Sure you
know this English nursery rhyme… and perhaps have sung it too… though you many
not know no. 19096 of Roud Folk Song Index. It is all happening
in Champions Trophy….. India founds its way, finished on top, SA have also
qualified… both teams wait patiently as
numerous possibilities unfold in this simple format where you have 2 teams out
of 4 qualifying for the Semis.
The match against Pak
was of statistical interest and there was this unpalatable opening whence
Gavaskar and Wasim Akram clashed in a war of words.. it was ugly…. It is raining all the time in England and
Indians are not complaining…. Edgbaston was tailor-made for Asian drama…. In a
match where Ashwin
bowled slow and flighted the ball and turned it square; Ravindra Jadeja bowled
fast and still turned the odd ball square, Pakis danced and capitulated in what
began as a full game but was reduced to 40 overs a side after two rain
intervals. There is always the Duckworth
Lewis which nobody can decipher…. Their total of 165 all out was adjusted to 167
because of the rain break during Pakistan's innings. India got off to a solid
start in response, and it mattered little that the rain eventually brought the
target down to 122 in 22 overs. India won in 19.1 overs.
Did you notice that this game is
being hosted by England and Wales…. Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island
of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and
Irish Sea to its west. Yesterday’s match
was at Cardiff in Wales and it rained here too.
The ground was Sophia Gardens, currently known as SWALEC Stadium. It was
named after Lady Sophia Rawdon-Hastings. daughter of the 1st Marquess of
Hastings and wife to the 2nd Marquess of Bute, Lady Sophia was concerned to
provide open space for recreation in the rapidly expanding city in the late
19th century, in which her husband was heavily involved.
It was another low
scoring thriller.. England made 169 with Cook topscoring 64 ~ and in the 24
over match Kiwis lost by ten runs. Even
at home, it was not easy life for England though they have secured a passage to
Semis. Rain, which had caused a five-hour delay after the toss, was creeping
over the Bristol Channel and although the chase was behind the rate, if the
match had been abandoned before 20 overs New Zealand would have gone through
and England would have needed a favour from Australia today.
Now the table in
Group A is interesting : England have 4
points; NZ have 3; Sri Lanka have 2 and Aussies have 1; today if Lanka wins
they will get 4 shutting out both NZ & Aussie.. If Aussie wins, run rate
will decide whether it will be Aussie or NZ and if the match is washed out
Lankans will be on par with Kiwis again relying on net run rate. Although, Sri Lanka and New Zealand have better chances
than Australia, it is Sri Lanka who have the situation in their control. Their
batting showed form during the chase against England and their bowling was
exceptional in the narrow loss to New Zealand. Australia find themselves in a
strange position. The team has cruised to the knockout stages in the past, but
this time, they are in danger of being eliminated without a win.
The 1st Semis would at
Oval on June 19 involving SA and the 2nd at Cardiff on June 20
involving India. The Finals would be on
June 23.
"Rain Rain Go
Away" is the popular English language nursery rhyme that has a Roud Folk
Song Index number of 19096. The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of nearly
200,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs that have been collected from oral
tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by
Steve Roud, a former librarian in the London Borough of Croydon. Roud's Index
is a combination of the Broadside Index (printed sources before 1900) and a
"field-recording index" compiled by Roud. It subsumes all the
previous well-known printed sources known to Francis James Child (the Child
Ballads) and includes recordings from 1900 to 1975. Until early 2006 the index
was available only by a CD subscription; it can now be found online on a
website maintained by the English Folk Dance and Song Society
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar.
Photo courtesy : Cricinfo.com
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