The Silence of the Lambs

I'm watching the third massacre of the tournament. Its also the third match where one of the big boys are playing one of the smaller teams (also known as the minnows). Co-incidence ?

The first two resulted in defeats of about 250 runs each...this one looks like its heading the same way. Gibbs has already set a one day record for hitting the most runs in an over - 6 sixes ! Do you think it merits the same awe as Jayasuriya's 30 off Ameer Sohail / CZ Harris ? Or Afridi's 30 off a Jayasuriya over (some delicious irony here...) ? I think the answer is obviously no

So, some more questions

• are the matches exciting ?
• do the players get excited (the big country players) ?
• does it really help the minnows to improve ?

While the answer to the first two is definitely no, the funny thing is i've never heard a minnows player complain about it..they all feel it helps them improve, its almost as if the routine thrashings they receive are good for their soul !

I think it is good for the smaller teams to play the big boys. After all, that is how we pick up skills in every sport - by playing against people better than us. However, there are two further questions

• is the world cup the best place to do so ?
• aren't we cheapening the achievements of the past by allowing the new records equal footing vs past ones which were against much stiffer opposition

I think the answers are obvious - we really need two separate tournaments...

And we need some way to ensure that the matches against the minnows do not count as full internationals - maybe like shares we can have class A shares and class B shares....

Its no fun watching the massacre...it reminds me of school yard bullies at work against the weaker boys...never enjoyed watching that either !