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The surprises continue

We're just past the halfway stage of the tournament and I have to again echo the sentiment of my last (World Cup related) post. Compared to 2007, the level of play has been much more exciting at least if not qualitatively better. Today's final 6 over burst from NZ was a perfect example. In all likelihood the result won't make any difference (except maybe to standings and thereby who the teams play in the quarters) but nevertheless the quality of hitting was astonishing. Flat pitches, small grounds are all fine but the ball still has to be hit and the consistency with which modern day players manage to do so is mind-boggling at times. The Eng-SA game over the weekend was also much fun with Anderson bowling one of the best spells I've seen in a one-day in recent times. The unpredictability too has been great to watch with performances from all manner of players. If someone had predicted that at the halfway stage Andrew Strauss and Shahid Afridi would be at the top of the runs and wickets charts, they would have made a killing. The bowlers list in particular makes for very heartening reading and Afridi has been a real revelation as this article lays out.

I on the other hand am not making a killing so far with my fantasy team. My excuse is that I haven't made the right changes at the right time, the perfect rote excuse all selectors make ;-) At least I've hauled my way past a couple of the Cricinfo Star Wars league and hopefully I'll be near the top as the tournament draws to a close. The one blight on an otherwise fun tournament (no its not the UDRS) has been the number of injuries that have gone on even during the tournament. Hopefully there'll be no more casualties. It'll be a pity if injuries result in one of the quarter finals being a mismatch since we seem to be in line for one of the more evenly contested knock-out phases in recent memory.

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