So the tournament ended like it started, England playing India, only this time, the results were reversed. Does this mean all the other matches in between were pointless? Of course not, this simple tournament structure was a way of separating the wheat from the chaff.
Was I sad and heartbroken Australia didn't make it into the finals? Yes I was so very much, but the pain was lessened by me being in meetings for the greater part of the semi-finals. Not to mention, the final result was closer than I initially thought it was going to be.
It was a slow measured final at Lord's on Sunday 23rd July, 2017. with England batting first. The main points of interest from England's innings were their Captain Heather Knight being out for one, Natalie Sciver hitting England's only half century (51) and no sixes were able to be hit by the English batters.
Jhulan Goswami of India had the eye-catching figures of 10 overs, 3 maidens, 3 wickets for 23 runs, the standout bowler in an ok-ish effort by India.
India's innings in comparison to England's started off with a clatter of the stumps of Smriti Mandhana. Having made 36 runs in 6 matches before today's final, India reluctantly did not make the hard call of dropping her since she was woefully out of form. She had made 90 and 106 not out in the first two matches of the world cup and she was again picked in today's final based on that, sadly it was not meant to be for her and she made 0 from 4 balls, as ESPN Cricinfo puts it - "a World Cup that began with promise has ended in a whimper".
Next up, Mithali Raj, India's captain and talisman, with the most confusing and lazy running I have ever seen in a world cup final, men's or women's, so at the 12.1 over mark she was run out not even making an attempt to stretch or dive into the crease. I mean, if she had an injury why did she not indicate as such to her partner and no sharp singles would've been taken? Cricinfo's commentary sums up the debacle nicely "absolute hara-kiri. What is happening? Mithali has been run-out. What's bizarre is she gave up halfway through the run. Raut nudged this towards short mid-wicket and took off. Mithali responded for the single, which is why it was all the more astonishing that she didn't even try to dive."
India started to consolidate at this point and Punam Raut and Harmanpreet Kaur took them to 182/3 from 42 overs with Harmanpreet Kaur getting out at 138/3. You would think that 47 runs from 8 overs with 7 wickets in hand would be India's game in any scenario, but the 43rd over started an implosion of 7 wickets for 28 runs in 36 deliveries. Shocking to say the least.
Anya Shrubsole bowling amazingly well picked up 6 wickets for 46 runs in 9.4 overs to set off celebrations for the England women's cricket team for the 4th time as World Cup Champions. The only other time a team other than England or Australia won the World Cup was in 2000 by New Zealand. The dominance has been unbelievable by the two powerhouses and it was a day that India should've won but for two regrettable choices, Smriti Mandhana's selection and Mithali Raj's running.
A day of if only...
From ESPN Cricinfo
Today I am attempting something different, creating a blog post about Tennis and not my original intended post about the Behind the scenes footage from Star Wars The Last Jedi.
As I watch the Wimbledon Men's final on Sunday 16th July 2017, between Roger Federer and Marin Cilic, I'm impressed and always continually impressed by how well behaved a crowd is at a tennis match. Just imagine how unruly a match would be if it was an atmosphere like a football final.
Not being my typical sport of choice to watch, (as I prefer all things cricket), I always try to keep an eye on the major tournaments and catch the finals of them. Imagine if someone took an active interest in cricket, football, tennis, athletics, basketball, one wouldn't have the time for anything else. Well that would be a good goal wouldn't it, get paid for watching and writing about different sports.
Some brief pointers on the scoring in Tennis -
A game consists of a sequence of points played with the same player serving, and is won by the first side to have won at least four points with a margin of two points or more over their opponent. Normally the server's score is always called first and the opponent's score second. Score calling in tennis is unusual in that each point has a corresponding call that is different from its point value.
For instance if the server has won three points so far in the game, and the non-server has won one, the score is "forty-fifteen".
When both sides have won the same number of points then: when each side has won one, or two, points, the score is described as "15-all" and "30-all" (or "15-up" and "30-up"), respectively. However, if each player has won three points, the score is called as "deuce", not "40–all". From that point on in the game, whenever the score is tied, it is described as "deuce", regardless of how many points have been played.
In standard play, scoring beyond a "deuce" score, in which both players have scored three points each, requires that one player must get two points ahead in order to win the game. This type of tennis scoring is known as "advantage scoring" (or "ads"). The side which wins the next point after deuce is said to have the advantage. If they lose the next point, the score is again deuce, since the score is tied. If the side with the advantage wins the next point, that side has won the game, since they have a lead of two points. When the server is the player with the advantage, the score may be called as "advantage in". When the server's opponent has the advantage, the score may be called as "advantage out". These phrases are sometimes shortened to "ad in" or "van in" (or "my ad") and "ad out" (or "your ad"). Alternatively, the players' names are used: in professional tournaments the umpire announces the score in this format.
Confusing? Yes, I know, it was only after watching a few finals that I really started to understand the points system which is so wonderfully convoluted yet so simple at the same time.
I've always admired tennis players and I first really got interested in tennis when a certain player called Rafael Nadal, won a fascinating 2008 Wimbledon final. He defeated five time defending Wimbledon champion Roger Federer in five sets. It was the longest match in Wimbledon history with play lasting four hours and 48 minutes.
This final is widely considered to be the greatest match in tennis history.
As Roger Federer broke Marin Cilic's service twice to win the first set 6 games to 3, already it may be clear that this match may not be going down in history as one of the top matches in tennis history.
This may be one of the shortest finals, as Federer breaks Cilic's service again in the second set, slightly disappointing to be honest. Cilic seems to be imploding as the match continues. Oh dear, Cilic is in tears on worldwide television, what a thing to happen. I wonder what's wrong?
As an aside, while I love watching tennis finals, I grow bored at times with the one dimensional nature of tennis, back and forth confined by hitting a tennis ball in the lines. So just watching finals is a good thing so I don't get totally turned off the sport.
I wonder if he had a panic attack?
One of the attractions watching Rafael Nadal, is that he's left handed and makes watching a game that much more interesting.
Fun fact, how many people knows ESPN is owned by the mouse house Disney?
It's amazing how calm and collected Federer looks, Cilic looks as if he's hyperventilating.
6-3, 6-1 so far to Federer, ah, it's now possibly revealed that Cilic came into the final with a foot injury as the trainer or physio is unwrapping a heavily bandaged left foot. So we're in for a slight delay in the completion of the final where it seems to be inexorably going to Federer. And it's being rapidly bandaged again.
I went to Wimbledon in 2010, I went with my brother with an all access ground pass except sadly centre court where all the truly important matches are. I was two feet away from Andy Murray, who was signing autographs for fans.
So as it turns out this is a historical game if Federer wins this match is that it will be the first time someone won Wimbledon 8 times. Intriguing and possibly final set ahead.
An added bonus of watching today's final is that BBC, is going to introduce to the world the identity of the 13th Doctor, who the actor will be of course in my other love Doctor Who.
Cilic is showing some fighting spirit, which is pleasing to see, we can't have a short final, it'll be a bad advertisement for the game.
Federer, four points away from the Championship, what a quick unfortunate final it has been. Into the third set and Federer is up 5-4 and serving. It's been not an enjoyable final for one side and not a final to be remembered for the ages, but it would end up being a final just for the statistics of it.
And Federer has won! Creating history being being the first person to win Wimbledon 8 times second behind Nadal winning the French Open 10 times.
Clearly this was not a very interesting final, sadly and regrettably, hoping for a better Women's World Cup final next week Sunday where I'll be blogging my thoughts live in this format.
Australia vs England! Fingers, toes, arms and legs and eyes crossed hoping against hope for that final.
And... BBC just unveiled the newest Doctor - Jodie Whittaker and as expected the Internet is melting at the fact that after 54 years we have our first female doctor, interesting times ahead, hopefully the new show runner - Chris Chibnall can do a good job.
Up to last week, I managed to blog 15 straight weeks in a row, and I thought today's post (number 16 in a row) to be the most appropriate time to reflect on the reasons why I started this blog, all the way back in December 2015. I was directly influenced by the constant influence coming from the media such headlines as -
Solve Forex Shortage Now
More Forex Shortages
and so on.
A simple google search of "foreign exchange Trinidad news" or "forex news Trinidad" will reveal an amazing amount of news articles from the Trinidad and Tobago media which has stretched from around June 2014 to present.
It is so incredibly frightening to think that as the foreign exchange crisis deepens with every passing day, the dependency of Trinidad and Tobago on a high oil price has not changed and continues to be a source of bother. The startling dependency of this country on foreign exchange and importing goods is such a wow moment for me every time I stop to think about it.
The only real foreign exchange earner for the country (in my limited knowledge and understanding of the situation) is the export of oil and gas which is entirely dependent on the world price of oil and gas. It is terribly sad that past successive governments basked in the good times and never really and truly diversified the economy to assist future generations.
Now this blog post is not all about ideas to fix the Trinidad and Tobago economy, it's all about why did I start blogging?
1) To make money
Yes, I have to own up to this firstly, I would love to earn Five Thousand to Ten Thousand US Dollars a month. That's the ultimate goal, of course anything above that would be an excellent plus. I have not attempted to monetize my blog as yet, with only just over 4000 views, 187 Facebook Page Likes and 18 subscribers, in my opinion it's still early days yet.
Although, any US Dollars earned in Trinidad and Tobago is a big deal with the exchange rate at 6.80 TTD to one USD.
Some targets to hit before I even think of making money off of the blog
a) create fresh and interesting content weekly (every Sunday)
b) consistently post every Sunday without exceptions - (this is where the automatic blog posting may come in handy - if I don't have access to the internet or I don't have time to create a post on the Sunday itself). i.e. create a blog post before and have it automatically posted by the site itself on the Sunday.
c) have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers via email
d) have a minimum of 10,000 likes on the facebook page
e) have a minimum of 100,000 views every month on the blog itself.
So I'm on my way, but some way to go yet.
2) The love of writing
I've always loved to write and create stuff, and I think I'm pretty good at it. I'll admit at this point, I haven't won any awards or prizes for my writing, not yet anyway. Still time yet I think.
3) A way to immortalize myself
Written content online, will forever exist in some portion of the internet, in some intangible form unlike writing a journal and have the writing fade away after some time till it becomes illegible.
4) Historic Journal Entries
I've always wanted some way over the years to keep track of interesting things or significant moments in my life, and it's taken a while, through several stopped and started diaries to finally stumble on writing a blog post every Sunday which helps in several different ways
a) Highlighting the most interesting/ exciting thing that has happened to me
b) Reviewing interesting movies, tv series, music which has moved me sufficiently to have some impact on my mind or life.
c) A way to write a diary which I can look back on in ten years time where I'll see how far I've come, or wow, this was an interesting experience I've forgotten.
5) The challenge of creating
Creating fresh content is quite a challenge especially if you've set yourself a goal of posting once a week. I've ended up day dreaming on the way to work and back every week day of what I should write and how it should be. It has created a different mindset to be honest, and it has been quite an experience thus far as I gradually expand my blogging abilities.
6) A Way to Stand Out
It makes for a very interesting conversational piece to say something like, hey, this is something I can blog about, and then you can rattle on about how long you've been doing it, the accomplishments you've achieved, what you normally blog about etc.
7) Mindset change
Intriguingly, as it's been a challenge to create, my mindset has changed to pick out the most interesting things to blog about, and also find new experiences whether it may be in Barbados, England or Paris, or the most anticipated movie of the year - Star Wars The Last Jedi (Carrie Fisher's final movie)
8) Creating Opportunities
While my 27 blog posts so far, have not created any opportunities for me, the first opportunity may be just round the corner (in whatever form), so it's a case of chin up, keep creating new content weekly, and hoping that it's coming soon and to never give up and get dispirited with not achieving what other bloggers have achieved.
9) Recognition
I've received recognition in three ways so far
a) Andrew Tye (an Australian Cricket Fast Bowler) liked one of my blog post pictures on Instagram. Whether he actually read the blog post, I might never know.
b) One of my Facebook friends who has her own photography page, Copper & Coal Photography, re-shared one of my blog posts on her page which resulted in well over 700 views.
c) Thanks to Facebook's generosity, of offering me $10 promotion credit, resulted in 2900 likes on the blog post on the fb page which was exciting to say the least.
10) It's free
Most blog hosting platforms are free, and to start an absorbing outlet in your life in a free way (of course you need access to the internet), is a journey that is fraught with indecision, writer's block, and many other obstacles that life can throw your way. But once there's coherency in the way the blogging process is done, one can have a very enjoyable time of it.
To round off today's blog post, a new blogger has some things to decide,
a) why have they started the blog
b) what do they want to achieve from it
c) how often they should post
d) whether they want to stick with a niche or be general
e) ensure that each and every post is your unique thoughts.
Saturday 21st April 21, 2007, why is this day significant? The day one Brian Charles Lara played his last match for the West Indies Cricket One Day International Team. I always held out the hope over the years supporting West Indies cricket that Lara could've been good enough to have them return to their winning ways. But it was never to be, so when Brian Lara retired, I chose to walk away with my support of West Indies cricket, (since 2007, coincidentally, that was the last time I've gone to the Queen's Park Oval to see a cricket match.)
As Fazeer Mohammed puts it - "Compare that agonizing experience with Lara's muted departure and they appear almost to be worlds apart. The common denominator seems to be the same, though: disappointment, disillusionment, even outright disgust by players whose deeds on the field have made them universally popular and admired."
Has these sentiments changed in the last 10 years? Not all that much actually.
Which team did I choose to support from then? The winner's of the 2007 World Cup - Australia, why? I've long since admired them since I started following cricket in 1996. Switching allegiance was an easy thing to do, and one always wants to support a winning team don't they?
Using ESPN's cricinfo's handy dandy Stats Guru search, one can see that Australia's Win Loss ratio is all above one, with the exception of probably the only other truly strong team in the last ten years South Africa. In the last ten years, with two World Cup wins (2007 & 2015), one Champions Trophy win (2009) and one runners up in the T20 World Cup (2010) they have been performing well over the last decade.
Conversely, West Indies statistics over the last decade have been abysmal, with two World Cup wins coming in their favored format T20's (2012 & 2016), and not much else to write home about. From selection issues, pay disputes, race, political infighting, complacency, and just plain disillusionment, has results in such shocking statistics, with ratios in despair right across the line, it's been amazing that any of the West Indies players care to play at all. 197 defeats across all formats in the last ten years as compared to 155 for Australia (and Australia has played 77 more matches).
As a testament to West Indies declining fortunes, no one wants to play them any long series of four or five test matches anymore, they've played two four match series and one five match series in the last ten years. Compare that to their first 78 years of test cricket, 5 six match series, 46 five match series, 18 four match series, everyone wanted to play them, everyone wanted to be them. Will they ever improve? God only knows, but a sure sign would be if they could beat Australia in a Test Match Series in Australia, that may give an indication that they could be on the way up again.
Have I regretted supporting Australia? Only why they've lost badly over the last decade, but that has been very rare.
To be honest, it's not like I've seen the passion fade away from West Indies fans, the passion is still there, as it was in 2012 and 2016 with the T20 World Cup wins, everyone was bursting with pride. Especially last year, when West Indies won the T20 Men's, T20 Women's and the Under 19 world cup, an unprecedented trifecta.
Everyone thought, yes! This is it, they're on their way up again, after digging the rocky bottom for so long, but inconsistency has mired them in a veritable morass of failures, Played 49 matches (across all formats) and won 13 and lost 29, in what world could this be good enough? Attendance at the cricket grounds in the West Indies has fell over the last ten years, and it's a sure sign that no sponsors in the West Indies wants to be seen anywhere near the West Indies team, for the Pakistani and Indian series this year, we've seen foreign sponsors take over the grounds (i.e. the advertisements painted on the field, as well as the boundary boards). Last nails in the coffin that has the meager survival of West Indies cricket?
Will I support West Indies cricket again? "Maybe" taken with a tonne of salt, they'll not only have to become number one in the world in Test Matches, but also become number one in One Day Matches as well as winning the 50 over World Cup, to change my mind. That's my line in the sand.
Sure, it's been painful to think that the sport that unites fans throughout the Caribbean, could've fallen into such disrepair, thanks to neglect and complacency that they'll always be number one throughout the 1990's. My support has so changed towards West Indies cricket, that any team they're playing I'm always supporting the other team be it Ireland, India, Sri Lanka, England. I'm less likely to be disappointed that way, don't ya think?
Coming to think of it, the title of this blog post could've been more aptly named, a retrospective on support: the last ten years. It's been a passionate blog post today admittedly, as the love of cricket has been spurred on by the tremendous reach of ESPN Cricinfo.
