Friday, March 23, 2007

Rumours abound

The conspiracy theorists are out in full force at this point.

I've heard everything from how Bob Woolmer was about to blow the lid on Hansie Cronje's murder in a plane crash, to how Pakistan were supposed to lose to the West Indies, but not to Ireland, and that lost a lot of people a lot of money. We even have claims from a New Delhi jail cell that Dawood Ibrahim commissioned the hit.

From slightly more credible sources in Jamaica, I've heard that:
  1. Inzamam had a massive row with Woolmer in his hotel room that morning
  2. An unidentified individual was seen loitering outside Woolmer's hotel room
  3. At least 4 known bookies have been seen around the stadia in the Caribbean in the last fortnight
  4. Some, but not all members of the Pakistan squad returned from Montego Bay to their hotel in Kingston, allegedly not of their own volition
The mind simply continues to boggle. In the meantime, India lived up to my expectations with a dismal performance today, one that may have Greg Chappell worried for more than just his job, given the circumstances. The Lankans were predictable and deserved winners, and at this point it's hard to look beyond them and New Zealand to join the Aussies and South Africans in the semi-finals.

Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the West Indies will all go into the Super Eights with 2 points to their name - tomorrow's clash, quite possibly a preview of the final, will determine who has to start out at the bottom of the heap alongside Ireland, Bangladesh, and England or Kenya.

Please don't email me and point out that Bermuda could beat Bangladesh and send India to the Super Eights. The only thing that would achieve would be to prove that the whole darn thing is predetermined.

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