Sorry, I forgot yesterday was Friday, and I was pretty busy. Mostly I was trying to come to grips with the news that Shane Warne had passed away at age 52. With Rod Marsh also having died the day before at 74, it was just an unbelievably sad day for cricket, in the midst of a lot of sad days for everything. RIP, Rod and Shane.
The Women’s Cricket World Cup got off to a shocking start, with hosts New Zealand falling to the previously out-of-form West Indies by 3 runs in a thrilling finish. Deandra Dottin defended a 5-run lead in the last over with 1W1WW, getting Katey Martin lbw, Jess Kerr on a yorker caught at mid-off, and Fran Jonas run-out trying desperately to steal a run. Just plain wow. What an utterly brutal loss for the White Ferns. Australia beat England by 12 runs, and South Africa handled Bangladesh even though they only scored 207 in their innings. India v Pakistan is today. It’s not as big an event as with the men, but it’s still pretty important.
Pakistan is off to a flyer against Australia at Rawalpindi, declaring with 476/4 on day 1. I can’t imagine Australia is in much of a mood to play cricket right now. Still, it was excellent for the sport in general for them to travel to Pakistan and to show up for this game.
India declared with 574/8 against Sri Lanka, who has so far responded with 108/4. I can’t see any way the Lions will get even a draw out of this.
Bangladesh and Afghanistan have split two T20Is after Bangladesh won the ODI series 2-1. That’s it for that tour. No deciding T20I is scheduled.
Canterbury is 17 points clear of Central Districts in the Plunket Shield in New Zealand, while New South Wales and South Australia are both undefeated in the Australian Women’s National Cricket League, the one-day women’s domestic competition there.
That’s enough. Try to make the Comment of the Century below.
