I'm now an Irish supporter....

...because they upset Pakistan at the Cricket World Cup. And Bangladesh just strangled the life out of India.

I captain a pool on www.superbru.com which is a sports prediction site. Superbru has tournaments like the Super 14, the Champions League and the Cricket World Cup, and I started a pool for Orion employees to join and predict the results on Cricket World Cup games. So far, most of them have chosen the results correctly.

But none of us were correct in those above games.

India vs Bangladesh, well it's a hard call, but India should have won easily considering their depth and players. Perhaps India had a bad day. They have a celebrated batting lineup (probably the best in the world on paper), probably the best players in the world against spin, but they were choked to death by the Banglas who used 3 left arm spinners and 2 pace bowlers. 199 dot balls, thats 33.1 overs of runless play. The spinners just dried up the runs; in a particularly asphyxiating passage of play, they didn't concede a single boundary for 88 deliveries, from the 19th to the 33rd over.

Pakistan vs Ireland, well that was just sensational. Ireland defied the minnow bashers and sent Pakistan tumbling out of the World Cup. I've seen Pakistan win against any side they play, but they haven't had the best preparation leading into the competition and it isn't any suprise they have had another early exit.

But against Ireland? Well, full credit to the Irish. They bowled really well to dismiss Pakistan for 132. I'm rooting for them to advance as far as the semis. If they win the World Cup, well wouldn't that be special?