Thank you, DirectTV. I now have live video on my PC. And just in time to see Giles get a wicket. Only $99.95 for the entire series as well. See here for details.

There’s a war going on here. I managed to find a proxy server service. Lots of sites in places like Brazil and Russia I could go through. But I guess lots of other people are doing it too, because the ABC has switched to Australia-only access. I can’t find any free proxy servers in the UK or Australia. Supposedly Cricket Australia has a service that allows you to buy the commentary online, but that too is blocked in the US. It is all very annoying.

Ah well, at least Freddie has got another wicket.

Well, at least I have proved that the IT guys at the BBC and ABC are not idiots. They would appear to require positive ID on the IP location. Which means that an IP anonymiser will not do the trick. I need something that actively pretends to be an IP in the UK or Australia. Back to the drawing board.

Oh well, at least Freddie has taken a wicket.

The ABC have started blocking access to their commentary from US-based IPs. Why? It was OK for the series against South Africa last year. Is this the bloody English being greedy again? -sigh-

I am investigating IP anonymiser systems. I suspect success will depend on whether the IP tests are for positive matches or negative matches.

Ah well, at least I can rely on Jonathan and Justine to send me gloating emails every time the Aussies do something good.

The Cricket Australia web site is keeping a second-by-second count down.

The BBC radio coverage will, as usual, be available to UK-based IP addresses only. ABC is broadcasting commentary, but I can’t see anything that says whether it will be webcast as well. Fingers crossed.

Assuming I can get commentary, don’t expect anything much out of me from about 4:00pm CA time for the next five days.

Heads Up America, you can get cricket on TV. Well, sort of. Those nice people at Mediazone have got the rights to an international cricket tournament: the Hong Kong Sixes. Six-a-side cricket is a game so bizarre that I didn’t bother to describe it in my cricket articles. There are, of course, only six players per side, which means a lot of runs because of the huge gaps in the field. The games last just one 5-over innings per side. Every player but the wicket keeper bowls one over. And in this tournament there are some additional rules such as batsmen having to retire when they reach a score of 31 (they can come back later if everyone else is out). It is a totally frantic game – making arena football look positively pedestrian in comparison.

The coverage comes from an Indian TV channel, Desi. As is common with Mediazone, there is a whole lot of padding of shots of the ground and the like, and somehow they managed to lose the commentary soundtrack, though you can hear the stadium announcer and the crowd clearly, but the on-screen graphics are generally enough to follow the game. I was expecting highlights, but it looks like we are getting a select few full games.

Kevin and I have watched the first half of the Saturday package, which was an England-New Zealand game. It isn’t the best cricket in the world, especially some of the bowling, but there is some serious power hitting going on. I’ll try to avoid too much spoilers, but Spearman (NZ) and Cork (Eng) enjoyed themselves.

The best thing of all, however, is that the entire package (I think around 4 hours of material) costs only $5. Even if the games are a bit of a lark, it is worth buying them to show Mediazone that there are cricket fans in the US. It just might encourage them to get some coverage of next year’s Cricket World Cup.

One of the things that makes the Australian cricket team so great is that when they make a mistake they make sure to make good on it as soon as possible. Having been narrowly beaten by West Indies in the group stages of the Champions’ Trophy, they made sure that they got their revenge in the final, winning by an emphatic 8 wickets. Guess which humiliation they intend to make good on next.

Still, while the final may have been a damp squib, much of the tournament was entertaining. It also sets the stage nicely for next year’s World Cup. That takes place in the Caribbean. I keep hoping that someone will broadcast it in the US, it being at the right time of day, but somehow I doubt it will happen.

OK, we now have semi-finalists.

The South African pace attack ripped through the much vaunted Pakistan batting line-up to secure a place in the next round. Makhaya Ntini took 5-21 and Charl Langeveldt 3-20, both needing only six overs. It looked like it was a difficult batting wicket, and things might have been different if Pakistan had had Shoaib and Asif available.

England snuck a close one against West Indies, thanks mainly to Kevin Pietersen deciding to turn up for once. Of course the result didn’t matter much to West Indies, who had already qualified. England fans will find themselves wishing Pietersen could work his magic a little more regularly.

And Australia comfortably cruised past India to complete the final four. Goodness only knows what the Indian papers will be saying tomorrow morning. The Aussies will be quietly confident, but for India this is shame on a level of the Yankees failing to make the playoffs. Or Manchester United getting relegated.

So the semi-finals will be: Australia v new Zealand (Wed) and West Indies v S. Africa (Thurs).

Congratulations are due to New Zealand for becoming the first team to book a place in the Champions Trophy semi-finals with a comfortable win over South Africa. The Kiwi team is quietly competent, despite their lack of big name stars. Rumor has it that they have employed a baseball coach to sharpen up their fielding, which will probably save them 30 or so runs in the field. Keep an eye on them.

This means that the Pakistan – South Africa game tomorrow is now an eliminator. The winner goes into the semi-finals, the loser goes home. Sri Lanka are already eliminated.

Congratulations also to West Indies who won a nail-biter against India today by 3 wickets with just two balls left to play. That game was even exciting watching the play-by-play on the Internet. It also means that West Indies go through regardless of the result of their final game against England. And it sets up a titanic winner-takes-all game between India and Australia on Sunday. I wish I could get live video coverage of that.

Meanwhile, in Jaipur, it has been Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light. There were a few fireworks, provided mainly by Australians, and a bunch of Lightweights, in the form of the England side. If this was supposed to be a prelude to the Ashes, I’m revising my estimate from a 3-0 Aussie victory to a 5-0 sweep.
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New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat against Sri Lanka, a decision Stephen Fleming must be bitterly regretting. Not only did the ball swing a lot early on for Vaas and Malinga, but Murali turned in a brilliant performance taking 4 wickets for only 23 runs in his 10 overs. New Zealand might have bowled out South Africa for 108, but a Sri Lanka side that has passed 250 three times already in the tournament was never going to be troubled by a target of 166.

Well, we have now had the first round of group stage matches and suddenly we have a tournament on our hands. Things are getting seriously good.
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The Champions Trophy is now well underway. Sri Lanka have thrashed West Indies; India have dealt comfortably with England; and New Zealand are in the process of posting an unconvincing score against Sout Africa. Does this give us any pointers for the tournament?
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