Time for reflection

Today was a ‘Poya Day’ in Sri Lanka - a Buddhist ritual which happens four times a month and equates to the four phases of the moon. This was a full-moon day, the most important of the phases and a monthly national holiday in Buddhist tradition. Yesterday there were lavish parades around the streets of Colombo, involving herds of dressed-up elephants, as the city prepared itself for a day of worship.

This meant there was no cricket today, so as the World Cup reaches its half-way point let’s take stock and see where we have got to. At the ‘business end’ of the tournament – the Super League – two mouth-watering semi-final line-ups have appeared following a week of qualifying matches and the quarter-finals. England take on India, a preview to the contest about to start between the full sides, while Pakistan face the impressive Australians.

Two of the possible finals from those matches revive huge rivalries, which have been a major part of world cricket in the last 12 months – England v Australia and India v Pakistan. Whatever happens, the four biggest countries are fighting for the main prize and a tournament can’t ask for much more than that.

In the lower reaches of the Super League, Sri Lanka – chastened after their thrashing by Australia on home soil – will want to fight for the consolation of the play-off prize, while Bangladesh will aim to bounce back from their defeat against England.

The Plate competition gives the associate members a further chance to show what they are capable of, plus South Africa and New Zealand the chance to head home without egg on their faces. I reckon Nepal, who face Uganda in the quarter-finals, could be the dark horses here. They challenged England, should have beaten Zimbabwe and downed Ireland in the group stages and ought to be too strong for Uganda.

This tournament has yet to have the shock result of a minnow beating a major nation, but South Africa and New Zealand won’t have it all their own way as they aim for the consolation of the Plate.

Anyway, that’s enough speculation – can you tell it’s been a quiet day? No action on the field tomorrow, either, as it was a scheduled rain day for the quarter-finals and the rain has managed to restrict itself to the occasional evening deluge. There has been some impressive cricket this past week, but you get the feeling that it could be about to get even better.