Like picking Dead Man's Cherries

Of course I want the bat - or more precisely the Sweaty Robinson World Cup Trophy of Winningness!  Its been fun playing with all of you.  Looking forward to the next one!

Congratulations Anna

Just like your namesake, you may have been knocked out early but you made a miraculous recovery!! In stead of the bat I did find this lovely Cricket Seagull we could have inscribed:
Of course if you would rather have the bat, James said he'll get the plaque updated and pass it on.

The Brown Sugar Squares held onto second while the 4Bs, much like the Kiwis, did in fact get Doosrahed! If you want to check out the final standings, log into cricket web and look on the right. Click on "World Cup 2015" under "Recently Archived Teams", then scroll ALL the way to the very bottom and you will see a link to "Robinson Cricketers Rout"

New Zealand did not show themselves like they had for the rest of the tournament, a bit disapointing. McCullum went out for a duck on the fifth ball and that kinda set the stage. Elliot hung in for 83 but no one else could get anything of note going. 3 wicket hauls to both Johnson and Faulkner running New Zealand all out after 45 overs with only 183 runs to show for it. When Finch went out for a duck in the second over I am sure that New Zealnd thought maybe they could pull it out but no. Australia chased them down in 33.1 overs using up only 3 wickets. Well Done Australia

Thank you all for playing with me, its always a lot of fun. Next March the World Twenty20 tournament will be in India, who's in??

Its Finals Time

If you haven't been paying attention Australia managed to beat India ruining my bowler plans. Australia batted first and put up 328, 105 coming from Smith, with a 4 wicket haul to Yadav. India just couldn't get a good partnership going. Kohli went out with only 1 run, and Raina only got 7. Dohni had the highest with 65 but in the end they went all out after 46.5 overs and 95 runs short. Well done Australia.

So it will be New Zealand and Australia in the finals tonight. Can the little brothers show the big brothers up? Will Australia remind New Zealand why they are considered the little brothers in the first place? I am hoping for a nail-biter that goes down to the wire, even though I won't be able to watch I will be checking in with the commentary on cricinfo.

So how about us? Cricketing Seagull is in first but the Brown Sugar Squares have gone dark. Word of caution mother - eating See's in the dark is not a good idea, I've tried, it doesn't make for a very good movie snack. But, best of luck to you in hunting down your oldest. Barnett's Ball Breaking Batsmen had better watch out, my bowlers are using the Doosra, you will be left confused. The HooNus partook in to much reveling to soon, its hard to sustain that kind of revel, will they be caught by the Kailua Katchers? The Anit-Pivots have also gone dark. I'm not sure their political statements will shine through the dark but The Chartham Stikers just might be carrying a flashlight. Hartless has no hart for the Nagelators, meanwhile the Nagelators have gone dark constructing an eliminator to scrape the dark PaulpaulpaulpaulTeamPaul from their shoe. HAve you every noticed that the more you write the name Paul the funnier it looks? And Team? Well, Team is just boring so they belong on the bottom - Sweaty Teddy to them.

Good Luck tonight folks.

Going dark claims another victim

Sorry Moira.  And watch out Mom.  You are taking a chance!

Final Stretch!

And then there were two. New Zealand was able to knock out South Africa - sorry Robinsons and Tucks (I admit to cheering for NZ but i was purely due to who I had on my team, nothing against the proteas) Anyway, that game had some rain delay issues and then finished in a limited over fashion. South Africa had a great opening inning putting up 281 from 43 overs but NZ just got the better of them in the end. So who will New Zealand face next? Will it be India? They have been storming their way through this tournament, undefeated. Or will it be Australia? They certainly have history on their side and a nice home court advantage.

500 points currently separates 5th from 1st. 5 people within 500 - lots of juggling can still happen, so long as we don't all choose the same 11. SO, who are you going to throw your trade to? How will you make yourself stand out? Michael has settled into the sweaty teddy role for sure but the spots just above him are still in play, so give it your all folks, TWO MORE GAMES!

You can't crack a coconut if you're a dead anchovy

A fall from grace........

or more like a fall from reveling? Moira has seen the power of one choice in the game we call Fantasy Cricket. But there are still 3 games left, three opportunities to make the inspired choice, three chances for glory, three more stabs at improving your place. So, don't lose hope, you all can do it, whatever it is. For me? Well, I have been mucking around in this top group, I'd like to soar past a few of them. Let's see what I can do today.

New Zealand will be playing South Africa - sure wish I could watch this one, it should be a goodun'

Then on Thursday (well wed. night for me) Australia will battle India - another epic game I wish I could see. Michael was trying to find away for us to watch. And he found one, it involved $40 and watching the game on my phone............no thanks, I can't even imagine the eyestrain from watching 8 hours on my phone.

The winner of those two matches will battle it out in the Final on Sunday (Saturday night). I think the top 4 teams are all well deserving of their spots and I suspect 3 nail biting matches ahead. I still predict New Zealand / India in the final and I will further predict New Zealand take the title. As for us? Its to close to predict, anything can happen.

Have fun!

What happened?

Guptill happened.  And the Thunder Boult!

Keep on the sunny side....

I've learned my lesson

Going dark is clearly NOT the way to go. I have fallen to 5th now behind my Mom and my brother. Well no more, no more I say. Today is my day, I am off to great places, and will I succeed? Yes, I will indeed (98 3/4% guaranteed)! Kathy Hart also had a late surge ahead of Paul - are any of those folks even playing??

Australia has earned their spot in the semi finals against India. They beat Pakistan by 6 wickets with 97 balls remaining. Pakistan put up 213 with no major batting standouts and then it only took Australia 33.5 overs to chase it down. 4 wicket haul to Hazelwood, anyone pick Hazelwood?? I think he had like 50 total points before yesterday. Well done if you did, I did not. In Australian batting news, Smith got 65 and 64 not out to Watson.

Tonight is the last quarter final with New Zealand taking on the West Indies.

Side note: I was just reading that the New Zealand team was at a fan event posing for "selfies" with folks. Here's my question, is it really a selfie if you pose with someone else? I'm just asking. Paul? Any sage advice? I figure right now half of our crew are saying to themselves, "what's a selfie??" To them I say, "google it" and now they are all saying, "how do I google again??"

Happy Birthday Missy!

and while we wish you the happiest of days, we will not go easy on you in the cricket - I am sure you would settle for nothing less. So.... India beat Bangladesh, this is not a surprise but Bangladesh did conduct themselves quite well in the opening inning of the match and so it wasn't quite a cake walk for India. To quote cricinfo: "And the first innings finally comes to a close with India getting themselves up to an imposing total of 302 for 6, not a bad feat considering how well the Bangladeshi bowlers pulled them back after their rather spirited start in the early overs. Rohit Sharma played an imperious 137 to guide India to a suitable position, with Suresh Raina providing the adequate foil with his 57-ball 65. The late-hitting of Ravindra Jadeja ensured India could just get over the line and post a 300-plus total in the end. " That was at the innings break. India polished off Bangladesh pretty quickly they went all out 109 runs short. Other people of note, 3 wicket haul for Ahmed and a 4 wicket haul to Yadav.

In our game, My Mom and I passed James (was that your gift to Mom James??) while everyone else remained stagnant. And while I was checking the game progress at midnight I looked at the teams around me to see who I should be shouting for and noticed that Anna and I had the EXACT SAME TEAM! Down to the captain. I will not go so far as to say that she copied me, but I did make my trades first, so............ Now that paranoia is starting to creep in, I may have to go dark. It's tough, the choices are limited this late in the game. what to do, what to do...................

Australia and Pakistan tonight. Will the Hawk take flight? Should we be Afridi? Will Clarke discover new territories? Is it Elementary my dear Watson? Or maybe its all a double helix........who knows, or is it HooNus?

The worm is wiggling

James Goes Dark

James has allowed paranoia to take over and did it help?? Oh I think not, not at all. It would seem that Sri Lanka also let a little paranoia set in. They changed around their starting line up, and did it help? Hell to the NO! They got beat by South Africa, and beat bad, very bad.

Sri Lanka batted first and were able to get nothing started, or finished for that matter. No one broke the 50 mark and only 2 guys even made it into the 40's. They went all out at 37.2 overs with a dismal total of 133. Hats off to South Africas bowlers, well done boys. 3 wicket haul for Duminy and a 4 wicket haul for Tahir. With such a small total to chase it is no surprise that South Africa reached it in spades. It only took them 18 overs and 3 batsmen to get the job done. 78 for de Kock. The sole wicket for Sri Lanka went to Malinga. So South Africa wins by 9 wickets and moves onto the semi finals, its been awhile for the Proteas, can they keep it going??

Tonight its Bangladesh against India, it will be a tough battle for Bangladesh but you just never know.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the cricinfo match commentary of last nights game:

"yep, the Proteas choked all right," wheezes David. "Choked the life out of Sri Lanka"

"Evolution still happens - from Quinton De Choke to Quinton De Kock to Quinton De ROCK :)"

and finally one that seems especially appropriate for the fantasy player,

"Every wicket makes me happy and Every wicket makes me sad .. Ahhh cricket what have you done to me"

Lazy and negligent

So over the weekend I was all consumed by minecraft.I felt good, there were days to get a blog done before the next match.  plenty of time to talk smack.....well here we are hours before the first quarter final and I am at gymnastics again, blogging from my phone.  I had already taken notes on the last two matches, all ready to go for a recap for you.  but at this point, if you didn't bother to go look at the results, do you really care? So I will just press on.
Today south Africa will battle Sri Lanka. Next match up is Bangladesh and India.Then Australia take on Pakistan.  Finally new Zealand will go up against the west Indies. Looking it over I predict sa will move on with India. And Australia and New Zealand. Further I suspect it will be India, New Zealand in the finals. What are your predictions?
In other news, can anyone catch moira? Does anyone know how much it will cost me to ship the bat to sa? And what about the next 4 spots, it's a pretty tight race at the top.  should be some tense moments ahead. As for the bottom,I think we can say the lagging group will remain so, but who will get the coveted sweaty teddy??? So many questions yet to be answered.
Enjoy the cricket folks.

I think its time for a drinks break.

Man, that sure was a Doosra!

A surge is a surge no matter how small

From my phone

So the day wears on, no trades made, time to take the kids to gymnastics....what to do? I decided to see how smart this phone actually is. Just made all my trades on the phone, wipe brow that I got it done in time. Now I am attempting to write the blog on my phone while I wait. We'll see how it goes.
Yesterday new Zealand best Bangladesh in what was a really exciting match, or at least that what the headlines on cricinfo said. I think mahmudullah got like 147 but not enough.sorry that's all the details you get.the phone is good but it's no computer. Then England beat Afghanistan, thank God because they may not have been let back in the country if they had lost.
So two matches about to start, first it's India and zimbabwe then Australia and Scotland.any guesses who the favorites are? I don't think a win or lose makes a hill of beans for India, but Australia will want the win to make their finishing place a little stronger, although they go through no matter what.
Ok,I chock all typos up to autocorrect and all witty humor I take full responsibility. Chow

After today you all will be like, "man that sure was a Doosra!"

I'm looking to surge, so watch out! James and Anna are pulling away from me and its time I reined them in. And don't think we've forgotten about you Moira - I have you in my sights as well. Plus my Mother In Law is hot on my heels and I don't want to make this easy on her. Henry is still hanging in with the big kids and Paul is trying to Mind the Gap. In low end news, the Hart sisters have a fear of the sweaty teddy and have surpassed Michael. Michael actually said to me the other night, "when should I make trades?" Really? Like I'm going to help the likes of him.

In cricket news, India beat Ireland, Sri Lanka beat Scotland, and last night South Africa beat the UAE. (Side note question: If I want to start a sentence with de Villiers, do I capitalize the de??) Anyway......De Villiers was one shy of a century and Berhardien earned a half century with 64, and despite Naveed's 3 wickets South Africa put up 341 for the UAE to chase. But other than 57 from Patil, they couldn't manage to do much, going all out at 47.3 overs and 146 runs short. So, well done to all the big teams putting the little teams in their places.

Today is the start of 3 days of double headers. The last 3 days before the quarter finals. First up today is New Zealand and Bangladesh. Both of these teams are through to the quarter finals and NZ will top Pool A, but if Bangladesh could win it would move them ahead of Sri Lanka. Which would be good because they would probably avoid meeting India, which could be bad. The second game is England and Afghanistan. Both of these teams are headed home after this. But, there are still points to be had so don't hesitate to put them on you team. England will not want to face further shame by losing to Afghanistan and Afghanistan will want to show the world the associates deserve a seat at the table.

tata for now

Get off me!

Worm of Losingness for those not named Moira

Worm of Winningness

Bangladesh Knock England Out

Now that we have settled the sweaty teddy matter (see post below) back to the cricket. Last night Bangladesh beat England knocking them out of the quarter finals, and ensuring they themselves will move on. So the top 4 from Pool A are set, although what order they finish is not set yet. Moving on from Pool A are New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. A special well done to Bangladesh as this is their first time to move out of the knock out stage in a world cup.

How'd they do it? Well they batted first and it was all about Mahmudullah (103) and Rahim (89). No One else did much but they didn't need to. The put up a total of 275 after the 50 overs. England couldn't get it together, Bell tried (63), Buttler tried(65), but it was not enough. They went all out 15 runs short. And a 4 wicket haul to R. Hossain.

More shuffling in our group, check the worm.

The Sweaty World Cup Teddy Bear of 12th Place-ness

So, this is the original post from back in the day when the bat and the bear first made their appearances. As to why the bear is sweaty? Still a mystery.

"Moira stuck to her guns for a solid 12 place finish and so earns the sweaty world cup teddy bear of 12th place-ness. Paul get the shirt of first place-ness. Missy came in second and has requested the third place prize of the hat coz she doesn't know what a cricket ball is and so, if that is ok with you Sarah, she wins the hat and you win the cricket ball.

Also, we bought a floating trophy of a signature cricket bat that will go to Paul as the winner. I will get his name put on it, and in 4 years time it will go to the next winner of the Robinson World Cup. It shall hence forth (I always wanted to say that) be known as the Sweaty Robinson World Cup Trophy of Winningness. Here is a picture of the bat and the bear."

Things are heating up yet again

we had a lull there for a few days, not much movement. But, no more. Moira continues to soar, Missy and James took me out, Catherine and Henry finally broke through taking out Bob along the way. Paul is not in the hunt and Michael is also on the move taking out Sally. Kathy is still the in the hunt for the Sweaty Teddy, but don't fear Kathy, Moira was the first ever recipient of the Sweaty Teddy and look how far she has come. We have one more week until the quarter finals so the pressure is on all these games as we get down to the end of the group stages.

In yesterdays matches NZ and Australia both took home wins. New Zealand beat Afghanistan by 6 wickets. Afghanistan batted first and totaled a whopping 186, half centuries to Shenwari and n. Zadran but almost everyone else were in the single digits. They went all out after 47 overs with a 4 wickets haul to Vettori. NZ only used up 4 wickets in the chase with a half century for Guptil.

Australia beat Sri Lanka in what looks like a pretty even match - must have been a good one to watch. Australia started by putting up 376, a fine total. They got there with 102 from Maxwell, 72 from Smith, and 67 from Watson. So Sri Lanka answered with 62 from Dilshan, 104 from Sangakara, and 52 from Chandimal. But Faulkners 3 wicket haul helped Australia get them all out after 46 overs and win by 64 runs.

Today England will take on Bangladesh. This is a must win game for both teams if they want to make it to the quarter finals so it should be a good one. England have been sad, Bangladesh have been happy, lets see what today brings. If Bangladesh make it to the Quarter Finals, it will be their first trip.

You wouldn't take me out too would you Mom?

Robinsons no longer chasing

Reaching for the stars

The Powerhouses let the Associates know their place

the last 3 matches have seen full member nations taking on associate nations, and predictable the full member nations have triumphed. Pakistan beat UAE, Australia beat Afghanistan, and tonight Bangladesh beat Scotland. This division between the full member nations and the associates is cause for much strife amongst some and much debate. Where do you fall? Should the associate nations be in the World Cup? Or should the ultimate tournament belong to the top 10??

And what about our tournament? Moira has reclaimed number 1 - with some breathing room, and James has let his folks know just what they can expect for elder care. Meanwhile Henry is making a move to reign his wife in and the two of them are making lots of moves to reign the Barnett's (and Moira) in. Paul is showing signs of fight and Michael seems to have given up.

Tomorrow it should be a good one, India and the West Indies. Only like 10 more days of this opening round folks. How are your trades looking??? Anyone need a new captain? (I Do, I DO)

Hold on to something Moira - you don't want to gloat away!

Now Catherine has us in her sights

Welcome Back

Well, you all might have been here all along. Sorry, I went MIA over the weekend and then the folks needed some IT training, so I have been remiss. But you all are used to that right?

Here's the recap: NZ beat Australia by 1 wicket, India beat UAE by 9 wickets, Sri Lanka beat England by 9 wickets, and Pakistan finally won a match against Zimbabwe by 20 runs. So, in Pool A NZ has 8 points, SL 6, Bang 6, and Aust. 3. In Pool B India has 6, SA 4, Ire 4, and WI 4.

With us, Anna has reclaimed #1, I put the temporary squash on my aangetroude (is that the right word?), while my parents have taken out their son - We'll see if that sticks. Although I have to say when they did it to me there was NO sympathy what so ever, and now my mom seems to feel a little bad that she has done it to James...what gives? Also, in big news, Catherine has overtaken Henry! Kathy???? Kathy???? are you with us? Sally - give her a nudge. Lots more cricket to play folks, lots more.

In about 90 minutes South Africa will be taking on Ireland - they could use a win but the Irish are on fire so who knows.