Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
Wanderers test will not match Newlands. But for better or worse?
Last week’s crazy Cape Town test match between South Africa and Australia, where 23 wickets fell in a day and the visitors narrowly avoided the lowest ever test score, will go down in cricket’s esteemed annals.
They meet again at the Wanderers from Thursday. But would test cricket fans want to see a repeat?
The Newlands match was over in three days and despite all the drama, purists were left wondering whether the flurry of wickets was due to bad batting and a lack of application in the test arena rather than wonderful bowling in conducive conditions.
Australia captain Michael Clarke described his team’s batting as “disgraceful and unacceptable” after they were bowled out for 47.
Players preferring the big-money and rapid nature of limited overs cricket to the concentration-heavy longer format has worried test fanatics for several years, and the five-day game is definitely suffering.
The fact powerhouses South Africa and Australia are only playing two tests in this series adds weight to the argument, as did India’s lack of preparation ahead of touring Engliand earlier this year as the hosts won 4-0 to overtake the Indians as the world’s best test side.
England, who have struggled in 50-over cricket for years, appear to value tests more than some other sides these days as the jailing of three Pakistan players for deliberately bowling no balls for money in a test in England last year shows.
Cricket World Cup — live
Join us for coverage of the revamped Cricket World Cup on the subcontinent. Follow all the drama here with regular posts and some of the best photographs around. Comments welcome!
Congratulation to all Indians! We have won the World Cup! I am overwhelmed by the outstanding performance of our team where Dhoni acted as an ideal captain and a true leader.But I am thoroughly disappointed by the decision made by the governing bodies where MS Dhoni was recognized as Man of the Match and Gautam Gambhir was completel…y ignored by everyone out there.He did not get individual recognition for a single moment.Where as the fact is if India won today,she won because of the outstanding and consistent performance of Gautam Gambhir.He was the one who layed the foundation on which India could make a history again.MS Dhoni could not have achieved it all alone.He made the strongest partnership with Dhoni and Virat.He was the one who held on the wickets and stuck on to the ground.When 2 giant and most reliable players got out unexpectedly, we all lost hopes and that time the team needed will power, motivation,Gambhir stepped in the groung in that tensed situation where he kept his cool, calmly but steadily performing and leading India closer to its goal.He took some calculated risk and gave some wonderful shots.I am highly disappointed with such an a decision.Dhoni was undoubtedly brilliant today but the recognition should have been shared between the two champions!
Venter leaves a cult hero for exposing interview hypocrisy
Brendan Venter, Saracen’s idiosyncratic coach, has returned home to South Africa leaving opinion sharply divided in Britain after a surreal televison interview which has won him a cult following on YouTube.
In response to nine questions in 57 seconds, Venter parodied a parody after Saracens had lost a Heineken Cup match to Racing Metro.
Venter, who was fined for his outspoken comments in a post-match interview last October, this time decided to emulate a character in the spoof film “Mike Bassett; England manager”.
To this end he repeated or agreed to the questions asked by an increasingly frustrated Sky television interviewer.
For example.
“Why didn’t you win?”
“Ah, good question that. Very good question. Win. It’s important to win, it is important to win. We must try harder, absolutely.”
I cant remember the last time I saw an interesting intrerview that wasnt Blackpool’s Ian Holloway of Harry Redknapp. Fair play to Venter, some broadcasters might think again before aimlessly shoving microphones under people’s noses when there is no news expected
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Soccer City a white elephant? 90,000 say otherwise
Since July’s World Cup final, which attracted an official attendance of 84 490, the crowds at Johannesburg’s Soccer City have been getting bigger and bigger.
On Saturday the attendance record was beaten again when South Africa hosted its League Cup final at the venue.
Conveniently the match was between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, the two best supported teams in the country whose intense rivalry has been enhanced by several additional, and unexpected, cup meetings in the recent months.
Over 90,000 braved traffic problems to turn up and see the Chiefs triumph 3-0, trumping the 88,791 that watched the August rugby test when New Zealand’s All Blacks beat the Springbok in a Tri-Nations match at the gigantic stadium.
The fact rugby previously held the attendance record at Soccer City has motivated football officials to try to ensure they reclaim it as their own given the venue was extensively renovated for the World Cup and is long acknowledged as the cathedral of football in the country.
Tickets on Saturday cost R60 and R40, a snip in comparison to what was paid for the same seats at the World Cup in mid-year. (R10 = approx 1 Euro)
But South African fans have been moaning since the World Cup when the domestic league hiked up admission prices 100 percent from R20 to R40 per Premier League match.
from Photographers Blog:
No turning back as Africa’s hour arrives
The 2010 World Cup has been a memorable and momentous occasion not only for me, but for South Africa, the African continent and the rest of the world.
It has indeed been incredible. It has been a unifying factor, with people beginning to appreciate the importance of their national symbols such as flags.
As a photographer for an institution such as Reuters, one can say that I have been privileged to be a part of this historic occasion. It was indeed a privilege to be among hordes of international media covering the event. I was here during the Confederations Cup, but the feeling of covering the World Cup is enormous - it is part of history.
This has changed the perception of those who doubted that South Africa, or Africa as a whole, could stage such a magnificent tournament. Everywhere, people have been consumed by the World Cup. Cars have been decorated with flags, houses and shops - many with the South African flag.
I really enjoyed it as well, it was an amazing experience. Memories of my first world cup date back to world cup USA in 1994. I might have seen world cups before television as a kid but USA was the first one I understood. Especially Roberto Baggio’s pony tail. I had never thought I would experience in South Africa, it was always a far fetched dream. Then SA got to host it this year(unbelievable story). The pitches were as green as the ones you see on crisp champions league night at Santiago Bernabéu, Camp Nou and the Emirates staduim(dream pitches). But it all happened in Africa, same players that grace dream pitches graced SA pitches, and the stadiums were unbelievable. I am glad we did not try and build stadiums similar Germany stadims, we forged our own path.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
World Cup final live — Spain 1 Dutch 0 – how it happened
We've followed every World Cup match live here and it's now time for the final --- the Netherlands v Spain. Join us here for commentary, discussion of the game and the best photos in the world.
English Premier League starts this weekend.All the Games will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 08:16
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Losing team’s national stock markets at risk
Two national market indexes that may not shine on Monday are those of Spain and the Netherlands, whose soccer teams are scheduled to meet in the World Cup's championship game on Sunday.
Whichever country's team loses can expect a drag on its market index of 49 basis points, said Wharton business school professor Alex Edmans. That is the amount that national stock indexes tend to be held back on average on the day after their country is eliminated from the World Cup, according to a paper he published in 2007 with two co-authors, Diego Garcia of the University of North Carolina and Oyvind Norli of the Norwegian School of Management.
In an interview with Reuters, Edmans said his predictions seem to be playing out this year as well, based at least on anecdotal observations. For instance, as an English citizen, Edmans noted ruefully that the FTSE 100 index fell in late June as England's team played below expectations before being tossed out of the tournament by Germany on June 27 by a score of 4-1.
"As an England fan and an English shareholder I've been suffering both ways!" Edmans said.
Edmans' paper made a splash when an early version was circulated before the 2006 World Cup tournament. It is part of a growing body of academic literature in the field of ‘behavioral economics”. Begun partly in reaction to the extremely theoretical research that had dominated much academic discussion, its practitioners aim for a greater understanding of how human psychology affects their economic decisions.
In the soccer case, for instance, one of Edmans’ conclusions is that sour investor sentiment tied to a team's misfortune spills over into general negativity about their economic outlook.
All the World Cup 2010 Games in South Africa will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 23:26
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Sorry Germany, the oracle octopus has spoken
There are only three things that are certain in life -- death, taxes and the World Cup predictions of a British-born octopus in western Germany.
That being the case, there's hardly any point in playing Wednesday's semi-final between Germany and Spain -- the Spanish have got it won.
Paul the Octopus has spoken, eating his food from the container with the Spanish flag at Sea Life and thus sealing Germany's fate.
Paul has a perfect World Cup record -- correctly predicting the results of all five of Germany's matches so far, even the shock defeat against Serbia, and scoring exactly the same number of goals as Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney into the bargain.
German hopes are dangling by two tiny threads.
Firstly, while Paul has a perfect record here, he did get one match wrong at Euro 2008, predicting a German win over Spain in the final. Secondly, coach Joachim Loew has been persuaded not to wash his famous blue jumper before the end of the World Cup.
The baby blue cashmere number has become a good luck symbol, which leaves us with an intriguing match in store for Wednesday -- the octopus versus the goat-hair.
All the World Cup 2010 Games in South Africa will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 23:31
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Reuters World Cup 2010 podcast — quarter-finals (II)
Join us for a look back at the extraordinary first two quarter-finals at the World Cup and a look forward to Germany v Argentina and Spain v Paraguay. Paul Radford, Felix Bate, Jon Bramley and Kevin Fylan argue over the merits of penalty goals in soccer and consider Ghana's desperate misfortune.
All the World Cup 2010 Games in South Africa will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 20:42
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Reuters World Cup podcast — quarter-finals (I)
Join us for an in-depth look at the first two World Cup quarter-finals, Netherlands v Brazil and Uruguay v Ghana, with our soccer experts Paul Radford, Owen Wyatt, Felix Bate, Mark Gleeson, Helen Popper and Kevin Fylan.
All the World Cup 2010 Games in South Africa will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 06:29
-
Resident Left Field Expert
-
Since writing this the ICC chief Haroon Lorgat has announced the world test championship is indeed off until at least 2017.
More weight to the argument…