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.