It is over (so to speak)

Congratulations to the winners:

1) Paul - 1776
2) Missy - 1772
3) Sarah - 1662

It was very exciting. I was watching the game with Missy and had Paul on MSN Chat. Missy had 11 players and Paul had 9. Missy unleashed her WMDs while Paul was trying to track the scores. It seemed to go back and forth with each wicket. By Paul's estimate they were tied at the end of the game. The final score showed Paul to be the winner. If Gilchrist had made 1 more run the game would have gone the other way.

This is the closest finish we have ever had in the Robinson World Cup. It kept me on the edge of my seat until the end.

The game itself was pretty good even though it was shortened by rain and ended in the dark. Australia set a formidable target for Sri Lanka who were on track to beat it until Sangakara and Jayasuraya went out. There was a lot of good cricket and it was fun to watch, which is all we can ask for from a final (well, except for Australia winning.)

Here is the final worm.



Other notable events: Katy made a valiant effort to catch up with catherine but didnt quite make it even though her captain finally came through for her. Henry had just enough point to make it into the top 6 and knock me back down to 7th. Thanks a lot.

Moira stuck to her guns for a solid 12 place finish and so earns the sweaty world cup teddy bear of 12th place-ness. Paul get the shirt of first place-ness. Missy came in second and has requested the third place prize of the hat coz she doesn't know what a cricket ball is and so, if that is ok with you Sarah, she wins the hat and you win the cricket ball.

Also, we bought a floating trophy of a signature cricket bat that will go to Paul as the winner. I will get his name put on it, and in 4 years time it will go to the next winner of the Robinson World Cup. It shall hence forth (I always wanted to say that) be known as the Sweaty Robinson World Cup Trophy of Winningness. Here is a picture of the bat and the bear.



Thank you to everyone for taking part and getting into the spirit of the game. It has made the world cup a lot more interesting and exciting for me than it would have been and I think it has done a good job of getting everyone together to enjoy it even though we are all separated on various continents. We will do it again in 4 years time, so start studying up already!

Love,
Michael

South Africa crash and burn.

Oh well, so South Africa didn't come to play. This isn't the first time and it probably will not be the last. I really hope the final is a somewhat more exciting game. At this point in the game I'm sure everyone has very similar teams and so everyone's worms had a similar climb. The notables are Missy and Catherine who have closed in slightly on their nearest rivals. Henry is also getting close to kicking my butt.



It is going to be very interesting to see the final outcome of the Robinson World Cup. The final blog entry will be after the game on Saturday. I hope everyone has had a lot of fun. I have really enjoyed it, I think it has been a great way to quickly and easily make fun of multiple family members. After this I'll have to go back to making fun of Katy on her own.

Ciao,
Michael

Sri Lanka in the final

Hi all,

We are into the semi-finals. Sri Lanka beat New Zealand easily. Some say New Zealand under performed but the official South African decription for their performance is "pieperig". Let us hope the South Africa - Australia game is a more exciting one.

Despite the poor game some people had some big jumps and people changed positions. Lynda continues her fall from the top to a new place in 10th spot, as Graeme jump ahead of her. He gets the sweaty jumps ahead of the ex pregnant chick award of secret teamness award.

Henry is poised for a jump up a couple of positions, so watch him with his Pontying captain. It will be very intereting to see what happens at the top.

Here is the worm.



Let us know where you would like to end up by the end, who is it you are trying to beat. I would be over the moon just to get ahead of my wife. It would be a dream come true.

Enjoy the last few games,
Michael

Some more photos from our trip

I have added a couple more photos from our trip on flickr. Click on the picture and then browse.

Most exciting game so far!

Wow! I watched the England-Windies game and that was the most exciting game of the tournament so far! West Indies set up a good score of 300 with Gayle and Samuels each contributing a lot of runs quickly. England came in and, like Catherine said, Vaughn had a his first good knock of the competition (see Catherine's worm for details.) Pieterson and Nixon looked like they would maintain the required 9.5 run rate to win the game. Pieterson scored his hundred in 98 ball with a big 6. He then went out bowled by Taylor very next ball and I screamed. The notorious Plunket went out soon afterwards. England needed 48 off 36 ball to win and the West Indies looked like they were going to win. Nixon managed to keep things going, picking up where Pieterson left off and put England back in the driving seat.

Nixon managed to get the final over down to 4 required from 6 balls. When Nixon was bowled by one of Bravo's excellent slower deliveries it was down to Broad and Jimmy Anderson to find three from four balls. Off the penultimate delivery Lara, in his final gesture as an international player, brought the field in and Broad, at the opposite end of his career, hit a one over cover to win the game. Phew! I was on the edge of my seat for the last 15 overs of the game. Excellent stuff.

Here is the worm:



Things are heating up at the top, Sarah kinda pounced as Missy and Paul too a bit of a break, preparing their troops for the final 3 game showdown. Catherine made a last minute surge with her captain Vaughn and Henry came up nicely too. The rest of us just keep ticking along listening to Katy swear at Gayle.

Oh, and Graeme has reached a score of Eleventy One.

See you all on Tuesday.
Michael

Did I mention that Australia will win?

Hi all,

Australia looked unstoppable against New Zealand making NZ look like amateurs. Here is the worm.



I spoke to Missy last night and she has all sorts of plans to get into first place, so Paul, you better watch out. Here team is incognito so that Paul cannot pick up her stratergy.

The England-West Indies game, the last of the super 8 round, is on right now. Lara went out with 18 on a run out, which is unfortunate for him. This is his last game of international cricket. The ground is full, which is a good thing, I think they let people in for free or something. West Indies are moving along nicely and England are going to have to play very well to win.

The semi finals are next Tuesday and Wednesday and the final is Saturday, so there will be a pause for a few days in the blog.

An katy, you should have kept Gayle as your captain :-).

Ciao,
Michael

West Indies finally win one.

Hi all,

Not much going on yesterday. West Indies finally won a game, woohoo. And it looks like Lara will be retiring after their last game tomorrow. New Zealand have just started their game against Australia, which me be a copy of the final, so it should be interesting. There should be a bunch of points flowing, unlike yesterday's game. Here is the worm, the only significant change is Graeme's recovery. The P's and Q's and remaining M's are doing well for him.



Moira seems to be getting quite competitive for a tail ender. Maybe she has a big late surge planned and will take the Tiddlywinks World Cup. She gets the Sweaty Better Late Than Never award of Silliness.

Enjoy the game today, let us hope it is a good one.
Michael

Ireland were a bit dismal

Ireland were beaten today in only 10 overs, which must be some kind of record. In any case there was not much opportunity for points unless you had some Sri Lankan bowling which I'm sure Sandi has.



Paul looks safe in first place although Missy is still holding out some hope. I am hoping to catch up to Sarah and get a medal spot and Katy is hoping I don't beat her and that she beats Catherine. Catherine just wants to win but not sure how she is going to do that. Janet and Henry are locked in a tight battle and I hope to stay ahead of them. Lynda is slowly drifting lower and has all sorts of baby excuses. Graeme is making a late comeback and he and Sandi are now fighting it out. Moira is happily coming along not bothering anyone and nobody bothering her. So in general nobody is happy about where they are except for Moira and Paul. What does this mean you ask? How the heck should I know. What am I, a philosopher??

Anyway, the few remaining games should be interesting even though there is not much at stake besides pride at this point.

Enjoy what is left,
Michael

The Prizes!

Here are the prizes the winners will be getting for the Robinson World Cup.

First place: South Africa Polo Shirt


Second Place: Cricket World Cup Cricket Ball


Third Place: Cricket World Cup West Indies Baseball? Cap

South Africa are through

Hi everyone,

Good news (for some), South Africa are into the semi-finals. The easily beat England yesterday in 19 overs. Graeme Smith was the points guy of the day, along with Hall who took 5 wickets. Anyone with either of these two players did very well. Missy had a nice jump with Graeme Smith as her captain once again.

The semi-final games will most likely be South Africa - Australia and Sri Lanka - New Zealand. This could change if New Zealand beat Australia in the game on the 20th, but it is not likely.



It is going to be difficult for people to make big changes in position at this point with so few games remaining. A lot of people have saved trades for the final games, it will be interesting to see how much of a difference this makes. The Sri lanka - Ireland game has just started, which could be an interesting one.

Talk to you this evening,
Ciao,
Michael

Australia look unbeatable

Hi all,

We got back from our trip to see the cricket last night. We had a great time. It was fun, even the bad games were fun to watch after not seeing cricket for 10 years. It reminded me of going with the family to see games at the Wanderers when I was a kid. Katy was getting into the games too. She can now yell the right things at the right times at the right people for the right reasons.

Henry had the best day today with Ponting as his captain. Australia made easy work of Sri Lanka, and I'm not sure who is going to be able to stop them. Here is the worm.



On the last day when South Africa came out to warm up I managed to get Jonty Rhodes' autograph!! Here it is, on my hat. I asked him why he wasn't playing anymore. He said it was too tiring. I gather he does lots of surfing now.



Here are a couple of other photos from the West Indies - South Africa game, which was the best game we saw while we were there. The first is a panorama of the whole stadium. Click on it to see it bigger.



The second picture is of Kallis hitting a four over mid off.



The South Africa - England game will decide who the forth team is that will go through to the semi finals. Keep your fingers crossed for your favorite team.

Ciao,
Michael

So South Africa look even more silly now, after Ireland defeated Bangladesh yesterday. The Irish won a match which was very important to them, their own little world cup final...

Few people had any players in yesterday's match, but those who did have done well for themselves. Missy has caught up with Sarah and they are now tied for second place. While Janet has overtaken Lynda for that 7th place position. Graeme also did well yesterday. Boyd Rankin did well to increase my lead a little :)

Today's match should be a good one between Sri and Australia.

Speaks Soon,
Paul

This is Catherine saying 'Hello' from sunny England. Paul has asked me to do the blog today as he is packing to go back to university. It was fun watching yesterday's match on TV after having watched the previous two weeks' matches as text on the cric info website. Some of the commentary was excellent and very funny.

So what happened to South Africa yesterday?? Moira is very cross with Graeme Smith - being caught out in the first few overs was quite awful and then losing AB was a serious blow. Kallis went next and I wondered whether they could ever recover from such a bad start. Ended up, they couldn't. Taking singles seemed to be the strategy from then on (which I had advised from my armchair) was a good plan but every time they went for a big hit, they went out. New Zealand seemed nearly as arrogant in victory as Aus usually does - and can you blame them!

Let's have a look at the worm.

Paul is gloating about his position (yes, I can confirm that!). Sarah has made good progress. I had Styris and Gibbs so thought I had an advantage but found that Paul had them as well! Now South Africa are on a sticky wicket (that was good blogging wasn't it) and a lot will depend on how SA and England fare in their match - Moira says she is not even going to watch - way too stressful! I will be shouting for Michael Vaughan to DO SOMETHING USEFUL for a change.

Does anyone care about today's match between Ireland and Bangladesh? I personally don't although it may end up being a really exciting one since they may be more well matched. Have to stop blogging as Paul wants to pack his computer and he is unplugging things even as we speak. So good luck an have a gre......

So Australia destroyed Ireland today, managing to wrap things up by lunch time. They looked like they were on good form today, almost unstoppable.

Nothing significant happened today as even those of us with Australians didn't score high because of the low total they had to get. And Hayden didn't get to bat. Henry and Lynda each gained a place today.

So Michael and Katy's last game today, South Africa vs. New Zealand, it should be a close game, lets home neither of the sides fall apart (SA).

Cya Soon,
Paul

A Comment from the new member.

Today we have a video blog from Joseph, he is obviously part of our family as he has learnt how to use youtube at only 2 weeks and 5 days old.





So there we have it, an obvious prediction that South Africa will win.
New Zealand faced their first defeat today as Sri Lanka's bowling attack prevented any real partnerships from forming.

The worms.

I have had to make the table wider so as to fit everything on, so if it is unreadable, click on it and it should give you a bigger picture.

So many people gaining today, it seems Scott Styris was the person to have with his century. Sandi made very good gains today with her Sri Lankan side.

Ireland vs. Australia tomorrow, I say go Ireland!

Boooooorrrrriiiiinnnnnngggg

Hi there everyone,

Did you see us in the crowd? We were in the front row at the bottom right in line with the wicket opposite the main score board. Saturday we will be in the front in the first section on the right (as you look at it) of the scoreboard/grass, near the bottom.

What a boring game today also, I'm glad Katy saw a real game the other day. New Zealand started out badly and it just got worse. They lost too many wickets too soon and then never started to hit out to try and get at least 250. Then when they started bowling, it was all over the place and they gave away 17 runs in the first few overs, 14 of which were extras!! Sri Lanka could then just coast along getting singles every now and again and so the whole afternoon was pretty boring. But a boring cricket game in Grenada is better than no boring cricket game not in Grenada.

People here are very friendly and we are making lots of "friends". The food is good but very expensive. Yesterday we walked around the town of St George and saw what few sights they have. It is like a small European town with narrow cobbled streets all set at San Francisco street angles. I think they go through lots of clutches here. The town is pretty though and quite fun to wander around.

So far we have purchased the second and third place prizes for the competition. Second place is a cricket ball with the World Cup logo on it and third place is a cap in the West Indies colors with the World Cup logo. We are trying to get a nice shirt for the first place prize.

We also have a small (6 inch) bat that we can use as part of the floating trophy to be awarded every 4 years. (It will be called the Sweaty Robinson World Cup Trophy of Honour and Stuff.) If we see any players we will try and get stuff autographed.

Love,
Michael and Katy

I Think I Fell Asleep

So England managed victory today. There are not enough adverbs in the English language to describe how boring it was though. They seemed to be in an excellent position after bowling Bangladesh out for 143, yet they took much longer than Bangladesh to get the runs. It took them 7 overs to get the last 8 runs, half of which were eventually byes. They went for periods of 23 balls without scoring a run and periods of 10 overs without scoring a boundary. It was to say the least, unconvincing.

Anyway enough of that, they still won which puts them in close competition with South Africa to get that 4th place for the semi finals. The match to watch will be SA vs. Eng which will probably decide who goes through. Awesome.

The worm...

So as everyone has lost faith in the English squad over the past few weeks, not much happened in terms of the worm today. The only significant increase came from Sarah who is now tied with Missy for 2nd place. Many people received zero today, but I feel tomorrows match should be a better one.

Sri Lanka play New Zealand tomorrow, and it should be a very good match up as they are both excellent teams. Michael and Katy should be in for a great game once again, I'll be watching for them in the crowd today again!

Bye for now,
Paul

Not a cricket virgin anymore

Well I have survived my first day of live cricket. What fun it was. The day began with a fortunate travellers stop at the local donut shop. The woman there pointed us to the free shuttle - much better than taking the public bus to the game. Once there we discovered that our seats were in the nice covered section!! Yeah! We had shade all day. We made friends with the West Indian fans around us and were all set for a day of cricket. The highlights were: Watching Gibbs smack an absolute cracker of a straight drive right into a window to earn him his 50 (I think that he needs to sign it for posterity's sake, Boucher earned 50 in 22 balls, Kallis's first wicket with bails flying, de Villiers hanging in for 146 with a pulled muscle in his leg, Michael liked the square drive from Lara, and finally seeing the West Indian bowlers having a go at batting- our friends in the crowd are logging a request to have the batting order reversed. All in all it was quite fun and as Michael said, "we saw a fair bit of cricket there!"

We have been scoping out possible prizes and Moira you should not worry - I think we have a great one for the back of the packs "Golden Duck Award". Today we are off to explore town and see if we can bump into any players at the beach. Katy

SA back on form leads to some big jumps in the table

Well, South Africa did much better today, everyone in the batting line up scored at over 100% strike rate, except for Boucher who scored at over 200%! Was incredible to watch and I hope if you didn't watch it you got to see some highlights. West Indies scored at a much better rate than South Africa did in the beginning overs, but lost too many wickets while doing it and so it was not to be for them.

It seems like almost everyone had a very good day today! Graeme and Moira putting in a good effort to catch up with the rest of the pack. Janet and Lynda have also made good advances up the pack, scoring more than others in their areas. But... What is going on with Michael, it's as if he got double points for being at the match. Obviously he wasn't joking when he said his team was heavy on the South African. I hope they enjoyed the match very much! It would have been an excellent first match to see for Katy.

Today I include a picture of the fielding placements for any of you who are listening to or reading commentary and are not sure what they're talking about when they say they've "hit the ball over mid wicket" or where "long off" is.

Click on the picture to make it bigger if you wish :)

Ciao for now :)

Elimination

So Ireland are out of the running for the semi-finals with a bludgeoning defeat at the hands of New Zealand. Ireland have done impressively well for a country I didn't know played cricket until a few weeks ago.

Table...

Well we can tell who the New Zealand fans are here! Missy takes over the top spot by one point after today's match. This is only temporary however... In my humble opinion. My humble opinion is what everyone receives, free of charge, because I get to write this :)
Catherine is also looking up after that excellent NZ performance.

Hopefully Michael and Katy have an excellent time at the cricket tomorrow and that there is a close game, which SA win.

ttyl

Woohoo, hot and sweaty in Grenada

Hi all, Katy gets the hot and sweaty award for being hot and sweaty, sunscreen is melting off into her eyes as we speak. Grenada is very nice , people are friendly and the food is good, if a bit pricey. We havent found a good bar yet to watch the cricket in on the off days but I have managed to get a Pina Colada on the beach. Hmmmmmm.

The big news is that we saw all of the SA team at the local supermarket, in the crips and beer aisle no less, which explains a few things. We were too star struck to do much of anything other than wander around and stare. A couple of locals were getting Pollock to sign their shirts. I wanted katy to ask Gibbs if he was gonna play tomorrow, coz otherwise we will have to trade him off the team. She wouldn't do it.

We have spotted plenty of NZ fans around and a few SA and SL ones. There were lots of people playing cricket on the beach which reminded me of family holidays when I was a kid. We are off to cool off in the pool, and we will try and post a post after the game tomorrow.

Keep well,
Michael and Katy.

Good effort, but not good enough...

England created a very good chance for themselves today with excellent batting from Bell and Pieterson. However the side was let down by the rest of the line up as nobody was able to create any big partnerships down the order. And maybe someone should throw Vaughan in the rubbish because he certainly plays cricket with a similar degree of skill. Without further adieu here are the standings..

Things are certainly beginning to hot up around the top of the table with excellent results from Missy and Sarah. Close but no cigar however :). Henry made a good attempt at overtaking the mid section, while Graeme obviously had the disadvantage of the english speaking nations playing.

Ireland and New Zealand are playing tomorrow, should be another one sided affair, but you never know in this day and age. See you all tomorrow for another bout of Picket, thats.. Paul Cricket.

South Africa Shocker

Well South Africa have managed to provide an unimaginable yet inevitable shock to the world cup. They have lost to Bangladesh in awesome style, it was not even close. I did not see the game, but the score card said it all. South Africa have moved down from the number 1 rank in ODI cricket to number two after this defeat.

Unfortunately the worm has not been updated yet as the new scores are not on the site. I will post the new worm up tomorrow at some point, although Graeme looks to score well with the Ms today.

EDIT: Here's the chart...

Michael and Graeme each did well today, Graeme because of the M's and Michael because of the South Africans. As everyone can see, I did particularly well today, lets hope it stays that way.

Very Happy Easter to everyone, and I hope everyone gets a lot of points in the near future.

We are off to Grenada tomorrow.

Katy and I are flying tomorrow (Saturday) evening to Grenada to watch the world cup. 3 days of cricket mixed with 3 days of lying on the beach. In the interim Paul will be updating the blog and continuing to foster the worm. We will post stuff from Grenada if we find an internet connection, but if not, we will give a full report when we get back.

The games are also on a break for a few days as you may have noticed. They resume tomorrow with South Africa playing Bangladesh. Let us hope South Africa bats first so Kallis can get me some runs already.

Ciao,
Michael

Nail biting finish

Well, Paul keeps his lead with a narrow margin. Sarah, Missy and Katy are very close behind. What can be deduced from the graph is that Sandi must have a team of all Sri Lankans. Every time they play she takes a big jump. I can only guess she thinks they will win the World Cup. Sandi gets the sneaky sweaty Sri Lankan badge of honour for blind faith in a team from the sub continent.

Graeme has made his team anonymous, and today he got some points. I think his team is now anonymous because he has a player whose name starts with an N or a Q or a B or something else non M like.

The other interesting thing is that Catherine went down. Katy said she should have dropped her English players. Katy says last time the British performed this badly the United States got independence!



Oh ya, the nail biting finish. Sri Lanka was playing England and I wish I had watched the game. Everyone thought Sri Lanka had the game in the bag but England clawed their way back into contention. It came down to England requiring two runs off the last ball when Sri Lanka bowled the batsman out. You do not get much closer than that. Paul was quite tense when I chatted to him online after the game.

Hope everyone is doing well,
Ciao,
Michael

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I (Katy) have been tasked to do the blog this evening while Michael does the dishes - seems like a fair trade to me. First, here's the worm:

So as you can see Paul made a huge leap today. Really the only reason is coz Kallis is his captain. Michael made a huge leap as well but he is still in the middle of the pack so who cares. (love you sweety) Honestly though, the only real news from the day came from Kallis, Ireland didn't put up much of a fight and so Kallis didn't have to do much but he did enough. The "you picked the right captain right away" award goes to Paul, well done! Michael gets the "you FINALLY picked the right captain" award. I am hoping to steal this from him but we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Current Super Eight standings are as follows:
AUS 6 points
NZL 6 points
SRI 4 points
RSA 4 points
ENG 2 points
WIN 2 points
IRE 0 points
BAN 0 points

So, there are a few teams that need to pick up the pace a little if they want a shot at the semi-finals. Tomorrow England will take on Sri Lanka, should be a good match and a win for England would go a long way. I'll be tied to the stats while my students watch a video. YES! Back by popular demand...its the "push play" lesson plan!!!

Only 4 more wake-ups till we head to Granada.

Enjoy the Game! Katy

Everyone wants to be second.

Hi peoples,

It looks like everyone wants to be in second place. Missy, Catherine, Katy and Paul are all converging on the same score. Janet had another good day putting her close to the top six. Lynda jumped back ahead of Henry and the rest or us are resting our weary cricket player trading brains.



New Zealand crushed Bangladesh. Styris got 4 wickets, so well done all you Styris pickers and Flemming scored 100+ and some of you had him too.

Tomorrow is Ireland vs South Africa. Ireland gave South Africa a run for their money in the warm up round so let us hope South Africa do well and get the points they need. Well, OK, so I want South Africa to do well. Is anyone shouting for anyone else in this competition?

Janet, your worm could be worse, it could be all pale and pasty like Graeme's. Oh, and Missy, its not too late to dump Graeme Smith.

Here is a little cricket lesson courtesy of Borat.

Ciao,
Michael

Mossies fly up.

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the next edition of the Robinson World Cup Blog. I just said that to pad the blog so that it doesn't look like I have nothing to say. OK, enough chit chat, here is the worm.



Sandi made a huge, and anonymous jump today, but one suspects she may have Jayasuraya as her captain. Other people with the big J-man were Henry and Missy, who despite my best coaching, keeps picking winners. Sarah is keeping her distance, while Henry has broken into the top 6. Well done. The doing stupid sweaty stuff without thinking because you are a moron award of the lame duck goes to me today because I traded away Chanderpaul right before the game, rather than waiting until after. Would it have cost me anything to wait? No! But I did it anyway.

The Windies are not looking good at the moment. They were beaten pretty easily by Sri Lanka today. The Sri Lankan batting was a lot of fun to watch, with a lot of classic cricket shots being hit. Jayasuraya is definitely a stylish player. I had to turn it off, though, when the West Indians started to not bat.

Have a peachy day,
Michael

Can nobody stop her?

Sarah is maintaining a very strong lead. She gets the leaving all the sweaty losers in her dust award of diligence for her continued performance. And here is the worm.



Paul and Catherine are trying to mount a challenge but not quite doing enough at this point. Henry is the biggest mover of the day, and just as he promised in his video comment a week ago, he has stopped resting and is coming to get y'all. He may be the first to break into the top 6. Wouldn't that be something. There would be much rejoicing. Henry would say something like "Woohoo" and smile a lot. But let us not count our runs before they are hatched. Graeme needs to put Hayden on his team coz half his team is now MIA.

Today's game was somewhat different, being shortened to 22 overs per side. Bangladesh seemed a bit lost as to how to tackle the situation and started slashing around, or as one of the commentators put it, "Swinging like rusty gates". They lost too many wickets too fast and this restricted them from getting too many runs. Australia hauled them in in no time with Hayden and Gilchrist the only ones to bat. Even so, it was a fun game to watch, especially if you like your cricket in small doses.

It is Paul's birthday tomorrow, (or today when you read this), so let us wish him many happy ducks.

Ciao,
Michael

England win but look weak.

Happy weekend everyone,

Let us start with the worm and then it can be discussed in detail.


Sarah is again pulling away. Can she be stopped with that super secret special team of hers. Paul is up next. Janet, Henry and I are fighting it out for 7th place, it's very exciting. Moira hasn't done any trades yet so she has plenty of room to fine tune her team. I suspect Graeme hasn't done any trades yet either. Tomorrows game is Australia Bangladesh which should be a slaughter. Get ready for some ducks.

Not much else going on today,
Gnight,
Michael

New Zealand win easily

Hi all,

It was a tough day for West Indies who got only 177 runs. Such a low scoring game meant most of the points were coming from the bowlers. Styris, Oram and Vettori were the people who got the points today. Did anyone pick these players on purpose? I think not.



As expected, not much of a change except for Catherine and Janet who both posted good gains. Janet is challenging me for the coveted 7th spot. The top 6 teams are all within about 50 points of one another which means that anyone could jump into the lead at any time. Who has got any trades left, besides Missy that is, who I think probably has about 16 or more?

Have a great day,
Michael

A new team member has arrived.

Joseph Robert Kozlik has joined the team. He came in to bat today at about 9pm New York time. First he was in then he went out after being in for just over 9 months. The proud captain, coach and new batsman are all doing well. I'm sure Catherine can tell us how long the game lasted and what the final score was, since I don't have any of the game stats. From now on the pregnant chick will be known as the chick.

And now for the worm.


Cool graph hey. Some people went up and other people went up more. Slaan dit netso is making a bid for the lead with a surge into second place. There is still a distinction between the lower 6 and the upper 6 places. The people in the lower 6 think the people in the upper 6 are just lucky and the people in the upper 6 think the people in the upper 6 have skills but the people in the lower 6 know better. The people in the upper 6 better watch their upper 6 backs because the people in the lower 6 are coming for them.

If you had Lara, Kallis or Smith today you are probably pretty happy. Kallis has redeemed himself a little today. South Africa were going along just fine towards what looked like an easy win against Sri Lanka until they lost 4 wickets in 4 balls. This left them with 2 runs to get with only 1 wicket in hand. Luckily they did not mess it up any worse than they had and managed to win a very tense game. West Indies could not match Australia, who are now the team to beat, despite Lara's great effort. They face New Zealand tomorrow in what should be a close game.

OK, time for me to listen to Katy yell about how Gayle hasn't been performing as her captain.

Until tomorrow,
Michael

Only half a cricket game

Well, the one day games between Australia and West indies has turned into a two day game.

Here at Robinson World Cup Central, or as we like to call it, Robinson World Cup Central, we feel that data visualization is of the utmost importance. Our motto is "If you cannot visualize it, it's a bummer." Obviously we are going to fire our motto department. But, to live up to our motto, such as it is, we have created a new means of assessing the progress of all the teams: the Robinson World Cup Worm.

And here it is. (You can click on it for a full size version)



As you can see Sarah is cheating. No, I'm just kidding, but seriously, I think she is cheating. Well done Sarah, coming from the middle of the pack with two consecutive excellent performances. Sarah gets the knocking the pregnant chick off the top of the charts ribbon of excellence. The other obvious thing shown here is who loves little old Matty Hayden and who does not. Let us see what tomorrow brings with the second part of this game. South Africa are going to be playing Sri Lanka which will also stir things up.

I had it wrong two posts ago when I said West Indies would be D1 and Ireland D2. Since West Indies played today they are D2. I still cannot figure out how that works, but anyway. We have changed the schedule link on the right to point to the Super 8 round timetable.

Finally, here is a little article showing how the Australian team chooses their batting order. Timing is everything in cricket.

Ciao,
Michael

The group stage is over (pun intended)

This is just a short post today. You can tell because it is not very long.

The group stage is over and and we are all winners so far :-). OK, some people are winnier than other people but we will not hold that against them. Positions didn't change much with today's game.

India is definitely out now, so about 1 in 5 people on the planet are unhappy.

There will be no blog entry tomorrow because it is a rest day. The first Super 8 round game starts on Tuesday.

Be sure to check out Catherine's video post in the last blog entry comments.

I will leave you with this link to a clip of one of the great moments in world cup history: Jonty Rhodes

Good luck,
Michael

Bummer

That is, bummer South Africa lost to Australia, but at least we will meet them again in the final :-). Things have tightened up as we are reaching the halfway point, in terms of time, of the tournament. You are all probably now looking at your teams and saying things like "What has Plunkett done for me lately", and if your name is Katy, the answer is "Nothing, that's what. Damn Plunkett."

Are you running out of trades? Have you got your overall strategy lined up? I suspect games will be tighter and points harder to come by from now on. Still, anything could happen with so many people in contention.

The teams are now all decided for the Super 8 round so here they are for your viewing pleasure:

A1 - Australia (2 points going in to Super 8)
A2 - South Africa
B1 - Sri Lanka (2 points)
B2 - Bangladesh (99% sure)
C1 - New Zealand (2 points)
C2 - England
D1 - West Indies (2 points)
D2 - Ireland

Popular opinion for the final four teams seems to be, in this order,
1 - Australia
2 - South Africa
3 - New Zealand
4 - Sri Lanka

England and West Indies need to play a bit better if they want to get through.

Well from here on out it is only 1 game per day, so there are no excuses for missing any of the action.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend,
Michael

India is out!!

Hi all,

My attempt at a video blog entry. Let me know what you think.

Lynda goes absolutely bananas!

The Knights have set a tough lead for the rest of us to follow with her inspired pick of Flemming as her captain. There are still many days of cricket to come and so Lynda gets the sweaty-you-are-in-the-lead-now-but-for-how-much-longer prize for being in the lead. The rest of us are waiting for different games it seems as scores didn't change by much.

Canada had a good start against New Zealand today but when they lost their openers and the worms crossed (the run rate graphs) they didn't present much of a challenge. Netherlands made Scotland look bad by beating them them in only 23 overs.

The huge game tomorrow is the India - Sri Lanka game which India has to win to go through to the next round. Things are going to be tense in the sub-continent.

Looks like Bob Woolmer's death is now being treated as a murder, which is just horrible. How could anyone do that.

In case you need some cheering up, here are a couple of jokes to lift your mood (unless you are an England supporter.)

Q. What is the height of optimism?
A. An English batsman putting on sunscreen.

Q. What would Glenn McGrath be if he was English?
A. An all rounder.

Q. Why don't English fielders need pre tour travel injections?
A. Because they never catch anything.

Q. What do you call a Englishman with 100 runs against his name?
A. A bowler.

Q. What do English batsmen and drug addicts have in common?
A. Both spend most of their time wondering where their next score will come from.

Q. Why are English cricketers cleverer than Houdini?
A. Because they can get out without even trying.

Have a good day,
Michael

Some big numbers

Hi everyone,

Glad to see all the comments coming in. Lynda is pulling away with her pick of Nazir today, with Katy putting in a valiant effort to stay in touch. Missy is making a move in third place and Catherine is resting up her Chestnuts in forth. The Mossies also took a big jump today thanks to the Sri Lankans. It looks like anyone who has a good day can jump right to the top of the table, so keep studying your options.

The Pakistan game had an emotional start today with a minute of silence. Pakistan put their hearts into the game and won easily. Bangladesh did not show the form they showed against India and were outclassed by Sri Lanka. Their loss puts India in a difficult situation in group B. India have to win against Sri Lanka which could result in a 3 way tie in the group. The group will then be decided by net run rate.

After a little research it turns out the cricket rules I posted yesterday are known in England as the tea towel explanation due to the fact that they were popularized on a tea towel in the 1980's. Janet mentioned that she remembers reading this on a tea towel, which goes to prove 3 things: She was alive in the 80's, she lives in England and she can read.

Its time for bed now, to dream of sweet, sweet points.
Good night,
Michael

The rules of cricket

If any of you have read the comments in the last post you will have noticed that I have been taunted by Missy. I shall now reply in kind to her harsh words.

Missy, your team is a little below par. You could improve your picks ever so slightly. Your management skills are OK, not great, not terrible, but just OK. So there!

Let it not be said that Michael takes this kind of treatment lying down!

Now that we have that bit of nastiness out of the way on to the day's news. Both New Zealand and South Africa are through to the next round after stupid easy wins over Scotland and Kenya. South Africa were so confident that they put some guy called Ashwell Prince in to bat instead of Kallis!?! Catherine was stunned. She demanded to know what was up. She really would have liked to know where her points were going to come from now, hey!?

Congratulations to Lynda for getting into the lead with her newly named Knights of Ni. Let us hope she starts neglecting her team when the baby comes.

And now to the main event. I just remembered that I have been carrying the rules of cricket in my wallet since before Katy and I were married. My friend Roy gave the classic rules to me to help explain the game to people who were coming to our get together just before the wedding. These rules have been around for forever and have helped many a confused soul understand the game. Please enjoy.

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.

So now there should be no more questions.
Have a great day,
Michael

I am very proud of my wife.

She made me say that! I had no choice! She gained on the Chestnut's lead today. (She wants me to add "without resorting to Kallis or Ponting!"). Positions 3 through 7 are all in with a great chance of getting into the lead.

India looked good for once in their win over Bermuda (who wouldn't). The West Indies didn't look very convincing in their win against Zimbabwe. So far it looks like we can say that West Indies and Ireland are through to the next round and India's fate awaits their game against Sri Lanka.

Assuming South Africa win tomorrow it means the games Katy and I will see in Grenada will be as follows:

South Africa vs Ireland.
Sri Lanka vs New Zealand.
South Africa vs New Zealand.

We would have seen SA vs West Indies but Ireland's win over Pakistan pushes West Indies into a different stream that we will not get to see.

As part of our public service here on the Robinson World Cup blog we like to keep our readers informed as well as entertained so today we are starting a new series called Know Your Cricket.

1. Golden Duck: A batsman goes out on his first ball for 0 runs. The term duck is used because the 0 looks like a duck's egg.

2. Flipper: A ball bowled by a spin bowler that has backspin. The ball travels slower and further than a normal delivery thus fooling the batsman.

3. Dot ball: A delivery bowled without any runs scored off it, so called because it is recorded in the score book with a single dot.

4. : Jiminy


Enjoy the South Africa game,
Michael

The Chestnuts are roasting us.

Well, another day and things were not dull. Australia won quite easily against poor Holland. I watched some of the game and there were plenty of fours and sixes. England won against Canada, but they did not look very good in the process. Also, the news of Bob Woolmer's death was quite shocking.

Catherine is still maintaining a slight lead, don't ask me how. Maybe she has nothing better to do than study cricket rosters. Paul, Lynda and Henry are hot on her heels and sooner or later the trades are going to run out. Katy, Missy and Sarah deserve honorable mention and all get the order-of-the-middle-order order for being average. I still cannot derive a scheme to better the M strategy as Graeme is just out of my reach. Janet and Moira's aversion for smelly Australians is costing them a few points at this stage but they are no doubt planning something dreadful for later in the game. Sandi is in last place which probably takes the pressure off.

There is still the question of a prize for this fun family feud. Does anyone have any ideas, besides the winner earning the right to say "Nya nya na nya nya" to the losers at family get togethers.

Hope everyone is well,
Love,
Michael

Will Kumble Play??

This is the big question that I am currently asking. How about you? Who are your hopes riding on? Has Pakistanis dismal show left you questioning all that is cricket? Are you now searching for the best Bangladeshis? Can you wrap your mind around the fact that Ireland is going through to the next round? I want to hear what is going on with you all........leave a comment, let me know.

It was certainly a big day for the World Cup with losses by both India and Pakistan. Leaving the door not only wide open for Ireland but it seems there is a doorman there to escort them on to the next round. And if Pakistan is to have any hope then the West Indies will need to rack some major golden ducks ala Flintoff! Now I am all about the underdog and I was all excited by my Irish pick of Bray but although the luck was with the Irish team, it was not with Bray. So I may have to switch my underdog vote for Bangladesh - did anyone see the little Bangladeshi dance that they do?? Its hilarious! I'm all for the dance - GO Bangladesh!! (I'm not however going to be putting any Bangladeshis on my team at the moment - maybe if they go through) Michael is in a stir cause he can't seem to pick any winners, he's changing his whole strategy. I'm not sure this is wise but as a loving wife I will support him no matter what.

Today's award goes to the Chestnuts for Making the Best of the Worst! Well done Catherine!

Tomorrow we look forward to watching the Netherlands moer Australia and Canada douse England with some fine maple syrup. Watch out for Catherine extending her lead with all her Canadian players. Play On!

Katy

slaan dit netso falls asleep with big grin

Last night slaan dit netso had a very pleasant evening telling all and sundry how awesome his team is. He regaled them with tales of skill and prowess, of how his inspired pick of Kallis for captain has set him apart from his peers and how friends and relatives are now saying to themselves "I wish I had picked Kallis". All and sundry wished he would just keep quiet.

Anyway, well done to Paul. Many other people also benefited from the South African's great performance. The award for most improved pregnant chick goes to Lynda.

As one of the headlines said today, a one sided game is not necessarily boring. Herschelle Gibbs set a record for the first person to hit 6 sixes in one over. You can see the over here : Six sixes. Boucher set a record for the fastest 50 in world cup history needing only 21 balls. And South Africa set a record for the most sixes in an ODI.

One more day's cricket and then all the teams will have played at least once, at which point, as Moira says, men will have been separated from mice.

Have a great weekend,
Michael

Oh, and poopie on Flintoff.

I told you to bet on the Irish!

Sympathy Vote surged to the top of the standings with some inspired picks. Katy gets the sweaty-four-leaf-clover-luck-of-the-Irish -I-picked-Bray-coz-I-have-a-long-lost-relative-with-that-name award. If Norway were playing she would have picked Gunderson.

Other teams of note today are the Exterminators (again), the Jolly Swingers with a huge leap up and newcomer Mossies who flew to the middle of the pack.

The rest of us are now waiting on South Africa and England so that we can make our moves. Apparently the Gonubie Gabbas have not included Australians because the Gabbas prefer not to associate with the unsportsmanlike and arrogant men from down under, or as we like to say here, they are a bunch of big fat doodieheads.

The Ireland Zimbabwe game was very exciting, ending in a draw. Zim had to get 1 run off the last ball to win but the guy went out. Sri Lanka crushed Bermuda ,the poor things.

Get your picks in and stay glued to the tube for what should be a very exciting days cricket.

Love,
Michael

Well aren't all you Ponting pickers happy.

Some people are doing quite well, but it is still early and England and South Africa have yet to play. Then we shall see whose strategy is worth something. Let us all hope that the Chestnuts are gonna run outta steam soon. The sweaty cricket ball award for most improved player goes to Henry's Chartham 1st Team who jumped from 0 to 78 points.

Katy is getting her strategy from her high school students and Janet has chosen not to have any stinky Australians. Missy's strategy includes choosing nice sounding names and winging it.

Sri Lanka is the big name team tomorrow which could bring in some points. Has anyone chosen Ireland? Saint Patrick's Day may bring the luck of the Irish to you, or maybe you are not that stupid.

There is a new feature on the modify team page where you can make your team visible to everyone. Some of us have done it already, since by now it is a bit late to start copying someone else's strategy (4 Mohammads will cost you 4 trades). It is up to you whether you would like to expose your team or not.

Good luck peoples.

Ay, caramba!

Well, the first results are in and The Exterminators lead the way with 42 points. For those of you who don't know, Graeme's strategy was to choose people whose names started with M. It just goes to show that all that thought you put into your team only made them worse than if you had chosen at random. OK, maybe not, I'm sure the rest of us will shine as the Mohammads have a rest.

Catherine and Missy are off to an excellent start, no doubt both picking Brian Lara in their teams. Katy is not far behind, leading the chase group out of the gates.

It looks like Paul and Henry opted not to play anyone today, so better luck tomorrow with the Australians playing.

Today's game between Pakistan and West Indies was a good game, with West Indies winning by 54 runs, in what turned out to be a comfortable win after a very slow West Indies start. WI were at 80 for 3 wickets after 27 overs when Samuels and Lara set out to save the Windies innings. They ended with 241 for 9 with plenty of 4s and 6s to keep everyone happy. Pakistan started badly and never recovered once Inzamam went out. I'm not sure why Lara never used his spinners but his all seam attack seemed to work well enough to give them the victory.

Tomorrow's games are Australia vs Scotland (predicted final score 2047 - 17 1/2) and Kenya vs Canada (who cares).

Just a reminder, from here on out you have 20 changes you can make to your team. Also, changing your captain will cost you 4 changes.

Enjoy the games,
Michael

Welcome

Hi all you cricket fanatics, I have created this blog for us to discuss and taunt one another. I'll try and do an entry every day for the duration of the world cup. Fell free to add comments. In honor of the world cup I have written a little poem.

The Jolly Swingers are all swung,
The Exterminators smell like dung,
No Gonubies is good Gonubies,
Arwen's Avengers are a bunch of boobies,
Lynda's Lads are sorely lacking,
Sympathy Vote will be sent packing,
Chartham 1st will be last,
roasted Chestnuts have no class,
Bordeaux will all go for ducks,
and slaan dit netso really sucks,
Eleventy One is so cool,
he will take you all to school.

Good Luck,
Michael