Rain, No Play

Today England defeated a stubborn Canadian squad without the services of allrounder Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff. Flintoff had been suspended for the match reportedly after hotel workers had to fetch him from floating on a pedalo at 4 am Saturday morning after a night of drinking. In addition, he has also been sacked as vice captain of the team. In St Kitts, there was another 200+ run defeat for Holland, the 4th such defeat for a minnow at this tournament.

What's a pedalo? you might ask. A pedalo as shown above, is a vehicle that one pedals on water. They are used widely in the Caribbean at vacation hot spots. We're pretty sure that they are not meant to be operated while in a drunken stupor, which is apparently the predicament Flintoff found himself in Saturday morning. Other teammates were out drinking as well with Flintoff, but they were'nt quite as adventurous as Freddie and were only fined for their partying. Some may think the punishment excessive, given the wild partying that accompanied the English team's Ashes win in 2005. But this is the World Cup and when you have a match less than 36 hours later you have a responsibility to your fans and country to be in the best possible shape for that match. Save the partying for when you actually win something!

On the cricket pitch, in the shadow of Bob Woolmer's death, England defeated Canada by 51 runs as the English made 279/6 with Ed Joyce getting 66 and man of the match Paul Collingwood making 62 n.o. In reply the Canadians batted stubornly, refusing to be bowled out as they batted out their overs to make 228/7.

In St. Kitts, a clinical performance by Australia led to another thrashing of Holland. Batting first, the Aussies piled up 358/5 with Brad Hodge blasting 123 off 89 balls, staking a claim to a place in the side for the later rounds. Daan van Bunge, bowler of Herschelle Gibbs' 6 sixes over, mercifully was not given the ball. The Aussies then skittled out the Dutch for 129 to win by 229 runs.

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