run total it means they are not or were not out.

Maybe this blog should really be called...

Brian Lara Needs Some Time Away From England. Because goodness gracious, we're gonna do it again people! England beats India today 153-150, knocking them out of contention (they still have a match against South Africa, but it's meaningless at 0-2), leaving the match between the West Indies and England (the 19th meeting of any type between the two since February) as a elimination match. Do the West Indies have what it takes to get show that the upset over the defending champs wasn't a fluke? Can England recover from their own thrilling victory over India? Will Chris Gayle take off his funneral shroud and play some cricket? Will anyone watch the irrelivent Sri Lanka-Ireland undercard (as Ireland is also eliminated from competition)? All these answers and more will be revealed by the end of the day tomorrow, if you can find it, enjoy it, it's gonna be a great match.

Number One Stunnas

Image via AP

(#11) West Indies 156/3 (#1) India 153/7

That with Chris Gayle being held to 22 runs off of 28 balls (a terrible rate for one of the world's best players).

That being mostly the same West Indies team that is coming off an embarassing performace against England, in both Test and ODI's.

That team being ranked next to last for the 12 teams in the tournament, and have come flying out of the gates ever since.

I won't lie, I don't know when the new ICC rankings come out again, but I can tell you one thing, they won't see the West Indies in 11th place, even if they did lose to South Africa just before I started to write this.

Dwayne Bravo was the star of the show going for 66 runs (anything above 50 is a pretty good effort for 20 overs) as well as bowling four of India's seven wickets.

That's right Fidel Edwards, Number One Stunners

Alright I'll say it, I'm a bad blogger, it's been exactly three weeks since my last post, and here we are in the middle of the international tournament of the year (since we're in a down year for the ODI tournaments) the ICC World Twenty20 Championship (..of the World). I want to mix things up a little, so lets try this in FAQ form.


Q: Who qualified for the tournament?
A: The top ten teams in the ICC's world rankings, plus the top two finishers from the Qualifying Tournament. However, because it is a corrupt political entity, Zimbabwae was forced out of the tournament. and was replaced by the third place finisher in the Qualifying Tournament. This is how they're ranked.

1) India
2) Pakistan
3) Austrailia
4) New Zealand
5) South Africa
6) Sri Lanka
7) England
8) Bangladesh
9) Ireland
10) Netherlands
11) West Indies
12) Scotland

Q: Wait, 12 teams, how do you set up a single elimination tournament that way?
A: You don't. Instead, they have four pool groups each consisting of one first tier, one second tier, and one third tier team. You go by ranking. So you get four groups that look like this:

1-8-9
2-7-10
3-6-11
4-5-12

Q: What have we missed so far?
A: So far you've missed the pool play I just mentioned.

Q: Any Suprises?
A: Austrailia went quietly into the night losing to the West Indies 172-169 (in a match where WI only sent 5 batsmen to the stumps), and losing to Sri Lanka 160-159 (this time only 6 Batsmen for SL). The Netherlands were elimnated in heartbreaking fashion when they were only able to put up 93 runs against Pakistan to allow England to move on to the Super Eight.

(and let it be stated here that I am glad for Bloggers autosave feature that allowed this to still be here when my computer shut down on me)

Q: Super Eight? What's that?
A: The Super Eight is the second round of the competition and it started today (South Africa 114-England 111, and New Zealand 198-Ireland 115 for those keeping track at home) It is two groups of four (the first and second place finishers from the four opening round pools. Each plays the other three in the pool, and the top two from each pool move onto the semi-finals.

Q: Anything else we should know?
A: If you want to learn about cricket, 20/20 is probably the best way to do it, it's the shortest game, has the fasting pacing, and is the only version of the sport played at night. If you've gotten into the sport at all through this, first off that's nice, cause hey, I've accomplished something. Second, you might want to take the next step up, and learn about Net Run Rate, which is the first tie-breaking tool, and will save you a lot of confusion (if you're good at math). Finally, enjoy the games! They're in England, so you can have cricket with your breakfast (Game one Tomorrow starts at 6:30 EDT, and Game two starts at 7:30 PDT, so there are options for everyone.)

You Can't Be Me I'm A Guest Star..

...however I am not riding on the top of a cop car. Anyways "Dave Schultz" (quotes are part of the copywrite they tell me) has a new post up, most of which was written by yours truly. No I was not the one who erased question 25, yes I was on the one who forgot to close my parenthesis, and Sara Decosta is a story you had to be there to understand (although they are up for the hockey hall of fame as I was taught by Facebook, and I encourge you to fan them) so here you go, learn something about me, and nothing about cricket.

http://hammerrules.blogspot.com/2009/05/readers-challenge-next-episode.html

A Small Rant and a Big Surprise.

There isn't much to talk about in terms of cricket for the past weekend, England Obliterated the West Indies to finish a 2-0 test series sweep, and play goes on in the Indian Premier League, so I have a small rant for you instead:

With about 2:30 minutes to go in last nights game seven between Boston and Orlando, it was really nice to see all those "die hard" fans check out on a team that had been pouring out heart and soul all season, and making do with a lot of missing pieces. I'm not making excuses for them by any stretch, and I won't say I personally expected them to win the title, but this team was 2 games removed from a 14-2 that put them up 3-2, and 3 games removed from a thrilling buzzer beater that tied the series at 2. Why are you walking out? Why are you quiting on them? That was a disgusting display on your part, and I hope to hell you burned your contract for season tickets cause you don't deserve them, get the fuck off my bandwagon.

Anyways, now that I got that off my chest, it's time for the surprise, which is to keep your eyes peeled around here between June 23rd and July 1st for something exciting and new!

I'm Still Alive, and the happy Afghan story no one is telling.

*blows the dust off*

Sorry about that, school and work have gotten the better of me lately, I often come home, eat dinner and go to sleep, so a month has flown by since I wrote anything (and I left an embittered taste in all of your mouths anyways) I'm back, and just in time, because The Qualifying tournament for the 2011 ICC World Cup just finished (yeah, that's how it is in the cricket world, we get shit done two years in advance) It's a good thing too, since 2015 qualifying starts up this month!

Here's the basic lowdown:

*Ireland won the tournament (I would like to do a serach for a "Bowl Me: I'm Irish" pin, but I don't think I'd get what I want)

*Canada came in second, and qualified for the World Cup (which is an ODI tournament held every four years) along with Ireland, Kenya, and the Netherlands.

*Along with the four Qualifiers Soctland and Afghanistan were granted ODI status for four years (which means they can play ODI's against test nations, which is two steps below full test status)

That brings me to the other half of the title. For a nation that has been suffering through so much strife and turmoil, the media has been jumping at the chance to say "Look at this, they're getting on the right track." They tried their hardest to do so in Beijing, only to have a very unlucky Afghan contingent in the games. Here we are six months later, and everyone has decided to completely ignore that the cricket team has turned it around so much, they've been told they're one of the 25 best teams on the planet, and get to play with the big boys, and get extra funding from the ICC, and NO ONE SAYS A DAMN THING. It's a crying shame, I congratulate you Afghanistan, that was an impressive accomplishment, I know you can do great things, and now you have four years to prove it!