Comments on: Slaughter of the Minnow-cents + Sachin

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 15:56:03 +0000

OK, that worked, so…

Yay Bangladesh! I rather liked the supporters who had a banner reading “2011 World Champions”. Given how young their side is, that might just be realistic.

6s records: Gary Sobers for Northants against Glamorgan (off a bowler called Malcolm Nash – presumably no relation to Darren). The only other one in a first class game was Ravi Shastri in an Indian regional match.

And back to minnows, I suspect that Kenya might once again prove the best of them. Keep an eye on the England-Kenya match, my Aussie friends, and try not to die laughing.

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 15:52:58 +0000

Hmm, I thought I posted a comment this morning. Let’s try again.

By: Justine

Justine — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 13:38:04 +0000

Hey, I just realised Ireland beat Pakistan (and knocked them out of the world cup) on St Patrick’s Day. How excellent is that?

Darren: I did say never done in an ODI or Test match. There are all sorts of weird records in domestic cricket. But, yes, Gary Sobers=god.

Veejane: Laughers, eh? I like that. ODIs (which are a shorter form of the game) are much more open to unexpected results than test cricket. Cause as you say “it is a great leveller of Fate that even the crappiest team can have one really good day”.

That’s why it’s a lot harder for the minnows to do well at test cricket. One good day’s not out of reach, but four or five good days in a row? That’s much trickier.

By: veejane

veejane — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 13:26:16 +0000

Baseball calls these uneven games “laughers,” because 22-0 (ha ha Yankees at home vs. Cleveland, 3 years ago) is an hilarious score. And we love the fact that it can happen to anybody.

Unless it happens to your team, and then it’s a cry-er.

It is a great leveller of Fate that even the crappiest team can have one really good day and whale the tar out of the division leader. And then go back to being crappy the next day.

By: Darren

Darren — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 10:44:39 +0000

Go Ireland! Worth making the point, though, that Sir Garfield Sobers has hit 36 off an over before, but he did it in county cricket (I think) rather than in an international. Still, awesome performance from Herchelle Gibbs – let’s hope he makes up for it with a duck against the Aussies!

By: Ben Payne

Ben Payne — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 06:11:17 +0000

I’m with you on the minnows… people who complain about the minnows are just sour apples if you ask me!

I can still remember people saying Sri Lanka shouldn’t be playing the big teams… now look where they are… I think Bangladesh will be up there soon too… Zimbabwe of course didn’t have the same success, but when you consider they’ve lost maybe a whole team-worth of players to the political situation there…

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 04:59:54 +0000

I feel very American right now. I don’t know an incredible amount about American sports in general, and now I feel incredibly lost! Oh well.

By: Justine

Justine — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 01:41:53 +0000

Oh, sure, it does seem to produce an awful lot of boundaries!

I reckon on the basis of a win and a tie Ireland is almost definitely going to be in the Super Eights. Pakistan lost to the Windies and to Ireland so they’re out of it. Just depends on how Zimbabwe does against the Windies and Pakistan. I really hope the Windies beat them. Sucks when the host team doesn’t at least make it through to the second round, ya know?

Go Ireland!

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 23:37:58 +0000

The Warner Park ground — where Australia, South Africa, Netherlands and Scotland are playing their group matches — appears to be tiny. It’s not just the minnow factor at work here. Australia v. South Africa next Saturday could see a ridiculously high total score because of that.

I’m with you on this issue, though — the weaker teams deserve their chance to play with the best in the world and sometimes they cause upsets. It’s good fun. So we have entertainment in the group stage, followed by a more serious group of 8 in the second stage.