The World Cup cricket is played to find the best team in the one day game. One day cricket should not be confused with the the 5 day Test Match (which doesn't always last 5days), 4 day matches, 3 day matches, Day/Night games or 20/20 matches (for those with perfect vision).
This World Cup will take place in the Caribbean, this is good news for all the cricket journalists up and down the country as they get to do their job in beautiful surroundings. It certainly beats Glamorgan vs Somerset on a dull Tuesday morning. Not that I have a problem with Glamorgan, some of my best friends are from there. (They're not!)
With it being in the Caribbean expect to hear phrases like "They certainly know how to party". There may even be some casual mention of drug taking, something on the line of, "There was a pleasant aroma in the air". Even if these things happen to be true, is it really a crime to know how to party?
Is it really a crime to take drugs? I'm mean who amongst us hasn't taken drugs, maybe you smoked a joint or two whilst you were a student at Eton.
Clothing: You may expect to see the teams dressed in white, but in an attempt to make cricket appear more fun, the cricket authorities make the teams dress in coloured clothes. This is why this short form of cricket has in the past been called 'Pyjama Cricket' . As someone who doesn't wear pyjamas to bed it's probably a good thing that I never made it as a professional cricketer. The players will also be using a white ball as opposed to the traditional red one, this is so the people of the Caribbean aren't accused of being racists and have to grovel to protect their reputation and livelihood like Jade Goody.
The Teams: The main problem with the Cricket World Cup is that cricket is only played by a few countries, eg Austrailia, India, Pakistan etc... so to make up the numbers countries, you may not associate with cricket are also in the tournament such as Holland, Ireland, Kenya, Burmuda and Scotland. However no France, yet as a child I remember playing French Cricket, the one where you had to use the bat to stop the ball hitting your legs. Those wacky French!. Anyway, all these minor teams have no chance of winning yet enter all the same, it's a little bit how I felt when I used to ring up ITV Play, in the middle of the night after a late one at the pub.
So Who Has a Chance of Winning: My fellow cricketing experts have said that this is the most open of tournaments, with any of the top teams in with a chance of winning. Naturally Austrailia start as favourites, what with their quality players and an ingrained desire to win. But what of England? No matter what sport, England always starts a tournament confidently, which is usually proven to be unfounded. This confidence seems to stem from two things,firstly "On their day they can beat the best teams" and secondly "They invented the game". How much truth is in the latter statement is up for debate because I am a regular viewer of Dragons' Den and have never seen WG Grace trying to get money for his invention, cricket. All I'm trying to say in a long winded way is, don't be surprised if England get knocked out before the Semis.
I hope this has whetted your appetite for the World Cup. For a more in depth coverage try the BBC.
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cricket world cup final