India the first Twenty20 World Champions
Posted by Nazly on Monday, 24th September 2007 21:46:44 (GMT +0530)What a match it was. It did go down to the wire. But in the end it was India who made their way through to win the first Twenty20 World Cup. The Pakistanis were off to a good start chasing 157 but the run out of Imran Nazir slowed down the proceedings. Lot of singles came in the middle of the Pakistani innings but still wickets kept falling due to some bad shot selection by the middle order. Misbah Ul Haq and Sohail Tanwir hit some big sixes to narrow down the target. With the last wicket remaining Pakistan Required 13 to win off the last over. First ball was a wide and Misbah then hit a six straight down the ground off the second ball. With six needed off the last four balls Misbah tried to loft the ball over the keepers head ended up caught and that was it. Pakistan deserved a win after their consistent run over this World Cup but lost it at the last moment. India on the other hand played some good cricket to bag the World Cup.
I really enjoyed watching the Twenty20 World Cup specially being a supporter of Test Cricket and an English fan. I hope more Twenty20 games will be played in the future. England are almost here in Sri Lanka. So lot of Cricket ahead. Will keep u posted with the updates.
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Twenty20 World Cup round-up
Posted by Nazly on Monday, 24th September 2007 13:57:10 (GMT +0530)What a tournament we had so far. It had everything in it. When Gayle thrashed a century where he hit 10 sixes in the opening game against South Africa, I felt West Indies had a chance. But when South Africa beat them in that match the thought changed. Even worse Bangladesh got through to Super Eight beating West Indies giving the Windies an early exit from the Twenty20 World Cup. Australia coming into the Twenty20 World Cup with a ODI World Cup victory were humiliated by a Zimbabwe win. But Aussies made sure that they go through to the Super Eight stage by beating England. England made sure that they get through by beating Zimbabwe. Sri Lanka on the other hand had a great start by scoring the highest ever total (260) in a Twenty20 match against Kenya. They also beat New Zealand to successfully make through to the Super Eight. New Zealand got through by beating Kenya. One of the thrilling matches in the first round was the match between India and Pakistan. This match ended in a tie which resulted in a bowl-out. Surprisingly India won the bowl-out 3-0. It was almost like a Soccer style finish to this match. India and Pakistan made through to Super Eight after Pakistan won the match against Scotland and India-Scotland match ending in a draw after a washout.
Matches got more interesting in the Super Eight stage. Pakistan were comfortably through to the Semis after beating Australia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in their group. Aussies who beat Sri Lanka and Bangladesh got through as well. Sri Lanka were tough contenders but lost their way in this stage. India, New Zealand and South Africa ended up with 4 points each in their group. According to the Net Run Rate India and New Zealand made through to the Semis. The hosts South Africa at one stage looked like the tournament favorites but in the deciding game against India they let it slip and they couldn't win that match or get the runs required to beat New Zealand in the Net Run Rate. England never looked threating to the oppositions as they lost all their games in the Super Eight stage. In the England-India match Yuvaraj Singh hit six sixes in an over of Stuart Broad making it a record in a Twenty20 match.
The two Semi Finals were really thrilling to watch. Pakistan eased through to the Finals beating New Zealand. The Australia-India match went down to the wire but India were able to win it with some hard hitting by the bat and by some tight bowling at the end.
So now we get to the Grand Final as India and Pakistan face each other. The atmosphere is always electrifying when India and Pakistan meet each other in a Cricket Match. Who would have expected that these two teams would get to the Final of the Twenty20 World Cup after their early exit in the ODI World Cup. The Finals will be played today in Johannesburg at 17:30 Sri Lankan time (12:00 GMT). I'm sure it will go down to the wire. Who knows we even might see a bowl-out
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Software Freedom Day 2007
Posted by Nazly on Friday, 14th September 2007 16:39:59 (GMT +0530)Software Freedom Day (SFD) is a worldwide event that is celebrated annually on the third Saturday of each September. This year, it will be celebrated on the 15th of September. The goal of this celebration is "To educate the worldwide public about of the benefits of using high quality Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in education, in government, at home, and in business -- in short, everywhere!"
For starters thats a brief of what SFD is. Most of you know the fact that here in Sri Lanka we have been celebrating this day for the last few years. This year too several events have been organized on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of September. Due to my busy work schedule I couldn't really get involved in organizing these events but I had to give a talk today morning at the APIIT SFD celebrations on PHP. You can download the presentation here.
Tomorrow several events will take place and the event in Colombo will be held at Excel World from 10AM onwards. You can bring your PC or Laptop and get GNU/Linux installed for FREE at the Install Fest. Few geeks will be around and showing off cool FOSS Applications and you also can play video games on GNU/Linux. There will also be free Wi-Fi access as well. So don't miss out. Be there!
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