Almost ...

Bangladesh seem to have heard my fervent plea yesterday for something miraculous to happen. :) They almost pulled off another upset win over Australia. If they had indeed won, it would not only have provided a major fillip to the Bangla Tigers, but it would also have provided England the confidence throughout the summer that if Bangladesh can pull it off, then why not them. Anyway, Symonds and Clarke ensured that no such miracles happen. If Symonds had been absent again like in the previous Bangladeshi win, you never know what might have happened ... the world of sports is always filled with IFs.

The other major sports story of the day was theoretically atleast an upset - Venus Williams thrashing Maria Sharapova. The Williams sisters clearly have not been at the forefront in any tournament in almost a year now. The slew of Russian teenagers and the two Belgians have overshadowed the Williams sisters time and again. Come on ... no one expected Venus Williams of all people to make the Wimbledon final. Anyway, now that she's there, she will in all probability face off with her fellow American, Lindsay Davenport. The final is surely going to be a field day for the folks in the ESPN studio who take interest any match only if it involves someone from the US of A (I think I'll never be able to forget that they did not telecast the monumental Aus. Open semi-final where Safin beat Federer just because neither of them is an American!). But, on the whole, having a Venus Williams versus Lindsay Davenport final at Wimbledon does no good to the women's sport. They clearly need the younger breed of players to take over and bring back some excitement into the game. Nadal has done the trick for the men's game; who's going to be the next prodigy on the women's circuit (Sania Mirza?!! ;))

Won't be able to catch the men's semis tomorrow because I gotto head to work :(( Praying for a Federer vs. Johansson final (even better if it is Hewitt vs. Johansson, but that's next to impossible).

Cheers,
Harsha