B Teams take the field

Crickets second stringers get their day in the sun. This guy, Duane Leverock, a 21 stone spin bowler for Bermuda, who is a policeman in his real life and who makes Shane Warne look thin, got Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood out in the recent warm up game. Too bad the batsmen could only amass 45 runs. In other warm up games, Ireland gave South Africa a scare and Bangladesh beat New Zealand.

Some of the top current and former players don't like it and there are plenty of opportunities for wipe outs, but I think that it is good for cricket. The ICC wants cricket to be global and this is a good way of moving that along. Standards have to improve with the Associate Countries and there is nothing like money to help that process. I don't think that being thrashed by the big boys will diminish the enthusiasm of the smaller countries and there is always the chance of an upset.

Here is a nice history of the World Cup from The Age.