Things are tight, real tight

We have a lot of merging lines going on in our little competition, and 1 line crossed another today, well done Moira. 

England must have been inspired by her surge as they knocked India down a peg serving them their first loss of the tournament.  Roy came back with 66, Stokes had 79 and Bairstow cracked out 111 adding up to 337 to chase.  It wasn't all bad for India as Shami cleaned up with a 5 wicket haul. Sharma 102 and Kohli 66 did their best to catch England but India came up 31 runs short.

Tomorrow sees 2 eliminated teams have a go at each other, the West Indies and Sri Lanka.  They may be playing for pride but there's still points to be had so don't forget your trades.

Watch out Catherine.  We are coming for you.

I guess Faf doesn't like being called a sloth

Where has this South African team been all tournament?? They just squashed Sri Lanka with 9 wickets to spare.  SL had a hohum innings going all out at 203. Enter duPlessis and Amla. Those two just kept scoring 96 and 80 respectively.  The only wicket goes to Malinga but clearly 1 wicket is not enough.

SA win doesn't help them advance to the semis but it might be the nail in the proverbial coffin for Sri Lanka,  they'd need to win their next 2 matches,  have England lose theirs, and still come out ahead in the net run rate tie breaker for which they are currently way behind.

Australia tops the table with 12, India and New Zealand both have 11, and England is just hanging on to fourth with 8. But right behind the 3 lions are Bangladesh and Pakistan both with 7.  Most have 2 matches left except India with 3.

Tomorrow Pakistan needs a win over Afghanistan and the two top teams can preview the finals with Australia taking on New Zealand.

Shami shami cocopop

India trounced the West Indies by 125 runs.  Kohli got 72 and Shami had a 4 wicket haul.  West Indies went all out on 143 in the 35th over.

England may be struggling but Catherine seems to be in cruise control right now.  I'm back on track but still behind Anna. Michael is trying desperately to overtake Missy who has her lights blinding James.  I think Henry made a pit stop and Moira needs gas.

Hang in there folks, more to play.

Tomorrow sloth Africa (my phone auto corrected south to sloth, I left it as it seems fitting) takes on Sri Lanka

Didn't Trade??

Apparently,  if you have the right captain it's ok to forget your trades (thanks Finch). But my lack of trades for today will certainly hurt. I really have to get my head back in the game,  I've been watching too much soccer- USA, USA!

So I just made trades for tomorrow, not taking any chances.

Yesterday's match saw England take another defeat. How's your book Catherine?  The bright spots for England were the duo of Stokes and Woakes while Australia had a century by Finch, 5wicket haul for Behrendorff and a 4 wicket haul for Starc.

So far in today's match Neesham (97) and Grandhomme (64) helped New Zealand put up 285/7 to chase.  The Pakistan innings are just getting underway so we'll see how it goes. 

Tomorrow India and the Windies

Hope you had Al Hasan

If you didn't have Shakib Al Hasan you are probably sad today. He was the star for sure as Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by 62 runs. In the opening inning he batted 51 (not the highest total - that was Mushfiqur Rahim with 83) and the in the second inning he put Afghanistan all out at 200, well below target, with 5 wickets. So, did you have him? I did.

Michael must have Al Hasan as he made a surge today overtaking the Nagels. But don't worry mom, I have insider knowledge that his trades will be running in shorter supply going forward.

Tomorrow should be a good match. England is currently #4 on the points table, Australia is currently #2. England lost their last match and are on a down turn with the loss of Roy, although word is he might be back sooner than originally thought. And Australia seems to be on the rise. What will happen? Who knows but it should be fun to watch.

Almost but not quite

2 games today and both pretty exciting.  To start Afghanistan almost beat India, but not quite. India only put up 224 to chase which Afghanistan nearly did, they went all out 11 runs shy.  4 wicket haul to Shami.

In the second match NZ almost crushed the opening innings with 291, but not quite as Cottrell got a 4 wicket haul. Then the Windies almost crushed NZ with Gayle getting 87, then NZ almost put the insurgence down, gaining lots of wickets, but not quite. The windies almost had a late overs surge with Braithwait getting 101, but not quite. NZ finally managed to get WI all out 5 runs short with a 4 wicket haul to Boult.

As for us, lots of folks gaining but not quite overtaking, where will it all end??

Tomorrow Pakistan v. South Africa

Feed on crumbs of comfort

Malinga! There you are

So Sri Lanka finally came to play much to the dismay of England.  They batted first and Matthews (85) helped them put up 232 to chase.  Seems like it should have been easy for England.  Stokes tried, he got 82 (not out) but it seems like he couldn't find a partner.  Malinga's 4 wickets had them all out at only 212. So,  Sri Lanka take the win. 

Tomorrow there's two matches,  Afghanistan v India and New Zealand v West Indies

Moira?  Michael? Did you make your trades??

May the worm rise to meet you

I'm slowing it down

Like Warner, I have surged. But now I think I need to slow things down lest I run out of trades.

So today Australia beat Bangladesh by 48 runs.  Seems like it was the Warner show, he got a whopping 166, what's the bonus points for going over 150??? Must be a lot.  Australia went 381/6 and Bangladesh just couldn't get that high, they reached 333/8, falling 48 runs shy.

There has been movement in our race. The top spot is still occupied by the trophy takers but the #2 slot is now occupied by a few political *unkies. While the cluster clucks may not be ****bleep****ed the crackpot rabbits sure seem to be. I think the nagels have been languishing in 5th the whole time. While stour was down but now up, the Panicky squids were up but now down. And our last place team, the muttermatters, may still matter but who knows.

Tomorrow England takes on Sri Lanka

And if haven't yet,  take a look at the points table on espncricinfo. Things are shaping up with Australia, New Zealand, England, and India taking the top spots, for now.....

Happening indeed

Catherine is on the rise, Michael is on the rise,  I'm on the rise.  Rise with us,  it's fun.  But all of us Roy captain pickers need new captains. He's out for now with a muscle pull. Might be back, might not.

England, not surprisingly, beat Afghanistan by 150 runs.  They had an amazing innings putting up 397 runs.  A whopping 148 of those from Morgan. 90 to Bairstow and 88 to Root.  Afghanistan for their part did survive all 50 overs but they were woefully shy of 397. 3 wickets to Archer and Rashid

Tomorrow it's New Zealand and South Africa, should be a good one

Things are happening...

Didn't publish

So that last blog I wrote last night and then I guess never published so it's old news.  The new news is that Bangladesh beat the West Indies by 7 wickets. WI bagged first and things looked good.  They put up 321/8 with Lewis at 70 and Hope 96. 3 wickets each for Saifuddin and Rahman. But the chase seemed quite easy for Bangladesh and they had it sorted in little more than 41 overs.  Al Hasan got 124 and Liton Das 94 not out. Anyone have that guy?? Cause I didn't even know he was an option.

As for us, the places address all the same but check out the slopes, not all slopes are created equal.

Tomorrow England and Afghanistan.  I sure hope England doesn't blow it.

Michael's back

Michael's back in action and on the rise, so watch out y'all

Question? What's better? A D/L result or a washout??

India batted first and had a decent innings.  R Sharma was the star with 140 followed by Kohli with 77 leading the way to India putting up 336/5. 3 wickets to Amir.  Then Pakistan set about chasing then down.  They got half way through and the rain started. It was touch and go but did relent enough for the match to resume. However they set a new target of 302 from 40 overs.  Pakistan tried but came up 89 runs short, so a win for India.

Tomorrow it's Bangladesh v. West Indies

same old same old

Yin yang

One game was a study in big hits, one was not.  To start Australia took on Sri Lanka and beat them in an exciting match.  Australia's Finch (153) and Smith (73) led their side to a 334 total for Sri Lanka to chase.  And at first sti lacks looked like they might have a shot at it.  Karunaratne (97) and Perera (52) made a good shot at it but then the wickets started to fall and just kept falling.  Starc took 4 and Richardson 3. In the end Sri Lanka ended 87 runs shy.

The next match saw Afghanistan go all out to put up a meager 125 runs for South Africa to chase. South Africa chased that down with 9 wickets to spare.  Amla, de Kock, and Phehluwakahadeityiongrxvv got the only runs while Naib the only wicket.

Tomorrow if the rain stays away it will be India and Pakistan.

Other than Michael falling to the bottom no new news on our front.

Looks like I have some thinking to do.

No time for roses

This is no time to stop and smell the roses. This is the time to focus, regroup,  freshen up your game face, there's still lots of cricket to play.

I mean if England can play like champions, so can we.

Today,  England beat the West Indies by 8 wickets, yes, 8. The West Indies battered first and put up a meager 212, Pooran had 63. Archer and Wood both logged 3 wickets a piece. With not much to chase,  Bairstow (45), Woakes(40), and Root(100) completed the job with ease. Both wickets went to Gabriel.

Two games tomorrow: Australia v. Sri Lanka and Afghanistan v. South Africa.  Let's hope the South African cricket team does better than their women's soccer team.

The rain gods feel my pain

Yesterday I spent a good amount of time strategizing, planned all my trades, took notes for the blog, reminded my dear husband that a tournament is afoot, taunted each and every one of you in my head, then promptly forgot to actually sit down at the computer to DO any of it. Fortunately for me the game was a washout, unfortunately for you that means I have more trades banked.

Here's what happened yesterday: Australia batted first and really only needed Finch (82) and Warner(107) to put up 307 for Pakistan to chase. Mohammed Amir was the star bowler logging a 5 wicket haul. Pakistan for their effort tried putting everyone to work, they had like 5 guys scoring in the 40s with Ul Haq banking 53 but they still came up 41 runs short. I guess they needed one more guy.  3 wickets to Cummins and a win to Australia.

For those who are 2 Cheap 2 Attend there has been lots of jockeying and everyone seems to have their elbows out. Anna for her part has held onto first for quite a few days now.  Wasn't she just trying to get rid of the Sweaty Teddy Trophy of Winningness?  Well I'm coming for ya dear sister,  I knew just the days to fall asleep on the job and now I've got trades to spare. Clustercluck2019 leads the Trophytakers, followed by the Political *unkies just edging out the Crackpot Rabbits. Nagels lead Stour Power with the Panicky Squids hanging on over the Muttermatters.

Tomorrow England takes on the West Indies, let's hope it's dry.

My back, I'm back

I'm back from camping, actually I got back a few days ago with a bum back. Waddling to the computer proved to be too much, but it seems the games have been washed out lately anyway.  So I'm not feeling too bad about my absence.  Now I'm back, with a better back.  Let's hope the players are as well.  Tomorrow we see Australia v. Pakistan

Whole lotta nothing

The lines did go up.  Not that you can tell.

Watch Your Backs

O Captain My Captain!

Finally picked a good one.

Going Dark

Hi All, we are going camping for a few days, so there will be no blog updates. We'll be home Sunday, I will do my best to make trades but its iffy. Have fun surpassing me.

power outage

I've been without power since 9 this morning, and its been hot, real hot. So no blog. I have trades to make and then bed. Tomorrow is India v. South Africa and Bangladesh v. New Zealand

What is going on???

Anyone place bets on Pakistan? Anyone? Beuller? No, I didn't think so, but they did it, they won. I blame Trump. Pakistan put in a solid opening inning with Hafeez adding 84 to the 348 total. Woakes and Ali each got 3 wickets. I for one wasn't expecting Pakistan to get that high a total, and they lasted all 50 overs. But they did. So England had to chase 348, and with Root and Buttler both getting centuries you'd have though they could have done it, but no they did not. They even had a wicket to spare, but they fell 14 runs short. Pakistan will take that win and try to ride the wave, England needs to brush it off and refocus.

It shook things up in our neck of the woods as well. Moira and Catherine clearly knew something the rest of us did not. Michael also had a surge and is now nipping at our heels. With Catherine back in the UK don't count Henry out as she will no doubt have him trading in no time.

Tomorrows match is Sri Lanka v. Afghanistan. And after today, who knows, those E players from Afghanistan might just be the right picks.

Welcome to the top Moira!

When Faf fell

Only one game today and I proved to be quite exciting. Bangladesh was no ones pick as favorites for the day but then again South Africa haven't been to stellar as of late either so who knew?? Bangladesh batted first and did amazing! Al Hasan's 75 and Rahim's 78 secured a total of 330 for South Africa to chase. And since they only dropped 6 wickets I would say well done Bangladesh. 2 wickets each to Phehlukwayo, Morris, and Tahir - nothing to write home about. And for the first half of the 2nd innings it looked like South Africa had a shot, their run rate was on par with Bangladesh. But the then Faf fell. He was on 62 in the 27th over and tried to launch another one when it spun through the gate and crashed into leg stump. Bye bye Faf. They stuck it out for all 50 overs but the run rate just could never get where they needed it to be and in the end they were 21 runs shy. So again, well done Bangladesh.

As for our little competition, I was up there in second for a hot second, but alas, no more. Clustercluck2019 has regained the top spot with the Crackpot Rabbits making a surge just behind. Trophytakers slipped as did the Politcal*unkies, Nagels, Muttermatters and the Panicky Squids are all hanging in the middle order with Henry's Stour Power loosing steam. Hang in there Henry! Catherine is on her way home. (evil daughter in law aside: maybe Catherine will forget to do her trades since she's at the airport..........hmmmm.......)

Tomorrow's match will be England v. Trump, no wait, that's what's happening for the Political Junkies out there, as for the cricketing *unkies, it's England v. Pakistan.

Do you think that Trump Baby balloon will fly over the match? Maybe I should tape it just in case......hmmm......whistling........