World Cup Monitor
Brave Scottish spinner offers Australia tips
Scotland have a couple of Australians in their squad and one of them has offered some selection suggestions for the opening game
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Scotland have a couple of Australians in their squad and one of them has offered some selection suggestions for the opening game. Glenn Rogers, a left-arm spinner who was a Brisbane grade player, reckons the defending champions will need to pick Brad Hogg at Warner Park in St Kitts on Wednesday.
Australia have a pace-heavy outfit and Hogg is vulnerable whenever they run into a surface suiting the fast men, although most of the pitches so far have helped the slow bowlers. "From what I understand it's a pretty flat wicket and a small ground so there should be lots of runs,” Rogers told AAP. "I think they probably need to play ‘Hoggy’. You need that variety."
Paul Hoffmann, the Scotland fast bowler, is another Queenslander who will run into some old opponents during the David v Goliath contest. So how did he end up there? "In the summer of 1995 I played some league cricket in Wales," Hoffmann told The Scotsman. "My sister was travelling at the time, so one afternoon we were bored, sitting around, and I just said we should go for a drive up to Scotland and I remember saying to my sister: 'I wonder if they play cricket here.’”
Full postParty boys or professionals?
The tournament hasn’t started but the late-night rumours about the West Indians have
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
The tournament hasn’t started but the late-night rumours about the West Indians have. Brian Lara insists he doesn’t know anything about his boys partying before the nine-wicket warm-up loss to India.
"I doubt that with the sort of importance of this tournament that that would have been the case,” he said in the Jamaica Gleaner. "I'm sure that if the management, Clive Lloyd or Bennett King, knows about it they would definitely filter it down to myself.”
Lara says his players are professional and understand the sort of preparation they need to perform at their best. They have the first chance to show their qualities when they open the tournament against Pakistan on Tuesday.
Full postMy kingdom for a kidney
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
A cricket-crazy Indian fan is threatening to kill himself if he's not allowed to sell a kidney to fund his World Cup trip. Tarun Sharma, 23, told Reuters he would set himself on fire if no one came forward to help him sell the organ.
India's cricketers' fan base spreads far and wide. Bermuda cricketer Malachi Jones is so enamoured by the quality and reputation of Sachin Tendulkar that he may not mind dropping his catch. India take on Bermuda on March 19 at the Queen's Park Oval. Expect a few star-struck faces there.
Full postCricket googled
The cricket World Cup may not swamp the planet like the football equivalent but after last night's opening ceremony it is clearly one of the biggest stories going around - and that's according to Google
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
The cricket World Cup may not swamp the planet like the football equivalent but after last night's opening ceremony it is clearly one of the biggest stories going around - and that's according to Google. The search engine's graphic for countries with a strong cricket link (UK, Australia, South Africa etc) has been handed a cricket flavour today. The site reacts to the major events, news or searches at a particular time so this is further proof of the interest which is surrounding the tournament as the first match draws closer.
The opening ceremony
Andrew Miller
25-Feb-2013
01.10GMT As the fireworks erupt overhead, and the shimmering dancers shimmer their way to the exits, it's time for the first act of the ninth World Cup to draw to a close. And you know what? I rather enjoyed that. The Caribbean has started its 50 days of festivities in grand style. Now it's time for the on-field action to begin. Join us here at Cricinfo for live and unrivalled coverage of all 51 matches, starting with West Indies against Pakistan, from Sabina Park, Kingston, on Tuesday.
01.05GMT "Wonderful world, beautiful people," sings our Jimmy, as the flags of the host nations are paraded on the outfield. And now all the cast are on the field as well. I sense a grand finale is brewing.
Full postWork-shy Britons
The World Cup will cost Britain £270m in economic productivity, as revealed in a report published yesterday
Will Luke
25-Feb-2013
The World Cup will cost Britain £270m in economic productivity, as revealed in a report published yesterday. "Although it will not grab the international imagination to the same extent as the soccer World Cup," Douglas McWilliams, the report's author said, "it remains the case that, even to those only half interested, watching cricket is one of the best ways of avoiding working known to man.
"Two of England's matches, against New Zealand on 16 March and against Pakistan on 30 March, are on Friday afternoons and will be very tempting to those who feel inclined to stay on in the pub after lunch."
Full postWorld Cup damaged
It’s been a week for unexpected setbacks with the World Cup
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
It’s been a week for unexpected setbacks with the World Cup. A sightscreen halted play, then there was a fire scare at the South Africa and Pakistan players' hotel, then they had to play on a pitch they weren't happy with.
Now the latest news concerns the cup itself –
it’s been damaged in Calcutta. Funnily enough no party has yet come forward to take the blame.
Back with Pakistan: the players will use Urdu in press conferences, and not English, their coach Bob Woolmer has confirmed. "The Pakistani players feel comfortable in their national language," he said (in English)."They can express themselves freely in Urdu and they are proud of their language and their country. Our media manager Pervez Mir will act as interpreter during the press conferences."
Mir says such a decision is not unusual: "It happens everywhere in the world. Football players speak in French, Latin and various other languages as they feel comfortable talking to the media in their mother tongue."
Full postClarke no longer the unknown 'journalist'
Four years ago Michael Clarke arrived in the West Indies as a player who was so anonymous Brian Lara thought he was a reporter
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
Four years ago Michael Clarke arrived in the West Indies as a player who was so anonymous Brian Lara thought he was a reporter. The pair was being picked up at the airport in the same car and Clarke introduced himself as they waited.
"It was quite a funny meeting at first,” Clarke said in the Sun-Herald. “I was calling him Mr Lara and he thought I was a journalist. After I told him I was in the squad, he said he knew a bit about me, but he hadn't been able to put the name to the face. Brian and I got talking, and our friendship's gone from there.”
It might be Clarke’s first World Cup, but he is unlikely to go unnoticed. He is in form after 82 and 24 not out in the warm-ups and is a key part of Australia’s trophy defence.
Full postEnglish loss and Canadian largesse
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
The Centre for Economics and Business Research estimates a loss of about 5% of a day's gross domestic product for each day of the World Cup.
This is despite England receiving odds of 15-2 in most quarters. Had England been the favourites, thoughts might have drifted towards depression, economically at least.
Full postBeyond boundaries - cricket art
To coincide with the World Cup, during March, London will host an exhibition of cricket work by the contemporary Trinidad and Tobagan artist Wendy Nanan
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
To coincide with the World Cup, during March, London will host an exhibition of cricket work by the contemporary Trinidad and Tobagan artist Wendy Nanan. The exhibition, Beyond Boundaries, runs from 1 - 30 March at the Art Worker’s Guild in London’s Bloomsbury. Click here for more information.
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