The time’s come for plans to be chalked out for the next month-and-a-half. The World Cup kickstarted with the South Africa-West Indies tie on Sunday and after that it’s going to be a fiesta for cricket-lovers till March 23. All the necessary postponing of plans and pleading, compromising needs to be sorted out before that, because there won’t be much time to even blink from here on in. Days when you can catch up with the soaps For example, through the whole period from February 16 (Sunday) to February 21 (Friday), we have exactly two matches that will make for exciting viewing; South Africa versus New Zealand on the 16th and India versus Zimbabwe on the 19th. That’s it. And this is from among nine matches that are supposed to take place in that period. The other matches in the period feature England against Holland, Pakistan against Namibia, West Indies against Bangladesh, England against Namibia, Sri Lanka against Canada, Australia against Holland and New Zealand versus Kenya. So this could very well be the week to get all the loose ends together and ensure the rest of the month’s, especially the weekends, are hassle-free. Stay home for these weekends In fact, especially for us here in India, the weekends promise exciting fare on the whole. Australia versus India takes place on February 15. The Sunday after that, the 16th, as discussed above, is rather unexcting. But the weekend after that promises interesting fare with England playing Pakistan. For Indian cricket fans, Sunday the 23rd will be a day to rejoice, seeing that India should chalk up an easy win against unfancied Namibia. The weekend after that, of course, is the big one, with Pakistan and India facing off at the Centurion on the 1st of March. The 2nd of March, a Sunday, might also be interesting if England can put up a fair show against tournament favourites Australia. Lights are on but quite electrifying Six matches at the group phase take place under lights. There’s some bad news for day-night takers as well, because of these six matches, Feb 11 features Bangladesh versus Canada in Durban and the above-mentioned Kenya-Canada match takes place in Cape Town. Of course, it’s a debatable point as to whether or not all countries deserve their place under the sun (or floodlights as it were), but for the ones out to have a grand Feb-March, these fixtures do work as minor irritants. The start might be slow, but as the men move on and the boys are left behind, things will start hotting up - March onwards. And then, from March 7 onwards, it’s carnival time, as the super sixes start off, and the final stages appear on the horizon.
