It turned out that only three of my four quarter-final predictions were correct. Pakistan and Sri Lanka trounced West Indies and England respectively. India beat Australia (who had won the three previous world Cups) in a more evenly balanced game. The one upset was New Zealand who won in dramatic come-from-behind fashion over South Africa, the country that I thought would become the eventual champions.
South Africa is an enigma. They consistently field strong teams and have often been thought the best in the tournament. And yet they suddenly collapse and lose at key moments, giving rise to the reputation of being chokers. They have not won the quadrennial World Cup since they first took part in 1992 when they were first allowed back into international sports competition following the end of apartheid. England and New Zealand have not won since the series started in 1975.
The semi-final games consist of Sri Lanka v New Zealand on Tuesday (in Sri Lanka) and Pakistan v India on Wednesday (in India). The teams are quite evenly matched and my picks are Sri Lanka and India, because I think they are slightly better teams and each has the home field advantage.
9 comments
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Scott
March 27, 2011 at 7:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Perhaps you hsould explain how cricket works in one of your posts. Though I expect it would be more complicated than your Big Bang for Beginners series.
Mano Singham
March 27, 2011 at 9:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Scott,
Actually I did a post on how the game is played back in 2006. Enjoy!
Live Cricket
April 3, 2011 at 8:15 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
nicely said… well now india has won the world cup… its an amazing win by the indian team.. captained by MS Dhoni!
Tony Selby
May 13, 2011 at 5:27 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It is a tremendous result that ICC’s cricket committee has recommended a qualifying process to be held tor the competition their decision hopefully will lead to Ireland so deservedly taking part in the 2015 world cup series, whether the pink ball can survive 80 overs is another matter. I have always admired Clive Lloyd the committee chairman.
Live Cricket
May 18, 2011 at 4:45 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I am glad India won the World Cup. They had to prove a point and so had MS!
Cricket memorabilia
June 2, 2011 at 1:24 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I can’t believe the Aussies lost!! Devastated…
Live Cricket Asia
June 8, 2011 at 3:52 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well, actually golden days are more to come. India has bagged second world cup in the April 2011. They still continues their form In India Vs West Indies Series also.
Reputation management
June 14, 2011 at 5:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Hi,
India won the world cup and now they get thrashed by the West Indies by 103 runs – how can this happen?
tony selby
June 18, 2011 at 4:53 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I recently wrote an article on the origins of cricket and also another one on the infamous 1932/33 bodyline series both of which I think would be of interest to bloggers I would love to have some comments back from you.