Breaking/Brief news
March 23, 2007
Last Hope For This World Cup?
As I was preparing this post, I thought of pointing out that these two games on Friday - West Indies versus Ireland in Jamaica and India versus Sri Lanka in Trinidad, were key to the success of the World Cup. As news broke of Bob Woolmer's death being a murder, it now seems regardless of what happens on the cricket field, this World Cup will be forever remembered for Woolmer's murder. If there is any hope left of this World Cup being remembered positively, that now hangs on the outcome of these two matches.
If the West Indies lose their game against Ireland, they will enter the Super Eights without a single point. Worse yet, the teams from the other groups will have the advantage of having Ireland to play, while the Windies will have no such luxury. The West Indies will find it difficult to make the semi finals and the interest of the local fans will wane significantly. A good showing by the home team is important in any World Cup, but more so for this edition, given the vast numbers of empty seat that are on show accross the Caribbean. The only group matches that have drawn anywhere near a capacity crowd have been the Windies games.
If the Indians lose their game, they will be out of the tournament (assuming that Bangladesh will beat Bermuda), and the interest level of the approximately 1 billion Indian fans would have dissipated. The tournament would then be a major disappointment for tournament sponsors who would undoubtedly lose millions of dollars from advertisement that was aimed at large Indian television audiences. This potential financial calamity for the sponsors would in all likelihood make any future World Cups in the West Indies a remote possibility.
Give a cheer Friday for the West Indies and for India. After Woolmer's murder, what's left of this World Cup may just be riding on the fortunes of these two teams.
(Cross posted from Rain, No Play)
Labels: 2007 world cup, bob woolmer, india, west indies, world cup
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I have no more interest in this world cup. I don't care whether India goes through to the super 8s or not.
As far as I'm concerned, the ugliness of the episode and the horror of the murder has done enough damage to cricket's credibility as a "gentleman's game".
Too bad some people cannot think beyond their own team's fortunes in what is essentially a game.
By 
Hari (23 Mar 2007, 12:34:00 pm)
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