Looking good ....

The Champions Trophy is throwing up some really good contests & unexpected results. So far, apart from the qualifying stage (involving Bangladesh & Zimbabwe), and 2 league stage matches (SL vs Windies & India vs England), all the other matches have been really competitive & gone down to the wire.


New Zealand beat South Africa in a low scoring game & a severely depleted Pakistan held their nerve to put it across Sri Lanka the day before yesterday. But yesterday's match up between the Windies & Aussies was something else.

Chasing 235 odd, the Aussies were cruising with a required RR of less than 6, 6 wickets in hand & Gilchrist & Clarke doing duty at the crease. Just about at this stage, something happened (I missed it) between Clarke & Gayle & from then on, you could have cut the tension with a knife. Ian Chappell was commentating & he made the point when he said that he'd never seen Chris Gayle & the Windies as animated & excited as they were today. During one particular over Gayle was ribbing Gilchrist like nobody's business, even wagging fingers. And the Aussies were remarkably subdued throughout.

Personally, I don't like slanging & needle during cricket matches, cause I feel it takes away from what the guys are supposed to be doing out there in the middle, but there's no denying that incidents like these spice up proceedings a great deal. And it was good to see the Aussies at the receiving end for a change. In the end, Jerome Taylor got a deferred hatrick (spread over 2 overs) & the Windies won by 10 runs. It was a great match.

Throughout this tournament, it has been the batsmen who have struggled while the bowlers have managed to control proceedings. Very unlike matches in the subcontinent, but then again, high scoring ODIs were getting all too common, so it's okay once in a while. The pitches have been getting some flak too, and I hope they're sorted out soon.

All in all, things have been shaping up nicely.