T20 World cup: Upsets

THE shortest and newest format of the international cricket, the Twenty-20s have come home at England with the second edition of the ICC T20 World Cup this June. The start was quite unexpected, with no opening ceremony due to rain and also the losing of England to the Netherlands. This however provided a perfect start for a tournament with no minnows, except maybe Bangladesh. Cricket is reputed for its unexpectedness and twenty-20 even more so. Here any team can beat the other. England learned this the hard way when they were beaten even after scoring 162 runs batting first. Their fielding was below standard and their dropped catches cost them the match. The Dutch were firm on their quest and allowed no hiccups and so they won the match deservingly in the last ball. England's miseries could be summed up by the last ball too: Stuart Broad throwing the ball wildly to the stumps resulting in an overthrow, a perfect example of their shabbiness in the field.

The next day, there were three games; Scotland and New Zealand, Australia and West Indies and Bangladesh versus India. In a shortened match due to rain Scotland gave the Kiwis a scare but their professionalism prevailed and in the end they bagged the win quite comfortably. This however wasn't true for the Australians. They scored 160-odd runs, a competitive score in T20s, but were blown away by a Gayle hurricane. This man a few weeks ago said he didn't care about tests and only loved T20s and clearly showed why. This is his game. The ferocious hits to the fence, no, no, to the cars outside the stadium, were really a treat to watch, even to a die hard fan of Australia. Gayle's whirlwind knock of 79 of 43 balls with six ENORMOUS sixes really left the Aussies biting the dust.

Australia's loss against West Indies can be counted as a shock, but not the result between Bangladesh and Ireland. It never looked like Bangladesh was the better team that day. In fact, Ireland was far more professional and looked more like a test playing nation than the so called Tigers. But the 'tigers' were more professional in their attitude, as they showed little remorse for their defeat: laughing and talking like every other day. I am sure that nearly everyone who had seen them after the match had some terrible urge to kick something.

Australia's exit in the first round was a shocker. Even the greatest Australia-haters can't name the last world cup they were eliminated in the first round. But this time they were pitted in the group of death, with Sri Lanka and West Indies. Still yours truly, a fervent supporter of the Aussies, hoped that they would somehow qualify for the second round. But a loss against Sri Lanka the very day Bangladesh lost against Ireland spelled their exit. This really has helped this author's studies as he has stopped seeing the games altogether.

The only consolation Bangladesh can have is that even Australia was eliminated, and the players played well in the warm-up games. Other than these, the whole tour was disaster. This performance of the 'tigers' really left some questions: where are all the pinch-hitters? Why was a batsman like Rakibul included in the squad? And what is the price of rice? The last one because, the batsmen seemed they lacked strength to hit the ball to the distance. They lack intelligence also, proved by their inability to see the shorter boundaries. Or were they just trying to get the prize for the greatest six? Come on people, you don't have the strength.

Another thing became clear to me: Ashraful really wants to be a coach after he retires (within a year or so, we hope). See how 'caringly' he guided the ball to the slip fielder for the second time, the first attempt by the same fielder ended up as a dropped catch. And also, his English is getting better; at least he doesn't cough as much as he did.

Super Eight matches have started and there are still upsets to be witnessed. As for me, I don't really care for who wins the title; Australia eliminated means my enjoying days are over.

By Jawad Mahmud

Unique Universe

Crop Circles

REMEMBER the times you cursed and cried because you were introduced to geometry? It was always a pain in the neck, but what happens when you find geometry in crop fields? The answer to this question is: geometry has become more mysterious and annoying than it ever was. The basic idea of the origination of these crop circles are postulated to be born by UFOs, but people will always have different stories

From the program Mysterious Universe, it has been reported that some people think the circles are formed by electric fields in the soil, or by mysterious cyclones. Other theories arise from the mysterious obstruction of moving vehicles and electricity being shut off, and a huge cloud coming and making the circles. Some of the researchers believe that the circles began as a natural phenomenon and then it evolved as the idea of being supernatural. It is also believed that crop circles dissipate some kind of energy, and some of the researchers tried baking cakes from crops in the circle, and out of the circle and found no difference.

Serious attention was given to the simple circles near 1980s in southern England. The designs appeared mostly as simple circles, circles with rings etc. Then they developed straight lines, creating pictograms. After 1990 the designs developed exponentially in complexity, and today it is not unusual to come across crop glyphs mimicking computer fractals and elements that relate to fourth dimensional processes in quantum physics.

Their sizes have also increased some occupying areas as large as 200,000 sq ft. To date there have been over 10,000 reported and documented crop circles throughout the world. Some people however claim to have made the crop circles on their own. Artists claim that it is their masterpiece on the grounds that have made everyone gasp at this phenomenon. Some people also believe that the crop circles are made by invisible giant squirrels that are giving us signs to stop killing the environment. They are believed to be crazy, though.

The mysterious crop circles will have different reasons for being there, and it's for us to decide what we believe. As you sit under the night sky and think about your miseries beside the rice field, you just might see something odd that will change your life. Then again, nobody told you to listen to my theories.

Sources: http://www.cropcircleresearch. com, The program Crop Circles

By Raida Kifait Reza