ICC going after YouTube videos - Damn them!

Now this is fucking ridiculous. In the wake of Viacom suing YouTube, the ICC, thinking that its actually an important organization, has ordered YouTube to remove WC cricket footage. Bastards! They now join my infamous "Omar hates cricketers" list.

The ICC has ordered YouTube, the online video-sharing website, to remove World Cup clips claiming copyright infringement. The ICC and the rights holder to the event, the Global Cricket Corporation, took the action after hundreds of World Cup clips appeared on the site.

"We are here to protect the commercial broadcast rights for the ICC and GCC and there is an issue here," Christopher Stokes, the chief executive of online rights protection agency NetResult, which represents the ICC, told Media Guardian.

Go Stoke your balls, fucker! Now the ICC are starting a dangerous precedent. They're actually messing with the fans now. This cannot be good. Even though the ICC has the legal right to do all this, what exactly could they lose by having cricket videos on the Internet? It's good for the game, awesome for the community, spreads the word, and great for us bloggers.

Put blogging aside for a minute, It's great entertainment too as I'm youtubing cricket all the time watching highlights and such of past games. And its past games. I've never heard of the ICC peddling footage of old games. Are they planning on making more money from this? Fuck you if are! This obsession with money needs to be curtailed.

Cricket was the one sport that was so untarnished by commercialism and video ownership. It's rare to find baseball and basketball clips on the net because they have been completely submerged by legality and lawsuits and all the things that make sport boring. I love the fact that if I want to see Umar Gul bowl Laxman and make him look like a fool, I can do in a second. Here it is. This is the beauty of having YouTube for us cricket fans.

YouTube was reported to have agreed to the request and the clips were gradually being removed from the site. However, one of the problems faced is that as fast as the offending clips are withdrawn, more are uploaded. A search this morning showed only a handful of clips from the Bangladesh v India game, and yet a few hours later it was dozens

Naturally. You're messing with cricket fans, and they're not going to succumb so easily. I say we get back at the ICC. Lets surface some videos of Malcolm Speed and some mammals? It's perfectly okay if they we make them on Photoshop and they look really fake. Malcolm is old and old people are offended by everything.

Andrew Miller's response is worth quoting. A snippet...

Does this game know of any other ways to shoot itself in the foot? Only three days ago it was suggested on this website that the events of the past week might serve as a wake-up call for cricket's fiscally obsessed powerbrokers. Fat chance. A game run increasingly by lawyers for lawyers, has deemed it necessary to go to war on the very online enthusiasts who can spread the word of a game whose reputation has been dragged through the mincer.

Announcing the Omar loves cartoons series

So besides loving videos, commercials and cricket, and hating on a few, this blogger is highly amused by cricket cartoons. I'll try and compile some on this blog. Found the first one on this website. It's some British company selling some amusing t-shirts. These Brits have pretty good humor I've got to say.

The batsman swinging in the 3rd frame is a bit reminiscent of Sreesanth's dance.

I miss the India-Pakistan Sharjah games

Yes, I know its completely besides the point, but its my party and I'll cry if I want to.

I loved watching those killer games on TV. Seemed like Sharjah was the perfect avenue, home ground to neither side, and electric crowds, though it seemed like there was always more Pakistani support. Indian fans though must have loved those epic ODI battles too. Remember all those banners that fans used to put up? "Hey Pakistan, It's not Friday anymore.." and so on! Stuff like that?
Too bad gambling and match fixing took Sharjah completely off the cricketing radar. I really hope we can start playing there again. Did you know that that stadium at Sharjah has hosted the most ODI's in the world? I think I'm right. I could double check, but that would involve me doing work. Can somebody double check for me? I will give you an awesome gift.

Plus, this way I can also see if people are still reading my blog!

Anyway, I haven't written in a while, but that's mainly because I have been a bit disillusioned by cricket in general. The loss of our coach, the issues of throwing matches surfacing again, and the plague of crowd trouble in India and Pakistan is disturbing. But rather than be docile and depressed about it, I want to enter into a healthy debate with my readers and will be addressing these issues over the next few days.

Super 8's preview and predictions

India's out and it just got a bit more boring

Though, we all agree, they deserved to go, while Bangladesh thoroughly deserve it!

But still, one can be sad that the clash between India and Pakistan is not going to happen anymore. That was going to be one fun match. But there are still some epic games left. I am looking forward to Eng-Aus, NZ-Aus, and especially SL playing anyone. More on this in a few paragraphs.

Is the criticism on this World Cup's format justified?

I read some dude talking about how just 2 bad games in the first round was more than enough to kick a good side out of the World Cup. He concluded that such a format was not the right one for ensuring that the best teams play each other in the super 8's.

Well, that's retarded! This is the World Cup after all, teams should be playing their best and their hardest, and yes, 2 bad days SHOULD be enough to boot a good team. If they're good, then they should under-perform. Pakistan and India obviously didn't play well and were beaten by better sides on that day. So, I think the fellow's argument is a bit skewed and he is probably just hurt.

Bangladesh and Ireland's chances

Pretty much zilch to be honest, but Bangladesh have a shot for the semis. They have the capability of beating England, West Indies and New Zealand on their day. I hate predicting stuff, plus I am nowhere as good as this chap, so I'll just discuss match-ups and leave the predictions up to you.

My final four

No sooner than I said I don't do predictions, here I am telling you who I think the semi-finalists will be. I lie.

Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka.

Yes Sir. That's it. No England. No Ireland. No Bangladesh, and no West Indies. Well, maybe West Indies. It's either West Indies or New Zealand, I believe. But I'll probably change my prediction anyway by the time the semi-finals come around and I find out I was wrong. I'll subsequently edit this entry, announce that I was right in my predictions all along, and that I am the best.

Yeah. That's right. It's not so difficult to edit this blog entry. I have the password.

Who do I want as the WC champion?

Sri Lanka! Yup. I really like these guys. Been a big Lanka supporter for years now. I know you couldn't tell. But lets hope these plucky buggers can bring us the World Cup.

Australia continue the minnow bashing

Oh...apologies to all! Did I just call South Africa a minnow?

I amuse myself. Anyway Mathew Hayden just smashed the fastest ODI century in World Cup cricket. His 66 ball century is also the fastest hundred by an Australian. Bloody hell! Is it just me, or are way too many records being broken this WC?

I am not one for conspiracy theories, but its rather interesting how some bloggers pointed out that Pakistan seemed to play on the most seam-friendly tracks in the tournament. Agreed, that as professionals, those buggers need to be able to play on all surfaces. But knowing the Pakistani tendency to receive a bumjacking on bowled-friendly conditions, I wonder if the authorities thought about it. Seems like the West Indian group has the lowest scores of all the other groups.

I think I am going to copyright the term bumjacking.

Anyway back to the minnow bashing. Kallis just got Hayden out and Clarke walked in.

India on its way out

Bloody hell. Yuvraj just got run out as I was starting to blog about this game. And now Dhoni is out...to a straighter one. Agarkar just walked out.

My goodness. India is on its way out of the WC. This is fucking unbelievable. A WC without India or Pakistan....

It was totally Yuvraj's call. Dravid should have run. Dhoni was plum. Sehwag got out to a freaking good delivery. India have been outplayed thus far. I didn't see how Ganguly, Uthappa and Sachin got out...

I'll watch the replays...

UPDATE 1

India 157-7
Dravid just spanked Malinga for 17 runs. From cricinfo

36.6	Malinga to Dravid, 1 run, fullish, driven to mid-off, the bat-face shut a bit and hence he didn't get power or timing. He was aiming to drive it straight.
36.5	Malinga to Dravid, FOUR, oh ho! Another one. Smashed through backward point. Short and outside off stump, Dravid leans back and cuts it past point.
36.4	Malinga to Dravid, FOUR, brings up his fifty in style. A fierce flick behind square. Full and on the legs, he leant forward and flicked it in the air. Three fours in this over. Dravid is carrying on the fight and the Indian hopes.
36.3	Malinga to Dravid, FOUR, Full and well outside off stump, slashed away to third man. It takes a bit of outside edge and runs to the boundary. Dravid is on 49.
36.2	Malinga to Dravid, no run, on the off stump line, pushed to cover
36.1	Malinga to Dravid, FOUR, full and just outside off stump, Dravid cuts it late, ala Arjuna Ranatunga. Delectable late cut.

OH!! It's over! Dravid just got out...He had no choice. He had to speed up the run chase....

It's official - Woolmer was murdered - Cricket badly tainted

This announcement of Woolmer's murder was official, and it bloody hurts cricket a lot. I just don't want to be associated with a sport in which people take this game so seriously, where effigies are burnt, and where lives are threatened. This was the CNN headline last night. Such an awful, indescribable turn of events...

Sports is meant to transcend boundaries and competition is meant to lift barriers between people. But cricket really needs a reality check. Commercialization and ultra-nationalism in cricket is disgusting. I even hate watching games, other than cricket, where the partisanship in the audience cheapens the entire event.

I didn't comment on this investigation before anything was official, but the worst has just recently been realized. Woolmer was murdered. And I just don't feel like blogging much about it.

First of all, I don't want to speculate on the many motives floating around, because I think its disrespectful to Woolmer. A plea to bloggers: Let the people who are investigating do their job and let us honor Woolmer for who he was. Then we can point fingers...

Plus the headlines on this investigation change every 5 minutes, since Cricinfo is becoming more like Stardust of Bollywood rather than the Time magazine of cricket. It's very disappointing how they are communicating their headlines and as a result, I am less than impressed at their journalism these days.

Secondly, official announcements from the officers leading the investigation are few and far between. So listening to Sarfraz Nawaz or the PCB or anyone else is irrelevant and stupid. These guys don't know jack shit, are just speculating like everyone else and its just adding to the mountain of gossip. So why write or talk about it?

But the murder does put a terribly big damper on my mood. Omar loves cricket a whole lot less these days, and that means my posts will be a lot more sombre than usual.

Michael Mason and Mohd. Akram - brothers from a different mother?

While watching Davison spank Mason around the park this afternoon, I thought to myself, "My goodness, this Mason fellow is pretty ugly!"

I also thought (credit to billu.net for pointing it out) the female New Zealanders in the audience were bloody gorgeous! So the next time my dorky circle of friends ask me to go to accompany them to New Zealand, so we can kiss the earth where Frodo and Gandalf walked, I think I'll oblige.

Anyway, back to the point at hand. Mason reminds me of Mohammad Akram, who plays for Surrey I believe, and commentates once in a while in a strange manner, and is clearly someone who one would look at and say, "EW"!

On another tangent, speaking of Akram's commentary skills, I remember some TV host asking Akram about his preferred Pakistani starting XI, before some Eng-Pak test match last year, and Akram named 13 players. The host was quite confused, as was I, but thankfully Robin Smith (the other 'expert') was seated next to Akram, and clarified on his behalf. Point being, Akram and Mason are ugly while Robin Smith is a nice chap.

Anyway, judge the striking resemblance for yourself.

Video of Inzamam-ul-Haq walking away to the pavilion for the last time in an ODI

Tearful, even for us...

The way life should be...

Zimbabwe 14/3 after Pakistan posted 349...

and Bangladesh 31/4 after Sri Lanka posted 318.

That's what we're used to. Some sort of normalcy restored in world cricket over the past few games. Though I have to say, I am all for the minnows playing and beating the test nations. It's great for cricket.

A cricketing giant departs - Inzamam's final ODI appearance

Amidst the turmoil surrounding the Pakistani camp over the past few days, Inzamam ul Haq announced his retirement. Some saw the declaration as insensitive, but regardless of its timing, no one can dispute its significance.

Pakistan's finest batsman after Miandad, will no longer play one day internationals. And that's a hard pill to swallow...

Like most Pakistani fans my age, I don't remember anything about cricket before 1992. I used to play the game, but had no idea about names and people. Abdul Qadir was supposed to be awesome. Who knows though? And Wasim Bari who? And the only thing I knew about Imran Khan was that my mother loved him, that he lifted the world cup, dedicated it to his late mother, and was pretty eloquent. That 92 WC victory not only sucked me into cricket, but it introduced me to Inzamam ul Haq.

It isn't surprising how that magnificent innings against NZ was the performance most people remember. He was new to the scene and immensely talented. Everything that came after seemed almost expected! Plus he played that innings alongside another giant of Pakistani cricket, Miandad, who was on the last leg of his career. Sort of like passing the mantle right?

It's difficult not to watch a replay of that semi final and not be amazed. That was one wicked innings, but more than that, it was calculated and marked with that cool composure we all take for granted from him. We all know the shot of the game: that charge down the pitch, with that elegant loft over long off for 6. That single shot has been replayed in a Junoon video, Marlboro commercials and most tributes to Pakistan on youtube. And what a shot it was! I tried playing that shot once against my brother back in Islamabad at my grandfather's house. We lost the ball on the roof. No, not the neighbor's roof. It didn't go very far. It went on our own roof. Anyway, take a look at Inzi's innings. That shot is about 2 minutes into the video.

I suppose it's fair to say, that ever since I have been obsessed with cricket, Inzamam has been playing at the highest level. As a result it is incredibly weird to see cricketers, whose entire careers I have followed, retire. Lara, Tendulkar, McGrath come to mind. On the lighter side, its situations such as these when really knows they're getting old!

On a functional note, naturally, Inzamam's loss means there is going to be a big hole in the Pakistani middle order. It's time for Faisal Iqbal, Hasan Raza, Misbah ul Haq and company to step up.

I'll be watching the game against Zimbabwe tomorrow. Ironic how its going to be such a useless game in terms of the World Cup, but such a poignant and important one nevertheless, because of Inzi. Plus I'm hoping Inzi, himself, will make it even more memorable...

Remembering Bob

The tragic death of Coach Woolmer has absorbed me over the past 24 hours. It's hard to believe that he's gone. Even though I'd never had any contact with, I felt close to him, mainly because we could relate, in some small way, to his exuberance and expertise in cricket. Not only was he a world renowned cricket coach, but he was the coach of our national team. He was always in the news, with some opinion or the other, and was well-versed technologically. Not a week would go by, without Bob not having an opinion on something or the other. He had his own website, and would answer his questions from fans himself. He was accessible as anything, and that brought us all closer to him.

Ironically, in the end, it was his passion for the sport he loved, that brought about his end. And in no small way is this partly due to the Pakistani public, who were braying for his head after the loss to Ireland. This man personified cricket itself, but it was the ugly side of cricket: the pressures, the stress, the uncouth fans, the commercialization, traveling, and the constant badgering that disturbed him the most. Surely we can learn something from this.

tributes...

Ahmer, Zainub, Zainub again, AB, David Hopps, Osman, BC, Balachandran, Teeth, Shamik, Phoenixtra, Gamecricket, Willow and Leather, King, Amit, Caribean Cricket, JC, Atheist, Voice in Columbo, Kartikeya, Third Umpire, OBA, Taaha

Inzamam retires from ODI cricket

In another headline from the Pakistani camp, Inzamam has announced his retirement from ODI's. I had expected his retirement to come shortly after the WC, so no real surprise there.

Sadly his illustrious career in ODI's has ended under sad circumstances; the death of the Pakistani coach, Bob Woolmer, and an embarrassingly early exit from the World Cup 2007 at the hands of the Irish.

Robert Andrew Woolmer 1948 - 2007

Bob Woolmer has died tragically. It's hard for me to fathom his demise and I am incredibly saddened. My condolences go out to Mrs. Woolmer and his family and friends. Woolmer will be sorely missed by all. Cricket has just lost a dedicated servant and his contributions will never be forgotten. Goodbye Coach...

Bob Woolmer passes away

What in the world! From Cricinfo...

Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has been taken to University Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica, after being found unconscious in his hotel room earlier this morning.

Woolmer, 58, was discovered lying on the floor of his room, with vomit around him, at 10.45am and was taken by ambulance to hospital at 11.50am. Police also attended his room. "We have taken Bob Woolmer to the hospital and he is in the emergency ward," Pakistan team media manager Pervez Mir told AFP.

Pakistan team manager Talat Ali, their trainer Murray Stevenson and assistant manager Asad Mustafa went with Woolmer to the hospital where he was given medical attention. "We have contacted Bob Woolmer's wife in South Africa and have told her about the situation," added Mir.

Woolmer was last seen in public when he addressed the post-match media conference after his team's defeat to Ireland at Sabina Park.

At 14.30 local time, Woolmer was still unconscious.

Future jobs for Pakistani cricketers...

Not sure who to give credit to for these images. Geo TV I guess? I got this forward from my dad this morning...

Irish spank Pakistanis - St. Patrick's Day massacre

Agreed. Massacre is too strong a word to be associated with such a fun holiday. Anyway, who cares...Pakistan is out of the WC and readers of this blog might think I am going to crawl under my shell, whine and point fingers. Not so my furry friends! Omar Loves Cricket and this blogger had actually predicted, in not so many words though, an early exit for Pakistan from the World Cup. So in my own creepy, pessimistic way, I had prepared for the worst. (What I actually claimed was that Pakistan would be one of the teams that a minnow would upset. I did think we would make the super 8's at least!) On the brighter side, I can focus my attention on all the other teams playing in the World Cup and give an impartial opinion on their progress.

Well, what better timing for Ireland that St. Patrick's day. How cute! Since I don't particularly want to delve on what went wrong right about now, I shall tell you about things that made me happy today. Fear not though, I will be scathing in my criticism of the Pakistani batting line up when I write a thorough analysis in the afternoon tomorrow. I need the night to tone down my response and perhaps make it articulate and eloquent. Tall order.

So random fun story of the day: I was on my way back from NYC after watching the Irish bumjack Pakistan, when I was about to get off at my train station when someone calls my name. Turns out, it was old friend from college. He was on his way to Philadelphia and I haven't seen him in a few years. How bloody random is that?! He is Pakistani too, but has no clue whatsoever about cricket or anything, so I was more than happy (eager and persuasive rather...) to pull him off the train and catch up over a drink. Quite refreshing to forget about the loss, and to reconnect with a friend.

Feel free to post your thoughts and comments on Pakistan's early departure...

South Africa breaking records

The South African team plan before the game started was to get 350+ in 50 overs. The game got reduced to 40 a side, but they kept their word.

I'm sure we'll read about more records in the morning, but so far...

1. Most 6's in an ODI game (WC and standard)
   
2. Most 6's in an over
3. Fastest WC 50

Some others that will soon be announced...

1. Most amount of exercise given to the arms of the umpires, and the spectators diving out of the way
   
2. Most cricket balls lost in a game

England need another middle-order batsman in the lineup

And I wrote this well before they were struggling. They're lucky to get to 209, but 138/7 is a clear sign that their middle order is too brittle. My issue with their lineup is that there are not enough specialist batsmen. I feel Flintoff bats too high up. 4 down is not appropriate enough position for him. I feel that they are missing a genuine middle order stroke maker at 4 down. If they get rid of Dalrymple for example, (though in all honesty, Michael Vaughan should go), they still will have 5 bowlers, but an added batsmen. Who will that fellow be? Well Strauss obviously can then open while Joyce can then bat somewhere else.

I know a bunch of England fans read this blog. What do you guys think? Inserting another batsman right after Collingwood extends the middle order, and allows for Flintoff to play his strokes late in the game.

Gibbs smashes 36 in an over!

Umm...Yeah. 6 sixers! Unbelievable. The Eng-NZ match had its lunch break, so I switched over to the SA-Netherlands game. Herchelle Gibbs just hit 36 runs in an over. That is just unbelievable. From Cricinfo...

29.6 van Bunge to Gibbs, SIX, He has done it! One-day record. No one has hit six sixes in a row. Gibbs stands alone in that zone. And the minnow bashing continues! Full and outside off and bludgeoned over long off
29.5 van Bunge to Gibbs, SIX, Short in length, on the off stump line and Gibbs rocks back and swat-pulls it over wide long off. Simply amazing. What a batsman. This is pure violence!
29.4 van Bunge to Gibbs, SIX, Wah Wah! Low full toss and guess where this went Yep. A slap slog and it went over deep midwicket! He is going to go for 6 sixes in this over!
29.3 van Bunge to Gibbs, SIX, Carnage! Flatter one this time but it makes no difference to Gibbs. He just stands there and delivers. This one also has been sucked over long off
29.2 van Bunge to Gibbs, SIX, Murder! Floated on the leg and middle stump line and Gibbs sends it soaring over long-off.
29.1 van Bunge to Gibbs, SIX, Violence! Gibbs charged down the track and hoicked it over long on.

Postmortem: Pakistan vs West Indies - Blame the batting, not Rana

Depressing game for Pakistani fans but an exciting victory for the West Indians. Again, I wouldn't be so ticked off if Pakistan had played better. A good game means both sides go back feeling pleased at the performance. But we had the game, and threw it away. The glaring holes in our squad are really beginning to come through. I knew the warm up games over Canada and South Africa didn't mean much and seems like we changed our strategy once again. We are missing Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar like no other.

It's easy for everyone to blame Rana Naveed for the loss. But he was just a part of it, and several players were to blame. So lets not Rana bash excessively and exclusively. Lets also put our bowling aside for a moment, and talk about the selection for the moment.

Though selecting Kaneria might have seemed like a stroke of genius to some, I am not convinced that he should even be part of the squad. I made my reservations to his inclusion quite clear in the past, but have since, been resigned to the fact, that what is done, is done. He is in the squad, will probably play till Afridi is back, and that's the world cup for him. A useless selection.

Kamran Abassi touched upon the second point with regards to this squad. If any of the batsmen gets injured, who the hell will take their place? Yasir Arafat? So weak...

Now Pakistan tried something new today and they must be given credit for it. They chose 4 specialist bowlers, including a spinner, and put faith in their batsmen. It is a good strategy and a sound one. Agreed, 2 of the bowlers were pretty crappy today, but the fact of the matter is, 240 was not unreachable. The batsmen are the ones who should be the ones scoring the bloody runs. Regardless of the bowling, the pitch was still good enough for 240 and they screwed it up.

We ALREADY know our bowling is weak. Which is why we bowl first. Our batting is SUPPOSED to be our strong point. Who was truly shocked that Rana and Kaneria got whipped? Not me. However, I was surprised that the meager pressure of a mere 240 runs completely fingered Nazir, Hafeez and Younis. I can understand a good delivery bamboozling them, and some tight bowling frustrating them. But I have no sympathy for retarded shots. Which brings us to...

Batting

Imran Nazir's time is up. I have joked about the rotation policy in the past, but this dude is a fucking idiot. He is far worse than Imran Farhat, and that is pretty insulting. Someone needs to bumjack him in the dressing room, so he can get injured, so that we can complain and whine to the ICC and send for Salman Butt. We could even help him fake an injury. It's been done before and I am sure there is an SOP lying there somewhere with the manager.

I can't complain about Hafeez. He did as well as he could, but the bugger needs to calm down and take it easy. He needs to stay for 10 overs at least, get his usual 49 runs and then bloody get out. What is the point of having openers who don't even get a bit of the shine off the new ball? What is wrong with the openers? Are they all on crack? Can they only slash and swing?

Our great one-down batsmen, Younis Khan, gets the most blame. Even more than Rana actually. What in the world was he doing? Did you see that shot? What the fuck? Ahh! I was okay with him being in the squad for a while, but dude, after this world cup is over, omarlovescricket is continuing its campaign to get rid of YK from the ODI team.

Yousuf got out to a frigging good delivery. What can one do? Inzi was unlucky with the decision. I think it was going over the wicket. Fuck what Hawkeye says!

Akmal is a choot. I hope Billu.net writes something up about this. I was about to throw my coffee into the aquarium when I saw him get out first ball.

Bowling

Rana is just about as good (or bad) as anyone else who can replace him. My argument is as follows. Can Sami, or Arafat, or even Azhar do a better job than Rana? I think the only advantage is that Arafat and Azhar can bat. Replacing Rana is not going to do the trick. Rana is out of form, but his potential as a bowler is far greater than the rest of them. I think Sami is decent, but even he is very expensive. Apart from Umar Gul, our bowling is bloody toothless in this World Cup, and we must remain resigned to the fact that Rana may just be as good as any other clown on the squad. We have no other choice people!

One could pad up the batting by selecting Arafat or Azhar, but that doesn't improve the bowling at all. Plus it releases the pressure on the batting. The top 6 batsman need to know that one of them HAS to score a bloody 70 or higher. They need to know that after Akmal (arguably before), there is no one else who can bat. Having a batting lineup stretching up till Mars is not the way we will win our games. We have to develop our bowling, give our specialist bowlers a chance to get into their rhythm, and lay the responsibility of scoring runs on the top order.

This squad is pretty weak and the gaps in our strategy are becoming a lot more apparent. Don't be too surprised if we're upset in the next couple of games.

Can Rana Naveed save what he fucked up?

Can Rana Naveed stick around and partner Shoaib Malik for another 15 overs?

All he needs to do is rotate the strike for umm, 80 runs or so...

Will he be able to atone for his bullshit bowling earlier in the day?

Yeah, I doubt it myself...

Pakistan is 129/6 needing 113 off 77 balls at 8.8 rpo. Game over!

UPDATE 1

They don't show the score comparisons anymore. Remember the time when, every 5 or 10 overs, they would print out what the opposing team's score was, at that point in their innings...

Oh, I shouldn't blog. Every time I write something, somebody gets out and it makes me unhappy. Well. Rana is gone. Bowled Bravo.

On the brighter side, at least my update to this entry now has something to do with the title. In case, you don't follow. The answer is no. Rana did not save what he fucked up.

UPDATE 2

Pakistan is fighting till the last wicket. Shoaib Malik just made his 50. That's pretty respectable no matter how you look at it. Some key questions arise.

Why does Iftikhar Anjum look more comfortable on the crease than Younis Khan?
Does Kamran Akmal not look at the field placings before he plays his shots?
Does anyone else get immensely ticked off at Inzamam getting LBW so often? Can't he get bowled a few more times?

170/7 after 44 overs.

UPDATE 3

Now we need about 58 runs of 24 balls. 'Impossible isn't it' you ask? Well, we're reaching that gray area of uncertainty. I've accomplished this score many a time in Stick Cricket, and once or twice at ICC Cricket Captain 2005. But never at Brian Lara Cricket 2005.

What's my point?

It's simple. Video games suck because they present a skewed view of reality.

Ah - the curse of the blogger. Bravo gets another one. Anjum is out. Caught by Lara. I promise I won't blog again till the end of the this match! The hopes of Pakistan rest on my typing fingers.

Pakistan 108/4 versus West Indies

Pakistan needs a 134 runs to win at around 7 runs an over. Inzamam looks calm enough. Mohammad Yousuf just got out to a really nice delivery. He was totally set up for that one. I wish Yousuf had stayed till the 40th over or so. Lets see how this game pans out. West Indies definitely have the upper hand by a mile, but I don't think Pakistan are totally out of it just yet.

Shoaib Malik needs to play his natural game and accompany Inzi till the end. I hope we can make a match of it at least. I'd rather lose fighting than get all out for under a 150.

The crowd seems awesome though. It was interesting to see their reaction when MoYo got out. Perhaps there is a bit of respect/irritation that he broke Viv Richard's record a few month's back.

Our openers are shit as usual. Not much more to say till I write my verdict after the game is over.

Oh well. Inzamam just got out LBW. Maybe I'll be writing the verdict sooner than I expected...

Cricket World Cup 2007 official video

Nice video. The song is growing on me now though I used to find it quite stupid. But I suppose theme songs usually are quite dumb. Thankfully the lyrics are printed on the youtube site, because I have no clue what Shaggy is saying.

Is anyone else doing Cricinfo's fantasy cricket leagues?

Wondering if any other bloggers or readers of this blog are taking part in fantasy cricket on Cricinfo. I bought 2 teams and just selecting my final 11 players. Here are the players I chose. What do you think?

Team 1: Harramis
BC Lara
SR Tendulkar
DPMD Jayawardene
AB de Villiers
A Flintoff
CH Gayle
A Symonds
AC Gilchrist
WPUJC Vaas
M Ntini
Umar Gul

Team 2: Rumpelstiltskin and the Maid
RT Ponting
R Dravid
GC Smith
RR Sarwan
SM Pollock
ST Jayasuriya
PD Collingwood
KC Sangakkara
M Muralitharan
DL Vettori
U Gul

10 hours to go - I am so bloody nervous

Pakistan's opener against the West Indies is in less than 10 hours. I can't sleep! I am so nervous. I want Pakistan to win, but realistically speaking, I don't think we will make the final 4. Anyway, as usual, I am being too pessimistic, so I'll just shut up.

Where was omarlovescricket?
Fans of this blog may be wondering where I disappeared for the past 4 days. Well, its spring break here, and I took to the weekend off to attend to family matters and some other personal stuff. Not that you care, but if you're really bored, you can email me and ask me about my weekend. Jokes aside, I knew, that with the WC starting, I am going to be eating, breathing and umm, chewing(?) cricket for the next month or so. So the best time for a break from blogging is probably right about now!

Update on past issues
I will continue posting the wicket keeping study as it is still incomplete. Some of you were genuinely interested, while others were shocked at how much time I have to waste looking at Excel sheets. I have spent way too long fudging data around, so readers of this blog will indulge in my exuberance for a bit longer. I am still working on those bloody Excel sheets but am awaiting word from Cricinfo about using their database for ball-by-ball data. Fingers are crossed!

A bit of recognition
This blog, and more importantly other fine cricketing blogs, including our pet project, Cricket.bloggers.pk, were highlighted in Pakistan's Spider Magazine which deals with Internet related stuff. Pretty cool right? The review about my blog was amusing though. He wrote "The language used is one that the reader can easily comprehend, which makes the pieces more effective." Hmm! I think he's saying I am a dumb-ass. Maybe I need to spice my writing up a bit!

Fire incident: Inzamam chill fellow, Afridi an idiot

Not terribly newsworthy, but the recent evacuation, at the hotel housing the South African and Pakistani teams, is the only thing exciting happening right now in world cricket. (Sorry Bangladesh and Scotland!) Needless to say, Inzamam was really chill and nonchalant about the evacuation.

Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq was unfazed by the evacuation, saying he had been told that the team had had to leave the hotel "as a precautionary measure".

Inzi's response, actually reminded me of an amusing King Cricket post, which is quite apt. Afridi, of course, followed his own rules...

Afridi added: "I have no idea what happened. I had just woken up when the security man knocked on the door and said 'get out of the room'. But I went back to sleep. Then he knocked again, and said 'get out of the room'. Then I did and went downstairs."

Idiot!

Pakistan unconvincing in victory over Canada

Which is perfectly fine, because I feel that's all we're going to get from Pakistan if they're going to win games this World Cup. It's hard to analyze the result from the scorecard itself, without watching it live, so I'm not going to indulge in reading between the lines of their performance too much. It was a warm up game for sure, but Pakistan will be concerned that their openers couldn't last 10 overs. But there is a bright side...

Younis Khan has been promoted to opener, which is about bloody time. I think it solves a key issue. For one thing, What is interesting is that YounisYounis Khan has played pretty much as an opener anyway, since our actual openers don't seem to last very long. Secondly, this means we're sending our best players first. I like how Mohammad Yousuf went one-down and Inzi went two down. Not only is this a confidant message to the opposition, but it means our best players get the most time out there in the middle.

Strange that we're experimenting so close to the WC. I would have hoped that we had these plans setup prior to the warm ups.

Anyway, another positive is that Pakistan still bats pretty deep. The loss of Razzaq will be effectively nullified by Azhar Mahmood. Mahmood may not have Razzaq's penchant for the big shots, but Mahmood can be pretty handy himself late in the game.

The negatives are obvious. Rana Naveed sucks and I have no clue what is wrong with him. If our opening bowling can't pierce Canada's armor, then what hope do we have against the rest of the countries? Umar Gul, should have bowled more than 4 overs. I hope he isn't injured. The bulletin didn't say anything though.

We also lost 4 wickets under 100 runs. That isn't cool. Its a nice strategy to send our best players first, but the buggers need to bat the first 10 overs out.

Blame Canada ... but not Pakistan's poor cricket form

Sheila (Kyle's mom): Times have changed, our kids are getting worse
They won't obey their parents they just want to fart and curse

Mrs. Marsh: Should we blame the government? Ms. Cartman: Or blame society?

Boys fathers: Or should we blame the images on TV?

Sheila(Kyle's mom): No,blame Canada, blame Canada
With all their beedy little eyes have packed their heads so full of lies, blame Canada, blame Canada,
we need to form a full assault its Canada's fault.

Courtesy: STLyrics.com

I want to hear Inzi's comments after this game. He might as well quote Kyle's mom in his post match interview, because he sure as hell doesn't think anything is wrong with our side.

South Park aside, Canada are in the process of wiping out Pakistan's top order. That's right. Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf are both in the pavilion. If we lose this game, its going to be pretty depressing and embarrassing. Though, I'd rather lose a warm-up then go down to Kenya.

Zimbabwe and Ireland seem to be equally, if not tougher, than Canada. We're done for.

Sigh...

Pakistan are going to go down this WC. I feel that amongst all the 'giant' test playing nations, we have the greatest probability of losing to a minnow.

Minnows played some interesting cricket today

I like the minnows. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain. They are also incredibly confidant in their own ability. They know their limits and are eager to learn, absorb and enjoy the moment. It's sad that everyone and their mother feels they shouldn't play, because their presence is charming and if we have anything to go by in today's warm up games, we shouldn't discount them with the disdain that they have been getting in the press the past couple of weeks.

Though they may have lost all 4 games today, I think Ireland and Kenya really ought to be proud of themselves. They really gave the South Africans and West Indians a wake up call.

Bermuda may have been thrashed by England by a mountain of runs, but their own 270 pound mountain of an off spinner, Dwayne Leverock, was apparently very impressive. Plus they had England in some trouble before Dalrymple came along.

Sri Lanka were clinical against Scotland, but at least the Scots past 40 overs.

These are the sorts of positives that the minnows must take from World Cup. They are playing the best countries and they are undoubtedly learning a lot. Plus their gameplay today is a sign that they are making the test playing nations think twice and play less casually. Michael Holding and others are wrong in assuming that this experience is useless. Being allowed to play in the World Cup is what these minnows work very hard towards and now that they are here to stay, cricket on the whole will benefit from their growing achievements. We should support them.

Ranatunga thinks everyone will get a beating

Over the past few days, writers and commentators have been picking their semi-finalists for the cricket world cup. Since this is the most wide open cricket world cup to date, it's interesting how they pick their favorites. Ranatunga's opinion, stood out for me, since his article entitled "India will take a beating", still concludes that India will win the Cup.

In fact, after reading the article, I'm actually interesting in how Ranatunga picked India, since he pretty much says everyone, including them, will get a beating. There is nothing particularly interesting other that in the article. We all pretty much know what every ones weaknesses are.

On the side note, I like reading articles by these ex-cricketers, for their insight, but also for the language they use. Ex-cricketers seem to have their own style, lingo, and certain catch phrases pop up every now then. Adam Parore for example, talks crap and writes rubbish. And remember Navjot Singh Siddhu? Siddhuism's were hilarious! Too bad he got convicted of manslaughter...

Harmison hates cricket

Though initially charming, titles of my posts skirting and manipulating, "Omar Loves Cricket", are a concept that has probably long worn off. Nevertheless, I will continue to amuse myself.

Steve Harmison is a strange fellow. He sucked during the Ashes apart from a couple of decent spells, retired from ODI's soon after, and is finally speaking out about his retirement and the Ashes.

He told the Mail on Sunday: "From the very first ball of the Ashes series I hated the game of cricket. I've made myself a promise as a result: from now on I'm going to make sure, whatever happens, I enjoy myself.

"Everybody told me it had been made out that I'd virtually lost the Ashes on my own.

"None of our big players turned up, at least not on a consistent basis, and some of us failed to achieve anything at all. I'd place myself in that last category.

"But I do feel I've been made a scapegoat, and I think, in part, it's because of my perceived laid-back attitude."

Harmison's plan had always been to quit ODIs after the World Cup in a bid to prolong his Test career, however his failure in the Ashes forced him to bring forward his retirement.

He said: "The plan was to pack in after the World Cup. I first thought about it in South Africa in 2004 and told Michael Vaughan.

"Last year, I missed Tests through an injury from a one-day series and in India I realised I'd had enough. I wanted to prolong my Test career and that's why I've packed in one-dayers.

"Martyn Moxon, who has just left as Durham coach, asked me if I'd missed playing for England when they beat Australia in the one-day final last month. I told him I missed celebrating on the balcony but not the game. He replied: 'You made the right decision'."

Good riddance to him then! I hate this sort of attitude from a cricketer. I'm not even English and I'm pissed off at him. What a sorry way of justifying his poor performances. He was selected to represent his country, which is such an honor, and naturally, a lot of hopes rested on his shoulder. He claims that a lot of other players didn't perform as well, but none of them seem to hate the sport they were playing. That's no excuse and its this defeatist attitude that irritates me.

Harmy doesn't agree with the critics opinion of his 'perceived laid-back attitude'? However, how is it perceived wrong, if he is claiming he hates the bloody sport? The critics are right on the money there buddy.

English cricket doesn't need Harmison on the balcony either. That's useless. The balcony should be full of players who ache to be on the field at any chance they can get. This chap belongs in the stands as a cheerleader, as cricket is lot better off without such depressing characters.

On a side note, what is up with trend of English players who can't seem to handle the mental strain of an international career? Marcus Trescothick comes to mind...

Awesome video of Zaheer Khan and a lucky, embarassed fan

This is cute!