Schedules for Semifinals

Scorecard of teams after Super Eight stage and there position.

Rank Super Eight Played Won Tied Lost Points
1 Australia 7 7 0 0 14
2 Sri Lanka 7 5 0 2 10
3 New Zealand 7 5 0 2 10
4 South Africa 7 4 0 3 8
5 England 7 3 0 4 6
6 West Indies 7 2 0 5 4
7 Bangladesh 7 1 0 6 2
8 Ireland 7 1 0 6 2

Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa qualified for the semifinal rounds.

Schedule for Semifinals are as follows:
Date Venue Teams
24 Apr Jamaica Sri Lanka vs New Zealand
25 Apr St. Lucia Australia vs South Africa

All the best for all four teams. I hope we will see real clashes of Titans now.

Finally a Victory

Finally West Indies registered its first victory in Super Eight stage of Cricket World Cup 2007 against Bangladesh. Bangladesh failed to negotiate the pace and bounce of the West Indies bowlers and crashed to a 99-run defeat in their final World Cup Super Eights match at the Kensington Oval on Thursday.

The Bangladesh bowlers did well to restrict the hosts to 230 for five in the allotted 50 overs, but floundered from the very beginning in the chase and were bowled out for 131 in 43.5 overs.

Powell claimed three wickets for 38 runs while the ever dependable Collymore accounted for two batsmen.

Now West Indies will face Enland in their final match of Super Eight stage on saturday. This is also a last international match of Brian Lara who is taking retirement after this match.

Farewell to Brian Lara

West Indies captain Brian Lara announced his retirement from international cricket on Thursday ending a record-breaking career as a batsman.

Lara, said his last match for West Indies would be Saturday's World Cup match against England at the Kingston Oval.

"I've given this extensive consideration and on Saturday I will be bidding farewell to international cricket as a player," Lara told a news conference after West Indies beat Bangladesh by 99 runs in a Super Eights match on Thursday.

The 37-year-old Trinidadian holds the record for the highest Test score (400 not out) and in the first-class game (501 not out). He amassed highest career run total of 11,953 runs in 131 Tests and 10,387 runs in 298 One-Day Internationals .

Lara is the only man to have broken the record for the highest Test score, lost it and then regained it. His career would have spanned 17 years and produced some of the finest moments in the history of cricket.

Among the records that Lara holds is the one for most Test runs in an over. He made 28 off one Robin Peterson over in South Africa in 2003. He also has the third highest - 26 off one Kaneria over in that final double century of his in Pakistan. With that final double century in Pakistan, Lara joined the exclusive club of 6 men who have scored a century before lunch in a Test match.

He is the West Indies' most capped player in ODIs (299 after his final match) and second in Tests (131, Courtney Walsh played in 132). He holds virtually all the important West Indies batting records.

Before making his surprise announcement Lara had been asked to reflect on how he would like to be remembered as a player.

"I just want to be remembered as someone who went out there and tried to entertain -- it is a sport where people pay to come through the turnstiles and watch you and it is most important that someone can leave and say they have enjoyed watching Brian Lara play and enjoyed watching West Indies play.

"Another thing I am really proud of myself for is that I have been knocked down so many times as a player, as a person, and it is that strength, that I suppose comes from my parents, to be able to pick myself up each time and go out there in the face of adversity.

"That is something that I didn't read in a book or wake up in the morning with, it is deep down and it is a part of my family trait."

Our best wishes are with Brian Lara for all his future endeavor.

Four Matches are Left

Super Eight stage of Cricket World Cup 2007 is nearing to over. Four matches are left which includes a most awaited big clash between Australia and New Zealand. Both the teams are already qualified for semifinals. Other two probables are Srilanka and South Africa. So its fight for positions in Super Eight Stage only. It will be a big clash where three teams would like to meet Australia only in finals rather then semifinals.

Indian Cricket - the road ahead ...

India's poor performance in WC 2007 has filled 100 billion people with dissappointment, pity!, anger and what not. Team India is passing through a horrible time that no one would even dream of. All coz of the tendency of just screwing it up when it matters. Had they shown some sort of mental fitness, the scenario would have been 180 degree different. But alas, it lies all messed up.

Just with this funny performance, several things come to my mind like :

• India is the second-most populated country in the world. The country where cricket is followed more than religiously. The pujas and the maha-yagnas conducted all over the place for cricket.
• Financial and social benefits that the players enjoy in this cricket-mad country. On every second nukkad the children are seen playing the game.
• The players that were selected for the mission world cup. Their attitude being reflected in the game. Also hinting about the training pattern for world cup.
• The heros in Sachins, Sehwags, Gangulys and Dravids having more than 40,000 runs under their belt. Two world-class spinners in Kumble and Bhajji.
• The rich and wealthy BCCI.
• The importance of the game for being heard in the parliament sometimes.
• The mixed 'luck and results' that India had in the past. The shameful loses to the glorious victories.
• The opportunity ahead, the things that could put things in place.
• The need for a more effective selection process, encouraging the game at grass root level.
• The performance based payments that could keep players on their toes. (Of course they make most of their wealth through ads, but the players, specially seniors will feel really bad if they are in the lower bottom half)
• The rotation policy for the having the best team for the best event. No point in playing the best 11 in Ind-Ban series and winning it 3-0 or 5-0 or whatever. Having a world cup to world cup agenda, almost like the 5-year plan (or rather unlike the '5 year plan')
  
• I just sometimes sit and wonder about the time when Indian cricket board will feel and groom the passion the budding kids show, for the kids play mini-cricket at their homes when its raining outside!

cheers!

Just for Fun

A funny mail which comes in my email-inbox so many times that i am putting it here. Enjoy alternative jobs opportunities for fallen stars of Indian cricket team.

Super Eight Matches Schedule

Here is the schedule of 24 matches in Super Eight stage of Cricket World Cup 2007.

March 27: West Indies vs Australia (Australia won)
March 28: South Africa vs Sri Lanka (South Africa won)
March 29: West Indies vs New Zealand (New Zealand won)
March 30: Ireland vs England
March 31: Australia vs Bangladesh
April 01: West Indies vs Sri Lanka
April 02: Bangladesh vs New Zealand
April 03: Ireland vs South Africa
April 04: England vs Sri Lanka
April 07: Bangladesh vs South Africa
April 08: Australia vs England
April 09: Ireland vs New Zealand
April 10: West Indies vs S Africa
April 11: England vs Bangladesh
April 12: Sri Lanka vs New Zealand
April 13: Australia vs Ireland
April 14: S Africa vs New Zealand
April 15: Bangladesh vs Ireland
April 16: Australia vs Sri Lanka
April 17: South Africa vs England
April 18: Ireland vs Sri Lanka
April 19: West Indies vs Bangladesh
April 20: Australia vs New Zealand
April 21: West Indies vs England