World Cup Glory Achieved

Hello and welcome back to my blog

This is part 1 of my World Cup Review to be posted over the next 3 days. First I will deal with the final followed by the semi-finals/world cup as a whole and end with a look toward the future of this tournament and ODI cricket

The BCCI endeavored to stage and win a World Cup and they have succeeded. For this title they should probably thank their players. Not the coup of getting another home advantage (3rd time hosting in the last 7 tournaments) or the schedule which tried unapologetically to keep the minnow teams from kicking them out ala 2007. Nor the slow, low wickets to negate the fast bowlers of every other team or the shameless game plan that went with those wickets: bat first, get 300 and role'em with your spinners. No sir, that kind of planning, as open and obvious as it was, for reasons I have already gone into (http://bowlingblind.blogspot.com/2011/03/why-being-beaten-by-australia-can-help.html) could not have taken them to the trophy. An impressive hardening of the team was visible as they were forced to chase during the finals and chased well after their bowlers - targets of many a condescending remark - kept their targets from reaching insurmountable heights. Captain Dhoni has emerged as a big game player to challenge Richards, Khan, Waugh and Ponting by moving himself up the order when it counted and winning the final with a wonderful innings signed off with an appropriate maximum into the stands that erupted with celebration long before the ball touched the ground there.

In the final, Jayawardena played another fantastic innings as he did in the semi-final of 2007 (to knock out NZ on that occasion) and you would have been forgiven if, at the half-way point, you resigned yourself to a Sri Lankan victory; the innings was of high class and felt like the winning move, add to that Malinga, Murali and Mendis to defend 274 and the challenge to India looked immense. The early dismissals of Sehwag and Tendulkar served to strengthen the impression that the dream of a billion people might be over. Ghambir played a crucial role too but the way in which the captain put the match beyond doubt was inspiring.

Now to the small matter of my Fantasy Cricket League.

In terms of my own performance I had two notable triumphs: picking Ross Taylor as captain (take the hint NZC!) in the match during which he made a large century against Pakistan (a model for success throughout if I were to offer advice) and the selecting of Roach (fast bowlers) as captain against minnow nations (Malinga, Tait or Lee would be examples of others). Overall my progression was hindered though, by my refusal to use the following players: Watson, Tait, Johnson, Haddin, Kallis, Broad, Harbhajan Singh, Sehwag and perhaps others. These players are ones I don't think much of as cricketers or sportsmen (look for polemics against many of them in the future).

As for the participant in the league who gained the top spot...

Daniel Parker (14,065 points)

Although I'm not very familiar with this individual, he ended up in the league and cleaned up wonderfully, keeping within the top 5 or 6 positions for most of the group phase before taking the lead right before quarter finals and not surrendering it, to win by an impressive 800+ points. To achieve this he learnt most of the lessons mentioned below very quickly plus benefited from picking players like Watson, Dilshan, Malinga and Sehwag. He showed no player or team bias - to the point where any allegiance to New Zealand was swept to the wayside in the single-minded pursuit of points as soon as they looked certain to exit the finals. OK that sounds a little bitter but it does illustrate a point, namely that you can't win these things by being principled or creative but simply devoting all that you are to gaining points. I can't begrudge Daniel that and I salute him for being able to do what I could not/dared not do. Although only he can say whether the effort destroyed his sole, but perhaps with a team named 'Oedipus XI' there wasn't much to maim to begin with. Take heart sir in the knowledge that you are the first civilian to be named on this blog (not even my true name appears here I think) and that is equal to 'praise from Caesar' if nothing else. If I were to sum up Daniel's effort during the tournament it would be with this example: for the final match he picked up the cheapest player he could for one spot to allow the picking of very expensive players in the other spots. This resulted in the addition of one B A Westdijk for $60,000 to his team; the cleverness to win matched with the maturity of a 10 year old. Although I understand he will soon by hired to host TVNZ's Breakfast show...

A little fun there at Mr Parker's expense perhaps but he did very well. 22 people signed up at the start of the tournament but perhaps only the top 9 at the end tried until the end (the significant gap of 3000 points between 9 and 10 is a bit of a give away). I won't get after the individuals below this line, my polemical tongue is better reserved for Jonathan Millmow of the Dominion Post (and others of that mold) rather than close friends who I know enjoyed the cricket, if not to the fanatical point of some of the top place holders perhaps. Just one footnote on that though, two of the top contenders happen to be Christchurch residents and for their efforts I must reserve some praise; outside events can seem trivial in times of disaster - particularly when they occur half a world away - but for your success you gain my approval and respect. I hope everyone enjoyed the friendly feud of the fantasy league and will be happy to join again for future large events.

There were some lessons learnt I think, here are a few that come to mind:

• Don't believe the match previews in terms of which player is fit and which is not; I for instance picked Malinga for several games on this basis, only to be disappointed and then infuriated when I dropped him right before the first match he actually played in


• Also there were several late injuries that rendered many transfers a waste like Chris Gayle late in the World Cup


• The balance of transfers was also a lesson in forward planning and patience. Many of those that languished in the middle of the table used up their transfers far too early. Although one friend of mine managed to stay near the top while doing this, he was lucky


• Picking opening batsmen early on proved vital, while opening bowlers were more consistent the points system prevented them from providing a significant increase in points

Look out tomorrow for PART TWO