Well, here are the results of from the 2023 Cricket World Cup semifinals that have just come in:
India 394/5 (50)
New Zealand 327 (48.5)
IND won by 70 runs
South Africa 212 (49.4)
Australia 215/7 (47.2)
AUS won by 3 wickets (16 balls left)
So it's hosts India (Who had just beaten the Black Caps in the semifinal that hurts us thanks to a Shoaib Akhtar inspired peformance from one of the Indian bowlers of Mohammed Shami to advance through to their first final since 2011 in which MS Dhoni (Who was the standout player of the game in the 2011 final which was played in Sachin Tendulkar's hometown of Mumbai at the Wandhede Stadium) hit the winning six as they chased down a total to win by 6 wickets in the 49th over against Sri Lanka, but I rather prefer New Zealand's victory in the 2021 World Test Championship against the Indians as my favourite standout cricket memory as well as the best cricket match I've ever watched) against Australia (Who haven't won since 2015 in which they had an overwhemingly dominant performance in the final by decimating against our Trans-Tassie rivals New Zealand in front of 100,000 fans at the MCG by 7 wickets including Mitchell Starc easily bowling our Black Caps captain at the time of Brendon 'Baz' McCullum which proved to be the game changer, & it was game over when we continued to lose wickets after McCullum was bowled out cheaply according to the previous blogs that I did) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on the 19th of November in the 2023 men's Cricket World Cup final (Their most recent meeting between the two sides at a men's Cricket World Cup was on October the 8th where the hosts got off to a flying start after their 6 wicket win against the Aussies in Chennai during a round robin match) which is a rematch of the 2003 final in which the Australians won convincingly against the Indians at the Wanderers Stadium in Joburg, South Africa & in 2015 during the semi, in which Australia went on to win against India at the SCG in Sydney but will it be Indian captain Rohit Sharma, or Australia Pat Cummins to lift the men's CWC trophy this year to decide who'll become champion of the world? We will find it out (Well, who is it going to be? Whether it's India to party like it's 1983 & 2011 where they did it twice, or will the Australians who are gunning their record extending 6th title just like they did it 5 times in 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007 & 2015, but the last time a side had won a Cricket World Cup before the hosts would gone on to dominate the last 3 tournaments (First co-hosts India in 2011, then another co-hosts with New Zealand of Australia in 2015 & England (Who were co-hosting the tournament alongside Wales) in 2019) was Australia in 2007 in which they gained payback against Sri Lanka in the final at the Kensington Oval in Georgetown, Barbados in the West Indies after losing to them in 1996 in which Aravinda de Silva scored an unbeaten 107 during the infamous final in Lahore, Pakistan).
And in rugby related news that word on the street in which most rugby aficionados suggested that they should abolish the TMO according to former All Black coach Sir Steve Hansen as Pops told me on the 18th of November last year in wake of Wayne Barnes's disastrous refereeing performance in the Rugby World Cup final this year marred by that red card by All Black Sam Cane for a dangerous tackle on Jesse Kriel in which Cane originally being shown the yellow card & an off-field review by the bunker which proved us costly (And that to me was unintentional the way it is, & it was ridiculous), then the All Blacks try would've stand which was rubbed out by the TMO due to an All Black player adjudged to have knocked the ball on in the leadup to the try in which the AB's fanbase were imploding therefore we were robbed on that occasion & I was in disbelief about the result (And I'm especially more worried about the TMO decisions that they made) which opened the door for South Africa of keeping the William Webb Ellis Cup for another 4 years (And they managed to keep South African rugby great as a matter of fact in which the reference of the Springboks conquering the rugby world again, has been inspired by the former US president who is facing serious criminal charges of Donald Trump), but let us go back to the old days where their had been decent rugby games such as the referee would consult it to an AR (Assistant referee) whether he was out when he or she was trying to ground the ball in the leadup to the try or if a player who committed foul play should be either sin binned or sent off (And these are the perfect examples of having a great game, not only modern day rugby is ruined by the television match official fiddling around for some stuff).
And that there has been an update in the 2023 Cricket World Cup that for the first time since 2015 that the Pat Cummins (Who became the fifth Australian men's Cricket World Cup winning skipper after Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting twice & Michael Clarke) led Australia has been crowned champion of the world for the record extending 6th time (They first did it in 1987 (Including Mike Gatting who went the reverse sweep but it was caught by Aussie wicketkeeper Greg Dyer who had taken a brilliant catch off the bowling of Australia's captain Allan 'AB' Border which proved to be the game changer) then 1999 to 2007 (Including the one in 2003 that Australian captain of the time of Ricky 'Punter' Ponting who had scored an unbeaten ton which was overshadowed by a plumb LB (Leg before) decision by India in which Ponting should've been out to start with according to the West Indian umpire as well as the worst umpire in the world of cricket of Steve Bucknor (Who quit umpiring in 2009 but admits that he decided against it when he made that decision in which India were robbed as a matter of fact, stone cold robbed, but the 2003 Aussie cricket team was by far considered to be the greatest squad ever assembled to a cricket field, especially the bowling attack led by Brett 'Binga' Lee, Glenn 'Pidge' McGrath, Andrew 'Andy' Bichel & Brad Hogg which was considered to be the best of all time while the all-star batting attack led by the likes of captain Ponting as well as Matthew 'Matty Haydos' Hayden, wicket-keeper Adam 'Gilly Gill/Churchie' Gilchrist & Damien Martyn were in fact awesome, literally, but they thought they had Shane Warne, & too bad he got sent home for illegally taking a weight loss medication on the advice of his mother before being given a 1 year suspension for drug taking, just like Englishman Alex Hales who missed England's successful men's Cricket World Cup glory at home in 2019 in the aftermath of recieving a ban for recreational drug use before the tournament began) thought that Ponting wasn't out & I thought he was to start with (Well, that could've used DRS for that as of today (And there was no umpire decision review to start with way back in the day) that it would've pitched outside off, then the impact was in line & the wickets was hitting because that would've gone on & hit the stumps (And the umpire would've overturned the decision from not out to out nowadays should the modern video replay technologies be available, but the LB rule usually works if the ball hits the batters leg in front of the wicket, that's out, but it does count as a wicket anyway) & 2015) after a overwhemingly dominant 6 wicket win with 42 deliveries left against hosts India (Who just beaten them earlier in the tournament during round robin play before Australia responded in the final to gain revenge by outmuscling & outplaying them completely when they rolled their sleeves up on that occasion (But I wonder the headlines would say: AUSTRALIA SILENCE 1.4 BILLION INDIANS TO CLAIM CWC or more like: INDIA TROUNCED BY INCREDIBLE AUSSIES IN FINAL OF THEIR HOME WORLD CUP or especially: CUMMINS'S BOYS BRING CWC TROPHY BACK HOME FOR AUSTRALIA IN AHMEDABAD) who just literally suffered their heartbreak as well as their heartache at home who tried their best of winning their 3rd men's CWC championship & their 1st since 2011 (And what a disappointing end for India, what a match for our viewers right around the world) off the back of a Travis Head ton who top scored 137 (And the century by Head in the final paved the way at that moment, of bringing the men's CWC trophy back to Australia (Compared to All Black captain Sam Cane's red card in the RWC final which opened the door for South Africa of retaining the William Webb Ellis trophy) & it was massive) by getting his player of the game honours as the Aussies (Who had stars like David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell (Who hit the winning runs just like he did in 2021 in the T20 World Cup final against New Zealand), Mitch Marsh, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood & Cummins (All have been part of the winning squad in 2015 although 5 have played their part such as Warner, Smith, Maxwell, Marsh & Starc in the final) took victory by 6 wickets with 42 deliveries remaining as they silenced 1.4 billion Indian fans who cheered the Indian cricket team on throughout the tournament (The last time India went on to win a major international cricket tournament was in 2013 in which they defeated England at the Champions Trophy, a year before losing to Sri Lanka in the final of the 2014 men's T20 World Cup, then a year later in 2015 against Australia in the men's CWC semi, a year before against the West Indies in the semifinal men's T20 World Cup in 2016, followed by Pakistan in 2017 in the final of the Champions Trophy, then 2019 against the Black Caps in the semifinal of the men's Cricket World Cup, followed in 2021 against the same opponent in the final of the historic first ever World Test Championship, then failed to qualify for the semis when they finished in the Super 12 stages followed by in 2022 in the same tournament in which they were semifinalists when they fell to eventual champions England, then to Australia last year in the WTC final & now in all of a sudden, the men's CWC in the same year in which they fell short against the Aussies in the final), therefore that the Aussies had just completed their successful year with a rare treble such as the WTC (World Test Championship), then the rentention of the Ashes despite the series had been drawn just like in 2019 & now the men's Cricket World Cup just like Man City (Who had their Spanish born coach/manager Pep Guardiola & their players playing their part as well as playing their pivotal role on completing the treble such as Belgium's Kevin de Bruyne (A former Belgian international whom he has a son named Mason), Norway's Erling Haaland (Formerly of Borussia Dortmund) & England's Jack Grealish (Who is Irish born) as well as Portugal's Ruben Dias & England's Kyle Walker did this year where they won the Premier League (In which the club had a successful threepeat & have been invincible since 2020-21 also according to the previous blogs that I did), the FA Cup (Their first since 2019) & then all of a sudden, the UEFA Champions League where they won for the first time against Inter Milan in Instanbul, Turkey after falling short against Chelsea in 2021, & that's why that the Aussie men's cricket team exactly dedicated their men's CWC final win to the late Warney of Shane Warne who passed away in 2022 just like the Argentinian football team led by the ever incomparable Lionel Messi by dedicating their Football World Cup final victory in the same year that Warne passed away to the late Diego Armando 'El Pibe' Maradona who passed away in 2020.
And the latest in the F1 as defending triple world champion Max Verstappen (It's viva Las Vegas to him after his win) in the Red Bull, powers his way to his record extending 18th win of the 2023 season in Formula One's most expensive race in history (And ticket prices for that historic occasion are dear at the moment just like the 2 Iowa double-header Indycar races that they had last year) at the historic first ever Las Vegas Grand Prix (Which hosted the penultimate round of the 2023 season before Yas Island in Abu Dhabi hosts the highly anticipated season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Which hosted its first race in 2009) on the streets of Sin City & the gambling capital of the world of Las Vegas, Nevada under lights (And it was the first Grand Prix in history to be held at night in the United States, & the first on a Saturday, which was marred by Carlos Sainz's Ferrari that crashed into a loose manhole cover in which the team undertook a task of repairing that car & resulted him a 'ridiculous' 10 place grid penalty for the incident which is not a black eye for F1 (And also it was very embarrassing meaning that it was a slap in the face for Formula One) as the 1st practice session on Thursday had been called off immediately but prematurely following Sainz's accident into a dislodged drain cover therefore triggering a rough start to the session) as he completes a stunning American clean sweep this year (He won in Miami at the Miami Autodrome, then the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas & now on the streets of Vegas) despite picking up a 5 second time penalty for forcing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc (Who had an incredible comeback to snatch 2nd ahead of Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez who rounded out the podium therefore denying Red Bull a one two finish whilst having the advantage of using the DRS (Drag reduction system) on the fastest part of the race track, on the final lap of the race just like Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso did on Checo, as he snatched a podium position at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Interlagos whilst having the advantage of using the drag reduction system on the 2nd fastest part of the track then he defended his position from Perez on the fastest part of the circuit in sight of the checkered flag that came out) off the track on the opening lap in which has been cleared (And the Red Bull pit crew had been told to get their hands off the car until the penalty had been expired (And it's like hands in the ruck in rugby as well as an illegal handball in football/soccer & handling the ball in cricket) before he pitted for fresh new tyres during the race (And I mean where will Verstappen be finally stopped? Probably this year if Red Bull's nearest rival Ferrari want to take over as the quickest team in Formula One with Red Bull expected to pay the penalty when they got fined $7 million & a 10% loss of wind tunnel development for infringements regarding to the cost cap that Verstappen first triumphed in 2021 also according to the previous blogs that I did (And they already did that at the start of that season), just like Michael Schumacher did in 2005 (In which the championship had gone in the way of Alonso way back then) then Sir Lewis Hamilton in 2021 (In which the title went to Verstappen who ended Hamilton's quest of a record breaking 8th world championship & if Hamilton won the F1 crown, he would've solidified his status as one of the all-time greats of the sport according to the previous blogs that I did).
And finally the Springboks plans of retaining 2023 Rugby World Cup began after their triumph at the 2019 tournament against England in the final in Yokohama, Japan, compared to the Australian cricket team's plans of winning the 2023 men's Cricket World Cup started after defeat against hosts at the time & eventual champions England in the semifinal at Edgbaston in Birmingham also in 2019 that they just needed to get in shape in order to get back on top of the world.
So that is my 529th blog of the year 2024 (MMXXIV) & my 5th of this year, viva Ukraine & Palestine.
P.S. And we have just learned that American actor Matthew Perry who appeared on the hit TV sitcom series Friends (Which featured the likes of Jennifer Anniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox, David Schwimmer & Matt LeBlanc) has passed away so all thoughts, prayers & condolences go to the family of him in this sad & most difficult time around, so rest easy/rest in paradise/rest in pieces.
Matthew Perry
1969 - 2003
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