[Craig P]

The first world cup is underway... there's already been a stadium scheduling debacle... and the world waits to see if there will be any drama behind Australia and England running away with it.

The first set of group round matches features:
England v. Pakistan - a walkover win for England, I should think
Australia v. West Indies - a walkover win for Australia, it should be
New Zealand v. India - easy win for NZ, and if they falter they're in big trouble
Sri Lanka v. South Africa - a huge match for determining who's in the hunt to advance to the semifinals. The winner is in great shape, the loser is going to have a do-or-die match with the Windies later on.

[Craig P]

SL has their match on a dusty pitch, not sure if that was intentionally set for this match particularly.

[ZeekLTK]

Maybe if the "Windies" would use my keepers they'd do better.

Junior Mason - 21 yo, BT Rating=74,495
LH Batsman, LM Bowler, superb batting form, superb bowling form, invigorated
A defensive player with strong leadership skills and abysmal experience.
Stamina: competent Wicket Keeping: quality
Batting: respectable Concentration: exceptional
Bowling: feeble Consistency: superb
Fielding: quality

Runako Ross - 20 yo, BT Rating=29,779
LH Batsman, LM Bowler, superb batting form, superb bowling form, sublime
A cautious player with feeble leadership skills and abysmal experience.
Stamina: woeful Wicket Keeping: wonderful
Batting: feeble Concentration: competent
Bowling: woeful Consistency: proficient
Fielding: feeble

[Craig P]

Not nearly enough batting on them, I shouldn't think. I suspect NTs generally are looking for batters who can keep rather than specialist keepers or even keepers with ~respectable batting.

Sulieman Seargeant has the first century recorded in international play. I'd guess there will be another one or two on the first match day, as NZ and Australia will have big enough targets to chase (England and SL are chasing targets too low to realistically expect a batsman to get to the 100 mark). Harriot is in the lineup for NZ, but at 4th, so it'll depend on when the wickets fall.

Seargeant finishes with 122*. Australia has a makable target at 289-5 -- it'll be interesting to see if we manage to push them much past 40 overs.

[johno]

an excellent job by our boys...

[johno]

Well it seems like I suggested a long time ago, that Owens should have been used as an opener all along. He's been 100xbetter than he usually is for the u-19s in the world cup. He hasn't been great mind you but alot better than usual.

he's scored 61 (personal high score) 4 (2nd highest team score against England) and 39.