Like every other Irish cricket fan, us beating Pakistan on St Patrick’s Day four years ago was the highlight of my cricket-following life. Even when I see the footage now I struggle to believe it’s actually going to happen. I’m still thinking, “ha, it’s starting to get a bit hairy for Pakistan” or “we’re putting up a decent show here”. Actually winning wasn’t even a possibility until Trent Johnston hit the final six, which I was sure would fly down a fielder’s throat…

This week we look at the countries which have been most left-out, the old-school Test Championship, and those who profited and paid for Packer’s shenanigans.

How strong really is this Indian squad, and do they have the goods to deliver on the ultimate stage? We do a brief preview of each member of this Indian squad.

This week cricket has been mourning the tragic death of Trevor Bailey. In this feature Martin looks back at his life and times.

Do you want your chance to play in the Cricket World Cup? At the Cricket Web forums, one of the moderation team is running a simulated competition for forum members. All is explained here.

Cricket Web’s Jake Howe has a go at this Fantasy Cricket business. In Part One, he picks his XI and challenges you to do the same.

As Sourav Ganguly finds himself entrenched in yet another controversy erupting over him remaining unsold at the IPL, Angikaar Choudhury tries to decipher the kind of hysteria the man evokes, especially in his home city, Kolkata.

Some of the best hundreds scored in the world cup. How many will we see this time around?

When sportsmen and bookmakers mix there has always been the potential for trouble. In this feature we look back at an old story from a contemporary perspective.

With just a few days to go before the start of the tenth World Cup we cannot pin-point a favourite as yet. With the tedious long-drawn format this is as open as it could be. The format starts off with a week of warm-up matches (just a hit and giggle contest) before the tournament officially begins. However the league format is nothing but an extended
warm-up with no real sense of serving any purpose. 42 meaningless games over a period of 30 days which have no bearing on the knock-outs followed by a crammed seven knock-out games to decide the winner. In effect the format takes 42 games to eliminate six weak teams and uses just the knock out games to determine the winner.