close shave

oo .. my bet with monica was almost lost yesterday. i had wagered australia will not lose a single match on their way to the finals and then progress to win the finals by routing england.

yesterday, australia won the toss and amassed a modest total on the board, 261 runs. 260 is very difficult for any team to chase against australia, i can promise you that. 260 against india, south africa, england - yes, you would hunt it and perhaps win comfortably. but, the weather system intervened which meant the target had to be revised. two wierdos named duckworth and lewis, a few years ago, devised a clever formula that "mutates" a target in rain affected scenarios. so, the target alteration meant england had to notch 200 odd runs in 25 overs. australia had the upper hand at this juncture.

jolly good, the match starts - australia take a quick wicket which underpins my claim that australia would win. again, 10 mins later the rain intervenes which meant duckworth and lewis are put to work again. although the match never resumed, a newly revised target at this juncture would have favoured england very much as they would have less to score while hurling their bat on anything coming their way.

all in all, i think england had a lucky escape as the game was declared a tie. australia will have to wait until this weekend. in spite of this, monica wouldn't really worry much losing the wager as I have been very magnanimous by buying her a silver iPod mini. however, i have to be tight-fisted when it comes to her laundry duty for the next few weeks.