Biltong-Cricket = Bread-Butter

"Biltong and cricket go together just like bread n butter ". So says Fanie Van Vuuren, who has a biltong vend inside the Wanderers cricket ground at Johannesburg, South Africa. No sporting event in South Africa is complete without a few pints of beer and a generous supply of biltong.

In case you have been left wondering (as i was), let me explain what Biltong is. Bilton is essentialy South African dried meat. Bil = Buttock, Tong = Strip, got it?!! While beef biltongs are the most popular, an interesting variation is the ostritch meat biltong. Except of course with Indian fans, who being averse to beef prefer game biltong. You game for that? I'd rather stick to my lager only.

Punters predict India to win Twenty20 World Cup

So you think Australia is the favourite to win the Twenty20 Cup ? And you also think that the rest of the world thinks the way you do. Well, the cricket pundits might agree with you but certain gentlemen (if that is the right word) in Central India certainly do not.

Punters in Central India have placed bets of over Rs. 20 crores on the teams they think are likely to take home the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup and these teams are called neither Australia or England. Nor do they include hosts South Africa. The punters of Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat and Chhatisgarh think that one of India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka will bag top honours in South Africa. Over 43,000 gamblers are reported to have put in their monies and 65% of them favour India. World Champions Australia, on the other hand have found favour with a measly 13% of gamblers.

Here's wishing the punters of Central India all the very best. May their favourite team win!!

Statistical Model developed by IIM alumnus firm predicted Indian Loss

While me and you and a million other Indian cricket fans were glued into our TV sets yesterday waiting and hoping for our team to overcome England and win the 7th and final one-dayer and clinch the series, a few IIM graduates knew the result beforehand!!

Score Wizard, a statistical model bulit and developed by Bombay based predictive analytics company Fractal Analytics Ltd., a venture of IIM alumni predicted England would beat India in the all important final encounter at Lord's. However, the model had predicted a close affair - Score Wizard said India would lose the match by 3 runs only.

The firm claims to have got the results of 5 of the 6 matches of the series right. Besides, they claim over 70% success in predicting the results of the World Cup matches.

Let's wait and see what their predictions for the Twenty20 World Cup are - and how right they go in what should be a more risky affair as far as predictions go.

"Mickey Arthur speaks too many lies."

Andre Nel is in the South Africa Twenty20 World Cup Team now, replacing openin batsman Loots Bosman. The reason given for the change is a back injury sustained by Bosman from which he has not yet fully recovered. But Bosman isn't too sure.....

Bosman is reported to have said that one specialist told him he is fit to play while the CSA doctor ruled him out of the T20 World Cup and he finds the decision of the CSA specialist 'suspicious'. What had made matters worse for Bosman are his comments over coach Mickey Arthur. "I am sick of lies.", said Bosman adding that Arthur tells too many lies.

Not too surprisingly Bosman is in the middle of lots of official trouble now. Cricket South Africa (CSA) said on Wednesday that Bosman will appear before CSA's Disciplinary Commissioner, Michael Kuper SC, to face charges of breaching CSA's rules and code of conduct.

What is funny is Bosman's replacement: Andre Nel. While Bosman may have privately said something nasty about a couple of folks, Mr. Nel hurls abuses and looks worse right in the middle of the cricket park. If Bosman is being accused of bring the game into 'disrepute', Nel has been far worse.

Google's Sense of Humour?

Do search engines have a sense of humour? Yes, they do. If you don't believe me, simply type "Cricketer" on your google search box and see what you get.

On top of all relevant searches from the world - no less than 3 million results there is this most cute picture of the ex-Pakistan Captain, Inzamam-Ul-Haq.

There ain't no one as cute as Inzamam on the cricket field, for sure. What say!


ps: do a normal search, not an image search.