A cricket final that had everything. The very last ball required to decide the winner, a crowd
on the edge of their seats and two teams determined to win. This form of cricket is exciting
and very popular and has everything for the sports fans. Big sixes, run outs, great bowling and great fielding. The entertainment provided at the venues stirred the crowds and had them fully involved in every game, no matter which side was on the field.
The final started with fireworks and finished that way, a fabulous night.
The royals have proved that they knew what they were doing when it came to buying talented cricketers. Shane Warne and Shane Watson proved to be exceptional buys, not to mention the young talent that has emerged because of IPL 2020. Cast as walkovers and chastised by officials for not spending enough on players, look who’s smiling now. GO ROYALS !!
What happens next season ? With talk of more and more money to spend, will teams be able to retain their players?
Once again congratulations to the Rajasthan Royals and Shane Warne, great win.

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Second Test, Antigua (close day four)
West Indies vs Australia
Australian fast bowler Brett Lee tore the West Indies batting line up apart, taking 5 wickets for five runs off 18 balls. Lee was helped by some very questionable umpiring decisions, but the damage was done. The West Indies were dismissed for 352, still 127 runs behind.
Ponting’s Australians now have a chance to push for victory on the fifth day, something that had seemed impossible just hors before.

Now that the inaugural IPL series is over and the victorious Rajasthan Royals, led by their Captain and Coach, Shane Warne, are still celebrating. The least expensive team in the series ( $3 million) showed all others how to play the game. A great victory.
What next ? There is a lot of talk around about who will be starting 2020 teams and who will be playing where, but it seems that nothing is settled. The West Indies, backed by billionaire,Allen Stanford, is well on it’s way to get 2020 up and running. It has been reported that he has proposed a competition between West Indies and a side from Great Britain.
Is the future 2020WI or 2020GB ? Whatever happens this form of cricket is here to stay. With great cricketers like Shane Warne leading the way, it looks like a long and profitable future.

Michael Clarke’s ton in the second Test in the West Indies was for his fiancee, Lara Bingle,
after the loss of her father. A tearful Clarke looked to the heavens and dedicated his century to
Graham Bingle, who died three weeks ago.
With the Second Test in the balance , Australia declared at 7-479, as Clarke again contributed with his
left arm spin bowling taking 2-7 off seven overs. West Indies reached 3-125 at stumps.
It was a great effort from the “Captain in Waiting”.

Mathew Hayden vows to be fit enough to return to all forms of cricket.
Stating on his arrival ” I am here to play for as long as I can”
Returning to Brisbane after being ruled out of the West Indies tour and will be seeing a specialist in Melbourne to assess the damage to his achilles tendon. Hayden, 36, believes the injury could be the result of how long he has been in the game at the highest level and his strenuous training routine. Until he receives the results he will continue to believe he will be returning and will plan accordingly.
Hayden will be attempting to make his fourth Ashes tour next year.

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Australian Casey Stoner is on the podium again, after finishing second to Valentino Rossi, at Mugello.
Valentino, “the King of Mugello” has been untouchable at this track for the past six seasons. Starting from pole, Rossi took the lead from Casey Stoner on the forth lap and set about creating a gap between himself and his rivals.
The Fiat Yamaha rider, won with a comfortable margin, making it Mugello win number seven. Stoner on the Ducati Marlboro bike finished on the podium at Mugello for only second time in his Grand Prix Career. The second helps him make up ground on the MotoGP standings, he is now in fourth place, but has narrowed the gap between himself and Jorge Lorenzo. Number two in the world championship Dani Pedrosa, was the third rider to finish on the podium.
Next week the Spaniard will be looking for victory on his home soil at Catalunya.

Rajasthan Royals win Indian Premier League final by three wickets.
Their victory in the inaugural IPL series, after being considered as underdogs prior to the
start of this revolutionary new form of cricket, must go down to the leadership of Shane Warne.
Many thought that this form of cricket would be a “Bollywood Spectacle” and not succeed, but
it has been a huge success, giving young unknown players a chance to play against some of the best
in the cricketing world. It also proved that these players could do the job. Not all the million of dollars
spent at auction on big name players could secure the final victory.

Shane Warne won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Chennai Super Kings could only reach a modest total 163 for five. The Royals were inspired by a
brilliant all round display by Yusuf Pathan who took three wickets and top scored with 56 runs off
39 balls. Sohail Tanvir hit the winning run, with Shane Warne at the other end. The Royals finished
with 164 for seven to take home the trophy and $1.2 million. The Kings as runner-ups take home
$600,000.

It was a great final, going down to the last over, before a great crowd. A lot of money has been
spent on players, but I think the huge tv audiences, the way the crowds have responded to players
from other countries has made IPL a fantastic success.

It would seem that the bad boy of cricket, Shane Warne, has at last settled down.

Everyone remembers his infamous exploits of a few years back when he was either sending lewd text messages, having sex on the bonnet of a car or helping out bookmakers , not to mention his mum’s tablets. These exploits were hard to miss as they were on the front page of every newspaper and on every tv channel. Where are all these women now, have they found a new world famous celebrity to sleep with, or have they vanished into a mundane home life and not spending their time on car bonnets ? His bad boy life style has led to his break-up from his wife Simone and his kids, Brooke, Summer and Jackson. A reconciliation was on the cards, but a text message or two ended that. I hope those beautiful young “Bollywood” stars are not receiving too many text messages !!! Are there any BMW’s in India ?

During his Captaincy of English Team Hampshire he was described by his neighbours at “Ocean Village”, a Southampton waterfront condos and townhouse complex , where Shane paid $930,000 for a four bedroom three story attached townhouse, as quiet and private and a “bit of a hunk” by others. You can probably work out which comments were by the local ladies. He was also described as having a 52 inch plasma tv, the only one around. Before settling down in the old dart he had received some bad press in Australia and was probably looking to a not so high profile life.

Now that Shane , it would seem, has settled down to a new life as an Indian celebrity as captain-coach of the Rajasthan Royals in the Twenty 20 I.P.L. competition, where he has had a very positive affect on the young players under his guidance. The competition seems to have so far been a great success and now destined for a long term form of cricket. Shane has been engaged to coach young up and coming Indian players, so his involvement in cricket will continue well into the future. He has now signed up for the new competition of “isixes World Series” ( see www.isixesworldseries.com ) which is due to start in July 2008 in Singapore. This new form of cricket has signed some of the world’s big names such asAnil Kumble,Heath Streak and New Zealander Craig McMillan and is sure to make an impact. Isixes is a six a side game that is sure to be a fast and dynamic tournament.

American billionaire Allen Stanford has also been in the cricket news, wanting to finance a new twenty20 competition between the West Indies and UK teams, with a winner take all prize of $20 million. All good for the world of cricket, as it will gain more and more popularity in more and more countries.

Always in the headlines, Shane Warne, is a great cricketer, one of the best the world has ever seen and maybe the best the world will ever see. His off field antics have created a notoriety that takes away from his on field brilliance. The former International “king of spin” is a genius of spin bowling as many of his victims will tell you.

I wish him all the best in his future adventures.

The top teams in the IPL would appear to be the Delhi Daredevils, Chennai Superkings and Rajasthan Royals each with eight points each after four games each. The Punjab Kings also have eight points, but they have played six games. The Deccan Chargers and the Mumbai Indians have only won one game each and are on two points each. At this stage the Daredevils look the team to beat with the highest net run rate of 1.263.

I wonder what past greats such as Dennis Lillie, Merv Hughes and Jeff Thomson would think about IPL Twenty20 cricket. Imagine what they would think about the huge payments the likes of Shane Warne and Andrew Symonds are receiving for 16 weeks !! If they were still playing now they would only be just catching up on the dollars.

The 22nd. Match of the IPL cricket tournament was a one sided event as Punjab went on to win their forth consecutive win of the series. At the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, kolkata were left with a chase of 179runs and after falling to 50 - 5 in the 10th over it was always going to be a hard slog. Australian David Hussey was hitting whatever came his way and finished up with a very determined 46 runs off 71 balls, including four boundaries and four sixes. Saha also batted very well to finish up with a very good innings of 59 not out.