Ireland's Kevin O Brian (Photo : Reuters)
The cricket World Cup currently underway in Australia and New Zealand is certainly one of the most significant sporting events to have captured the attention of the cricketing world in recent times.
Fourteen nations will be represented at this year's World Cup, as reported by ESPN Cricinfo. The sheer diversity on display will be memorable. There is first the old guard of international cricket: England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies. Then - there are the relatively newer Asian and African teams viz., India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. And finally, the occasional participants at the international World Cup-level: Scotland, Ireland, UAE and Afghanistan.
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Any team can potentially defeat any other time. That is precisely what makes these competitions so enticing and delectable! Think of the famous past David vs. Goliath encounters in which the Davids have prevailed. On March 2, 2011, lowly Ireland defeated fancied old-foe England by scoring 329 runs. Or of Ireland's victory over the mighty West Indies in the current World Cup (match played on February 16, 2015) - when Ireland chased down 307 runs to beat the West Indies.
Why is the Cricket World Cup a Big Deal? Think of other reasons why the Cricket world is a great event.
(a) For one, you get thousands of traveling fans that visit the country and bring their tourist money. In addition to the traditional fans traveling from far-away England, you get very large traveling supporters from places like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka that come to support their teams.
(b) Secondly, when you think of the number of global television viewers for this tournament running into more than a billion - that boggles the mind too!
(c) Finally, for the connoisseurs of the game, this cricket tournament is like a gourmet meal of the choicest picks from the world's cricketing tables, from South Africa's A. B. De Villiers and India's Virat Kohli to Australia's own Mitchell Johnson and Glenn Maxwell.
