MUMBAI, (Reuters) – The 2011 cricket World Cup in quotes:
“We are very concerned with the process to sell the remaining tickets to the public. With the significant demand and little availability there is potential for chaos and physical injury when the box office sales open. For this reason we strongly recommend that this sale of tickets be cancelled” — International Cricket Council (ICC) legal head David Becker in a letter to the governing body’s president Sharad Pawar after the official online ticket website crashed due to 10 million people chasing just 1,000 tickets to the final.
“We have received numerous complaints from our commercial partners, who have paid millions of dollars to receive rights and benefits which include the timely provision of tickets and hospitality. This is placing our sound relationships at breaking point” — Becker emphasises his concern.
“It is not a new thing…it’s difficult for the people who have lived in Europe and in America to understand” — Bangalore’s police commissioner Shankar Bidari defending the baton attacks on cricket fans angry that they could not buy tickets for England against India.
“We need to find better ways to distribute tickets but the reality is that if tomorrow’s match was at a 100,000 seater (stadium) we’d still not have enough tickets to go and satisfy the public demands” — ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat after fans clashed with police outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
“Looking forward to the game between India and England today…should be a cracker. My prediction a tie!” — Australia bowling great Shane Warne tweets before the England v India match started in Bangalore. The match ended in a tie.
“What a game! Halfway point – happy with tie, 10 overs to go — disappointed with tie, 3 overs to go, delighted with tie. Overall v happy” — ailing fast bowler Stuart Broad tweets after he watched the England v India match from his hotel room.
“In some ways we’re happy and in some ways we’re distraught. A great game of cricket” — England skipper Andrew Strauss after both teams had scored 338.
“The adulteration of the technology with human observation was the reason why we didn’t get that wicket. So I hope next time it will be either technology or human intention” — India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on the not out decision given to England’s Ian Bell even though the review system suggested he was lbw for 17 against India. He went on to score 69.
“I wouldn’t mind taking that wicket around with me, it’s fun to bowl on. You never complain when you come to India as a spinner ” — Zimbabwe spinner Ray Price.
“When you are 111-5, I said… we could just potter around and get 220 off 50 overs… and the game would have been pretty boring to watch on TV. I just chanced my arm and said I’m going to be as positive as I can and I got a few away and didn’t look back really” — Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien after hitting the fastest World Cup century off 50 balls.
“It was shaping up to be a helluva match but here we are watching it monsoon down” — umpire Ian Gould on washout in the Australia v Sri Lanka match.
“We have been involved in three very tight games of cricket so far in this World Cup. I think we are definitely doing our bit to advertise the 50-overs format” — Strauss on beating South Africa by six runs. “Kamran Akmal thinks being a wicketkeeper means letting the batsmen keep his wicket” — a fan tweets after the Pakistani dropped Ross Taylor when the New Zealand batsman was on nought and eight. He went on to score 131 not out.
“If his batting was as good as Don Bradman’s he (Akmal) couldn’t score enough runs to make up for what he costs them with his keeping,” former Australia captain Ian Chappell.
“Singles are the lifeblood of the game but the problem with India is a lot of batsmen are going for the glamour shots” — former India captain Sunil Gavaskar sums up why India lost nine wickets for 29 runs in their defeat by South Africa.
“There was no doubts about the nick. I knew I hit it but as always I wait for the umpires to give me out. That’s the way I always played the game,” Australia captain Ricky Ponting on why he refused to walk even though it was clear he had edged the ball while playing Pakistan.
“Bangladesh can still qualify…if India makes 781 in 50 overs and dismiss West Indies for 10 runs” — former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar works out the maths to see if co-hosts Bangladesh had any way of reaching the last eight.
