CWC – Game 6 : Pakistan v Kenya

Another game in the World cup where an associate team is playing a full member. After losing heavinly in their first game, Kenya would be hoping for beeter things from the game versus Pakistan. They might well have be en hoping that it was the Pakistan B team who turned up for the match.

Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat. That decision didn’t look the best one when after 7 overs they only had 12 on the board for the loss of 2 wickets. The innings was put back together by Kamran Akmal (55) and Younis Khan (50) who raised the rate to a more acceptable level. Their good work was continued by Misbah ul Haq (65) and Umar Akmal (71).

Those four lifted the total to 289 for 6. Some boundaries in the last couple of overs took the Pakistan total to 317-7. After the four batsmen mentioned, wides was a major contribution to the total with 37. Many deliveries went down the leg side, past the keeper for 4.

The best two bowlers for Kenya were Odoyo with figures of 7-2-41-3 and Ngoche with 10-0-46-1.

So Kenya had a major task in front of them to get 318 to win at a rate of 6.35 per over.

Unfortunately the only major contribution came from Collins Obuya with 47. Ouma, Waters and Tikolo were the only other batsmen to get into double figures. Kenya lost wickets steadily to be bowled out for 112.

The standout bowling performance for Pakistan came from the Captain Shahid Afridi who had figures of 8-3-16-5.

It’s often said that the same Pakistan team never turn up twice in a row. With this very impressive performance to win this match by a massive 205 runs it will be interesting to see how they fare against higher class opposition.

CWC – Game 5 : England v Netherlands

So my home team started off their World Cup against the Netherlands. This opposition embarassed England in World T20 tournament in England when they won at Lords. So a potential slip-up could occur and knowing England’s recent performances in 50 over World Cup’s anything could happen.

The Netherlands won the toss and decided to bat first. They started well and by the end of the 12th over their score was 58-2. At that point Ryan ten Doschate came to the wicket and proceeded to construct the best individual score by an associate team player in any World Cup. The only blemish happened when he was 50 not out. Swann drew him into a shot which skied way up in the air. Pietersen and Anderson converged on the ball and oding something that schoolboys shouldn’t have done, left the ball for each other to catch. It embarrasingly dropped to the ground in between them.

This wasn’t the only blemish by england in the field. They were sloppy and didn’t show any of the level that they showed in the Ashes test matches in Australia. ten Doschate was eventually out for 119 of 110 balls hitting 9 fours and 3 sixes with 11 bals of the innings to go. If he had stayed in the Netherlansa would have got over 300. As it was, they finished on a fantastic score of 292-6. More than a respectable score.

England had an uphill task ahead of them to keep up a rate of 5.86 an over. At the end of 17 overs, England were 100-0 and after 30 overs were 168-2 so had a good platform for victory. However the run rate required kept on rising to the point that at the and of the 46th over, the rrr was 8.25. Buttlerflies in the dressing room perhaps ? there certainly were while I was watching it.

But Collingwood and Bopara were capable of hitting 10 of the next 2 overs to need 13 runs off 12 balls. Bopara then took command in the 49th over hitting 16 with 2 fours and a six to take England to victory.

Even though England won, the Netherlands played exceptionally and should not bedismayed by the way they played.

Next Game : Pakistan v Kenya

CWC – Game 4 : Australia v Zimbabwe

The holders Australia began their cup campaign as having not lost a game since 1996. They were up against Zimbabwe, a team who once had a good side but due to things outside their control have sunk a very long way.

Having said that, when Australia won and decided to bat first, I was expecting a score of well over 300. Zimbabwe bowled well, and Australia’s progress was very slow. After 13 overs their score was only 32-0 at a run rate of 2.46. It wasn’t until the 28th over that their run rate went above 4 an over. Taking 9 0off the last 10 overs saw them to a total of 262-6. Top scorers were Watson with 79 and Clarke with 58.

Zimbabwe kept up with the scoring rate and brought up their 100 in the 27th over which was the same as Australis did. The difference was that Australis had only lost 1 wicket and Zimbabwe had lost 6. From this point it was unlikely that they would make a successful chase to overhaul Australis and they were bowled out for 171 in the 47th over. Top scorers for Zimbabwe were Cremer with 37 and Williams with 28.

Best bowler for Australia was Mitchell Johnson, who has been erratic recently, with figures og 9.2-2-19-4. Tait and Krejza took two wickets each.

Next game : England v Netherlands

Genesis 48 to 50

The story of Joseph reaches it’s conclusion. His father Jacob calls his sons to him and marks them all out as the future twelve tribes of Israel. Not long after this he dies and as a mark of the respect for him as Joseph’s father, he is honoured by the whole of Egypt.

Joseph and his brothers are fully reconciled although they lie to Joseph about what his father says to them. Considering the number of years that Joseph suffered because of their actions, he could have been completely closed to them and not want anything to do with them when they came to get grain during the famine. He could even have just been good to them to keep his father happy while he was alive.

However, this is one of the great examples in the Bible of God’s love being shown through forgiveness. Joseph accepted his brothers with no malice and free of accusation over what they did. He put the past behind him and dealt with the future.

 

CWC – Games 2 & 3 : Kenya v New Zealand & Sri Lanka v Canada

The second day of the world cup had two potential easy matches with full ICC nations against 2 associate members.

Personally, I always like to see Associate nations do well in competitions like the World Cup. They have to work hard to get a place and so for them to do well shows their progress and the standard of cricket in those nations improve as time goes on.

However, todays matches were convinicing victories for the full nations.

In the first game, Kenya subsided to 69 all out in 23.5 overs. Only 3 players got into double figures but with a hisgest score of 16, it was a very long way from being a good score. For New Zealand, the best bowler was Hamish Bennet who bowled from wide of the crease to spear in deliveries to the batsmen and finished with 4 for 16. The other bowlers who took wickets were Tim Southee with 3 for 16 and Jacob Oram who had the impressive figures of 2.5-1-2-3.

In reply New Zealand cruised to victory by 10 wickets in 8 overs with Martin Guptill making 39 n.o. and Brendon McCullum making 29 n.o. The one extra thing this victory does give New Zealand as well is a run rate of +7.62

In the second game, Sri Lanka were playing Canada. Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat. Having so may good batsmen in their line-up, Canada had to bowl well to keep them to a reasonable total that Canada could have a chance of chasing. It was not to be and Sri Lanka piled up 332-7 with the main contributions a round 100 off 81 by Jayawardene and 92 off 87 balls from the captain Sangakkara.

The best bowler for Canada was Baidan with figures of 2 for 59.

Canada’s reply got off to a very bad start when Jon Davison, who scored a magnificent hundred against the West Indies in a previous world cup went to the first ball of the second over with the score on 0. At 12 for 3 and then eventually 74-7, there was only going to be one outcome to this match. Sri Lanka bowled Canada out for 122 in 36.5 overs.

The opening bowlers for Sri Lanka were the pick of their attack with Kulasekera having figures of 6-2-16-3 and Perera, 7-0-24-3.

So with these results going as expected, Canada & Kenya are going to have to play better in their remaining games to try to push for a place in the quarter-finals.

Tomorrow’s game sees the holders Australia take on Zimbabwe.

CWC – Game 1 : India v Bangladesh

A really good game to star off the 2011 World Cup.

Thanks to some ordinary bowling by the Bangladesh team, India posted a massive 370-4 with Sehwag making a magnificent 175 off of 140 deliveries, with Virat Kohli making a round 100 off 83. The best bowlers for the Bangladeshi’s were Rubel Hossain whose figures were 10-0-60-0 and the captain Shakib-al-Hasan with 10-0-61-1.

So a chase of 371 was going to be a massive task, but the Bangladeshi openers went about their task with great aplomb getting to 68-1 off 10 overs which was ahead of the run rate required. After 20 overs they were only 9 runs behind the India score at the same point.

To keep up that scoring rate was always going to be difficult and India eventually won by 87. Still to only lose by 87 when chasing 371 to win is a massive achievement, and who knows, if a calculation of run rate is required later on in the group, that chase may well do Bangladesh good.

Tomorrow’s Games are :

Kenya v New Zealand  &  Sri Lanka v Kenya

Genesis 43 to 47

The story of Joseph reaches it’s conclusion. His brothers return to Egypt needing more food as the famine has worsened.

Even after spending time with him, still they do not recognise him. When he does eventually let them know who he is, they are understandably dumbstruck.

He tells them that although he has been through so many hardships in his life, it has all been in God’s plan for his life. I’m sure that when he was in the bottom of the well, being chased by Potiphar’s wife and then in jail for a few years, he must have wondered on many occasions what God’s plan was.

The story also has the universal theme of redemption. Joseph’s brothers must have had what they had done to Joseph hanging over them year after year, an invisible weight round their necks. Then when they find out that he is alive and he forgives them as well, they must have felt full of joy and amazement at how God has directed their lives.

It is the same for us now. God’s plans are rarely short term, they are long term plans which we may not understand until a point in our lives when we can look back and see how situations we go through mould us and shape us into the people that God wants us to be.

Dr Who : Marco Polo

…and so we come to the first Dr. Who story of which no moving pictures exist. However, the soundtrack and photographs of the original broadcast do exist. The reasons for this have been documented extensively elsewhere so I’ll not say anything about it here.

I am watching this thanks to the reconstruction done by Loose Cannon. This reconstruction has also been colourised to add some extra interest and depth to this wonderul story. I have listened to the soundtrack many times while travelling but never actually ‘watched’ it.

It is a really excellent tale of the Doctor meeting Marco Polo in 12th Century China. There are some excellent characters in Tegana the Warlord, the child Ping Cho and in Marco Polo himself.

The story is very epic in scale covering a vast journey which the travellers have no choice but to go on as after the last story, the TARDIS has broken down again and so is added to Marco Polo’s caravan. The Doctor has every intention to fix the TARDIS en route but Marco has other ideas. He wants to go back to Venice and his plan to achieve it is to offer the Khan the TARDIS so that he is realeased fom the Khan’s service !

Despite the best efforts of Tegana to derail the journey and bring everyone to their deaths by draining the water supply, arranging bandits to attack them and capturing Barbara in the wonderfully entitled “Cave of 500 Eyes”, they reach the court of the great Khan.

It is a place alive with pagentry and colour. Things look grim for the TARDIS crew when the Khan wins a game of backgammon against the Doctor which means that the TARDIS will definately be Marco’s gift to the Khan.

Then in a final twist, the travellers work out that Tegana is not just an emissary from Nogai but in fact an assassin sent to kill the Khan and so allow Nogai to take the throne. Marco Polo and Tegana have a sword fight in which Marco is the victor. In the confusion after Tegana falls on his sword, Marco gives the Doctor the key to the TARDIS and the crew escape.

Having finished this tale, it is really a magnificent peice of televisoin. The writing, acting and scope of the production belies it’s early 1960’s origins. Although it is extreemly unlikely, it would be wonderful to think that somewhere in the world, there are 7 film cans that contain all the episodes to Marco Polo so that it could be seen again in all it’s magnificence.

Next Episode : The Sea of Death

Dr. Who : The Edge of Destruction

After the first two stories, this one comes as a bit of a shock. After the explosion inside the TARDIS at the end of The Daleks, everything inside the ship is strange in the extreme.

All the travellers are at odds with each other not even recognising each other at first. At different times accusing, suspicious, even attacking each other. Feelings that have been deeply hidden are brought to the surface. The TARDIS itself is behaving very oddly. Pictures on the scanner that aren’t real, the fault locator not showing any fault, then saying that the ship is close to disintegration.

To the point that the Dr. says they only have 5 minutes left !

They eventually find that a switch on the console has got stuck. Once fixed the crisis is over and they return to normal flight through the space/time vortex……

Although only 2 episodes there has never been anything else like in it Dr. Who history. The acting of the 4 leads is very convincing and makes the story compelling.

The only odd thing is that the whole cause of the problem was a stuck spring.

Next Episode : The Roof of the World

Genesis 38 to 42

The continuing story of Joseph.

These chapters cover his time in Egypt and the three situations he found himself in. As Potiphar ‘s slave, in jail for something he didn’t do and as the Pahroah’s right hand man.

It’s a story that is very well known and it is very evident that in each of the situations, God was in complete control of Joseph’s life. It could be argued that if Potiphar’s wife had never lusted after David, he would never have been in a position to interpret the dreams of Pharoah’s servant’s in prison and then to interpret Pharoah’s dream and become second in charge of the land of Egypt.

Life is apt to throw things into our paths that may put us in situations that are difficult to deal with and we don’t know how things will turn out. But we have someone who knows everything that we are going through and is there as a constant companion 24 hours a day.

God knew Joseph’s life, all that had happened to him and brought him through all the troubles he encountered to a blessed and fulfilled life.