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The IPLISA is underway. Scrambling a show like this from India to South Africa in 23 days was an impressive effort. But if they thought that the rest of the world wouldn’t notice such a change, and the cheerleaders could carry on to a backdrop of sixes, they were wrong. Rain, fun pitches and a dog called Bruno have reminded us that this is not IPL2; it is very much being held in South Africa. Not that we’re complaining. The one thing IPLISA has managed to do is to attract a wider range of commentators. And there is no-one more suited to an ingratiating Modi lovefest at the opening ceremony than Mark Nicholas. A match made in Bollywood hell. He even managed to refer to Modi as “the inventor of the IPL”; a claim that would have been so much better if an apple had dropped on his head at the time. Something to work on next year boys. But the flipside of watching cricket from Australia this summer, and having the associated aggravation of having to put up with Nicholas, was that at least Simon Doull wasn’t present. Well that’s the beauty of the IPL; you get both. And then it rained, which was a timely reminder of where we actually were. But hang on a bit; it’s time for a Strategy Break And while, we’re having this break, have a look at this. Sign up at Cricket Fantasies. Also, watch this instructional video Strategy Break over There were several strange sights in the first match, seeing Jacob Oram play cricket was obviously the main one. He must be pleased to have Flintoff around this year; if anyone is going to look more like Big Bird than Jake in that shiny yellow, it’s Freddie.
And then the dog arrived to provide the kind of entertainment over-choreographed cheerleaders can never provide. It was a scary dog too. Big, black and with a massive dripping tongue. You could tell Jake didn’t like it. This was no cute golden retriever prancing around the Koimaramara Park that he was used to; this one was a real dog. And it managed to stay there for 11 minutes, teasing the players and the fat security guards with ease. In the end it turned its nose up at the entertainment on offer, and strolled back to the food stall. Another Strategy Break coming soon Next up were the much awaited Wairarapa Royal Challengers, except the Wairarapa bit was all over after 3 balls of their innings. Cult Hero out second ball, initials Taylor a golden. And both to Otago’s Dimitri Mascharauns too. That’s what happenes when the ball’s moving about a bit. Much better than the Indian roads. The other thing that happens when it’s tough going is that class rises to the top. Dravid, so maligned last year for playing like a test batsman, played like a test batsman here and showed that good technique, and getting yourself established are things that can be pretty handy. Then the defending champs got rolled for 54. Great stuff. Kumble (remember him?) had the useful figures of 5/5. And Jesse bowled well too; those day-nighters at sea level are going to suit his bowling perfectly. Lets have that next Strategy Break now About that Cricket Fantasies site. Note the following: • You play the game as the owner of a team • Your team is a part of a league which has a total of 8 teams • You need to bid for players and win them in an auction. Auctioning ends a day before the IPL begins • You play one on one matches with other teams in your league • The IPL matches and the fantasy matches between fantasy teams are very closely related • You can either play in the global league or create private leagues to play with family and friends • There are pre-defined set of rules for global leagues. These rules are configurable for your private leagues. So, if you want to run a private league, where you want to award points for boundaries only, you can apply only 2 rules ( one for fours hit and the other for number of sixes hit) • You can trade players while IPL tournament is in progress in a fantasy stock market Strategy Break over The rest of the weekend featured more rain, and more low-scoring fun. Daniel Vettori only played one match last year, but he’s made his mark early here for a Daredevils team who are looming as a pretty useful unit. Despite the late start and about 9 interruptions, he ran thorough the international players and reminded us all there are 2 Daniel Vettoris; the one who plays in colours, and that other ineffectual one. It finished off with Sehwag doing what Sehwag does best. The winning target of 58 (not a type) chased down with ease. In the day-night fun match, Prince Brendon falling 157 runs short of his opening effort last year. This meant that the 3 NZ glamour batsmen managed to be out there for exactly one over. Fidel Edwards went for 6 off his 4 overs. Ganguly fluffed around for 12 balls for his immaculately crafted 1. And Scott Styris got a bowl. The Night Riders actually won the toss and batted. Don’t expect too many more teams to do that at sea level in the late game. And in Deccan’s mop-up of the runs, Gibbs showed that the more South Africans the better in this competition, and Brendan managed to use 7 bowlers in 13.1 overs. He even used Ganguly as a bowler, presumably just to remind him who’s boss. Comments here
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