Gavin Hamilton land

Bad news, everybody. We're going away for a couple of days and will doubtless be missing some of the finest cricket ever witnessed on earth. (Martian cricket being a class above, of course.)

We're going to Scotland, home of great cricketers such as Gavin Hamilton and - well, we can't be bothered checking vaguely Scottish-sounding cricketers' places of birth, so we'll just leave it at Gav.

Gavin Hamilton was great in the 1999 World Cup. Again, we can't be bothered checking any facts because we're just about to leave, but take our word for it. Gavin Hamilton was great in the 1999 World Cup. He didn't have the yips then for one thing.

As far as the site goes, we're paying someone handsomely to check all the comments (the going rate is just a single pint) so feel free to write the exact same thing four times, like usual. We should probably do away with the thing where we authorise comments before they appear, but we do like to read them all. We might post over the next day or two, if they have [shameful, unnecessary joke about Scotland being backward removed here].

Your King Cricket homework is to browse the archives. Our posts don't date as badly as you think they do. They're in the sidebar on the left and also at the bottom of the page.

Anyway: To Gavin Hamilton Land!

South Africa qualify for the Super 8 phase

Once again, South Africa have swept aside a weaker nation and they've booked their place in the Super 8 phase of the World Cup as a consequence.

After first restricting Scotland to 186-8, South Africa then overhauled that total in just 23.2 overs. On the face of it, it was easy and South Africa are looking very professional, particularly when you compare their matches to England's ramshackle win against Canada.

However, South Africa should pay close attention to the closing overs as Scotland rattled along at about ten an over for the last five. If Scotland can do that, what might Australia do in the group decider?

South Africa's team looks good overall, but they're completely devoid of spin bar Graeme Smith's part-timers. In a fair world, that'll come back to haunt them. Is the world fair? Find out in the Super 8s or possibly the semi final.

Australia v Scotland

Have we just found ourself in the hitherto unexperienced position of supporting Scotland at something?

Hopefully no-one'll notice if they include Yasir Arafat - he plays for Scotland in the Sunday league when they're a domestic 'county' rather than a country. Try suggesting Scotland's merely a county to any Scots person - go on, try it.

Anyway, there's plenty to aim for for Scotland. They can start by embarrassing at least one Australian player, then take it to two, then three. Even if they can't manage the ultimate humiliation of an upset victory, they can at least damage a few egos.

We don't know why we're so spiteful this morning.