I don't know about you, but the fact that the last week has been such a harrowing time for the ICC has certainly made me splendidly delighted. Those arrogantly untouchable bullies desperately needed to be brought down by more than a peg or two, and happily, the first round of the World Cup has just about been their worst nightmare. The one face-saving move that they could have made, which they promptly did make, was to stoically insist that things haven't yet gotten so disastrous that a cancellation of the tournament altogether was warranted. Yes, I would've almost started hopping around in uncontrolled glee at this chastening fall from grace of the ICC snobs if the extremely tragic death of Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer hadn't been the cause of it all.
There have been very diverse reactions to the unfortunate demise of the pioneer of 'laptop cricket' - some furious, some grief stricken, but almost all horribly shocked. And the conspiracy theories began to fly around before anyone could even register the cause of the death. As of now, things stand at a poignantly murky position: it has been well and truly established that Woolmer was in fact murdered; former Pakistan players have come out with allegations that the crime was a well-plotted result of the enigmatic connections between the ICC, Pakistan cricket and bookmakers; and the Jamaican police have managed to drum up a flurry of suspicious whispers by announcing that only 'diplomatic problems' prevented them from detaining the Pakistan team in Jamaica in connection with the investigations. Just how many dreadful rumors such embarrassingly ill-advised statements are going to provoke is anybody's guess, but the stories have already started to border on the supremely ridiculous. One thing's for sure: things have now gone so bad that the terrible cliche "cricket is a gentleman's game" is never even going to cross anyone's mind in the future.
No matter how tragic Woolmer's death may have been though, the Indian cricket fan was struck by insufferable misery only after Bangladesh's not-entirely-unexpected victory over Bermuda. A lot has been said abut how fickle sub-continental fans are, which is why the seemingly never-ending stretch of bitter brickbats and, rather regrettably, some choice abuses and profanities shouldn't be wholly surprising. Along with painful disappointment, however, there has also been a sense of disbelief and incredulity about the Great Calamity among the fans. The Indian team does NOT crash out of the World Cup in the first round: that just doesn't happen. It hasn't happened in the discernible memory of anyone, at any rate - 1979 was many many years ago. For me, certainly, things do seem a bit surreal right now; I can't even begin to imagine a World Cup without India's presence for such a large chunk of the tournament. Ah well, I guess I'll just be brought back to happy reality by some strong performances by my favorites Australia and the West Indies. It feels so good to support reliable teams (Australia are, anyway). Meanwhile, we should brace ourselves for some heavy-duty slashing and chopping in the Indian team - and judging by the comments that have been morosely exchanged all over the country, there's going to be a lot of cheering at the merciless dumpings. Let's just hope there are no tears shed. Of sorrow OR joy.
Getting back to the actual cricket action, I've got to say that the Australia-South Africa match was one cracker of a match, even if it was a bit too nerve-wracking for the first half of South Africa's chase. These two teams are clearly streets ahead of the rest of the pack, and if South Africa don't manage to reach the finals this time either, as I'm predicting they won't, there'll only be yet another legend added to the 'Mysteries of South African Falling-Apart-at-Crunch-Times' collection. Maybe this is the tournament in which we'll finally know for sure just how much of Graeme Smith's aggression and apparent gumption is real and how much of it is merely pretentious/pathetic-counter-to-Aussie-arrogance. Brian Lara's West Indies, on the other hand, seem unsure as to exactly how much confidence and aggression they should be putting on display, which has resulted in three consecutive victories in the 'Group of Death' which have alternated between the furiously brilliant and the disinterestedly lacklustre. But the two teams that deserve our admiration most of all are Bangladesh and Ireland, who have ruthlessly sent the two Asian heavyweights India and Pakistan packing from the tournament. Objectively speaking, the rise of these two teams was the best thing that could have happened to the Cup, sparking, for the umpteenth time, bemused mutterings of the disgusting cliche (cricket does seem to have a lot of these, doesn't it?) 'cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties'. Seriously, if at all the ICC guys want to make themselves remotely useful, they'd do well to revamp the cricketing lexicon, it's getting more ignoble by the day.
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