What a Nail Biter!

Epic final tied, Super Over tied, England win on boundaries!! Woakes woak, Ferguson wicketed, Henry Bowled, Morgan MEH, Anna wins the World Cup!

What a final match that was! New Zealand batted first and it was a bit of a slow plod. Nicholls got 55 but the English bowlers kept things in check while the Kiwis slowly built the total to 241/8. 3 wickets each to Woakes and Plunkett.

England dropped wickets early and it looked kinda bleak, then Stokes and Buttler got in a groove that began to wake the crowd up to the idea that England might just win this thing. Then Stokes lost Buttler, it looked bleak again, but Stokes held on. Finally it came down to the last over. England needed 15 runs off that last over to win.
.1 no run
.2 no run
.3 Boult to Stokes, SIX!
.4 Boult to Stokes - hit deep mid wicket and they ran, 1 run in, Stokes diving to make 2 pushes the incoming ball forward disrupting the play and sending the ball to the boundary for 4 more!! WHAT??!! 6 runs
So now 3 needed from 2 balls
.5 1 run, now 2 needed from last ball
.6 Boult to Stokes 1 run, and OUT!!! It's a tie!!

So onto a Super Over where each side gets 1 over. England bat first
.1 Boult to Stokes , 3
.2 Boult to Buttler, 1
.3 Boult to Stokes, 4 (Damn this is good)
.4 Boult to Stokes, 1
.5 Boult to Buttler, 2
.6 Boult to Butler, 4!

15 runs for England

Now its New Zealands turn
.1 Archer to Neesham, 2
.2 Archer to Neesham, 6!
.3 Archer to Neesham, 2
they need 5 off of 3 balls
.4 Archer to Neesham, 2
3 off of 2 now
.5 Archer to Neesham, 1
2 off of 1 (does this sound familiar?)
.6 Archer to Guptil, 1 run, heading for 2 but.....Buttler makes a dive at the wickets and .....OUT!!!!

That left it tied again, forcing them to look at total boundaries in the game to determine the winner and England wins the World Cup, England wins the World Cup!

As for us, Anna wins the Robinson World Cup Sweaty Teddy of Winngingness!! Anna wins the Robinson World Cup Sweaty Teddy of Winngingness!! Anna wins the Robinson World Cup Sweaty Teddy of Winngingness!!

Final podium: Bronze to James and the Crackpot Rabbits, Silver to me and my Political *unkies and the gold goes to Anna and her Clustercluck2019

I am up Twenty20 in 2020! Who wouldn't be, I'll have to start planning my name now.....

Thanks everyone for another fun tournament.

Woakes + Ferguson + Henry - Morgan = winning formula

Sorry I missed out on watching the last half.  Sounds like an epic final.  At least I got  a rusk.

Anyone for T20 in 2020?

On the eve of victory

At least I'm hoping for victory, it's best to be positive about these things.   Seems it worked for England who absolutely crushed Australia the other day.  I mean WTF Australia?? Seriously, it looked like the US women's game against Thailand. So in a surprise final we have England vs. New Zealand.  Can the home team prevail? Will the Political *unkies get the popular vote or be thwarted by the Clustercluck2019s electoral strategy? And what about the Crackpot Rabbits? Where did they come from? Was their surge to late? The Nagels should have cooked those rabbits when they could, I fear they will prove to be too wiley for the Nagels now.  What trophy do you think the Trophytakers are planning to take??? They seem to be playing the tournament backwards.  Hmmmm..... Did the Panicky Squids relax enough to take the trophy? I'm anxious just thinking about it.  Finally, it seems the Muttermatters do matter, at least a little more than the Stour Powers power. But one good captain could change it all.....

So make your trades, grab a rusk and a coffee and settle in for the final showdown.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Anna has done it, she's surpassed me, but I'm only 33 points back and tomorrow I'll have a captain in the game, so.......

NZ retook the field and yesterday's work of Williamson (67) and Taylor (74) got them to 239/8.  India then dropped 3 quick wickets it wasn't looking good.  But they rallied, Dhoni and Jadeja both did their part. Michael says it all got quite exciting at the end.  India came close but eventually went all out 18 runs short.

So NZ will play the winner of tomorrow's match between Australia and England.  I'm hoping my captain comes up big, fingers crossed, toes held, burning sage....

Rain, Rain, Go Away

NZ batted first and got to 211/5 with 23 balls remaining when the rains began.  So play was suspended and they'll try again tomorrow.  Bad news is that the weather tomorrow doesn't look any better.  So,  if the rain stays away they will pick up where they left off,  if not then I believe India is awarded the win since they went into the tournament ahead.

No new trades to make, for now we wait

Don't Forget Your Trades

With a late score posting and coming home from the cabin I've not written. But here we are, on the eve of the first semifinal.  Tomorrow India will take on New Zealand.  Who will go through? Which one of us will be able to surge ahead? Who will be awarded the Robinson World Cup Sweaty Teddy of Winningness??

Nothing will happen if you don't make your trades, so go,  do it now, not just now, but right now, now now. Go. I mean it. Make trades.

Finally a worm...

So close I can taste it.

Things are shaking up

Seems like all these earthquakes in California have jostled things up a bit.  James overtook Catherine (do you think she's saving trades for a big captain surge?) And Henry overtook Moira, what does Henry know that Catherine didn't??? Hmmmm.....

James,  I trust all is well with you guys? Im assuming you've been feeling the quakes?

Meanwhile,  Bangladesh's Afridi's 6 wickets were not enough to overcome UlHaq (100) and Azam (96). Pakistan won by 94 runs.

Tomorrow 2 final games before the semis.  India/ Sri Lanka and Australia/ South Africa.  As it stands now,  the first semi will be Australia and new Zealand, the second India and England.  Unless Australia loses tomorrow and India wins, then I'm not sure.

So plan and plot and toil and fret and hold onto something solid, we're almost at the end.

Reach For The Stars

Happy 4th and 2nd to Anna!

In game that mattered to no one, the Windies beat Afghanistan and Anna beat Catherine. So,  I guess it mattered to Anna and Gayle.

Hope got 77 runs,  and Lewis and Pooran a lot as well, they ran 58 times.  The Windies ran a total of 311 times.  Shah ran 62 and Alikhil 86 but in the end Afghanistan needed to run 23 more times.  Brathwaite didn't run so well but he did haul in 4 wickets.

Tomorrow another game ( Bangladesh and Pakistan) that doesn't really matter but for which you have to trade and who knows? It may matter, and you may just run past the guy in front of you.

Happy 4th!

England advance

Catherine did you watch the game? Did you see the streaker? Here's how one journalist put it: "England are now two wins away from lifting the cup, and the outpouring of relief at reaching the pointy end of the competition was palpable, even if it was momentarily delayed by a streaker who ran almost as many rings around ground security staff as Morgan's men did around Kane Williamson's."
I with that England are through to the semis.  NZ will most likely be ok unless Pakistan win in some amazing manner that I can't quite figure.

Tomorrow it's the Windies looking to get in a little practice against again Afghanistan. Then the final 3 matches this weekend before the semis next week.

There is lots of converging happening in our little neck of the woods.  Things are tight and there are still points to be had decisions to be made.

CONGRATULATIONS KATY!

Happy now?

Test

This is a test of the emergency blogging system, this is only a test. If this was an actual emergency all your trades would disappear and the games would be washed out

Toot toot

Yes, yes, well done James, your worm shows a nice steep slope.  But check out the leader board.  Toot, toot,  I'm tooting my own horn.

India is also tooting their horns, they beat Bangladesh by 28 runs. Solidifying their advancement to the semi finals.

Players of note: Sharma 104, Rahul 77, AlHasan 66, Saiffudin 51, 4 wickets to Bumrah (he's also tooting) and a 5 wicket haul to Rahman

Tomorrow England really need a win over New Zealand in order to move to the semis. 

Happy trading everyone.

James makes his move.

Two titles

I couldn't decide between 2 titles: Can You Hear The Drums Fernando?? Or: A Pooran Ran Ran A Pooran Ran. You choose.

Sri Lanka beat the Windies in a match for pride and Anna overtook Catherine in a tournament for a sweaty teddy.

Fernando got 104 runs for SL to help them post 338 and while Pooran made it to 118, the windies did not meet the goal, coming 23 runs short.

Tomorrow it's Bangladesh and India

24 points difference between top three.  Anybody's game.