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A
regretful apology: When we were in New
Zealand in 2003 for the last World
Masters and Under 19 Championships, we faithfully reported
that we had been invited to South Africa to cover that same event
in 2005. Unfortunately, some of the key (then) South African officials
who extended that invitation are no longer involved, so the invitations
just sorta faded away . . .
So
no, sorry, we are not able to provide live cover of the current
tournament. We will have to leave that to the organisers to provide.
For
us to do so without actually being there is too much of a compromise,
and under that sort of arrangement nothing can be guaranteed.
We worked very hard to establish an exceptionally high standard
of coverage the last time this tournament was held (New
Zealand 2003) and at the 2002
World Cup (again New Zealand), and we're simply not willing
to lower those standards by trying to get others to send us up-to-the-minute
scores/reports and the obligatory photographs etc from South Africa.
BUT
. . . because no one else has bothered to do one, we have written
a short pre-Grand Final briefing here
and
also because we're not aware of anyone else doing it (but we'll
stand corrected if there is), here
are some snapshots from someone who was there (thanks to Adrian
Fong of the New Zealand Boys team).
And
the final results? (10
April, a bit after Midnight, GMT+8hrs)
Girls:
Australia 96 def South Africa 79;
Boys: South Africa 130 def Australia 70;
Women: Australia won the five Tests 5 - nil;
Men: Australia 91 def New Zealand 67.
So
Australia are world champions in the Men, Women and Girls, and
South Africa are world champions in the Boys.
The
South African Girls could not defend their title, although it
looked like they were going to walk it in, and the Australian
Boys couldn't defend theirs.
But
the Australian Men and Women were pretty solid, although South
Arican Women have made a huge improvement since New Zealand, and
maintaining that rate of improvement is a must for them to be
a challenge to Australia.
The Australian Men were again strong, but were challenged twice--once
by New Zealand, once by South Africa.
South Africa Men have improved considerably since NZ, New Zealand
Men appear to have retained their relative standing, and Sri Lanka
appear to have slipped considerably since NZ. England Men appear
to also have retained their relative standing.
And
the coverage? Well, it's certainly wouldn't have set any potential
future sponsors alight with enthusiasm....
The South African
Indoor Cricket Federation site, host of the tournament, has
results (including individual skins) and tables. Unfortunately,
no match reports or comments on the tournament at all, and so
far no photographsl--a real shame, especially in light of some
of the results so far: a draw, which is always exciting, and Australia
losing a few games, which on a world-wide perspective is perhaps
even more exciting.
Andrew and Robyn's Edenvale
Action Arena website has results and a good list of statistics
(highest/lowest scorers/scores/winning margins etc). Thanks to
Andrew for contacting us and letting us know about this site--there
is no link to it from the SAICF site, an oversight I'm sure will
be rectified soon :)
It's just after midnight (GMT + 8hrs), April 10, and the Australian
Indoor Cricket Federation site still has (so far) no content
or results on its site, other than the results of some of the
warm-up games. But it does have a nice logo.....linking directly
to the SAICF site. A bit of a shame for Australian fans wethinks.
The British Indoor
Cricket Association has results for team England (which is
fair enough) and at least a brief comment on those games. We're
sure the English fans appreciate the effort, so well done guys.
Beyond that? Because there are no links published on the official
site, we don't really know. If you know of any other sites with
some coverage, let us know and we'll publish a link right here.
Also,
we have had many offers from friends who will be attending South
Africa, so we might very well provide some retrospective features/articles
at some time in the near future . . . stay tuned.
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