Cricket World Cup

[Sheffman]

... anyone watching the cricket? The Ireland v Pakistan game is one of the most fascinating I have seen for years. At the moment, Ireland are on course for a massive shock result. Hope they can do it.


By the way, West Indies, what a fantastic place to get pissed up on St. Patricks Day

[Aja]

Go Windies





http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070314/sports/sports3.html

[faceless]

so Ireland won against Pakistan? Bloody hell! It's as likely as the Italians winning a rugby game at Murrayfield.. oh wait...

while I'm here - if I'm not mistaken the way these West Indies "fellas" are promoting the message of "bravo gaylord" is a touch surprising....

[maycm]

I'm teaching my 9 year old the subtleties of the game, though there wasn't anything especially subtle about England v Canada today.

His Grandad will likely be pleased about what he's learnt though.

[Aja]

[faceless]

[faceless]

DRUNK WORLD CUP STARS ..WE'VE SEEN IT ALL BEFOAR!
Bob Shields
20 March 2007, Daily Record

I HAVE to confess that my initial excitement over the Rounders World Cup over in the coconut countries has already begun to wane. Poor Scotland took an early humping - albeit to the Aussies - and I got fed up looking at failed England players being paid to bask in the sunshine and pass comment on the current crop of failed England players. Only Ireland's plucky win over Pakistan inspired to me to stay on alone in the pub and buy another drink. But that moment has been soured by the tragic death of the Pakistan team coach, Bob Woolmer.

But what's this? The England team out on the pina coladas at the local reggae club until the wee small hours? Vice-captain Andrew Flintoff all at sea and heading for Mexico, lying pissed in a pedalo? Some of the local girls inviting England's finest for a bit of hair-braiding under a moonlit palm frond? Now THAT'S what a World Cup is all about.

In fact, it was Scotland who invented this type of intense pre-match preparation. The only difference was that the sport was football, the venue was the Clyde not the Caribbean and little Jimmy Johnstone was in a rowing boat heading for Arran before his team mates sobered up enough to rescue him. Of course, we can laugh about the winger's maritime exploits now, but the old soccer sages will claim it wasn't funny at the time.

That's where I beg to differ. It WAS funny at the time. And even though Jinky couldn't swim and became the first Celtic player to be registered as a danger to shipping, nobody got hurt. In fact, after a lot of 'tut-tutting' from the SFA beaks, it probably did team bonding the world of good. Sadly for Andrew Flintoff - or Freddie or whatever he calls himself - the repercussions have been more severe, and a lot more childish than the high jinx that caused the row in the first place.

The gin-swigging blazers from Lords are only enjoying a monthlong jolly in the sunshine thanks to the sweat of guys like Andrew in the first place and they didn't seem to mind Flintoff drinking his socks off when he helped win the blessed Ashes for them just 18 months ago. When they toured London in that open-topped bus, champagne fuelled Freddie didn't know if it was anew ball or New Year. But, of course, that was just his natural "high spirits". Sadly, there was no place for such "high spirits" the night after an opening defeat by New Zealand.

The blazers stripped him of his vice-captaincy and dropped him from the team to play Canada yesterday. Which means they didn't give a full toss about the people who helped pay their fares to the West Indies - the England cricket fans.

If the 'Barmy Army' are anything like the Tartan Army, some will have saved up for years to travel 5000 miles see their country play in the World Cup. To put out a side devoid of its star player, just to make a meaningless point about future team discipline was, to use a cricketing phrase, well wide. Too bad the entire squad lacked the bails to announce "No Flintoff - no team". That would have led to immediate expulsion from the World Cup and the toffs in blazers flying home three weeks earlier than they told their wives to expect them. You would have heard the spluttering in their gins from as far away as Key West.

Hopefully, this World Cup has more off-field excitement to come. Maybe the trophy will get stolen - like England in1966 - then sniffed out from under a coconut by a local pooch. Michael Vaughan might be accused of stealing a bracelet - like Bobby Moore in 1970 - from the hotel jewellery shop. But let's hope nobody does a Willie Johnston and fails a drug test like he did in Argentina in 1978.

I can see the headlines now - "England Star in World Cup Ganja Shame!" We wouldn't wish that on our worst enemy - would we? '

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"The Rounders World Cup" - hahaha

[maycm]

A well rounded blast at the English from the Scotish contingent. A good read!

[Sheffman]

... you what!!, a Scotts newspaper having a go at the 'old enemy' for having a bevvy !!?? ... are you avin a larf ??

[faceless]

[Sheffman]

... OK, fair enough face, 'The gin-swigging blazers from Lords' having a go at one of our working class hero's makes me a bit prickly at the best of times.

Worth considering;
... Ian Botham, whose own career was punctuated by brushes with authority, said: "I’m laughing. I find it all quite amusing and a total over-reaction."

... good enough for me beefy

[faceless]

Pakistan team quizzed on Woolmer

Jamaican police are questioning members of Pakistan's cricket squad over the death of coach Bob Woolmer. The interviews were taking "up to an hour for each player", team manager Talat Ali told Reuters news agency. Woolmer, 58, was found in his hotel room on Sunday, the day after his team lost to Ireland in the World Cup. Police are still unable to confirm how he died and are treating the case as "suspicious". His wife denies he killed himself and refuses to rule out murder.

Pakistan team spokesman Pervez Mir said the players were not interviewed under caution. He said police were trying to work out Woolmer's last movements. Mark Shields, the deputy chief commissioner of Jamaican police, said: "We're going through a process of speaking to people, including members of the team."

The BBC's Andy Gallacher in Kingston says Woolmer's death has begun to cast a shadow over the entire cricket World Cup. He says the circumstances surrounding the death are becoming bogged down in rumour and speculation and police are coming under mounting pressure to come up with definitive answers as quickly as possible. A police spokesman confirmed they had now decided to seek the opinion of a second pathologist.

Police have also rejected suggestions they are treating the case as murder after a report that a broken bone had been found in Woolmer's neck. Police described the source quoted by the Jamaica Gleaner as a rogue member of the force. Meanwhile, the UK's Metropolitan Police is "ready to assist" its Jamaican counterpart with the investigation, Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson has told the BBC. But he said there had been no explicit request for help.

Speaking at her home in South Africa, Gill Woolmer said she expected her husband's body would be flown home after the second pathologist concluded his investigation. She said she had been given "some indication" of why police thought her husband's death was suspicious, but did not reveal what it was. "The second pathologist's test should be available and as soon as we get that the investigation will be winding down and they will be able to send his body back to South Africa," Gill Woolmer said. Speaking to Sky News, she added: "There is always the possibility that it could have been [murder]."

Bob Woolmer was known to suffer from diabetes, but his widow dismissed the suggestion that he died from a drugs overdose. "Bob had Type 2 diabetes, which you do not have to take drugs for. Reports of him drinking and overdosing on drugs are absolute rubbish," she said. Woolmer, a former England Test player, was found unconscious last Sunday and died later that day.

Pakistan team trainer Murray Stephenson is due to accompany his body to South Africa when the investigation is concluded.

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[maycm]

Holy crapola!!!

[Bob]

I've not been following it, too large a download...though by the sound of things, I probably should have been

[maycm]

You can watch live coverage through Sopcast

Taks a look at http://www.sopcast.org/