Line and Length - Times Online - WBLG

World Cup cut to 14 teams

With its renowned gift for picking the wrong moment, the ICC has just announced that the 2011 World Cup will be reduced to 14 teams from the 16 who competed in the Caribbean last year and it will last for 38 days. While the reduction in duration is welcome, I imagine that representatives of the associate nations, who will now lose two spaces in the tournament, will be astounded by this news, coming as it does on the same day that an Indian wicketkeeper was sold for what I imagine it costs to hire, train and run and international side for a year (Andrew Nixon - do you have figures for what Ireland et al spend?)

Meanwhile, the final of the Duleep Trophy, India's first-class competion, is on TV at the moment and it appears that there are as many people watching it in The Times sports department as there are at the ground itself. The stands at the Wankhede Stadium appear to be as populated as Derby on a cold county championship day.

Cricket: bigger than Paris Hilton

Thanks to Will, I learn that Google has done an analysis of the most popular searches on its website during the past year and, well my gosh, the fourth most popular search in the world was "2007 cricket world cup", behind "American Idol", "youtube" (who on earth needs to Google youtube when they can surely have a guess at youtube.com?) and "Britney Spears".

The 2007 World Cup was more popular, in terms of searches anyway, than the iPhone, Ms Hilton, Anna-Nicole Smith, Iran and two people I've never heard of called Chris Benoit and Vanessa Hudgens. I had to Google to find out who they are, which may have pushed them ahead of the World Cup by now.

Note that people were searching for "World Cup", not "ICC World Cup", which the governing body was insisting we call the cursed thing.

A Prior engagement

Poor old Ian Bell. He comes out to bat at No 6 under some pressure, knowing that he may lose his place for the next Test if Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff are both fit, plays confidently and comfortably for a hundred and is not out by the close, and yet everyone is talking about some new wicketkeeping sensation called Prior.

What a Test debut by Matt Prior, though. Not just for the runs he made (126 of them by the close) but for the fact that they came at a run a ball. It is all the more impressive given that he had scored only 158 runs in seven innings for Sussex coming into this side. Let's hope his keeping is up to scratch. West Indies may not have the best bowlers in the world, but you still have to make the runs against them. Kevin Pietersen didn't yesterday.

Incidentally, consider this: Pietersen, universally regarded (especially by himself) as the best batsman in England, has scored six hundreds and nine fifties in his 45 Test innings to date. Bell, universally regarded as a batsman perpetually on the verge of losing his place, has played two innings fewer than Pietersen and yet has also scored six hundreds with 11 fifties. But does Bell swan around with models and bring out deathly dull autobiographical egofests?

Another final farce

The Midweek Nation in Barbados is reporting that the World Cup closing ceremony last weekend cost $750,000 (about £370,000). Do you remember watching it? I don't. Was that because only 15 minutes of it were televised - in near darkness?

OK, so the organisers cannot be blamed for not anticipating that the final would run over time, but if I was one of the Barbados taxpayers who are footing the bill, I'd be bit miffed, not least because the money went to artistic and technical directors from Trinidad and Miami rather than Barbados.

World Cup post mortem

Only four years until the next World Cup final, so the first fixtures of the 2011 tournament will probably be starting in a couple of months.

Actually, I'm bored with making jokes about how long and dull the World Cup was. It might give the impression that I have fallen out of love with cricket and how could that be the case when I have returned to this country to find the county season in full swing?

To see Surrey making almost 500 in a 50-over game; to read about Somerset making 800 and still not winning in the county championship, with Justin Langer, that retired Australian, making his second triple hundred in England; to see Ravi Bopara taking three for next to nothing for Essex (I still feel England under-used his bowling in the Caribbean) and Ronnie Irani with nearly 500 runs to his name after two matches; to learn that Stephen Harmison is bowling well and Trescothick and Cook are batting well, with the first Test of the summer barely two weeks away. How would it be possible to fall out of love with cricket with all that happening?

On again, off again, on...

Blimey. What a funny, fascinating, farcical final that was. I followed it with my father and an elderly Australian expat called Kevin. Twice I got up to shake Kevin's hand in congratulation, little expecting the match had life left in it. It is typical, I suppose, of this particular World Cup that it should end in such a lunatic way. Still, the hugest congratulations to Australia, the worthiest of world champions. Great work by Gilchrist and McGrath. Now naff off and retire to give the rest of us a chance. And bravo to Sri Lanka for fighting almost to the end and giving us a decent game in very trying circumstances. I'll begin a proper post mortem later on Sunday.

A close final?

After 47 days and 50 matches, it comes down to a rematch of the 1996 finalists. Despite what I have typed before, I don't actually have my fingers and toes crossed that Australia lose, I just want them to win, if they must, in a close match. For that matter, I don't want Sri Lanka to romp to victory either. Honestly.

So few of the matches this tournament have been close - only four have gone down to the wire and very few others have been in doubt with as many as 60 balls left to play. Australia have had the best batsmen in the competition and some of the best bowlers. Glenn McGrath has been pretty near his best (10 more overs and he's gone), Brad Hogg has made me eat every one of of my critical words about his non-threatening bowling and Shaun Tait and Nathan Bracken have come of age. A top order of Hayden, Ponting and Clarke is intimidating, with explosive batting below them, and if Gilchrist can end his career with a classic innings then a total of well beyond 300 is not out of the question.

The choke's on South Africa

Is it still going on? I went off for two weeks' holiday as the World Cup ground into its second month and arrived back this morning with the competition still not finished. Just the one match left and let us hope - please - that it is a decent one, rather than the now regulation Australian cakewalk. Thanks to Rob Dineen for minding the blog while I was away. As always, I'd love to hear your views on any topic via the comments button below.

It was not too difficult to keep tabs on the World Cup in South Africa with most bars and hotels showing the games. The astonishing thing was not that South Africa crashed out to Australia in the semi-final, but that the locals were almost as grimly resigned to defeat as we usually are in England. On the morning of the semi-final "Zapiro", the Cape Times cartoonist, portrayed "Last-minute training for the Proteas" as Graeme Smith performing the Heimlich maneouvre on his team-mates.

Do the Barmies feel no pain?

Television footage of a glum England team as it trolleyed through Gatwick yesteday provided bleak viewing but at least they were not welcomed into arrivals by a chorus of singing Barmies.

Fans need a 1999 repeat to get the party started

How the World Cup needs at least one of the three remaining matches to produce some excitement to compare to that seen at the exciting conclusion of England's win over the West Indies.

Sky's villa worked, now try a Rasta temple

At least one collection of mostly Englishmen has the right to feel proud of their achievements in the Caribbean over the past six weeks. Not the impossibly upbeat Barmy Army but instead the Sky Sports team who, in covering the tournament from a luxury waterside villa, set a successful new precedent for major tournament broadcasting.

A beachside dust-up

As David Gower attempts to fill the airtime vacated by England's miserable collapse, you hope the panel will treat viewers to the kind of oddly compelling exchange that took place in Sky's waterside studio yesterday evening, during their post mortem on Sri Lanka's premature defeat by Australia. 

Studying Joyce in Dublin

A few years ago, lying on the grassy banks of the cricket pitch at Trinity College, Dublin, I watched a batsman polish a studied and sound technique at the crease. "Ed something, he plays for Leinster," noted a supine companion. A cocky London suburbanite reared admiring the professional talents of Essex CC, I shrugged and, unimpressed, turned to thoughts of when best to return to the student bar.

Ireland's successful rebuild

As Carrie Dunn charts another promising performance from Ireland elsewhere on this site, one is minded to note the difficulties that Adrian Birrell's side faced in their preparations for the tournament.

Looking ahead

So as the World Cup enters its 256th week, surprisingly England are still in the competition. But, my, they were given a scare by Bangladesh yesterday, whose slower bowlers barely sent down a bad ball. The length was just perfect time and time again, making it very hard for England's batsmen to get the ball away. Andrew Flintoff and Ravi Bopara were simply undone by balls that gave them little room to manoeuvre (Bopara had some bad luck as well, chopping the ball down on to his foot from where it rolled back on to the wicket).

England could have done with rotating the strike more often - they hit only 47 singles - which would have put pressure on the bowlers, but they just couldn't get the ball off the square. But solid dependable old Colly saw us home with Nixon playing, yet again, an ideal closing innings. I winced on the odd occasion when he tried to reverse sweep, but he made it. Well done to him.

Can England reach the semi-finals? I almost feel as if they can, despite there being little evidence that they are a good side yet. The crucial match will be against South Africa on Tuesday, where effectively the winner will take it all. Even if South Africa beat New Zealand on Saturday, England's net run-rate would probably be enough to see them through, assuming they beat West Indies in their final game. Can England beat South Africa? Not on paper, but they are almost a perverse enough side that they could struggle against weaker teams and beat their betters. Much like the South Africans themselves.

I'll be watching this from afar, however. I'm flying out to South Africa tonight for two weeks, leaving the blog in the much more capable hands of Rob "Roy" Dineen. Be gentle with him.

England v Bangladesh

Drat and blast. I've just got in from recording the fifth Times Online World Cup podcast, which you'll be able to listen to by clicking this sometime after 7pm, and we ended by having a good old-fashioned moan about Sajid Mahmood and how it was a toss-up whether his bowling or Michael Vaughan's batting was the biggest handicap about the England team. Only the fear of being beaten up by his cousin stopped us from really laying into the poor lad. I felt slight guilty, as I'm sure he must be a regular listener to our podcasts and we wouldn't want to get him down. He is probably a lovely bloke, if a bit ropey with the ball. Figures of five for 183 off 36 overs this tournament bear that out.

And then I get in to find out that he has turned into Bolton's answer to Dennis Lillee. Good for him, nice to see that he has found his radar. Makes us look a bit like eejits on the podcast, but I'm sure he'll feel bad about that and send round a bag of donuts to say sorry.

You can follow over by over coverage of England v Bangladesh by clicking here. It's written, produced and researched in the curry houses of Brick Lane by Rob Dineen, who incidentally will be keeping a steady hand on the tiller of Line and Length when I disappear for a fortnight on Friday. If you have any complaints, corrections or even praise for the blog, I suggest you save them for him to deal with.

West Indies v South Africa

10.30pm: If I were a less original writer, I'd knock up some spoof obituary of West Indies cricket, which died yadda yadda, affectionately remembered by blah blah blah, the ashes will be tum-ti-tum-ti-tum. You know the thing. It gets written every time a big team get knocked out of a tournament.

But I won't do that. I shall just mourn the departure from their own tournament of a side that had a little bit of promise but were never realistically going to make the last four even if they fulfilled that promise. Even if Chris Gayle had made hundreds, and Brian Lara had gone berserk, and Dwayne Bravo had excelled with bat and ball and all the rest, they were still not going to be quite as good as Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia or New Zealand. They are scrapping around with England for the title of most mediocre side in the competition. What a thriller that last match in the Super Eights between those teams will be. It will be a question of who wants it least.

What West Indies did do was hang on for long enough to ensure that South Africa's net run-rate did not creep up as high as you would have expected. By making it to the close, West Indies showed balls of a kind. They also helped England. Assuming Michael Vaughan's side can beat Bangladesh tomorrow (hmmm), they will need to beat South Africa and West Indies to have a hope of qualifying, but their run-rate should be better than South Africa's going into their match on April 17.

We've not heard from Andre Nel on this blog in a while, which is surprising given his feats in the past few days. He got his career best five for 45 against Bangladesh a few days ago (if only the rest of his side were as brilliant as him...) and then got Devon Smith to drive a long hop (sorry, inswinging yorker at 98mph...) to the hands of point today.

Yet somehow no one is talking him up as one to watch this tournament. Maybe it's just because he's a bit of a twit. Or rather less polite words to that effect.

For folk's sake

For some reason, whenever I hear a commentator say "Ireland are bringing on the spinners", I expect a quartet of men with penny whistles, fiddles and spoons to come out and start singing Michael Row the Boat Ashore.

And yes, I know The Spinners are from Liverpool, but they clearly have Irish influences in their music. They wouldn't be out of place in one of Dublin's more traditional pubs on a Saturday night.

Ireland's other spinners have done rather well today, too. New Zealand were 109-3 off 22 overs when Kyle McCallan and Andrew White started bowling in tandem. They took four wickets for 80 in 20 overs between them and if it wasn't for some late hitting by the Kiwi tail they'd have been kept to something around 240. I fear that 263 may be too much for Ireland.

England v Australia

10.30pm: Bah. Well done Australia on a thoroughly professional approach to chasing a target that was a good 30 runs less than it should have been. England bowled OK, and fielded better than Australia did in the main, but Ricky Ponting and Co were always in control. Yet again, though, Saj Mahmood was hideous, conceding runs at an average of 6.4 an over. I know he is for his extreme speed, but apart from Sri Lanka, no one seems to have much trouble playing him. Could we have someone with accuracy, please?

7pm: I've got a very bad feeling about this. Hopefully in about three hours' time I'll be proved wrong, but England are surely going to lose to Australia. To collapse from 161 for two with 22 overs to play and be 247 all out is quite shocking batting. More questions will be asked about Vaughan's place in the side again, but Flintoff's batting is almost as concerning. He is incapable of batting with Pietersen and after scratching around for four off 19 balls was rather dimly stumped trying to slog-sweep Hogg. The fool. The only solution may be to separate them by more than one place in the batting order. How about pushing Pietersen up to No 3 and Flintoff down to No 7?

And now for some Pommie whinging. How on earth can we expect to beat Australia when the umpires aren't aware of the rules? In the first two overs of Australia's innings, Billy Bowden and Rudi Koertzen have turned down astonishingly good shouts for leg-before against Hayden and Gilchrist. In the first instance, Bowden can only have decided that the ball was missing both middle and off stump and sailing through between them without dislodging the bails. Come on, give us a break.

Them were the days

I'm just watching England v West Indies in the 1992 World Cup on the wonderful ESPN Classic. It was a comprehensive win for England, who bowled West Indies out for 157 and lost four wickets in the chase. A very young Brian Lara, who scored four half-centuries and averaged 42 as opener in the tournament, was hit in the box in the first over by Chris Lewis and edged behind for a duck soon afterwards. Gooch, Hick and Arthurton made fifties.

There were many great things about that tournament: the most stylish outfits in the history of coloured cricket clothing, a format that allowed everyone to play everyone else (without minnows), the introduction of fielding restrictions to encourage big hitting early on, that quacking duck character that walked across the screen when a batsman was out without scoring. This was the first World Cup I remember watching.

But... looking at the highlights, one thing immediately obvious is how few people are watching it. Many stands are completely empty, others look very sparsely populated. The game may have been played at the vast MCG, but the commentators just said that it was a "big crowd of 16,000" - or, in other words, the ground was about a fifth full. Does anyone remember whether this was typical of other matches in that tournament? I know the MCG is bigger than any other stadium, but were the Gabba, SCG and WACA also far from sell-outs? If so, perhaps we have all been a bit harsh on the West Indies this tournament.

All change

The resignation of Greg Chappell from the post of India coach yesterday is likely to be the first in a string of management departures around the world in the next few weeks. World Cups are natural terminuses, but even the successful teams at this tournament will be waving farewell to the men who have guided them, in many cases for several years.

John Buchanan is leaving Australia to be replaced by Tim Neilsen; Duncan Fletcher is expected to part company with England before the summer Tests; Tom Moody, who withdrew from the field to succeed Buchanan, may leave Sri Lanka and join either England or Western Australia; Bennett King surely will not stay long with West Indies; Dav Watmore, the Bangladesh coach, is believed to have received offers from other countries; Pakistan were likely to be looking for another coach regardless of events in Jamaica; Adrian Birell is leaving Ireland to be replaced by Phil Simmons, who left Zimbabwe not long ago; Micky Arthur may not stay with South Africa if they don't reach the semi-finals.

The only coach in a reasonably secure position is New Zealand's John Bracewell, whose contract expires after the World Cup but will surely be extended if they reach the semi-finals as everyone expects. Will there be a round of musical chairs or will the next cycle of world cricket be masterminded by men with little experience of coaching top-level international cricket? If so, will that be a good thing for the game?

New evidence

There has been a breakthrough in the Bob Woolmer case. Police in Jamaica are investigating reports that a stocky man was seen bashing on the hotel door of the Pakistan coach shouting "Woolmer, Woolmer!" at the top of his voice. Police have issued an artist's impression of the man, which you can see by clicking here.

England v Sri Lanka

11pm: Another word for what happened today (see lower down): gosh.

Never mind that England lost, and that they came one hit away from winning. The fact is that they played like a different side for much of this match and - hallelujah - this World Cup finally had its third exciting match. There are still concerns - Vaughan and Joyce look horridly out of nick, Pietersen is incapable of getting out for a small score or making a really big one, Ian Bell just has bad luck. But what about Ravi Bopara and Paul Nixon? The one I have taked up a bit too much, the other I have talked down a bit too much. But they both came off today and almost - dammit - took England to a surprising win.

I still feel Rav the Chav has a big future in the game and at this tournament (he is batting far too low at No 7). I am growing to respect Nixon (maybe I'd warm to him more if he didn't wear a gumshield while keeping). Bring back Strauss and suddenly this side look as if they can do things. They probably have to beat two of Australia, South Africa and West Indies to qualify for the semi-finals. But I'm starting to think they might do it.

7pm: One word for the past few hours: crikey.

What's gone wrong with England? They suddenly look as if they believe themselves, bowling with control, purpose and vigour and, in the main, fielding sharply. Let's hope they bat with just as much discipline and belief. 236 is a smallish target, but still will take some getting if Vaas, Malinga and Murali hit their straps.

Some sections of the crowd almost look half-full as well, and there have been some joyous clips of people frolicking in a small swimming pool at the edge of the ground. They look as if they are having fun. Is that allowed?

The only downer is that Jon Lewis, who oddly had not featured in the World Cup so far, has gone home today to look after his wife, who is having pregnancy complications. Stuart Broad, as tall as Ireland's Boyd Rankin but not so ginger, gets the call-up

Here comes Pod

We've been casting pods in a recording studio again. The fourth Times Online World Cup podcast is brought to you by the letters T and O and the number 4 (but if other numbers and letters want to get involved, let them join in. We're not the ICC). It can be downloaded here.

Mark Chapman is the host as usual, and joining us in the studio is Keith Bradshaw, the new secretary of MCC and a fair dinkum (and young) Aussie. Don't worry, older readers, he does not want to pull down the Pavilion at Lord's and replace it with a water feature and barbeque area. Yet.

On the telephone we have Richard Hobson calling from Antigua and Matthew Hoggard from a chilly Headingley. If only the situations were reversed, how much better would it be for England (if not for Richard Hobson)? Hoggy is forthright about England's chances. How forthright? Well let's just say that he may get a phone call from one of the ECB spin doctors reminding him to stay on message.

What is allowed...

The ICC, stung by recent criticism, has issued a press release explaining what can and cannot be brought into World Cup matches. You can read it here. But a few points should be made:

1) Prohibited items: No one can disagree about banning firearms, knives, dangerous and imitation weapons, explosives, incendiary devices, fireworks and flares, illegal drugs, mace, megaphones, compressed air or gas-operated horns and flag poles. But the ban on bringing in alcohol is a personal peeve of mine that seems a direct accusation that spectators cannot be trusted. Also, the ban on "cans, tins or plastic bottles of any size or description" is ridiculous and clearly a sap to one of their sponsors. The one that isn't Coca-Cola, perhaps. (Out of protest, I'm not going to mention the official sponsors but I may plug their competitors.) Also, why no cans? That seems tuna-ist to me.

2) Guide dogs are permitted. What if your guide dog is a St Bernard with one of those kegs of booze round his neck?

3) Musical instruments are permitted with written permission from the appropriate Local Organising Committee. Hmmm, seems like offloading the blame for a ban on to the local bureaucrats. Anyway, what West Indians ever would bother to ask for written permission?

4) Cooler boxes are permitted provided they are not larger than 12"x12"x12". That's pathetically small - I'd barely fit enough food in there to get me through the powerplay fielding restrictions. It's not as if there is any shortage of space to put larger cooler boxes.

5) Glass containers are not permitted, other than those containing perfume, prescription medication or insect repellent. So that is how you should smuggle in your booze. Take lots of, ahem, perfume bottles. I like Eau de Rum myself.

6) It is important that the necessary precautions are taken to ensure maximum safety and security for all patrons. How did we manage to avoid mass injuries and deaths at previous World Cups when there weren't such restrictions? For that matter, how do many of us poor cossetted souls manage to get out of bed, cross the road or stick our face in a fan without dire injury?

But on the bright side...

After the anger of my last post, here are XI reasons to be cheerful:

• Sri Lanka's batting: As flamboyant as ever. How wonderful to see Sanath Jayasuriya still in top form as he heads for his bus pass. And Mahela Jayawardena is now one of the all-time greats
• Lasith Malinga: For his hairdo and his bowling action, he is one to watch
• Australia's fielding: Love them or hate them, it is hard not to be awed by the brilliant fielding of Ricky Ponting's side. They care about every single ball, when so many players in the tournament often go several games without caring
• Matthew Hayden: His run of scores since almost giving up during the CB Series in January is quite incredible. Since making 104 runs in his first six matches of that series, he has scored 897 runs at an average of 82. Astounding
• South Africa's openers: When AB De Villiers and Graeme Smith were in against Australia, the champions looked beatable. When they were out, the game was up
• Scott Styris: New Zealand's all-rounder looks a bit of a gimp, but he is turning into one of the best players of the tournament
• Ireland: They just love being there and are capable of giving the bigger nations a fright for a few overs. Niall O'Brien and Boyd Rankin are the best to watch, and they are proper Irishmen too
• Bangladesh: In Mashrafe Mortaza they have one of the best fast bowlers in this tournament and their bevy of teenaged batsmen gives hope that in 2011 they may go far
• Michael Atherton's commentating: Keeps getting better and when he is paired with Michael Holding or Nasser Hussain it is actually worth turning up the volume
• Andrew Flintoff: He's got his silly business out of the way early and there are small signs that he is actually getting back to dominating form with the bat. He never lost it with the ball
• Gravy: The great character of Caribbean cricket has come out of retirement and is even allowed to be eccentric and noisy by the ICC fun police.

World Cup rage

Is anyone else as angry as I am about the World Cup? It has been building for a while but spilt over this evening while watching West Indies make a pig's ear of their run chase against Sri Lanka, who were watched by hardly any spectators in a brand new but not fully complete stadium that is covered with more sponsors' logos than a Formula One car, commentated on by the biggest collection of vapid "talent" since Celebrity Big Brother, and yet again a World Cup match, the 30th of this unending tournament, is heading for a dull finish. I make it 27 dull games out of 30 and coming after the least competitive Ashes series for 80-odd years, it is capping off a thoroughly miserable winter.

Meanwhile, Duncan Fletcher, the England coach, says that the reason why his side have struggled so far (apart from the game against New Zealand when they weren't good enough to struggle) is because they are complacent. Does anyone else just want this tournament to end now so we can get back to some proper cricket? Or at least skip straight on to semi-finals between Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and South Africa, the only teams with talent and balls.

I'm angry that there have not been more close matches. I'm angry that Pakistan and India barely showed up. I'm angry that England look so clueless. I'm angry that Australia look so good. I'm angry that Brian Lara and Chris Gayle have barely made an impact and don't seem to care. I'm angry that Bob Woolmer's death will be used as an excuse for why this has been a damp squib of a tournament.

Above all, I'm angry at the ICC who are killing the game with their miserabilist, money-grabbing approach to administration. This should have been a carnival of cricket, instead it is just one long advertising break with the odd over or two of cricket thrown in. And as well as overcharging for tickets and plastering logos over everything, the ICC or their goons are trying to kill every small pleasure. No instruments, no waves, no colour. Did you see the story yesterday about the Australia players who, during the lengthy rain delay in their match with Bangladesh, wandered out to the boundary to meet some of their fans and had a bit of a throwaround with them until stewards told them not to mix with spectators? The game is no longer about those who play or watch it.

If this continues, cricket will wither. I will no longer go to watch international matches at the Oval in South London after watching their heavy-handed, thuggish stewards attempt to stifle any joy during the Tests last year. The Oval has become a miserable place to watch cricket, not helped by the apalling view of play from side on. It is typical of Blair's Britain, where everything must be regulated and conducted within strict guidelines, where fun is banned and where everything comes with a price.

Oh for someone with the imagination and gumption to remove the game from the clutches of bureaucrats and accountants and give it back to those of us who love it. We need an alternative World Cup, one run for cricket rather than profit. What we need (while acknowledging that in the long run he caused much of the money-grabbing now in the game) is another Kerry Packer to allow the game to become fun again.

England v Ireland, post mortem

First the good news. The Mrs Kidd Birthday Present Fund gained another £21 yesterday. The bad news? It was caused by the faintly treacherous act of betting against England, with me staking the usual piffling money down on them making less than 270 against Ireland. The so-and-sos almost cost me, as well, with a late flurry to take their total from hopeless towards competent.

The middle order batted well, with Paul Collingwood showing yet again why he is the best man in the side at judging the pace of an innings. Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen made important contributions, although both should have turned their starts into something more, while Paul Nixon and Ravi Bopara (still batting too low in my opinion) kept the score ticking over.

But the England top order is growing more concerning match by match. Will we ever see a 50 again from Michael Vaughan, who has now scored 137 runs in his past nine innings? Can Ed Joyce or Ian Bell make runs against top-level bowling when they struggle against weaker opposition? Boyd Rankin may have pace and bounce, but he is no Shane Bond or Jerome Taylor, he's not even a Shaun Tait.

Giving it some stick

The Times webgeneralissimo, clearly feeling that I work too hard, has drawn my attention to the updated version of Stick Cricket, the highly addictive online game that is to blame for most periods of low productivity in the City. For the World Cup, they have introduced a Super Eights game, and best of all they now allow you to bat left-handed and face left-handed bowlers (it always felt wrong to be Andrew Strauss standing the wrong way round).

You can enter as your favourite country and try to win the World Cup for them, pushing your team up the overall rankings if you succeed. India have won by far the most tournaments on the Stick Cricket leaderboard, which either suggests that the game is popular among the Asian community or that everyone is feeling sorry for them being knocked out of the real thing so early. I tried my hand as Ireland, but got beaten in the final by Sri Lanka. I'm blaming it on them having too many left-handers and me not being able to work with the keyboard round the wrong way.

In pod we trust

The third Times World Cup podcast can be downloaded here. Mike Gatting and David Townsend join me and Mark Chapman in the studio for a 45-minute chinwag. If you detect a slight grouchiness in Gatt's tone towards the end of the recording, it's because the promised packet of HobNobs to dunk in his tea never arrived.

Also on the programme are Jack Russell, still barking mad, and Patrick Kielty on Ireland and why England's hopes may yet be sunk by the Iranian navy.

Desperate measures

As regular readers will know, my World Cup-watching duties on a Wednesday night often clash with Desperate Housewives. I simply don't have the balls to ask my wife to swap channels and, in any case, I like my weekly fix of shouting "no, how can you possibly be attracted to Susan" at Dougray Scott's character.

Sadly, while Mike's memory of the murder was coming back and Tom and Lynette were opening their pizza restaurant (deep stuff, this DH), Sri Lanka and South Africa were serving up the match of the World Cup. By my reckoning that was only the second really close match in the 26 played so far (with Ireland v Zimbabwe). Even the shocks of Bangladesh beating India and Ireland beating Pakistan were achieved without entering the last over.

It looked as if South Africa were coasting, and then came Lasith Malinga's four wickets in four balls. South Africa, as we know, have a track record of choking in World Cups and they almost blew it here by collapsing from 160 for two, chasing 210, to 207 for nine. Enjoy the clip below while you still can. As you can read in my rant on the Times's comment pages today, the ICC is trying to get clips like this taken down.

Mighty, mighty Aussie

They may not have felt it yesterday when they trudged off the field, but the West Indies bowlers produced a remarkable achievement yesterday. By keeping Australia to 322, it was the lowest total Ricky Ponting's side has made on losing the toss and being put in for four matches. In this tournament, they have been asked to bat by Scotland and made 334-6 and by South Africa, when they made 377-6. In the 2003 final, they were asked to bat first and made 359-2.

Should they win the rain-affected match today, it would be the fifteenth time in 19 World Cup matches where Australia has lost the toss, been asked to bat and gone on to win. Their average score in those matches is a disturbingly high 267. To put this into context, Australia's average score in 651 one-day internationals is 240. They score about 11 per cent more runs when a side is audacious enough to ask Australia to have the worst of conditions (one assumes) first. Typical.

Stage two

After a brief hiatus, the World Cup is back on today and we enter the serious bit of the competition. Except, do we? With Ireland and Bangladesh among the Super Eights sides, will 11 of the matches over the next three weeks be meaningless, a jockeying for improving net run-rates rather than an even battle between sides? I know, I know, they have earned their place in the second round by beating India and Pakistan. But it is hard to see any more shocks happening.

If the World Cup starts properly today, we need a great match between West Indies and Australia to get enthusiasm going again. The sort of match that Australia v South Africa could have been at the weekend if Australia had scored 30 fewer runs. When West Indies met Australia at the Champions Trophy in the autumn, they were overwhelmed in the final, but did have Australia 13-2 at one stage. Yet in the earlier group match, it was a thriller, with West Indies winning by ten runs.

Runako Morton, aided by 71 from a young chap called Lara, made 90 to set Australia a target that was just that bit too challenging. Morton was surprisingly left out of the West Indies World Cup squad, but someone like Marlon Samuels or Chris Gayle will need a big score if they are to put pressure on Australia's weak-looking bowlers.

Pause for reflection

Before the World Cup began, I tried to identify eleven players who were playing their first World Cup or who might step up from mediocrity this tournament. Above all, they were flair players who had a good chance of making an impact. So how did they do in the first stage?

Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka. 120 runs in three innings - HIT

Mahendra Dhoni, India. 29 runs in three innings - MISS

Brad Haddin, Australia. (I picked him because Adam Gilchrist was expected to miss the first stage to be at his child's birth but Mrs Gilchrist delivered early.) No matches - MISS

Kevin Pietersen, England. 121 runs in two completed innings - HIT

Mike Hussey, Australia. 11 runs in three innings - MISS

Ryan ten Doeschate, Netherlands. 128 runs in two completed innings plus two wickets - HIT

Dwayne Bravo, West Indies. 37* v Zimbabwe and five wickets v Pakistan and Ireland - HIT

Saqibul Hasan, Bangladesh. 53 v India and 26* v Bermuda plus three wickets - HIT

Andrew Hall, South Africa. 6 wickets at 20 - HIT

Shane Bond, New Zealand. 3 wickets at 13, economy rate of 2.1 - HIT

Munaf Patel, India. 4 wickets at 26 and economy rate below 4 - HIT

Well, eight out of 11 isn't bad, although I'd have expected more from Patel. So who will be the stars of the next stage? To judge from the matches so far, this would be an XI worth watching: Hayden, Smith, Ponting, Sangakkara, Silva, Styris, Oram, Hogg, Malinga, Mortaza, Anderson

An English first

They may not yet have set the World Cup alight, but England can at least claim to have the best one-day batsman in the world. Kevin Pietersen has moved up three places from No 4 in the latest LG ICC one-day rankings after making half-centuries against Kenya and New Zealand. Mike Hussey, meanwhile, drops two places after making just 11 runs in three matches. Pietersen is England's only batsman in the top 20

The big mover is AB De Villiers, who has moved up 12 places to No 20 after some good performances at the top of the innings for South Africa. In the bowling rankings, Shaun Pollock retains top spot despite being walloped by Australia on Saturday, but beneath him things are more fluid. Shane Bond is up five places and Muttiah Muralitharan up seven to share second place. Glenn McGrath and Makhaya Ntini slip backwards.

Thoughts on yesterday

It is bucketing down in Trinidad at the moment, which means that the crucial Bangladesh v Bermuda match could go into a reserve day or even be reduced to a 20-over lottery if there is enough time tonight. India will hope for the latter, obviously, but if the match is totally washed out, Bangladesh would still progress.

Time for some brief thoughts on yesterday's matches, which for much of the afternoon threatened to be more exciting than they actually were. England's display against Kenya, in the words of one Sunday journalist today, "verged on competence". Or maybe Kenya verged on incompetence: they gave away three wickets to run-outs when batting and then dropped both Ed Joyce and Kevin Pietersen early in their innings. Still, a win is a win for England and they did not panic. James Anderson bowled very well - let's hope he continues to improve - and Joyce and Pietersen batted, in the main, sensibly in pursuit of a smallish total. There are worries over Michael Vaughan's suitability as an opener, and whether Ian Bell can ever make a big score after getting in.

The end of the beginning

That it has come to this: India relying on Bermuda doing them a favour to progress to the next round. That it has also come to this: the bookmakers being cautious about the odds they offer on a Bermuda win. Generally, you can get no more than 9-1 on the smallest of minnows winning, which would be as big a shock as Ireland beating Pakistan. Furthermore, some bookmakers are offering only 25-1 on India winning the World Cup. Staggering. Clearly there is a lot of suspicion out there that those who control the money in India have been offering backhanders to Bangladesh to throw this match.

Sorry, India, but if you wanted to be in the second stage, you shouldn't have lost to Bangladesh. Some might also argue that if you had pretensions on winning the tournament, you shouldn't have been so abject against Sri Lanka either. It is sad that India and Pakistan are out, but they have none to blame but themselves.

What I find perplexing are the commentators who have blamed the format, saying that minnows such as Ireland and Bangladesh should not have to produce just one shock to reach the second round. Does that mean that they want even more matches in the first round, and thus even more mis-matches, just to justify the progress of the best eight teams? In which case, why invite the minnows at all?

Indian winter

Are we still allowed to say that things that happen on a cricket pitch are shocking, in the light of rather more shocking events off it? I hope so, for surely the departure of India at the first-round stage is the most shocking cricketing event to happen in the history of the World Cup, much more so than Pakistan going out last week. I know that technically India don't yet need to head for the airport in Trinidad, they can still progress if Bangladesh fail to beat Bermuda tomorrow. But let's be honest, the chance of Bermuda winning is about the same as Dwayne Leverock making just one visit to an all-you-can-eat buffet.

So farewell Ganguly, Tendulkar and Dravid, probably for the last time in a World Cup. You could have been world-beaters in 2003, but you ran into Ricky Ponting in the wrong mood. This time you nodded off against Bangladesh and were beaten by a better side in Sri Lanka.

I received a text message this morning from my auntie, who was at the game in Trinidad. She is a fledgeling cricket lover, having discovered the game late in life. She is a supporter of Budleigh Salterton cricket club in Devon, who won the Devon Premier League last year ("cricket's equivalent of football's Barclays Premiership" as the Exmouth Gazette excitedly described it) and her view of the action yesterday was this:

"Great time at the stadium, fab atmosphere. India came over as v wussy and a tad too defensive but they did do v sweet tiny waves at us whenever on the boundary."

It makes you wonder why The Times went to the expense of sending a man to the game.

Bye-bye Inzy

A couple of days late, but I just discovered this footage of Izamam's farewell against Zimbabwe on the Omar Loves Cricket blog. Brings a slight tear to the eye. We'll miss that great, stubborn bear. Cricket has become a little less fat and a little less bearded with his retirement, which is a shame.

Am I right in thinking that I see Shoaib Akhtar among the Pakistan squad players who greet Inzy on the boundary? How Pakistan needed his firepower this tournament, silly boy.

Meanwhile, in cricketing news...

Times Online's question of the day is whether the World Cup should be cancelled after the news that Bob Woolmer was murdered. Leave your views here. For my tuppence worth, of course it shouldn't. It would be disrespectful to Woolmer and everything he loved to abandon the tournament, particularly as it is shaping into a rather good, if long, one.

Today we have two cracking matches, with two even better ones tomorrow. West Indies v Ireland will decide who carries forward two points from group D into the Super Eights stage, while India v Sri Lanka will decide whether India join Pakistan in leaving the competition at the first stage. I don't think it is being flippant to suggest that an awful lot of pressure will have been put on Sri Lanka from Indian fans, bookmakers and perhaps even the Indian cricket board to lose this match. Yet Sri Lanka are looking a very good side and they will be hard to beat. If they win, we can sadly expect more rioting on the streets of India and attacks on the homes of Indian cricketers. Greg Chappell, their coach, may want to seek protection.

Tomorrow we have Australia v South Africa, a heavyweight clash if ever there was one. As an added incentive, there is about £90,000 resting on it for the players. That is the amount that will be given to the No 1 ranked one-day side on April 1 by the ICC, and if South Africa win they will be assured of the top spot, whatever happens in Australia's first two Super Eights match before the deadline.

And then there is England v Kenya. I know that every logical bone in my body is saying that this will be a straightforward win for England. I just hope that they know that and play like winners rather than idlers looking for something to do before the pubs open.

A matter of taste

Sorry to drag conversation away from the cricket again, but I've just heard something thoroughly distasteful that I think deserves a wider airing. Photographs were taken of Bob Woolmer in the morgue at the hospital where he died and are being offered by a leading agency to various newspapers worldwide. Part of me wants to name and shame the photographer and agency, but I'm not sure that is the point. The real censure should be on anyone who prints them.

You will, I hope, be glad to know that The Times, when the issue was discussed at this morning's conference, thought that it would be poor taste and bad journalism for us to print the photographs. I hope that other newspapers take a similar view. I have seen the photographs and, albeit with barely any medical knowledge, I do not feel their publication would add anything to people's understanding of the story or the reasons behind Woolmer's death. It would be gross voyeurism to print them and hurtful to Woolmer's family.

I know that some people disagree with the amount of detail that newspapers have given to this case. Humanity makes most of us hope that it was a simple, if tragic, case of Woolmer's time having come. But the suspicion of murder understandably makes this a front-page story rather than a sports story. Like the Darrell Hair controversy at the Oval last summer, cricket-lovers are unhappy at the distraction from what in many ways is an excellent World Cup. May this side story rumble distantly in the background, without taking anything away from the main reason we are following cricket.

Cast gallery

Our second Times Online cricket podcast, hosted by Radio 1's Mark Chapman, is up and downloadable if you haven't already done so. Christopher Martin-Jenkins and your humble blogger run through the groups so far, John Emburey calls in from Lord's to pay tribute to Bob Woolmer, John Westerby tries to get sympathy for the lack of sunshine in St Kitts and Mark Ramprakash joins us to talk about the England batting.

Ramprakash also straps on his dancing shoes to help us to stage a small-scale production of 42nd Street in the studio, with CMJ playing Julian Marsh and yours truly as Anytime Annie. Possibly. You'll just have to listen to it to find out.

Pakistan v Zimbabwe

Pakistan have been put in to bat by Zimbabwe. If there is any fairness in the world (and with respect to Zimbabwe), Pakistan will make 300, with 100 for Inzamam in his final one-day innings. And maybe a 12-ball fifty for Shahid Afridi.

Update: Not 300, but 349. A fantastic response from Pakistan to their recent difficulties. No farewell hundred from Inzamam, sadly (he has made only ten hundred in more than 350 one-day innings), but a lovely bit of swashbuckling and a tear-jerking farewell, the old softie.

Three cheers for Imran Nazir for his 160, the highest innings in a World Cup by a Pakistani. His eight sixes equals Ricky Ponting's record for a World Cup innings and it was his second hundred in an eight-year career. Remarkably, his previous ton was also against Zimbabwe in the Caribbean, a triangular tournament in 2000.

Let's just hope that the rain, which has halted Zimbabwe's chase on 30 for three, does not come down for the next day and cause the match to be abandoned. Nine and a bit more overs need to be bowled for there to be a result.

Suspicious minds

The plot thickens in Jamaica - or it just journalists getting carried away? The police investigating the death of Bob Woolmer have said that the first autopsy was "inconclusive" and that they are now "treating the death as suspicious". Naturally, this brings out the Hercule Poirot in sports hacks who normally have nothing more exciting to report than a five-wicket haul or a cricketer stumbling in a pot-hole and twisting his knee.

Or maybe it brings out the James Bond in them, given that Jamaica is where Ian Fleming had his holiday home. There are all sorts of suggestions flying about that the Pakistan team will not be allowed to leave Jamaica after their final match today until the police investigation is over. Are they all under suspicion? One London newspaper is even claiming that Woolmer was about to expose the Pakistan side for match-fixing in the Ireland match, which is an allegation that manages to be offensive to Pakistan, Woolmer and to Ireland at the same time.

Mark Shields, the Jamaican deputy police commissioner and a man flown out from Scotland Yard to "clean up Jamaica", said when asked if he was implying that Woolmer was murdered: "No, we are not saying that.". The police naturally treat any death as suspicious if the cause is not instantly identifiable. It does not mean that he was killed or that he took his own life (I hardly think Woolmer was that type). It may simply mean that his prescription drugs reacted badly with what he had eaten or drunk that night.

Some might question whether this should be reported at all. Is it an invasion of a grieving family, an unnecessary diversion from commemorating an illustrious life, an irrelevance on a cricket blog? Maybe, but we are in the business of reporting news, making the first draft of history and all that. Sadly, Woolmer's death will probably be as associated in the history books with the 2007 World Cup as anything that happens on the cricket pitch. I know some cricket writers out there in Jamaica probably deeply regret, resent even, the fact that this has happened on their patch and that they are having to work hard on reporting a story. If so, why on earth become a journalist?

Decisions, decisions

Cruel fate seems to have hit Michael Vaughan yet again. Apparently he put his foot in a pothole this morning and may have sprained his knee. Should he miss England's match against Kenya on Saturday, England will have an interesting dilemma over the captaincy, given that Flintoff has had the vice-captaincy taken off him. Paul Collingwood was about the only choice available as vice-captain against Canada, but ironically Vaughan's injury would mean that Andrew Strauss would probably be called back into the side and would thus be the obvious choice as captain. Funny old thing, fate.

Vaughan's pot-holing accident almost puts him into Line and Length's list of "top five stupid ways for English cricketers to injure themselves" but he misses out to Chris Old sneezing and breaking a rib; Derek Pringle leaning back while stuffing an envelope and falling off his chair; Will Jefferson putting his hand through a bathroom window; Nasser Hussain spraining his wrist playing tennis and, naturally, to Chris Lewis shaving his head and forgetting to wear a sunhat.

The invisible man

I just came across a fascinating fact in Steven Lynch's trivia column on Cricinfo. Sunil Valson, now aged 48, won a World Cup winner's medal for India in 1983 without ever playing in the World Cup. In fact, he didn't play a single one-day international: the left-arm medium pacer from Delhi was kept out of the team by the likes of Roger Binney and Madan Lal. Valson is pictured on the right of the back row here (click on it for a close-up).

Could Keiron Pollard do the same this year? The Trinidad teenager was picked for the West Indies squad after just six first-class appearances. He has plenty of potential (having scored a hundred off 71 balls on his Trinidad debut) but may not get called up this tournament.