The Grand Finale

So another tournament comes to a close and with quite a bang. India and Pakistan in the finals!! I am sure those two countries didn't get much work done today! India batted first and started with Gambhir getting 75 runs!! They went on to put up 157 for Pakistan to chase. And chase they did. Palistan fought hard and it cam down to a very dramitic finish. 13 runs were required in the last over and it was whittled down to 12 from 5 balls when Misbah-ul-Haq hit a whopper of a 6! 6 from 4 now and Joginder Sharma to Misbah-ul-Haq, OUT, India! It's all over here! Full and on the stumps. Misbah goes for the scoop shot over short fine-leg. That is a risky shot to play with only 6 needed from 4 balls. Straight up in the air and Sreesanth takes the catch. India have won by 5 runs in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20! What a game, wish I coulda seen it.

As for our humble competition, let the victors and the vanquished congratulate each other on a game well played. Thank you all for playing and making this such a fun competition. I know Anna expressed the feeling that she wished we could see some matches here in the states now that she knows what's going on - I think we have a convert. The worm says it all about the final standings:


Paul went from top to bottom, Arvinder went fom bottom to near the top, The dreamless team continues to snore, Sandi made a good show of it, Team Jimminy wished upon a star and beat 4 Robinsons, Moira has redeemed herself from the Sweaty Teddy Award, Gandolf Guys need to get some cricket help from Joseph, Mishal had Missy talking to herself, Henry champions the middle, Daniels mongoose took out Samsoms horse, Catherine broke 600 while Michael took 6th place, The All Stars were playing baseball while the 711's made huge late game gains. Finally, while MIssy tried her best - even making her last minute strategy secret - she couldn't quite beat her daughter!!

Its been fantasy, and its been fun, but for now it all is done!

The Home Stretch

Well here we are with the Semi Finals done and only one game to go. Seems Pakistan had no trouble making into the Final as they handily beat New Zealand by 6 wickets with 7 balls remaining. Must have been some excitment there. We watched (actually we read the play by play) as India put up a formidable 188 runs with Singh putting up 70 himself. Then we bit our finger nails as Australia tried to claw their way back. It looked OK for awhile with Hayden and Gilchrist starting to put some numbers up, but then could never quite get that ball smacking over the boundry. Michael was elated, and I was sad as India knocked out Australia by 15 runs. So now the big questions are, "how many trades do you have for the final match up?" and "can you get a full team of 11 that will play in the last match?" Me? Not quite. But I still have a strategy and am hoping to fend off the last minute attacks. After careful analysis of the moods of the players in America, here is my take: Anna is gunning to beat a Robinson (anyone will do and currently Paul is taking the fall), Michael is hoping to be better than average, Bob doesn't want anyone to know he has no Pakistanis nor Indians and no trades, Missy is doing her best to dethrone her daughter (I though parents were suppose to support their kids?), and I am just hoping to hang on. What are your hopes and dreams?
Here's the worm to help clarify your goals:

Good Luck on Monday Everyone! Katy

Brag Blog

So far I have been an unbiased blog administrator, but since there is no cricket to blog about tonight, I'm going to brag. I am kicking your collect butts!! I am on fire, you people have no chance at catching me. Just try, go ahead. My team right now ROCKS!! My husband is jealous(and proud)and wishes that he hadn't done such a good job at teaching me the game. My Mom,is jealous(and proud) and wishes she didn't raise such a competitive daughter. My Dad has been stunned into silence. BRING IT ON PEOPLE, BRING IT ON!

The Final 4

Well, India evicted South Africa by 37 runs. It didn't seem like SA was ever able to put anything together as one after another of their batsmen went out. Then Pakistan predictably beat Bangladesh but if anyone had the foresight to have the Bangladeshi, Siddique, they could have racked up some major points with his 71 run streak. Then Australia beat Sri Lanka by an amazing 10 wickets!! Sri Lanka only put up 101 runs which Australia's opening batsmen, Gilchrist and Hayden, handled easily knocking Sri Lanka out of the tourney.



As you can tell from the worm, competition in the middle of the pack is getting fierce. With the final game approaching, those of you with lots of trades could really do some damage - so watch out everyone! It is time to cut your proteas and cage your lions as the final four are: New Zealand, India, Pakistan, and Australia. Both Semi Final matches are on Saturday with NZ v. Ind, and Pk v. Aus. We're being denied hacked internet access to the game so we may have to settle for reading the play by play online.....or we could fly to England for the weekend........tough call.

Have a nice day off tomorrow and be ready for the action on Saturday!

Michael sitting in for Katy tonight

Coming to you live from Robinson Cricket headquarters here in sunny Northern California it's Michael "Can't pick worth a damn" Robinson. Katy is out for parents evening at the school and has asked me to fill you all in on the happenings.

Well England is out after 2 losses. The 6 sixes from Singh did them in. India are lloking like the India of old and there should be plenty of smiling faces at work tomorrow.

My captain (Smith) scored 2 but South Africa came back to win against New Zealand in the last over. Gibbs is back in the side so maybe you want to choose him again.

Katy is looking close to unstoppable, so someone better figure out a few picks that will change things around a bit.

Here is the worm.



Tomorrows games are a must win between Sri Lanka and Australia, Bangladesh vs Pakistan and South Africa vs India, which should be interesting.

The Semis are shaping up

So, Sri lanka beat Bangladesh - no surprise. What was a surprise (or not after yesterday) is that Jayasuriya went out for a duck. Pakistan beat Australia with some wicked mid order batting. Misbah-ul-Haq scored 66 runs! Anyone have him? cause he's doing well! Then, Catherine I know this hurts, New Zealand beat England by 5 runs. We won't go into the gory details but the highlight for England was Maddy batting a 1/2 century. Anyone have him? The other up side for England is that their womens soccer team is going through to the quarter finals of the Womens World Cup!! So it looks like Pakistan and New Zealand are pretty much guaranteed to go through to the semis. England has to beat India and then hope that South Africa loses their next two games and even then they would need a better run rate than India and South Africa. So.........here's the worm:

Not much change, some jostling in the midfield and a move by Arvinder to get into the midfield.

Tomorrow SA v. NZ & E v. I

Be Vigilant!

Not much cricket today as the only game played was Pakistan V. Sri Lanka. It was a significant game none the less as Pakistan won by 33 runs. I have to say that I was surprised. I was thinking that Sri Lanka was on an unstoppable T20 run that would take them all the way to the top - and they may still get there but the Pakistanis proved to be a bump in the road. Pakistan batted first and put up 189 for 6. Jayasuriya may be an A batsman but I think he might be a G bowler as he let in 64 runs and had an economy rating of 16.00. Sorry for all you who placed your hopes in his ability but he earned -5 points for that dismal performance. Then when Sri Lanka took their turn at the bat, Jayasuriya was bowled out after only 5 runs (he made up 1 of the 5 points for you there). His opening partner went out for a duck leaving the middle of the batting order to do all the damage control. In the end Sri Lanka just could not come up with quite enough runs to overtake Pakistan. With their defeat the field is still wide open. Each team in the super 8 has played one game for this round. In tomorrows match ups: Pakistan will play Australia and the winner of the match will most likely make it through to the Semi Finals. Bangladesh and England will need to win their games against Sri Lanka and New Zealand respectively if they want to keep their hopes alive.

As for our little competition: things are starting to spread out and there is beginning to be 3 groups - those battling for the lead, those battling to be the best of the middle, and those hoping to avoid the embarrassment of last place. BUT, nothing is settled yet- DON"T GET COMPLACENT! You must continue to be vigilant in your scouring of the stats, make wise trades, and heckle your neighbor incessantly! I still hold the lead but every time Pakistan plays Mishal threatens to take it from me. Missy, Sandy, Catherine, Karan, and Michael are all right there ready to pounce. Moira and Bob seemed to be firmly entrenched in the middle - but I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled their feet out of the mud. Sandeep needs to wake up his dreamless team and the Gandalf Guys need a good pep talk. So get to it people, bring it on!

Neither Willful Nor Intentional

The morning began with New Zealand beating India by 10 runs. NZ put up a 190 runs for India to chase. India began strong with Gambhir and Sehwag scoring 91 runs together but then they fell flat and couldn’t get it together to overtake NZ. The question on Michaels mind is, "Where’s Styris???" NZ seems to be doing ok and Vettori got 4 wickets so I say, "Who cares?"

Australia beat Bangladesh by 9 wickets. Bangladesh put up 123 runs which Aus easily answered as Hayden and Gilchrist collectively got 116! Australia only needed 13.5 overs to squash Bangladesh making them wish that the West Indies had gone through instead.

The real excitement happened in the South Africa game against England. Bright and early this morning Catherine phoned us up and started waving her Union Jack around like she knew something we didn’t. That woman has some moxie I tell ya. We very politely told her that we would see her on the pitch. SA started out pretty slow and Michael was very concerned that they at least needed to hit 150. Enter Albie Morkel. His 4 6’s and 3 4’s brought SA back into the competitive range and they ended their 20 overs with 154. England came out looking much like the SA’s. They were actually tied for most of the match. Unfortunately for England they were lacking a South African as good as Morkel. The South African that they stole, Pietersen, was run out by Ntini after only 15 runs in a most exciting play. It seems that Pollock was so focused on getting to the ball being thrown in that he was unaware of the bad run line chosen by Pietersen. As Pietersen passed Pollock he stuck his bat out whacking Pollock on the back of the knees. This caused the bat to fly out of Pietersen's hands and left him diving into the wickets to late to save himself from the out. Now I know that Catherine feels that Pollock cheated, but let’s all stay calm and realize that his actions were neither "willful nor intentional". Therefore Pietersen was fairly called out by the experienced umpires. Through it all Bob just kept saying, "The real game is tomorrow, its all about tomorrow."

And so tomorrow we will see if Bobs Sri Lankans can propel him back to the top.

- Katy



Here is the worm. Man! It is going to be hard to predict a winner. Bob goes up then goes down then Sandi came way up then Henry jumped up. Its like crazy and stuff. Oh ya, and Katy is winning.

- Michael

A 7 Wicket Day

Michael and I got up early and were able to catch our first full game of the tourney. We watched as Bangladesh came out whacking the ball all over the place and dropping wickets like hot potatoes. Then in the second half South Africa answered with a collective cool and ended up winning by 7 wickets. It was a pretty exciting game despite the fact that both teams had already been guarenteed to go through.

In the other game, New Zealand put up a good fight, Taylor putting 62 runs on the board but Jayasariya is on fire and his 61 runs helped Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by 7 wickets.

Bob has taken the lead with all his Sri Lankan picks but he is complaining that Bond conceding 60 runs and losing him 10 points (Bonds his captain) is enough to piss off the good humour man! However, good humopur man or not, well done to Bob for kicking all our butts.

Tomorrow should be a great day of cricket with NZ taking on India, Aus going up against Bangladesh and the Proteas hoping to match their rugby team and keep the Lions from putting any score on the board. Anna, Missy, and Bob will all be here with Michael and I enjoying a Bloody Mary and all the cricket action.

And here's the worm:

The Great Bowl Out! or Barnetts Take Over

Well what excitement today! India was in a must win situation (or at least don't lose by to much). At the end of 20 overs it was all tied up! Come on folks, how can the score be 141 each?!? I mean with that many runs would think it would have tipped one way or the other by at least ball or two! What are the stats on ties in cricket? Do they happen often? Since it is a tournament a tie can not be accepted, so they had a bowl-out. Much like taking PKs in soccer the bowlers each had a shot at hitting the wickets, best of 5 won. Well, India knocked off their first 3 wickets while Pakistan got none. So well done to the Indian bowlers.

In other game news, Kenya had their pants handed to them by Sri Lanka as they won by 172 runs! And it seemed like every Sri Lankan bowler got a wicket except the stupid E player I picked. And Bob was able to capitalize on his batsmen for once, shooting him straight up to 3rd place. You make me proud Dad.

England also had a rough day losing to Australia by 8 wickets. Gilchrist and Hayden both put up lots of points so Missy gets the best captain pick this time around.

Tomorrows game don't matter much for anyone as all the teams playing are already through to the next round. But, look out for some normal bench warmers to get some playing time in New Zealand V. Sri Lanka and South Africa v. Bangladesh.

The 8 teams moving on are:
(A1) South Africa
(A2) Bangladesh
(B1) Australia
(B2) England
(C1) New Zealand
(C2) Sri Lanka
(D1) Pakistan
(D2) India

Michael is busy with his sketch up stuff but maybe I can coerce him into doing the worm - I'll try bribing him with salted licorice!


(Michael - OK here it is)

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Well as the rain washed out the India Scotland game I am sure the Scottish breathed a sigh of relief and the Indians an "Ooh Crap!" This turn of events makes tomorrows Pakistan V. India game crucial to India's chances of moving on. They need a win or a "better" loss than Scotland had against Pakistan in order to advance - Pakistan is through. Bangladesh and South Africa are also through to the next round as Bangladesh knocked the West Indies out of the competition. (Side note: Gayle went out for a duck! Hah! I am vindicated!) So tomorrows SA v. Bang game is really just a day of fun as neither one cares who wins - well maybe it will be a pride thing. But Michael says the word on the street is that SA will be resting Gibbs and Smith. Sorry Paul.

England had their way with the Zimbabweans putting much pressure on Australia to save face. If England wins tomorrow they will go through along with Zimbabwe. If Australia wins, England has to hope they only lose by a little. A tea cups worth of loss if you will. Speaking of England, Pietersen had a good game and so the "you pick a good captain" award goes to Anna and Sandeep. This inspired choice shot Anna up into 5th place and has everyone wondering if the key to this whole thing is to have no clue about what is going on. Or, is it just the stellar upbring those Barnett girls had? Either way congrats to me for being in 2nd and to Anna in 5th. Mishal hung onto her 1st place spot and Moira - we are all proud of you for picking Australians even if they did nothing for you!

Tomorrows match ups:
Kenya v. Sri Lanka
Australia v. England
India v. Pakistan

Happy Cricketing, Katy

Bob makes huge strides despite lack of knowledge

Well today was all about the bowlers and so it seems that Bob's strategy (does he know he has one?) might just pay off for him. He finally put some points on the board with his captain, Bond. The other player earning big points for his bowling was Pakistan's Afridi. Moira, myself, and Danial all benefited from this inspired choice but it was Mishal who really gummed up the worm by making him her captain. The New Zealand bowlers also did well. The only batsman to really do anything of note was Taylor from Zimbabwe, did anyone have Taylor from Zimbabwe?? Zimbabwe? Who knew? They kicked Australias collective butt and won by 5 wickets with only 1 ball remaining - this must have been the game to watch. I don't get to watch as all the games are played when I am at work. But, this weekend I plan to get my fill even it means I have to rise at the crack of dawn!

Here's the run down:
Zimbabwe beat Australia by 5 wickets
Pakistan beat Scotland by 51 runs
New Zealand beat Kenya by a whopping 9 wickets!

And here's the worm: New and improved for your viewing pleasure, actual size, good source of whole grains, naturally fat free, click on it to see the details.Tomorrow: Bangladesh V. WI, England V. Zimbabwe, and India V. Scotland
(Watch out for those Zimbabweans Catherine! - you might want to make some trades)

And so it begins

Yes folks the games have begun. As the match began I was in complete turmoil, imagine Gayle hitting a century!! I was beside myself. This is the man who I staunchly stood by in the spring only to be disappointed time and time again! And here he is smacking over a 100?!? I'm a little bitter. But, South Africa was not to be shut down and came back with their own impressive hitting to take the game 208 for 2. All in all Gayle's impressive points were followed closely by Gibbs who I am sure Paul is currently praising! Cheers to Paul for hanging onto his first place title with a wise captain choice. Michael just got home and said, "your mom sucks, she just seems to pick the right players somehow." So cheers to Missy for throwing her skills in Michaels face. Don't get to worried folks cause there are many more games to go.

I also want to send words of encouragement to Anna, I think you must have an inside man cause your team looks good. When England plays on Thursday you should really see some points.

Welcome to the new players, may the journey be exciting!

Tomorrow is a triple play with Kenya taking on New Zealand, Pakistan facing Scotland, and Australia making an appearance against Zimbabwe.

And here is the new worm. Click on it to see the big version.

Welcome

Welcome to the Falcon Cricketers Blog - The place to dish the dirt, bust some chops, and generally revel in all things cricket.

So far we have 11 teams in our humble tournament. Lets recruit more!! If you know of any one who would like to join just send me an email and I'll get them an invite.

I am hoping to convince my wonderful husband to brush the dust off his worm and get us some good visuals. Hold thumbs and keep fingers crossed.

Remember - the first match is on the 11th so you have until then to make changes to your team for free. I would also like to encourage everyone to make their team public in these early stages. I know that later on people get very guarded about their strategies and will want some privacy but in these early rounds I think it is fun to know who other people are rooting for. Just a suggestion.

So for now, have fun and start strategizing!! Katy