The World Cup [admin's warning: contains cricket]

[Mally]

Am I alone in thinking that the remarkable thing about the Flintoff drinking and sinking scandal wasn't that it happened but it was that they got caught by the tabloids. I get the feeling that this wasn't an isolated incident.

It makes it a lot easier to understand how a team that won the Ashes then lost 5-nil to the Aussies just over a year later. If ever a team could be accused of taking the piss out of its supporters then surely this has to be it.

Poor old Steve Harmison, no wonder his first ball in Australia went flying off to second slip. One of the sets of stumps he was looking at was probably there.

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

Isn't the likelihood that this happens all the time but that people only get caught when they lose? (Because that's when supporters start calling the tabloids.

[Resurrection Ox]

Isn't the likelihood that this happens all the time but that people only get caught when they lose? (Because that's when supporters start calling the tabloids.

I think you're right.

But going on the piss when they're all about to play again on the Sunday? Surely shome mishtake Freddie et al?

And that they would be out of the competition if they had lost? Very poor show.

[Snake]

Having watched a few highlights of the games so far, one of the things that has struck me is the number of empty seats at the grounds. ItÔÇÖs like watching Blackburn or Middlesborough playing at home on ÔÇÿMatch of the DayÔÇÖ.

[GodalmingYellow]

Having watched a few highlights of the games so far, one of the things that has struck me is the number of empty seats at the grounds. It’s like watching Blackburn or Middlesborough playing at home on ‘Match of the Day’.

I didn't realise MotD covered Middlesbroughand Blackburn cricket scene.

[Hog]

I get the feeling the Cricket World Cup is quite a big thing so I'm a bit surprised there isn't a proper Cricket World Cup Forum for people to post on. I mean, surely there is somewhere you could all go to talk about it without having to resort to a small-town football club forum?

[Snake]

Good to see that we’re through to the Super 8s, and that’s mainly due to Ed Joyce, but how come he’s playing for us now given the fact that he played for Ireland in the qualifying rounds of this competition - and could he swap sides again should the Emerald Isle progress to the next stage and “we

[GodalmingYellow]

[quote=&quotSnake&quot]Good to see that we’re through to the Super 8s, and that’s mainly due to Ed Joyce, but how come he’s playing for us now given the fact that he played for Ireland in the qualifying rounds of this competition - and could he swap sides again should the Emerald Isle progress to the next stage and “we

[GodalmingYellow]

There's a real lack of even first class experience in the Canadian side. They are club players mostly, apart from the openers and one of the lower order batsman and only the opener who was first out is actually a first class cricketer right now.

I'd expect an international side to at least look like getting them out - England didn't, apart from the first few overs when the ball swung (this was true against new zealand too, 3/4 quick wickets then nothing). I don't expect them to roll over, but you don't expect them to look ridiculously comfortable either. Effectively England had 3 bowlers yesterday (Anderson, Plunkett and Panesar) and two of them were toothless after 5 overs. If they took it easy they deserve even more criticism since runrate could still make a difference.

This is not promising for the super 8's, if they make it. I reckon England could really struggle against Kenya if the top order batting fails again.

Famous last words, but we'll be safe against Kenya. As you say, the Super 8s is a different kettle of kippers though.

We will struggle to beat Kenya. We may not even qualify even if we beat them!. Have you thought about that one? Still cheer up.

With our lads there's always 'happy hour' after the game . or is that 'happy 8 hours'?

You worry too much ResOx

[Resurrection Ox]

I get the feeling the Cricket World Cup is quite a big thing so I'm a bit surprised there isn't a proper Cricket World Cup Forum for people to post on. I mean, surely there is somewhere you could all go to talk about it without having to resort to a small-town football club forum?

Maybe but we'll stay here thankyou. What 'small town club' are you referring to btw? Oxford Unite are, as you well know, massive.

[DLT]

I thought Hick was from Zimbabwe?

Stuart Law is now qualified for England, despite having played for Australia earlier in his career.

Not sure the rules for Football are the same. But cricket careers tend to be a lot longer.

[GodalmingYellow]

I thought Hick was from Zimbabwe?

Stuart Law is now qualified for England, despite having played for Australia earlier in his career.

Not sure the rules for Football are the same. But cricket careers tend to be a lot longer.

Yes you're right about Hick.

[Snake]

I see that the cricketing authorities are now giving away thousands of tickets to local school children in order to try to cover those embarrassing banks of empty seats we see on the telly, but still confiscating drinks bottles on entry to the grounds, so people are forced to pay a fortune for water under the hot Caribbean sun (when it comes out).

What a disaster this World Cup has become, both on and off the field, what with the major cricketing audiences having lost their team at an early stage and the fiasco of such high ticket prices which deter the local population from attending.

p.s. and now we have cheating by Sri Lanka

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

You mean the way they cunningly won?

Not that I could tell as Cricinfo went down after 49.3 overs of the England innings.

[A-Ro]

I see that the cricketing authorities are now giving away thousands of tickets to local school children in order to try to cover those embarrassing banks of empty seats we see on the telly, but still confiscating drinks bottles on entry to the grounds, so people are forced to pay a fortune for water under the hot Caribbean sun (when it comes out).

What a disaster this World Cup has become, both on and off the field, what with the major cricketing audiences having lost their team at an early stage and the fiasco of such high ticket prices which deter the local population from attending.

p.s. and now we have cheating by Sri Lanka

I have a theory about this whole ticketing debacle.

I think the ticketing problems all stemmed from an &quotexperiment&quot by the West Indian Cricket Board (WICB) during our last Test Series over there. The WICB, in an attempt to fund the World Cup decided that because there are always loads of England fans in Barbados, they would try see how far they could go with ticketing prices and charged all the England fans £75 per day.

England fans could only buy all 5 days (which is unheard of in World Cricket) and even though the game was over in 3 days, (we thrashed them), there were no refunds offered or given because &quotYou have paid to see a game of cricket and you've seen one&quot. Again this is unheard of in World cricket as demonstrated by the Australian Cricket Board who did refund the 4th day of the Sydney test (when we were thrashed) and the other difference there of course is that the 5th day was never even up for sale.

So all the England fans in Barbados ended up paying £375 each to watch 3 days of cricket and there we about 12,000 of us so the WICB made the assumption that all foreign cricket supporters had more money than sense and they were going to make a killing.

What they failed to understand was that they sprang that Test Match surprise on us very late in the day, a long time after all the flights and hotels were booked, we were all in effect duped into paying.

So when England fans were faced with a choice this winter to either go to Australia for the Ashes or to go to the World Cup there really was only one choice and other teams do not have the volume of travelling support that Engalnd can muster.

I believe that a lot more questons will be asked of both the WICB and the ECB before people commit to going to the West Indies for the next Test Series and if the answers don't come back good then the WICB could potentially have done some serious long term harm to their main income stream and ultimately their cricketing aspirations.