Cricket Updates – March 2015

West Indies struggles in cricket World Cup ODI in Australia/New Zealand.  West Indies, at one point 2-1 with 4 points and looking good, are now at 2-3 in 5th place, hoping for a Pakistan win vs Ireland or a total thrashing of Pakistan by Ireland. If Pakistan wins, the West Indies just needs any win over United Arab Emirates to finish 4th and go to the quarters where they’d face a fierce, resurgent New Zealand at home.  If Ireland does win, West Indies would have to thrash UAE royally to overtake Pakistan, unless Ireland wins big.  If no result or a draw in either match, the West Indies is eliminated.

England, in the World Cup ODI, bowed out with 1 match remaining.  England (1-4 and 2 points) lost a crucial match yesterday to Bangladesh (3-1-1 and 7 points) and are now mathematically eliminated with 1 match remaining.

West Indies re-elected Dave Cameron and deputy Emmanuel Nanthan to the President and Vice-President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) by an 8-4 margin over bowling legend Joel Garner and Baldath Mahabir respectively. Embattled Cameron vowed to grow the game in the Caribbean, have players endorse rules, and have better conversations with India about the $42.x million USD issue.

Sir Vivian “the master blaster” Richards was voted by “cricket monthly” as  the greatest one day cricketer of all time over the likes of greats Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Akram, Adam Gilchrist, and MS Dhoni, who finished 2nd through 5th respectively.  The 50-man voting panel consisted of the likes of Ian Chappell, Clive Lloyd, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Graeme Smith, Tony Cozier,  Mike Coward, and Suresh Menon. http://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/846325/still-the-king

Cricket great, Sachin Tendulkar, challenges the ICC on their decision to make World Cup 2019 a 10-team event, 4 teams less than this year’s (2015) 14 teams.  Tendulkar feels that the ICC should be expanding the event to 25 teams instead of trying to contract.  By expanding, he feels that it will be taking cricket to the world, making his beloved sport more widely popular in the world.  There are 10 full test nations and 38 associate nations.  Tendulkar wants to 25 of those 48 to be playing in the next ICC Cricket World Cup instead of 10. A total of over 160 nations currently play cricket.