A very good day

Today was a good day if you were a Villa fan or a Warwickshire fan or a Chennai Super Kings fan. And if you are a fan of all three like me a very good day! Of the 3 matches the only one i saw was the latter and that was a solid professional performance by the Super Kings, Mumbai made a possible error in not bringing the awesome Kieron Pollard in earlier (though of course it is hard to say what could have changed, he might have been out first ball!). His 107m 6 was a box office shot for sure. Great game in any event, even Mandira returned!

Not that good a day for Lalit Modi though...

So that was the end of IPL 3.0, who knows how the cricket landscape will have changed by the time of version 4.0...

Get your hands off of our man!

Surrey, whose fingers were apparently not burned in signing Chris Lewis a couple of seasons ago, are going for another 40 something who hasn't played for ages. This time it is the Warwickshire legend Brian Lara (i believe he may have played for the West Indies too). It may be a ploy by BCL to increase his value because he has been rumoured of going to try IPL. I'd rather he came here though, i never saw him playing for the Bears (except on TV).

Where is she?

Not been watching IPL for the last few days, did put it on on Sunday but as Jim Rosenthal appeared on the screen i assumed my TV was on the blink. So i put it on today... where is Mandira?! Did they get rid of her or something. Oh well better put a picture of her on here to ...erm... illustrate this posting.

IPL-a-go-go

Three cheers for ITV4 as finally i have been able to see some IPL on TV and what i have seen so far has been pretty good. The excitement, the colour, the big 6s, the hot chicks in the crowd which the cameraMEN always dwell on. What is not to like?

Well the infamy of that last over bowled by Tyagi (who didn't even get to finish it as he bowled 2 over the waist height balls so he ended up with the superb figures of 1.5-0-39-0). What was Dhoni doing bowling him in the last over after his previous over had been so badly mauled? So my adopted team of the Chennai Super Kings didn't get off to a very good start (my great-great-great-aunt was born in Chennai in case you were wondering how i picked them).

Seeing the old stars like Shane Warne and some exciting new Indian players makes the IPL some excellent cricket in my opinion.

IPL on ITV

ITV has bought the rights to show this year's IPL and will air 59 live matches. Well i'm definately looking forward to this. Go Chennai Super Kings!

Development given green light

The ground redevelopment has been given the green light to proceed, which is just as well because the old pavilion and members areas have already been demolished. By the Summer of 2011 the shiny new ground should be completed, well lets hope so anyway. Capacity will be increased to 25,000, a figure which Sorrey are also aspiring for and which they say puts them in pole position to pick up an IPL tie-up. The Bears (or Super Kings) must be on the second row i would have thought. 6 county chiefs are in India desperate for deals, is Mr Povey one of them?

Two Royals

Hampshire have completed their link-up with Rajesthan and will compete as the Hampshire Royals in the T20 next season. They are one of a number of sides around the world who will share Rajesthan's name, prize winnings and so forth. Hang on arn't Worcester already the Royals? I can't wait till the 2 sides meet, it will be the battle to be the King of Kings!

What should be the Bears' name?

Rajasthan Royals are looking to build their international brand by linking up with 4 other teams across the world including 1 in the UK, Hampshire are in talks. The linked up teams would also add Royals to their names. No doubt if this goes through then other IPL teams would follow. So what could Warwickshire end up as.

As my great-great-grandmother was born in Madras i have to hope for the Warwickshire Super Kings. Low tar of course!

IPL begins

Mumbai extinguished the Superkings (arf arf!) who had Flintoff in their ranks. The later game between Bangalore and Rajasthan pits KP Nuts against the only man in the universe with an ego bigger than his, SK Warne.

Meanwhile in Taunton i'm getting the impression the pitch is a little flat, Somerset made 672-4dec. Hildreth 303no. Warks 45-0 at tea.

IPL set to begin in South Africa

In hindsight the decision to move the IPL to South Africa and not here is a no-brainer as it is due to begin. The weather in Blighty is freezing and very damp. Perfect for hardy county members with their blankets and flasks of tea but probably not optimal for skimpily dressed Bollywood dancers. A shame though as it probably would have been rather amusing.

There is a big stand in Taunton, Somerset 321-2. We are heading to a draw i think.

IPL games to add more adverts

IPL games will become 15 minutes longer after the introduction of a "time out" after 10 overs to allow for tactical discussion. Of course in reality it means more TV adverts can be shoved in. So it has begun, the attempt to extract the maximum possible money out of T20. If they are not careful they will end up with something as unwatchable as American Football which is basically advertising occaisionally punctuated by men in armour hitting each other.