Of West Indian and Siberian Tigers, the Amazon and the Nile

For the first time this series, the West Indies ended a day actually ahead of England! Starting dismally on Saturday and then fighting back, the Windies almost threw it away today with some poor shots, but the ever impressive Chanderpaul, ably supported by Collymore, managed to give the score some respectability. Chanderpaul, the West Indian tiger, continued his defiance of the English bowling and has now batted for just over 13 hours without being dismissed. In the process of this innings, he also became the seventh West Indian to pass 7000 test runs, joining an illustrious group comprised of Brian Lara, Viv Richards, Garry Sobers, Gordon Greenidge, Clive Lloyd and Desmond Haynes. Poor bowling at the start of England’s innings was fortunately negated by the quick loss of three England wickets just before close of play. This is the West Indies we are speaking about however, and while they may appear to be on top, I would not be surprised if the tables are turned around by lunch tomorrow. This is after all a team which has not won an overseas test for several years and has no culture of winning.

I came across this article on the BBC website about researchers in Brazil claiming to have scientifically proven that the Amazon River is actually longer than the River Nile. The researchers claim that an expedition has found that the source of the Amazon is in the South of Peru and not in the North of that country as was previously thought.

I also read an article which reported good news for wildlife- the endangered Siberian tiger has seen a population increase with the birth of 84 cubs in captivity in China. It can be read here.

Memories of Past Glory

*Photos from www.cricinfo.com and BBC Website

It snowed on and off yesterday evening/night and also for part of today. I was watching the news a little while ago and as usual the snow seems to have caused its fair share of chaos. I saw a little boy playing in the snow with his father earlier. One of my nephews came to mind. My sister is studying in Ohio and from the time my nephew was told he would be joining her there, he was on about playing in the snow in America. He was about three then. A year and a half later and the poor boy has hardly seen any snow. Last year there was a small amount and this year there has only been heavy snow there once or twice. At least he did get to play in the snow, even though not as much as he would have liked, and can tell his cousins all about it when he goes back home.

I saw an article in today’s Nation about the plans to honour the members of the Clive Lloyd led West Indies teams that won the first two Cricket World Cups in 1975 and 1979. There will be a brief ceremony before the opening match of the tournament on March 13th where the surviving eighteen members will be presented with memorabilia. Families of three deceased players as well as the family of the late Sir Clyde Walcott who was manager of both teams will receive presentations later in the tournament. As far as I am concerned, this is the best news about the World Cup in a long time, especially as we have been having our fill of negative stories about large sums of wasted money, corruption, slow ticket sales and visa disorder. What better way to honour these great players who brought glory to the Caribbean than for the Windies to lift that trophy on April 28th in Barbados. Let me indulge myself a little bit more: a Lara century and a Bradshaw five wicket haul. Ok back to reality now. They probably will not even make it pass the first round!