The Cricket World Cup 2007 starts today at around 7:00 PM Pak time when Windies take on Pakistan. 16 teams from around the world will be vying for cricket’s greatest prize. Pakistan is abuzz with cricket mania as the tournament nears. As a cricket fan I will be writing about the tournament and my favourite team Sri Lanka on my cricket blog.

Although the tournament starts today , the real competition begins with the Super eight sometime in April. The tournament will conclude on the 28th of April and I hope to see Sri Lanka lift the World Cup on that date.

A never say die attitude by Sri Lanka forced a draw in the first test with England at Lord’s. 7 half-centuries out of 11 Sri Lankan players is nothing short of brilliant. While England certainly bowled well the Sri Lankans batted even better, defending stoutly when neccessary and attacking at the opportune moment. I have never rated England very highly. I have always thought that the English cricket team is not upto the mark when compared to the three asian giants. In my opinion Sri Lanka should always beat England. Their performance in the second innings just proves my point. They showed heart and try as they might England could not get them out.A lot of commentators have been belittling the SL performance on the grounds that England dropped 9 catches. They say that the dropped catches were the chief cause of the draw. So what? If England dropped 9 catches then they made mistakes – more so than Sri Lanka. So how does that take away from Sri Lanka’s performance? England couldn’t take the pressure while Sri Lanka could.What’s more England enjoyed there own share of lucky breaks in the first innings when 4 pretty good LBW appeals were turned down by the umpires. People just don’t get it do they. The Sri Lankan team continues to be underrated and underestimated by the rest of the world.Farveez Maharoof’s performance in the second innings is just a continuation of his good batting form from the series against Pakistan. I am glad to see that a Muslim has made a mark in the Sri Lankan cricket team. Jehan Mubarak, on the other hand, continues to fail as a batsman and will most likely be replaced with Jayasuriya in the next test starting on the 25th. England are really going to get it at Edgbaston.