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