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Monday, April 18, 2011

#CWC11 Aftermath

In a post that is now long past due I have to talk about the recently ended Cricket World Cup, which was one by India for the first time since 1983. 

I don't really have much more to say than I've already said except congratulations to the Indian team for winning the trophy for the first time in my lifetime.  I'm still very young in my cricket fandom so I honestly can't comment on individual performances or players because I only know the basics.  Some of the names of other countries are familiar to me now.  I know five times as many players now as I did when I attended The Ashes.  I can't wait for the summer series' in order to catch some of these players in other forms of the game.

I'm particularly impressed by New Zealand.  They managed to progress further than any other "Anglo" nation and faced off against Sri Lanka in the semis.  Though the Black Caps didn't make the final they still made a good showing by beating South Africa in the knockout round.  This team were definitely the underdogs of the semi round but managed to make it longer than either England or Australia, which came as a surprise to me and likely the residents of those countries.  Still a good showing for New Zealand.

India are almost certainly jubilant all around the country even now as a billion people celebrate a great win for a very good team.  Sachin Tendulkar manages to pick up one last(?) trophy to top off what seems like a phenomenal career.  Good for him as I'm sure he deserved it. 

Certainly India performed well throughout their matches and really made their claim for greatness.  Matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the knockout round proved this team  is the power in Asian cricket.  While I didn't support them at the beginning I absolutely applaud this wonderful victory for a deserving team and a impassioned group of fans.  I'd love to go to India someday.

The tournament seems to have been a success based on what I've read around various sport blogs.  The horrible hiccups and failures of the previous two World Cups are well documented and this one seems to be empty of any similar issues.  In fact there only seems to be praise for this tournament and that is probably very god for the sport, and especially so for the ODI format.  I'll never understand the war between the various forms of cricket, but at least I understand this tournament gave the ODI format a much needed boost.  England in particular made this an exciting tournament.  Each of their games came down to the wire and could have gone any way at any point.  I would like to hear some thoughts from long time fans if you'd like.  Feel free to comment and tell me how you felt the tournament went.

Now that this tournament is over I have the IPL and the summer series' to look forward to watching.  As a complete IPL neophyte I don't know who is on what team or which team to "support".  I'll be a neutral and just try and watch for fun.  I will try my damnedest to find a place to watch the games but I'm not holding my breath.  Rest assured I will be watching both England and Australia's games this summer. 

Globally Ignored