CW on the WC

Cricketweb enjoys a truly global staff, and here we share the thoughts of several of them from all over the world.

From Ganesh, our on-scene blogger:-

“The 28 year wait is finally over. Virat Kohli summed it up nicely when he said that Tendulkar had carried India for 21 years and we are carrying him now. This world cup was for that one man. I’m proud as an Indian that a team that has taken me through so much emotions gave me a WC win finally. The WC had it’s moments and I was lucky enough to witness five games. This will be a WC etched in memory for a long long time personally. Two moments Stand out for me. The elimination of Australia and Dhoni launching the ball in to orbit to clinch glory. Well Done India…:-)”

From Hatem, who attended the Sri Lanka games in his home country:-

“I had a chance to watch 5 games too, was a great experience. Dhoni built this team for 4 years. People said stuff when he pushed the old guys out but he did the right thing. Lots of questions will be asked from Sri Lanka point of view.”

Martin is already looking forward to the summer:-

“World Cups come and World Cups go, and with the exception of the very first, back in 1975, I am afraid they have never left a lasting impression on me. England’s comparative lack of success in the tournaments over the years has played a part in that, as has the format itself, but this year I had even less interest than usual. After a historic Ashes victory the World Cup never got going for me, and I am sure the England players must have felt the same. In fact the only game I watched was the final, and it was the only one, England’s included, where I cared who won. I am a great fan of Murali and really wanted to see him go out on a high. Of course in that I was disappointed, and Murali’s last appearance on the world stage was workmanlike rather than mercurial, but I did get something from the game. For years I have wondered what all the fuss is about where Mahendra Singh Dhoni is concerned. Granted I haven’t seen as much of him as I have of some of his countrymen, but whether behind the stumps or in front of them he has always looked distinctly ordinary to me. On 2nd April however I saw as good a captain’s innings as I have ever seen in my life – this summer’s Test series suddenly looks a lot tougher – and a whole lot more interesting!”

Angikaar is in a party mood:-

“Just came back from the streets…and india is delirious with joy. Have never seen such scenes of jubiliation. It’s been a wonderful world cup with exactly the result I wanted. India is going mad over here…fire-crackers adorning the entire skyline. Tendulkar and the rest…you guys are magicians. Thank you, thank you such a lot.”

Neil too is looking forward to summer:-

“It’s amazing how difficult it’s proving to come up with a cogent paragraph looking back on the World Cup: there must be something missing if I’m choosing to spend the final watching Oxford University v Lancashire at the Parks. If I’m honest, the best thing about this tournament was having something to put on Sky Player midway through the morning whilst I looked for a reason not to mark pages of algebra. England kept things interesting – and I can’t pretend there wasn’t a little bit of me that was cheering on Kevin O’Brien that night in Bangalore – but after six months on the road there’s no pretending that we weren’t so much out of gas as out of fumes. It was a tournament of flawed teams – none of them ever taking the month in their grasp as Australia always seemed to do – but the two teams most suited to the conditions made the final, and the one with the most batting depth won it. I don’t think we’ve learned anything much that we didn’t already know. Roll on the Summer…”

Finally, Dave takes more of an ex-Pat Englishman’s view:-

“Having lived in the States for a dozen years, I sadly did not get to see much cricket until relatively recently, as the number of games shown on the web has increased. That lengthy time away from home shores has also dimmed my patriotism to a certain extent, and I find I’m able to enjoy good cricket by anyone these days (though it’s still admittedly tough to applaud the Aussies). I admit I had misgivings about the format of the group stage, which I felt guaranteed no underdogs would qualify for the knockout stage, and so it proved. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed some great games early on, particularly England’s own peculiar brand of entertainment. After the Ashes triumph and six nail-biters in the group, they inevitably went down rather tamely to Sri Lanka, and so I went back to being a cricket-lover, thoroughly enjoying the sight of Dhoni smashing the winning six in true capatin’s style. I too can’t wait for summer!