IPL: Day 9

Today’s matches was for pride and honor and all teams needed to win, to show that they are still in the competition.

Kolkata won the toss and elected to bat and chose to bowl. Pieterson opened the bowling and got the wicket of McCullum first ball. Nice way to start before you leave the next day for England. Gayle and Ganguly had all the hopes on their shoulders. Both went and left Kolkata struggling to 139/6.

Bangalore’s openers came together well this time and had a partnership of 69 together, All went well till they started loosing wickets.

 33 needed of 25 and then, in a match that was easy taking for them, became difficult. 10 runs needed off the last over when Boucher took Bangalore with quick running to victory!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I backed the Indians today as i felt they were the stronger team between the 2, but that changed all in the last over!

Punjab’s openers started slow and they were at 86/5. By some miracle they reached 119. Not the biggest margins to defend, but the pitch was a bolwers paradise!
Indians hoped Tendulkar and Jayasuriya whould perform again, but to a huge shock both were sent back to the locker room in quick succesion. They were tottering alon at 47/4 before Duminy started the fight-back. Excelent bowling by Punjab saw Indians needing 12 to win off the last over. Requiring 7 off the last 4 it could be done.
Duminy took a huge slog , jumping out of my couch screamign with joy – only to be shortlived , and cought on the boundary! 7 needed off 2 and great fielding hampered Indians to the the win and Punjab their 3rd win.

Things I know about you

Things I know about you

1. Your reading my comment
2. Now your saying/thinking thats a stupid fact.
4. You didnt notice that i skipped 3.
5. Your checking it now.
6. Your smiling.
7. Your still reading my comment.
8. You know all you have read is true.
10. You didnt notice that i skipped 9.
11. Your checking it now.
12. You didnt notice there are only 10 facts

 

 

Office 2007 Service Pack 2

With Office 2010 (codename Office 14) will be relased soon, Microsoft has officially released Service Pack 2 for Office 2007 today.

Some significant changes, including built-in ability to save PDF Formats, improvements to Outlook’s performance and calendar reliability and significant bug fixes for charts in core Office applications. It is also a rollup of all fixes that have previously been released for Office 2007 products.

 

2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2 download

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B444BF18-79EA-46C6-8A81-9DB49B4AB6E5

IPL: Day 7 & 8

On Sunday saw Bangalore take on the Daredevils. Pietersen won the toss and he chose to bat first. While Kallis was out for a duck in the first over of Nannes, Peterson had to come and steady the ship for the Royals.  With a middle order collapse Boucher came in and on the other hand, playing his first IPL game, looked in good touch hitting the ball all over the park. After a jittery start Delhi were 64/2 requiring 86 more runs to win the match. Kallis was also expensive with the ball thus allowing Delhi to their 3rd victory.

Kallis became the second batsman to get out off the first ball of a match in IPL – 2009 
Tillekaratne Dilshan registered his second consecutive fifty in IPL 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kings XI Punjab take on Rajastan Royals in the second match of the day. Punjab side had a shaky start when they went into the break at 60/4.
They finished the innings at 139/6, thanks to the efforts of Sangakkara and Pathan.  Royals came in with our captain, Smith and Asnodkar, but struggled again! Shane Warne remained unbeaten on 34 at the end of the innings. The Rajasthan team could only manage a score of 117 and lost the match by 27 runs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday being a public holiday here in South Africa saw the stadiums full again for action packed IPL today!
Adam Gilchrist won the toss and inserted Super Kings to bat on a pitch that looked to be favouring the bowlers.  Hayden was in a murderous mood with 4’s and 6’s goign all over the place. Great bowlign saw the Super Kings collapse and even Morkle did not last long (wonder what is happenign to him?)
It was a close game where the Charges needed 166. Gibbs and Gilchrist set up a partnership not yet seen in the IPL so far, they raced to 60 off just 4 overs, reaching the fastest 50 of the IPL in the process.  Super Kings bowled well to bring it back, until it came down to 8 needed off the final over. Gibbs hit a six off the first ball thus putting the Charges firmly on the top of the charts with 4 wins out of 4 matches. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar won the toss and elected to bat first. He took them to a blazing start with boundaries and sixers flowing off his bat! Having scored 111 runs in the first 10 overs, Mumbai lost quick wickets in the middle overs. At the end they only managed a score of 187 runs after losing 6 wickets. 
Malinga maintained a tight line and length making it difficult for the batsmen to score.  The ‘Strategy Timeout’ came to the favour of Mumbai and the Knight Riders collapsed with their batting and bowling letting them down miserably. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to work tomoorw, but still loads of action from the IPL!

Nando’s & Julius Malema’s New Blurred Ad

After the ANC Youth League gave Nando’s a 24 hour deadline to remove their TV ad or face ‘militant action’, Nando’s said that they would remove the ad and release a new one.

The new one is just where Julius’s face has been blurred out and his voice changed.

http://www.zoopy.com/video/tyk/nando-s-julius-tv-ad-blurred-out?browse=gws
 

IPL: Day 5 & 6

Traveling and reffing my first Div 1 premier league rugby match i have been away from the computer.
 IPL has still continued, even with rain delay!

On the 24th saw Bangalore take on Punjab. Pieterson failed, again, but Ryder and Kallis helped the Royals to 168 runs. This however was not enough for the hard fighting Kings. So Punjab finally open their account on a bad day for the captain, batsman of Bangalore!

Decan Charges took on Mumbai Indians with both teams eacualy strong and hungry for another win. Gibbs , with a top-score of 58, Gilchrist and Smith provided for a high paced start, getting the Charges to 168/9.   With a few setbacks they still secured their third straight victory of the tournament –  more than they did whole season last year….   JP Duminy scoring 47 helped the Indian’s, but to no avail as the Charges gave their bowlers a target which they were able to defend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the last day of today it started raining in Cape Town. The rain has been intermittent all day, and the match was called off  three hours after the scheduled start.  Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders will now share a point.

Tour: Lions vs Springboks

In a month or so, the British & Irish Lions will be touring in South Africa.

Since 1891 the Lions have won 16 Tests against the Springboks and lost 21, while seven tests were drawn.

 

The itinerary is as follows:

Saturday 30 May 2009 v Highveld XV, Royal Bafokeng, Rustenburg

Wednesday 3 June 2009 v Golden Lions, Ellis Park, Johannesburg

Saturday 6 June 2009 v Cheetahs, Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein

Wednesday 10 June 2009 v Sharks, ABSA Park, Durban

Saturday 13 June 2009 v Western Province, Newlands, Cape Town

Wednesday 17 June 2009 v Coastal XV, Port Elizabeth

Saturday 20 June 2009 –  British & Irish Lions vs South Africa – 1st Test, Absa Park, Durban

 

Tuesday 23 June 2009 v Emerging Springboks, Newlands, Cape Town

 

Saturday 27 June 2009 –  British & Irish Lions vs South Africa  – 2nd Test, Loftus Versfeld,Pretoria

 

Saturday 4 July 2009 – British & Irish Lions vs South Africa – 3rd Test, Ellis Park, Johannesburg

ALSO – 

Tri Nations 2009

Nando’s & Julius Malema’s Ad

Nando Ad – Julius Malema 

If you have not already watched the Nandos advert everyone is talking about then you need to watch it!  The ANC Youth League has quickly jumped on their high horses and asked for this advert to be taken off air or else it will “mobilise a militant action against Nandos and anything associated with Nando’s”.  Now does this mean they will attack every Nandos shop in South Africa like the war veterans did in Zimbabwe?

There was also a prank call not so long ago when Malema apparently spoke to Barack Obama. I am trying to find if i can get my hands on it and post it here.

The ad by Nandos depicts , Julius Malema, as endorsing the chicken products.
Malema is heard saying that Nandos is in favour of change and the more money you pay with the more change you get.
From the Sapa story:

The television adverts feature a puppet named Julius — which
could be a reference to ANCYL leader Julius Malema — who demands
“change”.
The league said it has commissioned its lawyers to investigate.
“While awaiting the legal advice, the ANCYL instructs the
Nando’s Company and those who did the advertisement to promptly
withdraw the advert from all television screens and radio channels.
“If Nando’s does not withdraw the adverts, the ANCYL will
mobilise the people of South Africa to take militant action against
Nando’s and anything associated with Nando’s.”
Nando’s marketing manager Sylvester Chauke said Nando’s went
with the political theme because “it is what is happening in the
country at the moment”.
“Our advertisements are not a stab at Julius Malema at all. What
is it that Nando’s said in the advert that is negative about
him?… If only I could have an answer to that.”

 

Tyron Henderson

Tyron Henderson was bought by the Rajasthan Royals for $650,000. Yusuf Pathan retains the spot for most expensive player.

Rajasthan had paid only $450,000 for Shane Warne and $475,000 for Graeme Smith last year. They did not get Henderson, 34, without a fight!
The Deccan Chargers kept bidding until the $600,000 mark.  

So what’s so special about him? Very simply, he’s the highest wicket-taker in Twenty20 matches, with 74 wickets in 62 games at an average of 21 and an economy rate below seven. He’s played for the Cape Cobras in South Africa, and Middlesex in England, and is nicknamed ‘The Blacksmith’.

Also – his wife is my wedding caterer and venue organiser for my wedding 🙂

IPL: Day 5

With a strike rate of nearly 200, AB De Villiers single handedly lead the Daredevils to a 9 run victory over Super Kings.  This is the first IPL ton this season and i am happy a South African got it 😀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Super Over. Each team gets one over to bat and the team which scores the most wins. If it’s a tie then the team which scores the most sixes in the match wins.  Picking the Knight Riders to win it cam to the last over and ended in a tie, brining in the Super Over.
Yusuf Pathan clobberd Ajantha Mendis as Rajasthan Royals won a humdinger at Newlands.

IPL: Day 4

Slept in today as it was a public holiday here. The missus made a great breakfast then we went to go vote.

Eini-meeni-mini-mo.

I did my prediction for superbru in a haste and was so sure Bangalore would win over Deccan’s, but it was not to be so 😦
Gillcrest won the toss and decided to bat. With that he blasted the Chargers in a commanding possition. With the third bad start for Bangalore meant they were struggelign from the start. Maybe Pieterson must go back to England. Dravid did bat well, but was just not good enough.

Bangalore lost by 24 runs, thus putting Deccan on top of the IPL log!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://scienide.wordpress.com/ipl-2009/

IPL Auction

Sitting with my stepdad, the two of us started chatting about the amount of money the IPL is spending/generating.
Yes it had to move to South Africa for players safety, but you will not get the full crowd atmosfere like in India of last season!

Few questions we had between each other:
How much is the prize money?
Where does all the cash come from?
How much was certain players paid?

So i went and looked a bit and got few answers, and WOW! 

1. Kevin Pietersen: Bangalore Royal Challengers for $1.55 million 
2. Andrew Flintoff: Chennai Superkings for $1.55 million.
3. JP Duminy (SA 😀 ): Mumbai Indians picked him for $9,50,000
4. Shaun Tait: Rajasthan Royals bought him for for $3,75,000.
5. Owais Shah (England): Delhi Daredevils bought for $2,75,000.
6. Paul Collingwood (England): Delhi Daredevils bought for $2,75,000
7. Fidel Edwards: Hyderabad IPL bought him for $1,50,000. 
8. Tyron Henderson: South African all-rounder was bought by Rajasthan Royals for $6,50,000.  (He was not picked for SA, and local clubs only used him now and again. His wife is my Wedding cateror)
9. Ravi Bopara (England): He was bought Punjab Kings Eleven for $4,50,000.
10. Thulan Thushara (Sri Lanka): Chennai Super Kings bought him for $1,40,000. 
11. Jesse Ryder (New Zealand): Bangalore bought him for $1,60,000.
12. Kylie Mills (New Zealand): Mumbai Indians bought him for $1,50,000.
13. Dwayne Smith (West Indies): Hyderabad IPL bought him for $1,00,000.
14. Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh): Kolkata Knight Riders bought Bangladesh pace bowler for $6,00,000. 
15. George Bialey (Australia): Chennai bought him for $50,000.

 

So the cash comes now from the moerse long add breaks….   😛

Prize money – i think i read somewhere that it $2 million.

IPL: Day 3

Chennai Super Kings come back well after the defeat in the first match and win the match by 92 runs. 
My prediction was going to be Mr Pieterson’s team, but then my work mate got me chance my mind 😛

So the Kings were defeated in their first match against Mumbai, Bangalore beat last seasons champs, but the match in Port Elizabeth seemed too much for the Royals. Hayden putting on a great 65 runs, putting a decent total of 179/5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until tomorrow when the Kings XI Punjab meet Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians take on Rajasthan Royals.

My predictions underlined 😀

IPL: Day 2

 

With the skies opening up on the second day saw the 3rd game against Punjub  and Delphi being delayd.

 

 

The match was shortened to an 12 over game.  Punjub ended on 104/7 for their 12 overs. Daredevils came in and knew they had to get going before the skies open again. The captain Sehwag smashed the ball all over the park when rain came down heavier than there had been all day.

 

When they came back onto the field they needed to get 54 from 6 overs from a revised D/L system. 

Points for me in Superbru 😀 and cricket.com’s Fantasy League.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Due to the heavy rain, the first game was postponed forcing the second game to be postponed also.
It was taking back about 30min, but then one of the palleton’s (floodlights) broke. Putting a section of the field in darkness with an already grey sky. Thus making the game start 1 hour late.

The crowd was not going home and the players were ready for the action.!
Rainy conditions made the first game very uninteresting.  The second one was far from that!  Gibbs and Sharma resulted in a Deccans victory over the Knight Riders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

next match in Port Elizabeth for game 5.

IPL Predictions

Remarkably detailed and individually dated predictions for IPL 2009:

by Sidin Sunny Vadukut http://www.whatay.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 3^rd 2009: During a press conference to unveil the second edition of the IPL, Chairman Lalit Modi is suddenly attacked by a masked assailant who, screaming the words “Saale illegal monopoly businessman! Mere joote da jawab nahin!“, hurls shoes at the cricket administrator before tearing out of the conference room and disappearing into the the crowds outside. Questions are raised about Modi’s popularity amongst the media and cricketing fraternity as the assailant was able to throw over 11 pairs of shoes at Modi before members of Rajasthan Cricket Association pounced upon the guards who had come to pounce upon the assailant. Kapil Dev expresses surprise and concern at the development when media ambush him at a Bata showroom a few hours later. Thankfully Modi is able to duck almost all of the shoes except the last four.

April 10^th 2009: Cricket fans all over India wake up in shock to see the Bangalore Royal Challengers on top of the Indian Premier League 2009 league tables. And then everyone laughs sheepishly when they realize that the tournament hasn’t started and the team names have been displayed in alphabetical order.

The inaugural match of the tournament is between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Chennai Super Kings. For a long time it looks like the Knight Riders have a solid chance of winning before the Super Kings finally arrive from the airport after a delayed flight and beat them by 73 runs.

April 12^th 2009: On the same day as a Rajasthan Royals vs. Mumbai Indians match, rebel cricket league honcho Kapil Dev shrewdly convenes a press conference to divert attention. At the conference he outlines ICL’s strategy to overtake and crush the IPL to the assembled press, namely, one Mr. Parthasarathi Kalasalingam from Anna Nagar Weekly. After Dev’s address Mr. Kalasilangam asks the following question: “Mr Kapil Dev, can you kindly direct me to the room where the vegetarian buffet is being served?”

Dev breaks down.

April 16^th 2009: TV viewers have a treat today as Aussie great and senior Chennai Super Kings player Matthew Hayden joins the commentary and analysis crew looking bootilicious in a tight sports t-shirt and low waisted denim jeans. Hilarity ensues when the star-struck Bollywood starlet, hired to add sex appeal to the crew, goofs her lines all night and keeps saying “sirf Sex Matt par! Deewana bana de.” with longing glances at Hayden.

April 17^th 2009: After the first week of fixtures the league is intriguingly placed with the Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians, and Delhi Daredevils all sharing first place. Bringing up the rear is the Deccan Chargers who are yet to find their groove in the tournament. So far the tournament has surprised everyone with its success. Stadiums are full of people and the cricket has been of a consistently high quality.

To celebrate, BCCI president Sharad Pawar organizes a celebratory parade for Lalit Modi on top of an open-top BEST bus from Wankhede Stadium to Bandra in Mumbai. The turnout is abysmal and Modi reaches Bandra in thirty-five minutes flat. None of the players come along to join in except Andrew Flintoff and Yuvraj Singh. However both players turn back in minutes when organizers clarify that they did not mean “topless bus parade” in that sense.

April 23^rd 2009: With sponsorship money dwindling Vijay Mallya decides to step up promotional and brand building activities for the Royal Challengers. In an internationally televised exhibition match the Kingfisher Calendar girls take on the Royal Challengers in a Twenty20 match which the models win by 32 runs. Monikangana Dutta takes 5 for 17 in a spell Laxman Sivaramakrishnan describes thus: “Oh… yeah… oh yeah… baby… throw that ball.. throw that ball to daddy…”

April 24^th 2009: Vijay Mallya replaces the entire Royal Challengers with models from the Kingfisher Calendar. The cricketers are spun off into a B-team called Royal Challengers Red which will play without uniform, cricketing gear or any catering. However tickets to their matches costs only Rs20 each (taxes and fuel surchages extra. Conditions apply).

May 1^st 2009: In a controversial but innovative move Lalit Modi announces that all Third Umpire decisions will henceforth be decided by the public via real-time SMS polls. The system is first tried out during a Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils match. JP Duminy tries to take a quick single when a direct throw from Gautam Gambhir rattles the stumps. The umpires immediately signal for an SMS poll by using a brand new gesture: they hold up a mobile phone. After three minutes of hectic SMS polling, with millions of votes coming in from West Bengal and the North-eastern states, Debojit Saha is once again chosen as Indian Idol.

May 3^rd 2009: Something happened to the Kings XI Punjab today. But it did not involve Preity Zinta. So nobody cares.

May 5^th 2009: Shahrukh Khan announces to the media that due to an uproar from knight riders all over the world, the name of his team was being shortened to just Kolkata. This however has no impact on the performance of the team which loses its fourth straight match and slumps to the bottom of the table just above the Deccan Chargers and the Kings XI Punjab.

May 6^th 2009: Just when everyone thought they had seen all the crisis they could handle in IPL 2009, a new one erupts at the Wankhede Stadium. As the Mumbai Indians walk back to the pavilion after beating the Kings XI Punjab, Harbhajan Singh is caught on camera whispering something to Sreesanth’s ear and shaking his fist in the sensitive Malayali’s face. Sreesanth is soon in tears. Lalit Modi orders an immediate enquiry.

May 12^th 2009: A crisis is averted. In the course of the enquiry Harbhajan’s case is explained by Sachin Tendulkar who was standing right next to the pair as the incident happened. Sreesanth is represented by the CPI(M) Politburo. Tendulkar goes on to explain how the whole thing was a misunderstanding. He clarifies that Harbhajan was not abusing Sreesanth. Instead Sreeseanth misheard a word while Harbhajan Singh was, in fact, singing the old Punjabi classic: “Tutak Tutak Tutak Tootiya.”

The impartial arbitrator, Vinod Kambli, accepts Tendulkar’s explanation and dismisses the case. The CPI(M) immediately calls for a nationwide strike in West Bengal and Kerala.

May 16^th 2009: Driven to desperation Vijay Mallya sells the entire Royal Challengers operation via online bidding to Bollywood heart-throb Shakti Kapoor. Kapoor, in classic private equity style, dismantles the company into parts and sells everything except the cheerleaders part of the business.

May 19^th 2009: The season is building into a tremendous climax. The Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers have made it to the final four. Oh wait. Scratch that. I can hear my wife coming down the hall. When I said Deccan Chargers I mean Delhi Daredevils. These four teams have qualified for the finals.

And it looks like the Delhi Daredevils will win IPL 2009. I cannot reiterate this point enough.

May 23^rd 2009: After the semi-finals, champions Rajasthan Royals and challengers Delhi Daredevils stand firm. Both teams have lasted through a gruelling season of Twenty20 matches and fans are all set all over the country for the thrilling finale scheduled to take place in a few days time…

May 25^th 2009: … when disaster strikes. This morning a personal fax is received by media outlets all over the country from the desk of Lalit Modi. In this fax he says that for the last seven years there have been irregularities with the finances of the Indian Premier League and the league was no longer in a position to continue. The tournament would have to stop with immediate effect. He apologized to all the players and the viewers and said that things had gotten worse and worse and it was like “a lot of money just kept coming into my account and I just never knew when to stop and get off.”

When the news breaks, the Sensex immediately crashes 23%. However it bounces back sharply later in the day ending on a slight positive on the back of fresh FDI inflows, strong currency markets and good volumes in open interest.

May 26^th 2009: Madhur Bhandarkar announces his newest film project at a press meet in Mumbai. The movie will be called “Cricket”. One of the assembled press, Mr. Kalasalingam from Anna Nagar Weekly asks him: “What will be the theme of your movie this time Mr. Bhandarkar?”

Disclaimer: Everything in this blogpost is meant to be satirical. So don’t send me hate mail. I love IPL. Also Test cricket.