Goodbye Minnows

Just 11 games into this World Cup and and some dominant patterns are emerging.

The first spells doom and gloom for the so called minnows of the games. The ICC has already announced that the days of expanded finals events are over and in order to condense the program, those teams who are considered the lesser lights will be left out of the program with only the A Teams being scheduled for fixtures. No doubt a decision made with money firmly in mind - does the ICC ever make any other kind - as the inclusion of the Kenya's and Netherlands etc takes up time for them to play matches in the tournament. All of the positives that come from these junior countries playing are sacrificed on the alter of the holy dollar. Who cares about growth, after all that's a long term benefit, the ICC would rather sing that ABBA tune, "Money, Money, Money". Besides, who wants any of the top eight embarrassed!

Spinners continue to be the tool of choice by all teams except Australia and so far, its worked out well for the Aussies but a day of reckoning is coming.

Over the weekend, the better teams have flexed their muscles, starting with the Australian mauling of New Zealand. The Kiwi batting line up was decimated by Tait and Johnson, principally in terms of pace on a wicket at Nagpur that responded well to the quick men. Tait didn't bowl that well, to be honest, but that's more a statement on what Tragics correspondent Ian Charlton correctly described as a shaky Kiwi batting line up. Having collapsed, Nathan McCullum and Dan Vettori did well to give them some sort of target but the Australia batting was far too strong, winning with 16 overs to spare.

Pakistan played stunning cricket to beat Sri Lanka, with a couple of Test players Misbah-ul-haq and the kiss and make up man, Younis Khan, batting like real batsmen and the durable all rounder Shahid Afridi taking another bag of wickets. Sri Lanka did well to get close as they just keep losing wickets each time they looked to be building momentum. Who said wickets aren't important in one day cricket?

The most stunning of all games was at Bangalore where India lost their last 7 wickets in 29 balls after Tendulkar had played an innings described by Geoff Boycott as "the perfect innings by the perfect craftsman". His innings included a withering attack on Graham Swann, taking 31 from 23 of his deliveries, including three sixes. How often have we see Tendulkar target the opposition's best and thrash him in the process? Ask Shane Warne. Chasing 338, England's batting was again dominated by Skipper Andrew Strauss, whose 158 came at way better than a run a ball and in the company of a delightful Ian Bell, they added 170 in 26 overs for the third wicket. Bell and Strauss fell together at 281 and five overs saw only 26 added and England looked done at 7-307 but Bresnan, Swann and Shazad somehow smashed 31 of the last 15 deliveries, including 14 off the last over to tie the game. Shazad faced his first ball in that over and hit a big, clean smote up into the stands behind the bowler Patel and Swann engineered the rest.

For those wanting to declare the ODI innings closed, another look at the quality of the cricket on offer at this World Cup should be more than enough evidence that it doesn't just have a thready pulse, it has a heart beat which goes boom bitty boom bitty boom bitty boom bitty boom bitty boom bitty boom boom boom! The problem isn't the format, the problem are the administrators that want to treat it like a harlot and don't realise it looses its attraction if its only purpose is making money. There is a hierarchy here which needs to be recognised: Test cricket is your mother; ODI is your wife; and Twenty20 is that girlfriend you had in high school. They are all attractive, they are all interesting and special and they all mean something different to you.

This World Cup is shaping as a beauty!