Great to see the spirit involved here on both sides.

I must admit it I find the patronizing attitude taken to the Black Caps by most media sources (NZ in particular) really off-the-mark.

They put up a bloody fantastic performance and even gave Sri Lanka a run for their money on their home turf. Sweet Jebeses, how much more do they have to do to prove themselves?

 beamends wrote: 
Exactly what I just thought

Boycott's on form .......

... and moving on to the really big game today:

In Chandigarh, one man was reported to have offered to sell his liver to make enough money to buy a ticket from touts. In Pakistan, desperate fans were buying seats for at least 25 times face value.Fortune-telling parrots, astrologers, saints, mullahs and priests have all been consulted and invoked by fans on both sides. But all hoped for a peaceful ending.

ha!!  we nearly got em! well, we gave them a good scare. Great effort  against a truly class act.

I hope they have locked up their nukes for tomorrow!

 beamends wrote:  
I didn't see it, Murdoch will get my money over my cold, dead body (thanks for the streaming link B, got to it too late), but caught most of it via The Grauniad OBO and TMS. I reckon the poor bastards are so absolutely knackered after a sadistically punishing tour schedule this winter that, after pulling randomly great performances out of a rapidly diminishing hat, they just got to the "Oh Soddit" moment halfway through the match.
 
Still, at least my sister-in-law will be cock-a-hoop, or whatever they say in Sri Lanka.
 
And I reckon that's not a "patriotic" gene, more like a "sportsmanship" gene. The antithesis of which is the "Tribalistic/Jingoistic/Nationalistic/Cash" gene that infects the horror that is modern football.
 
I shall continue to support the Kiwis, and I'm sure they are deeply grateful to hear that.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
Sad to say, England got what they deserved - it was like they couldn't be bothered....... Sri Lanka deserved their win.

India vs. Pakistan - now that is going to be one hell of a match!

Maybe my 'patriotic' gene is defective or something, but with world cup I just like to see the best team win, whoever they are. Except Australia, obviously

well, sorry to say this, but I think that was the best result for NZ.

Sri Lanka are in danger of having peaked too early and England would have been a more difficult opponent for us as we think the same way.

Not that our chances are that much better, let's say 498 to 1 against instead of 499 to 1 against.
SA was 500 to one against just to provide a benchmark. 

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
A slight understatement!

um, this is not going well for England.

 hobiejoe wrote: 
How's yer nail polishing going?

Live streaming here

 hobiejoe wrote: 
Going to be close. Unless England fancy an early finish  again.

229. Enough?
 
Another cracking game.
 
I think colonials can listen to Test Match Special here, click "World Cup Cricket" at top right. A very arcane, very British institution. Despite Geoffrey Boycott.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
Yup and Muralitheran is fit again as well.
 
I think the tensions might be quite high in my BIL's house tomorrow.....

 hobiejoe wrote: 
ha, that sounds so uncool you must actually love the game to go to that extent! 

Good luck for tomorrow, I think you are going to need it! Sri Lanka are powerful at the best of times and they have a home advantage.

Gawd, I hope those nukes are safe when India play Pakistan. 

PS Jacob Oram went to the same school as me. Good lad.

Holy carp! Well done the Kiwis.
 
And now I'm going to have to buy a smartphone because I missed the last six wickets 'cos of the *&*&^$ing school run.

DONE!

RIPPERRRRR!!!

AND ANOTHER!

 hobiejoe wrote: 
No manicure required today I think!