I don't know what I would have done if I had tickets to Lord's today.
I'm pleased, nonetheless, to see that the two remaining England v Australia ODIs at Lord's and The Oval are going ahead. The British response to Thursday's outrage has been quite stirring.
I've had more to say about the bombing atrocities in London on my other blog. But here, there's a lot happening in the cricketing world to talk about. Time for me to get on with it.
The IOC meeting in Singapore has decided today that Beijing 2008 will be the last appearance of baseball and softball at the Olympic Games for the time being. They have been dropped from the 2012 games in London, but are theoretically eligible for re-inclusion in the Microsoft Seattle Olympics of 2016 (remember where you hear it first!)
This is a pity from my point of view, as baseball is one of the few Olympic competitions which capture my interest.
A brief IOC announcement is here. Five other sports are candidates for inclusion in 2012: Roller Sports, Squash, Karate, Rugby (presumably the seven-a-side mutation) and Golf! Later today, the IOC Executive Board will decide whether to submit any of the five to the IOC session, which is scheduled to wrap up tomorrow.
I had intended to write this post about the pros and cons of London hosting the 2012 Olympics. That, however, has to go on hold for now.
The atrocities that took place at four locations in London on Thursday morning are very distressing. No ideological argument can justify mass murder, which is what this appears to be.
London get the 2012 Olympics. New South Wales flog Queensland in SOO3. What an eventful five minutes.
Now, let's concentrate on the G8. Several options for live audio from the Radical Radio Coalition's G8 Audio website.
Well! I was sure Paris was going to win. It was always a two-horse race. Congratulations London. Well!
About two and a half hours until Paris is named as host of the 2012 Olympics.
Live webcast from Singapore on the IOC website. Alas, none of the candidate cities really have a name that Jacques Rogge can stuff up a la JA Samaranch and "Siddey".
For those who cared enough to follow the NatWest Series, the tournament ended in anticlimax when England and Australia played out a tie. But why was it called a tie? Both sides scored 196, that is true - but Australia was bowled all out while England only lost nine wickets. There's an easy way to break the deadlock and it's none other than the bleeding obvious.
I haven't found an exact quote, but Bob Geldof has been reported as saying that "three billion" people were watching the telecasts of the Live 8 concerts.
Which begs the question: If global poverty is such a big problem, then how come half of the world's population has access to a television set?
BBC Radio Four played a charming oral history program today about the legacy of West Indian cricketers who played in the Lancashire Leagues. "Wes Hall Broke My Arm" was narrated by Garth Crooks and runs for thirty minutes. It's available online at the BBC website in realaudio format for the next seven days.
My thanks to Will at the Corridor of Uncertainty for alerting me to this.
