Malinga the Slinger

After watching the Irish I caught the tail-end of South Africa and Sri Lanka's Super 8 match. South Africa appeared as if they were coasting to victory till Malinga struck. 4 wickets in 4 balls! His hat-trick delivery dismissed Kallis who had already made 80 odd. Then with 9 wickets down South Africa, needing 2 runs to win, faced about 10 dot balls till Robin Peterson edged a boundary to attain what should have been a comfortable victory. Still - what a performance from Malinga. And what a finish to a match!

Black Caps hit by injuries; bad news for The Chin.

Oh dear. What is happening with the Black Caps? Will World Cup 2007 derail? Or can we cope with the ever widening injury problems?

We now have 2 players coming back to New Zealand - their World Cup dreams in shatters.

One of them is Darryl Tuffey who's re-injured that bothersome knee of his. But that's OK, Tuffey's not much of a loss; many would argue he shouldn't be there anyway. But what of his replacement Chris Martin? Well he doesn't inspire me with confidence.

The second one is a much bigger concern: Lou Vincent. Now I know I've been a big critic of Lou's from time to time but the CB series in Australia made me have a bit of a rethink. He'd finally got rid of that ridiculous urge to play the ridiculous forcing shot and getting out early. He had started to show some maturity and class. And what is more - we are weak in the opening position. Lou wasn't exactly what I want in an opener - but he's as close as we're realistically going to get right now. Shane Bond cracked him on the wrist in training. I hate those kind of injuries. They make me angry.

And so who has replaced him in the squad? Hamish freaking Marshall. I thought we'd seen the back of him, only for him to rear his ugly head again. Marshall aint no opener - so who is going to open? Experiment with McCullum again? no thanks - he's too valuable down the order. I'd give Fulton a go at opening - but I bet the selectors don't try that. I'm not quite sure who they're going to put there but the fact is no-one is ideal. We should have got Astle out of retirement. I'm deadly serious about that. Don't get me going on a bitter Astle rant. I'll bend your ear all day!

Taylor's got a strain, Gillespie is getting over a virus... who's to bet that Shane Bond breaks down next? God I hope not.

Can we win the World Cup? You bet we can! But not if Zeus et all continue to conspire against us like the Gods have conspired against me and my family since eternity.

A day of shocks follows a Black Caps win.

First off I must note that I was happy to watch the Black Caps record a comfortable win over England. The team picked was the right one, with the possible exception of the harsh decision to leave Fulton out. However my theory to have him in ahead of an out of form Styris wasn't a great one considering that Styris continued his excellent record in the West Indies, with both bat and ball. Bond was fantastically economical and dangerous in his bowling. But it was a pity we couldn't quite finish the English batsmen off as Nixon and Plunkett starred in a large tailend partnership. Still - crucial points for us to take through to the Super 8!

St. Patrick's day motivated the Irish to a fantastic victory over Pakistan in one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. Strangely enough I had almost thought it half possible in Pakistan's current malaise for this to happen. Having drawn against Zimbabwe and beaten Pakistan it is amazing to think that Ireland are now in the box seat for qualification to the Super 8!

On the same day Bangladesh also beat India! This is an upset but not so much as you might think. I have always maintained that Bangladesh had a chance in this group - they have progressed a lot over the last few years and are always in with a chance.

Black Caps England Preview.

The Black Caps get their world cup game underway with a crucial game against England. Both teams have injury concerns going into the match - yet both may well end up playing all their big guns, despite fitness concerns. James Anderson's broken finger may not keep him out of the starting line-up, McMillan has supposedly got through training OK with his bruised toe, and Fulton is set to play despite his finger problems. The so-called longer term casualties of Oram and Pietersen, both of whom were expected to make comebacks later in the tournament, are both likely to start! What this indicates to me is that there are many people (all teams inclusive) who are being rushed back - desperate to help their teams to the holy grail of the world cup. This is good to see - as long as it doesn't backfire on anyone with longer setbacks a result.

Both the Black Caps and England are incredibly inconsistent. Both can be bloody brilliant. And both can be dreadful. And both can be anywhere in between. Let's hope for a Black Caps win so we can take the points through to the Super 8 (as one would assume that both NZ and the mother country will qualify!)