Hero Gibbs se Babelas

That was just one of the headlines I saw this morning on my cycle ride, and for once, Zuma, baby Jordan and the powercuts were off the front page. Sunday's cricket match was remarkable - not only because of the number of runs scored, but also because of South Africa's spirited chase and victory. But Cricinfo's label of the match as the greatest ever ODI is just wrong in my opinion. After all, a cricket match is a battle between the batsmen and the bowlers, and in Sundays game, other than Nathan Bracken, bowlers did not even feature in the game. To be honest, I think that neither Gibbs nor Ponting really deserved the man of the match - because while their performances were good - it should be expected that at least one batsman will make a lot of runs on that pitch. On the other hand, Bracken took 5 of 14 wickets that fell on Sunday - a greater contribution percentage wise than any other player.

As for the greatest match - I think the 1999 semi final between SA and Australia still ranks as the best ODI ever - it featured everything about cricket - runs, wickets and great fielding.

Movie: The New World

The New World is a beautiful movie. Unfortunately, that is the only good thing that can be said about the movie (although the music wasn't bad). It is extremely long (ok not as long as King Kong), has a very simple plot, almost no conversation and is extremely boring. In fact, Carl confesses to have fallen asleep during the movie. The movie is basically the story of Pocahontas, so if you are really keen on knowing the story (white man comes to America in 1500's, meets a native american princess, fall in love etc), you are better off watching the Disney movie.

Interestingly enough, there is a shorter version (by about 20 minutes) available ... why on earth was the extended version not released as a DVD? All said however, its cinematography is top class ... but I cannot really recommend it as a movie.