Coverage of the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies. World Cup 2007 news, fixtures, squads and comment.
The stage doesn't get bigger than a World Cup final. Australia were intent on maintaining their hegemony with a third consecutive World Cup victory and extending their unbeaten streak in the World Cup to 29 matches. Sri Lanka, worthy challengers to the title, were the last team to beat Australia in a final, at Lahore in 1996. They had made a tactical decision to rest their three best bowlers ? Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga ? in their Super Eights encounter against Australia, the idea being to spring an ambush in the final. There was an ambush alright, but it came off Adam Gilchrist's flashing blade.
Sir Garfield Sobers, the greatest all-round cricketer ever, opened the World Cup tonight in a spectacular ceremony designed to show that whatever happens on the field over the next six weeks, West Indies are the undisputed champions when it comes to putting on a carnival. The three-hour extravaganza costed $2.5million US Dollars and featured more than 1,000 performers. It was staged at the new multipurpose stadium in Trelawny, on the north coast of Jamaica. Sobers, now at 70, retired a year before the first World Cup in 1975. Cricket, England, tour, tours, company, UK, 2006/7, 2007, international, test, ODI, ODI’s, one day internationals, oneday, matches, tickets, supporter, supporters, criket, cricet, crictour, crictours, cricktour, cricktours, criktour, criktours, club tours, ashes, ahses, first test, second test, third test, fourth test, fifth test, sixth test, Australia, Sydney, Melbourne, icc, super series, rest of the world, row, telstradome, telstra dome, sydney cricket ground, scg, india, bombay, mumbai, delhi, calcutta, kolkata, madras, chennai, bangalore, mohali, chandigarh, taj mahal, red fort, jaipur, agra, golden triangle, goa, kochi, cochin, kerala, hyderabad, ahmedabad, kanpur, 2006, 2005/6, brisbane, adelaide, perth, hobart, gabba, oval, waca, mcg 2006/7, 2006/07, 2007, cricket world cup, west indies, carribean, caribbean, st lucia, barbados, Antigua Cricket is a bat and ball sport played between two teams, usually of eleven players each. A cricket match is played on a grass field (which is usually roughly oval), in the centre of which is a flat strip of ground 22 yards (20.12 m) long, called a pitch. At each end of the pitch is a set of three parallel wooden stakes (known as stumps) driven into the ground, with two small crosspieces (known as bails) laid on top of them. This wooden structure is called a wicket. A player from the fielding team (the bowler) bowls a hard, fist-sized cork-centred leather ball from one wicket towards the other. The ball usually bounces once before reaching a player from the opposing team (the batsman), who defends the wicket from the ball with a wooden cricket bat. The batsman, if he or she does not get out, may then run between the wickets, exchanging ends with the other batsman (the "non-striker"), who has been standing in an inactive role near the bowler's wicket, to score runs. The other members of the bowler's team stand in various positions around the field as fielders. The match is won by the team that scores more runs.
Cricket has been an established team sport for hundreds of years. It originated in its modern form in England and is popular mainly in the present and former members of the Commonwealth. In the countries of South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, cricket is the most popular sport. It is also a major sport in places such as England and Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Bermuda, and the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean, which are collectively known in cricketing parlance as the West Indies. There are also well established amateur club competitions in countries as diverse as the Netherlands, Kenya, Nepal and Argentina, among others; there are over one hundred cricket-playing nations recognised by the International Cricket Council.[1] Cricket is arguably the second most popular sport in the world.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
he game is played in accordance with 42 laws of cricket, which have been developed by the Marylebone Cricket Club in discussion with the main cricketing nations. Teams may agree to alter some of the rules for particular games. Other rules supplement the main laws and change them to deal with different circumstances. In particular, there are a number of modifications to the playing structure and fielding position rules that apply to one innings games that are restricted to a set number of fair deliveries
The sport is followed with passion in many different parts of the world. It has even occasionally given rise to diplomatic outrage, the most notorious being the Basil D'Oliveira affair which led to the banning of South Africa from sporting events. Other examples include the Bodyline series, played between England and Australia in the early 1930s, and the 1981 underarm bowling incident involving Australia and New Zealand.
The team batting always has two batsmen on the field. One batsman, known as the striker, faces and plays the balls bowled by the bowler. His or her partner stands at the bowling end and is known as the non-striker.
The fielding team has all eleven of its players on the ground, and at any particular time, one of these will be the bowler. The player designated as bowler must change after every over. The wicket-keeper, who generally acts in that role for the whole match, stands or crouches behind the wicket at the batting end. The captain of the fielding team spreads his or her remaining nine players — the fielders — around the ground to cover most of the area. Their placement may vary dramatically depending on strategy. Each position on the field has a unique label.
strike the ball from the batting crease, with the flat surface of a wooden bat. If the batsman hits the ball with his bat, it is called a shot (or stroke). If the ball brushes the side of the bat it is called an edge or snick. Shots are named according to the style of swing and the direction aimed. As part of the team's strategy, he may bat defensively, blocking the ball downwards, or aggressively, hitting the ball hard to empty spaces in order to score runs. There is no requirement to run if the ball is struck. The batsman also automatically scores runs if he manages to hit the ball to the boundary.
Batsmen come in to bat in a batting order, decided by the team captain. The first two positions, the "openers", face the most hostile bowling, from fast bowlers at their freshest and with a new ball. After that, the team typically bats in descending order of batting skill, the first five or six batsmen usually being the best in the team. Then follow the all-rounders — bowlers or wicket-keepers who can bat decently — and finally the pure bowlers who rarely score well. This order may be changed at any time during the course of the game
Test cricket is a form of international cricket started in 1877 during the 1876/77 English cricket team's tour of Australia. The first Test match began on 15 March 1877 and had a timeless format with four balls per over. It ended on 19 March 1877 with Australia winning by 45 runs. The Test cricket series between England and Australia is called The Ashes. Since then, over 1,800 Test matches have been played and the number of Test playing nations has increased to ten with Bangladesh, the most recent nation elevated to Test status, making its debut in 2000. Test matches are two innings per side, and nowadays, over a period of up to a maximum of five days - although matches are sometimes completed early when one side wins well within the time allotted (e.g. in three or four days). In the past, Tests have been played over 3, 4, or 6 days, and some have been 'Timeless' - played to a finish. Tests that are not finished within the allotted time are drawn. |
