So what sport(s) DO you follow?

[Jack the Stripper]

^^Yep watching it now. Forget about Tottenham v Arsenal or Liverpool v Everton. Pakistan v India is a rivalry like no other.

[Jack the Stripper]

Yet another rain delay in the cricket 
If it does turn out to be a rain shortened match that will suit Pakistan OK as they are normally pretty good in those situations. India was headed for a big total with 6 wickets in hand and Kohli still at the crease.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
India got their full 50 overs (I thought they might have lost 2 or 3 to the rain) and finished with 336. That total is a little less than I thought given their start... they didn't accelerate towards the end.

[Jack the Stripper]

Pakistan was set an impossible task under DLS. Not even England or India themselves could've got those runs. Ridiculous!

[Zzzptm]

When I was a teacher, I could tell when the Indo-Pak matches were due to massive absences/sleeping in class from my South Asian students.

It's a MASSIVE rivalry!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Bangladesh have just surprised the Cricket World Cup by easily beating The West Indies. The Windies had a good 321 total in their 50 overs, but Bangladesh flew past that total with 8½ overs left. I know Windies are not the team they used to be but that's still a turn up for the books.

[Jack the Stripper]

These pitches have been very batsman friendly, maybe too much, but with the advent of 20/20 cricket the 50 over game has struggled to stay relevant. It's only when the World Cup comes around it becomes relevant again. The administrators of the game want high scoring with lots of big hitting like the 20/20 game is, hence the batting friendly wickets.

Still doesn't excuse the Windies losing to the Bangers though.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Yes, I think they are set-up for batsmen, I think big hitting and high scores is expected to boost viewing figures.

Having said that I thought England should have got more than 397 against Afghanistan, but they started too slowly.

[Zzzptm]

Interesting how most sports are moving in a direction of bigger scores and more explosive plays. Golf and curling seem to be the exceptions... but in the USA, rules get tweaked each year that pretty much favor the offense in games so that those scoreboards start to spin.

[Typhon]

Interesting how most sports are moving in a direction of bigger scores and more explosive plays. Golf and curling seem to be the exceptions... but in the USA, rules get tweaked each year that pretty much favor the offense in games so that those scoreboards start to spin.

This is the main reason I have watched less and less sports over the past 30 years.  Making it easier to score points in any sport, to me, weakens the game. 

[Zzzptm]

Interesting how most sports are moving in a direction of bigger scores and more explosive plays. Golf and curling seem to be the exceptions... but in the USA, rules get tweaked each year that pretty much favor the offense in games so that those scoreboards start to spin.

This is the main reason I have watched less and less sports over the past 30 years.  Making it easier to score points in any sport, to me, weakens the game. 

Exactly. When I was a kid, I didn't need Xbox offensives to enjoy football. A 9-3 defensive slugfest was plenty fun to watch, so long as the teams were competitive with each other. I'll still watch it, but I remember the things that could have been.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

So it's one of - if not "the" - big one today, England vs Australia in the Cricket World Cup.

Ausies are batting first and have made a solid start.

[Jack the Stripper]

They have indeed. Surprised England sent Australia in. They usually like to set a total and have struggled chasing in the past.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Yeah, I was thinking something similar.

I can only think that the wicket will get better... but the evidence doesn't support that it is that bad!

[Jack the Stripper]

Yeah the wicket seems to be playing ok at the moment. Australia has been very conservative in this World Cup. They haven't been going out and just blasting the bowling like England have.