Nerve Endings Firing Away

Is it just me or is this Cricket World Cup the most boring ever? Nope, I’m not complaining about the absence of India or Pakistan. The buggers deserved to be booted out for the way they played. Probably their ouster, if lessons are learnt, might be good in the long run. I am complaining about the complete lack of excitement in the matches that are currently being played. The 100+ runs or 7+ wickets victories are making the matches completely boring to watch.

Even the Australia – South Africa match in the earlier rounds was clearly one-sided although South Africa tried to mount a successful chase, they fell short by more than hundred runs. If you define exciting cricket by the nature of lusty hitting or complete decimation of even quality bowling attacks, then you probably aren’t a cricket-as-a-sport fan but simply like the entertainment value. Nothing wrong in that, of course but for a change I would like a gripping nail-biting thriller of a game. The rain-shortened matches with low attendance at the venues aren’t helping either. The minnows who showed much promise in the earlier rounds are not even putting up a fight. Right now, the World Cup is effectively down to four teams – Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka – who most probably will reach the last four. Then I hope at least those final three matches would be worth watching.

Paradoxically, what’s with finishing off run chases even the insignificant ones with sixes? Sixes are coming much easier than they did in previous editions.