Nicholas Clark schreef: > Anyway, something's just gone horribly wrong because we[1]'ve just > won a cricket match. That's not supposed to happen. > > 1: For some value of we that feels some sort of support for the > England team, not that they really earn it that often. > (Strict pedants will note that it's technically the England & > Wales team. I'm still surprised that the Dutch don't even > notice when their cricket team is in the world cup)
No, no, no. That's the Canadians. Cricket was probably the most popular sport in the Netherlands ... ok, so that was in the 1870s. I have ferreted through my old email archives from the last Cricket World Cup; the quotes from the Dutchman are marked D: and from the Canuck C: Wearing fluro "Leon-Orange" uniforms ripped straight from the set of Charlie's Angels, the Dutch performed admirably against Australia this morning, losing by only 75 runs: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/20/1045638426218.html http://www.cricketworldcup.com/wallpapers/icc/img70.htm D: I have to say I like their uniforms! Exactly the right colour. D: Too bad I didn't understand a word of that article... C: Isn't using uniform colors to incinerate the retinas of the opposing C: team against the rules? D: According to the Volkskrant (a national newspaper) the match against D: Australia was almost a draw! Unfortunately, the rain stopped a bit D: too early and the match could still be played... D: Volkskrant: "Australia needs only one more victory to qualify for the D: champion's round of the WC. For the Netherlands the next defeat is on D: February the 25th against Pakistan." Led by a brilliant bowling performance from a 28-year-old dread-locked plumber, Canada won its first match ever in the Cricket's World Cup. C: Aye. One of my co-worker, a charming Indian fellow going by the name C: of Ram, informed me of the accomplishment. My spontaneous reaction was, C: and I quote verbatim: "We have a cricket team?". Cricket, alas, is not C: really popular in Canada. We are more obsessed over hockey and curling C: and moose-wrestling... C: In related news, after the Canada first victory ever (was it against C: Zimbabwe?), not only we got creamed by Sri Lanka, but we actually C: acheived the lowest score possible in such a match. D: I've read that! But I don't think it's the lowest _possible_ score, D: just the lowest actually achieved. It wouldn't surprise me if the D: Dutch eleven(?) can beat your score. Another record for Canada! The fastest century in World Cup history! http://www.cricketworldcup.com/lion/lion2302200302.htm C: Ooooooh! C: Er. It is something good, or bad? As noted in a prominent article ("Lawyer sets precedent as dashing Dutch end campaign in style") in this morning's SMH newspaper, Holland finished on a high note, with their first ever World Cup century. Actually two Dutch batsmen scored centuries against Namibia; the first by lawyer Jan Feiko Kloppenburg (who works in The Hague), the second by Financier Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk (who was so stiff after his heroic 134 not out he was unable to field). D: Oranje boven! There were pictures of the last match against Namibia D: in the paper, so our first victory ever in the world cup didn't pass D: unnoticed. Of course, it helped that it there was no other sports D: news today (or was it yesterday). D: And there was much rejoicing, I presume, about the results of the D: English team... /-\ http://search.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Search - Looking for more? Try the new Yahoo! Search