Just found this.

Much is being made of Flintoff's apparent peppering of Vaughan in the nets the other day after it was rumoured Vaughan, his captain, was the man behind Flintoff's sacking as vice-captain. And the fines. That net session must've been excellent viewing

Yeah, I'll take a tenner on the South Africans, thanks. As I write, they're matching the Aussies and then some. Come on the Boks!

What with England v Israel in the footie, England v Kenya in the cricket, plus the clash of the Titans in St Kitts, I'm all of a fluster. You are reellee spoileeng ersss!
Supposed to be off to Reading in an hour as well...

Yeah, though none of the bowlers have actually taken a wicket yet, have they?
175 now needed off 21 overs,9 wickets in hand. Smith back in the last over to score the winning runs?

Fat lady singing time here in Sth Africa v Australia. Tait & Hogg bowled really well and Hayden's century was awesome but for me the revelation was Michael Clarke's 91. He looked the goods today. Good chase by Smith and De Villiers and to be fair Aussies had some luck with the runout and Smith's cramp.

joel wrote:

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Anyone else think it's time for Strauss?

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 Richard or Johann?

 

No, seriously, they won't pick him as Joyce has scored a few runs and they won't drop Vaughan. This doesn't leave many vacancies in the batting line up and as Strauss doesn't bowl he's not going to take that Dalrymple role (another wasted experiment).

There are only 5 players in this England squad who were involved in the 2005 Ashes win. How different is the next England squad going to be as clearly the likes of Dalrymple are for the scrap heap and I can't see them keeping Nixon or lewis too long either.

Strauss may get a game when all is beyond hope in about 3 super 8s matches time.

Joyce, Vaughan and Bell are never going to cut it in ODIs, and no amount of FTB knocks are going to change that.

Strauss ain't all that either, of course.

No they won't.

It's all very upsetting as Muppet says, but will be very difficult to stamp out. As that Observer article makes clear, the range of bets available make it possible for shenanigans to occur without the connivance of the whole team or even without necessarily affecting the outcome of the match. The length of matches and the fact that actions within matches can be hidden much more easily than they can in other sports (unless you're Hans Segers of course) make it easy prey for bookies and syndicates.

I think this goes on in all sports to a degree. William Hill offered a bet on whether Craig Bellamy would celebrate with a golfswing if he scored against Barcelona. He did and he did. OK, he has to score in the first place, but how ****ing daft is that? Tell your mates to put some money down and make sure you fulfil the bet if you can. It's different to saying 'get some money down, Dad, I fancy a hat-trick today'. Some of this stuff is wide open to abuse.

I'd like to see some of the anger of Indian and Pakistani fans directed against the bookies as well as the team. Or rather, that they demand that their players resist temptation and play straight -- and then accept that if they do, they will sometimes lose fair and square and that's the glory of sport.

It seems to me that one thing globalisation has done has flattened the world of sport. Meaning that cricketers on the subcontinent wonder why they're earning 30 grand a year and Flintoff and co. are earning ten times that before endorsements. That comparison would never have occurred even ten years ago. It's a global market for sport these days, everyone wants a piece of the pie because they see clearly how much money is floating around. Player power is the power of celebrity, in the sub-continent, in the UK, almost everywhere. And celebrity is about having more money than other people. It ****ing stinks. You just have to hope that, sooner or later, pride in being a player for your county, your railway company or your country comes back into fashion again.

El Presidente wrote:

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Anyone else suffering from a world cup withdrawl with no game on today?

Can't wait for the Australia v West Indies match tomorrow.

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I'm glad of the break. At least I'm not at work feeling guilty because there's something more worthwhile I should be doing ...

WI v Aus should be a cracker. I fancy WI for that one, Bravo to hit a ton.

I've got a tenner on that, in conjunction with a streaker called Jonathan running onto the pitch in the 7th over and McGrath bowling two wides in the first powerplay...

Fear my kiss. For when I kiss, 'tis the kiss of death.

joel wrote:

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"February 1, 1895. Barbados: The greatest difficulty I have at present is evading drinks which are continually being forced down me. I have been introduced to so many, mostly after the nature of c ocktails. I never laughed more or enjoyed a day so much. Batted. Made 0. Couldn't see. Got awful smack on heart from a bumpy ball."



Hmm. Suddenly reincarnation seems possible...

-- Edited by paichukka at 13:56, 2007-03-27

paichukka wrote:

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joel wrote:

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"February 1, 1895. Barbados: The greatest difficulty I have at present is evading drinks which are continually being forced down me. I have been introduced to so many, mostly after the nature of c ocktails. I never laughed more or enjoyed a day so much. Batted. Made 0. Couldn't see. Got awful smack on heart from a bumpy ball."



Hmm. Suddenly reincarnation seems possible...

-- Edited by paichukka at 13:56, 2007-03-27

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Indeed. You are right.

June 12th, 1999. Vienna: The greatest difficulty I have at present is evading drinks which are continually being forced down me. I have been introduced to so many, mostly after the nature of c ocktails. I never laughed more or enjoyed a day so much. Batted. Made 0. Couldn't see. Got awful smack on inner thigh from a ball which reared from a good length."

 

Remarkable !  (Edited due to Joel using the word uncanny at an uncannily similar time)

-- Edited by El Presidente at 14:02, 2007-03-27

Lara has won the toss and elected to field. Anyone want to do my shift, so I can watch the Sloggathon?

C'mon Aussie! (screams lone voice on forum)

El Presidente wrote:

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http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/australia/content/current/story/287319.html

What do you think? Does a few grainy YouTube clips actually financially hurt the ICC? I seriously doubt it. Losing advertising revenue from India and Pakistan's early exit would have to hurt more than us watching a clip of a Bangladeshi hitting an Indian bowler for 6.

The ICC should be coming out of the World Cup smelling like roses. If you ask me, they'll end up smelling like the roses prize fertilizer instead. Tightwads and funkilling numpties.

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Agree. I noticed that the clips linked to from The Guardian had been taken down.

So many officials and flunkeys, you've got to give some of them something to do...

 

Bunch of us here (Toon Army, Catalunya section) had tickets lined up. But given recent results we are all totally disillusioned with kickball (bunch of glory hunters you see), and none of us wanted to go in the end. It's not tomato season, so no after-match entertainment...

Footballers. Fuggem.

Lanka or Kiwis for the cup. To beat the Aussies you've got to take wickets. Step forward Messrs Malinga, Vaas, Murali and Bond...

Golcar CC wrote:

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Am I the only person who didn't know Tony Cozier was white?

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I remember him being more tanned in the past, perhaps he suffers from whatever Michael Jackson has.

This Hayden fellow can bat when he gets his eye in, can't he?

Hey Paichukka - you get the sopcast working in the end?

paichukka wrote:

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Bunch of us here (Toon Army, Catalunya section) had tickets lined up. But given recent results we are all totally disillusioned with kickball (bunch of glory hunters you see), and none of us wanted to go in the end. It's not tomato season, so no after-match entertainment...

Footballers. Fuggem.

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****, watching England live doesn't even count as a potentially interesting night out win or lose, does it? I hope Andorra stuff 'em.

It's painful to say it but England need to miss out on Euro 2008, then maybe they'll get it.

 

El Presidente wrote:

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Any members of the "Maclaren to stay" club on these here boards? I think he should go, just for his hair, meself. Oh and his ****ty results too. Worse than Robson and Taylor believe it or not.

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Robson had his sticky periods -- who can forget Euro 88? -- but his teams by and large had a modicum of skill and a great deal of spirit. Look at clips of his England teams and at almost any point see how much better they were at keeping possession. Could have done with two centre backs that weren't Watson and Butcher though. Robson's a football man and a tactician, McLaren is neither, he just fell into coaching.

Graham Taylor, however, was a useless ****.

Muhahahahahaha!

Golcar CC wrote:

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Am I the only person who didn't know Tony Cozier was white?

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I used to assume he was black after only hearing him on the radio, but then an amused friend of mine corrected me. This was about 10 years ago though.
White Jamaicans can produce wide-eyed reactions in people - I saw a stand-up comedian play brilliantly on it once. He came on stage, talked for 2-3 minutes so people heard his accent, then he said "By the way, I'm from Jamaica. [pause, smile] Yes. [pause] I know." And he had us.
Really funny guy actually, wish I could remember his name.

So, when will the Windies produce their "white Ntini"...?


-- Edited by Muppet at 00:20, 2007-03-28

-- Edited by Muppet at 00:20, 2007-03-28

I'll risk a "virtual fiver" on the Sirils. I like their bowling attack, good variety and the Sth Africans might put some extra pressure on themselves. I'm waiting for Malinga the Slinger to stamp his authority on a game. Tait is taking wickets, Malinga should be as well. This is actually quite a big game as the Aussies are starting to look quite methodical. This is a game that will hurt the loser a lot in the bigger picture. I hope we get a good contest.

I love sopcast

Malinga hat-trick! Great stuff.

Come on.

Yes, Kallis has expanded, no question.

Bollocks. Fantastic end though, some superb bowling by Malinga and Vaas. About half an inch from a win.

Great choke by SA, not sure that victory deserves the celebrations, you wankers